Music: Fire and Light

Our social writers today aim at demolishing the old props upon which our ailing society has stood throughout the past centuries, and at building a new society in which all the means of social solidarity, in its various forms, are provided. Some may write of family life and the necessity of renewing it, others of the individual's duties toward his society, and others of the various means of solidarity among the members of our Lebanese society; but never have I heard of anyone who has brought music—or rather the arts—into this field, though music occupies the loftiest place in art. And every shade of living music—I mean Western music—has a task in the forming of social life. Its engaging task applies to every society that wishes to be rescued from its deep slumber and to walk with wide strides toward steady advance and progress. And we may support this saying of ours with living proofs, which drive us without doubt to savor music with eagerness and to acknowledge that it must truly be understood.

In the music of "Chopin" there is memory, and in every memory a feeling, and in every feeling life. And the vital impulses in the soul of every social individual are necessary and indispensable for founding him upon lofty principles, in whose application sincerity and sacrifice take part before personal interest enters in; for interest is a means, whereas sincerity is a necessary duty which every person who enjoys his social rights must take as the emblem of his steadfastness. If we listen to Chopin's Polonaise we start up at once from our present slumber and set out in pursuit of sound patriotic principles, that we may realize Chopin's hopes in ourselves.

For his melodies came strong in feeling, intense in despair; in his expression of the destiny of his own country he expresses the destiny of every country that has been swaddled in the crimes of ignorance and helplessness. And Chopin may save us from every violent strife of the soul, by what he breathes into us of firmness of view and the ardor of patriotic feeling.

And in the music of "Weber" there is deep thought, which raises our minds above ordinary problems to a lofty degree of thinking—that thinking which embraces in its views the destiny of all mankind. And we are in utmost need of true thinkers who know the way to use the matter that rules in our present generation, so that matter may be a means for the flourishing of society, and not society the slave of matter. And in the music of "Wagner" there is immortal wisdom; and every country has its sages, who lay down for it the doctrinal and moral laws by which it may proceed and be secure from every straying. The whole body of his melodies is a marvel of wisdom, issuing from the core of his being, reaching to the understanding of the values of things and their application to the various walks of life. And we are in need of just such a balance between principles and the manner of proceeding by them, that we may guarantee the success of our toil in the social field. And in the music of Schubert there is the life of every love; and every love belongs to friendship, and friendship is among the most important of the social props, for it consolidates the relations among the members of society and provides them with confidence in themselves, because it discovers the values of the soul.

And in the music of "Bach" there is loftiness, and we are in utmost need of this essential element of the life of the soul, that it may pull us out of this gulf of stagnation in whose mire we have been floundering until we have even lost that inner consciousness which impels us to bring our personal values out into the realm of existence. And in the music of "Liszt" there is sacrifice, devotion, and inspiration; and inspiration is an essential stage among the stages of our social renaissance, for it wakens consciences, so that they rise up from their sleep, cast off from themselves the dust of despair, and walk with firm strides, strong resolve, and an old faith in the existence of driving powers sufficient to steady their steps upon the straight road.

And in the music of "Mozart" there is order; and every building has a design by which the builders proceed, and if order is lost, chaos spreads and we go back centuries in retreat. And in the music of "Brahms" there is knowledge; and knowledge is the cause of all flourishing, just as ignorance is the prop of all decline; and knowledge, by its very being, truly provides other vital elements in the soul of every individual—among them confidence in oneself and steadiness in work joined to strong ideas—and this is the only way that will solve our present social crisis; for we, the children of the East, feel more than we think, and since it is difficult for feeling to be turned into action, we therefore remain as we are: persuasive, polished, sweet talk without practical reform. And finally, in the music of "Beethoven" there is hope—and woe to a nation whose people have lost hope, for it is incapable of performing any work whatever that might lead to its flourishing. So when the spirit of feeling that society must be reformed begins to steal into our breaths, let us listen to the melodies of Beethoven, and especially the immortal Ninth Symphony, which sends back the echo that says: Have faith, and you will act. And these melodies may have their happy effect upon the soul because they issued from a true feeling for man's standing in the face of personal and social problems, not from mania and empty pretension. And hope, in the melodies of Beethoven, comes in stages: the first of them is the striving after the existence of personality; then, once its being is confirmed, the finding of the ways that root its convictions in the upright road leading to the renaissance of Lebanese society.