Oliviera Messiaena recepcja i adaptacja teologii i estetyki Tomasza z Akwinu
Journal Title: Teoria Muzyki. Studia, Interpretacje, Dokumentacje - Year 2014, Vol 5, Issue 5
Abstract
As Messiaen told interviewers, he began reading books on theology already as a teenager. Mystics like John of Ruusbroec, Thomas à Kempis, and Thomas Merton as well as saints like Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Ávila, John of the Cross, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse de Lisieux were of great importance for his devotion. His reflections, and above all the contemplations on which he was to base specific compositions, were additionally shaped by spiritual authors like Ernest Hello and Columba Marmion and by theologians like Romano Guardini and Hans Urs von Balthasar. The dominating influence on his understanding of Christian doctrine was Thomas Aquinas, whose Summa theologica he owned in a French translation and kept studying all through his life. He refers regularly and with increasing frequency to passages from the extensive treatise addressing questions of faith that he felt impelled to ponder. The composer’s reception of Thomistic texts has two complementary aspects: on the one hand, his implicit translation of Thomas’s thoughts on the role of music in the life of a Christian and on music’s possible spiritual content into the components of his musical material; on the other hand, his explicit quotation of Thomistic sentences addressing purely theological subject matter. The first aspect, the modern composer’s appropriation of – or felicitous congruence with – the medieval theologian’s views on music, underlies all his compositions with biblical, liturgical, or mystical titles; I want to demonstrate with just a few examples to what degree Messiaen’s practical usage of music as a language concurs with Thomas’s theoretical opinions. The second aspect, Messiaen’s quotations from the Summa theologica and their musical translation, determines only a limited number of works but is rendered all the more interesting by the fact that the musical treatment often complements, rather than only representing, the emphasis found in the Thomistic passage.
Authors and Affiliations
Siglind Bruhn
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