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<\/a>I lead off with something that, manifestly, comes directly from the Christopher Hitchens Memorial \u201cHow Religion Poisons Everything\u201d File<\/em>\u2122. \u00a0This is pretty big news. \u00a0Obviously, of course, there ought to be a law against such things \u2014 but alas, as long as theism and theist exist and are permitted free rein, these horrors will continue unabated: \u00a0\u201cRelief Society Leads Global Effort to Improve Health and Well-being of Women and Children:\u00a0The Church is giving US$55.8 million to help 12 million children and 2.7 million women.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n I know that my doing so will drive certain folks over at the Peterson Obsession Board nearly frantic with impotent disdain, especially after I\u2019ve just written about a program to reduce hunger (a global problem that my traveling and eating out probably caused in the first place), but I want to mention, nevertheless, a couple of dinners that we had here in Salzburg. \u00a0We actually ate twice at Zwettler\u2019s Wirtshaus<\/a>, at Kaigasse 3. \u00a0It dates back to 1863, and the food is quite good. \u00a0(That\u2019s why we went back twice.) \u00a0But what I most enjoyed was the conversation that I had there on Monday evening.<\/p>\n The restaurant was crowded when we arrived, so we stood waiting outside. \u00a0Then the waiter who had served us the night before (and with whom I had some amusing exchanges) came out and said that there was a fellow sitting alone at a table for four who had invited us to share his table with him. \u00a0We sat down, and he immediately said, in halting English, that he spoke almost no English, and that he apologized for that fact. \u00a0He was from Basel, Switzerland, a retired diesel mechanic who had already spent twenty-seven days cycling from Basel over to Vienna and southwards along the Hungarian border, and he was now making his way slowly back home.<\/p>\n We ended up having a long and freewheeling conversation \u2014 about the Swiss military and his own experiences with winter survival training and tank maintenance and hidden Swiss defensive tunnels, the Basler dialect of Swiss German, immigration, Vladimir Putin, the Swiss economy, education, and a host of other subjects. \u00a0I had a good time, and so, clearly, did he. \u00a0(He plainly enjoyed talking and he obviously wanted some company, and it was actually difficult to get away even after we had long since finished eating and the restaurant was beginning to close down.) \u00a0The only thing that made me feel guilty \u2014 and it really did<\/em> \u2014 was that my wife, who knows very little German, was sitting there without being able to participate much in the conversation. \u00a0I translated (or summarized) a fair amount of what our newfound friend said, but he was a little bit like a fire hydrant, and she missed most of it. \u00a0Curiously, she claims to have enjoyed the evening herself, too.<\/p>\n On Tuesday evening, we ate at St. Peter Stiftskulinarium<\/a>, part of the overall complex of the Stift Sankt Peter (the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter) in Salzburg\u2019s Altstadt. \u00a0It claims to be the oldest restaurant in Europe, having been mentioned in the year AD 803 by Alcuin of York. \u00a0(Which means, of course, that it\u2019s probably older still<\/em>.) \u00a0The food was slightly pricey, but very good. \u00a0And, when we told the waiter that we wouldn\u2019t be drinking wine or anything alcoholic, he suggested to us a dark red grape juice that had evidently arrived just that day, a product of the monks of the adjacent abbey, no less. \u00a0It was some of the best grape juice that I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n We attended an organ recital at noon today in the Cathedral of Salzburg. \u00a0Dr. Philipp Pelsner performed, in sequence, on all five of the cathedral\u2019s organs. \u00a0I didn\u2019t recognize the first four pieces, but the last one, played on the main instrument of the church (on which Mozart had also played), was unmistakable: \u00a0It was the Danse Macabre<\/em>, by Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/a>.<\/p>\n Which suggests that I ought to continue with my musicological reflections on the question of whether, as the late Christopher Hitchens maintained, religion really does poison everything<\/em>:<\/p>\n The Austrian composer Anton Bruckner (d. 1896) faced fierce criticism before his genius was recognized.\u00a0 Yet he believed his compositions divinely inspired, and he persisted.\u00a0 He paid attention, instead, to the \u201cvoice from within\u2026 an infallible instinct which he believed to be God himself, guided him on his way.\u201d \u00a0\u201cEvery composition he wrote was in praise of God\u2026\u201d \u201cBruckner is perhaps the only great composer of his century whose entire musical output is determined by his religious faith \u201d[1]<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cThey want me to write in a different way,\u201d he said of his critics.<\/p>\n I could, but I must not.\u00a0 Out of thousands I was given this talent by God, only I.\u00a0 Sometime I will have to give an account of myself.\u00a0 How would the Father in Heaven judge me if I followed others and not Him?[2]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n He kept a record of his prayers in his journal, and never played a church organ without praying first.\u00a0 \u201cBruckner is perhaps the only great composer of his century,\u201d wrote his biographer Hans Ferdinand Redlich, \u201cwhose entire musical output is determined by his religious faith.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0 \u201cReligiosity was the center of his heart,\u201d wrote Werner Wolf.\u00a0 \u201cHe was seeking God in his music.\u00a0 God Himself was his goal.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0 Working on his ninth symphony, which would prove to be his last, he told his fellow Austrian composer Gustav Mahler<\/p>\n I must at least get the Tenth finished, or I\u2019ll cut a poor figure when I appear before the Good Lord, as I soon shall, and he says to me, \u201cWell, my boy, why did I give you so much talent if not to sing to my honor and glory? But you\u2019ve done far too little with it!<\/em>[<\/em>5]<\/a><\/p>\n Johannes Brahms (d. 1897) was a life-long student of Martin Luther\u2019s German translation of the Bible whose familiarity with that book is apparent in his German Requiem<\/em> and such other works as his Four Serious Songs<\/em>, which dwell on themes from the book of Ecclesiastes and then, in the final song, celebrate the theme of love from 1 Corinthians 13.\u00a0 In conversation with Arthur Abell, who published his account after Brahms\u2019s death, the composer spoke of<\/p>\n My method of communicating with the Infinite, for all truly inspired ideas come from God.\u00a0 Beethoven, who was my ideal, was well aware of this.[6]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n When I feel the urge [to compose], I begin by appealing directly to my Maker and I first ask Him the three most important questions pertaining to our life here in this world\u2014whence, wherefore, whither [woher, warum, wohin].[7]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Straightaway the ideas flow in upon me, directly from God, and not only do I see distinct themes in my mind\u2019s eye, but they are clothed in the right forms, harmonies and orchestration.[8]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n You see, the powers from which all truly great composers like Mozart, Schubert, Bach and Beethoven drew their inspirations is the same power that enabled Jesus to work His miracles. \u00a0Measure by measure, the finished product is revealed to me\u2026[9]<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Brahms would presumably not agree with Hitchens that \u201creligion poisons everything.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, quite the contrary:<\/p>\n I know several young composers who are atheists.\u00a0 I have read their scores, and I assure you . . . that they are doomed to speedy oblivion, because they are utterly lacking in inspiration.\u00a0 Their works are purely cerebral.\u00a0 The great Nazarene knew that law also, and He proclaimed in John 15:4, \u201cThe branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine.\u201d\u00a0 No atheist has ever been or ever will be a great composer.<\/em>[10]<\/a><\/p>\n The great Czech composer Antonin Dvor\u00e1k (d. 1904) regarded his musical ability as \u201cthe gift of God\u201d or \u201cGod\u2019s voice,\u201d claiming that, in composition, his practice was to \u201csimply do what God tells me to do.\u201d[11]<\/a>\u00a0 His manuscripts regularly opened with the phrase \u201cWith God\u201d and concluded with the benediction \u201cGod be thanked.\u201d\u00a0 Commenting on his Mass in D Major<\/em>, he exclaimed \u201cFaith, hope and love to God Almighty and thanks for the great gift of being enabled to bring this work in the praise of the Highest and in the honour of art to a happy conclusion.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo not wonder,\u201d he continued, \u201cthat I am so religious.\u00a0 An artist who is not\u2014could not produce anything like this.\u00a0 Have we not examples enough in Beethoven, Bach, Raphael and many others?\u201d[12]<\/a>\u00a0 Among his many religious works are the beautiful Stabat Mater<\/em>, a Latin Requiem<\/em>, the Hussite Overture<\/em> (in honor of the Czech religious reformer John Hus), ten Biblical Songs<\/em>, and a dramatic oratorio entitled Saint Ludmila<\/em>.<\/p>\n [to be continued]<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Werner Wolff,\u00a0 Anton Bruckner, Rustic Genius<\/em> (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., 1942), 145.\u00a0 Redlich, Bruckner, Mahler, 37.<\/em><\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid, 104.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Hans Ferdinand Redlich, Bruckner and Mahler<\/em> (London: J.M. Dent Ltd., revised 1963), 37.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Wolff, Anton Bruckner and Mahler<\/em>, 150.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Natalie Bauer-Lechner, Recollections of Gustav Mahler, trans. Dika Newlin <\/em>(New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 47.<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Arthur M. Abell, Talks With Great Composers<\/em> (New York: Citadel, 1994), 3.<\/p>\n [7]<\/a> Ibid., 5.<\/p>\n [8]<\/a> Ibid., 5-6.<\/p>\n [9]<\/a> Ibid., 11.<\/p>\n [10]<\/a> Ibid., 21.<\/p>\n [11]<\/a> Karl Hoffmeister,\u00a0 Antonin Dvorak, Letters and Reminiscences<\/em> (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1970), 104-5. Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers, 154.<\/em><\/p>\n [12]<\/a> Kavanaugh, Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers<\/em>, 153. German in the Library<\/p>\n\n
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