107/115 SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS By FRANK H. SPRAGUE
Equally erroneous is the impression that prevails to a considerable extent among all classes of people, viz., that music must be understood (comprehended intellectually) in order to be appreciated; that it is its chief function to portray or represent definite ideas by means of symbols forms requiring interpretation.
If such were the case, unless one possessed a technical knowledge of the art, and had acquired the ability to interpret its symbols, it would, indeed, be useless to expect him to derive any great measure either of pleasure or benefit from listening to performances of the highest grade.
To many minds the term “classical,” as applied to music, is fraught with suggestions of abstruseness or dullness. Listeners are often bored by music, simply because they regard it in a false attitude, or look for the wrong elements in it. It appeals, primarily, to the emotional, not the rational faculty. It is not necessary to interpret its forms.
To enjoy and appreciate Nature, one need not be familiar with different species of plants and trees, like the botanist; or understand the structure of minerals and rock-formations, like the geologist; or even comprehend the various processes through which the Beautiful is revealed, like the physicist. No more need one be a musician, or a student of harmony, to appreciate the spirit of music.
Subconscious impressions require no explanation. In some measure, the atmosphere which pervades every work may he felt, even by those who are entirely ignorant of the formal value of its subject matter. To be sure, knowledge of harmony is essential to the clearest comprehension of the forms in which the Spirit is embodied; and so, in some respects, it materially enhances one’s appreciation of the art; but it is not the chief consideration.
Music constitutes a complete world of itself, with a distinct mode of manifestation. Its forms are wholly different from those of the natural and the thought worlds; but it is often easy to trace parallel expressions of the same idea under their different forms. Music of a merely descriptive character, which undertakes to suggest definite scenes from the natural world, so that they may be distinctly traced by the imagination,
does not reach the highest level. The imitative function in man is properly subordinate to the creative. Francis Hueffer writes of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony: “He brings the songs of birds, the thunder, and the murmuring brook before the ear, not as a portrait of nature, but as at once a suggestion and embodiment of the feelings which would be called up by them.”