3 June 2025: Shall we dance?

One of the memorable aspects of Nietzsche’s legacy is his emphasis upon the revelry, song and dance associated with the Greek god Dionysus.  Even the Viennese ‘Waltz King’ Johann Strauss II recognised that in his ‘Wine, Women and Song’!

Delius, whose body in later life was racked with pain, paralysis and syphilis, acknowledged the central place of physical movement and dance in his ‘A Mass of Life’.  We have already focussed on the words at the opening of the ‘Song of Laughter’, Baritone solo (see my Diary Entry on 6 May ‘Another musical Intermezzo – ‘Lift up your legs!’):

‘Lift up your hearts, my brothers; high, higher!

And don’t forget your legs!’;

and then there is the ‘Dance Song’, Second Part, section III, with Zarathustra and young women dancing with wild abandon and laughter!  Interestingly, a translator of Nietzsche’s text has written ‘The original German language (of ‘A Mass of Life’) has a rhythmic pulse, a driving force akin to early Anglo-Saxon poetry’ and there is no doubt that Delius has captured this force in his music.

But I ask myself – ‘How can we, as my player and myself play, express this rhythmic force, this elemental dance, in our bodies?’

It’s said more and more these days that violinists should stand up to play, and not restrict their bodies to a chair in the orchestra pit or platform!  Standing brings much greater physical – (and therefore musical) – freedom.  As for me, as instrument, can there be a similar dancing movement in the sound that our bodies produce together?

All this reminds me of the time I played 2^nd Violin with Lady Berghersch at the first performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, under the deaf Maestro’s struggling leadership (!), along with a host of eminent musicians and friends.

See my Diary Entry posted on 31 October last year – 1814-1815 Beethoven and the Congress of Vienna.

As we noted then, the city of Vienna was filled with political leaders, statesmen, aristocracy and royalty from across Europe for the great Congress of Vienna, while the future of the continent was discussed following the defeat of Napoleon. However, most people preferred to revel in social intrigue and complicit activity, but dancing was on everybody’s mind all the time!

Ludvig van Beethoven, as a sort of resident composer for the Congress, produced a few ‘pot boilers’ to please the crowd, but the Seventh Symphony is of a different order, becoming a great and wonderful masterpiece. It has often earned the name ‘Symphony of the Dance’, as it breaks new ground, especially in its persistent rhythmic force and its unprecedented feeling of abandonment and joy.  Although the premiere of Beethoven’s ‘Dance Symphony’ was a wonderful occasion, it felt as though something was lacking. We were making music, certainly, but my tone wasn’t really ‘singing’, neither were we really ‘dancing’.

Naomi Cumming, a young violinist who died recently, wrote: ‘Creating a beautiful tone, through a well-balanced physical adjustment to the instrument, is central to creating the impression of musical personality.  The “sonic self” is thus conceived.  It is not a previously existing element of personality, but a creation that comes into being with sound.’  I could say this applies to my ‘dancing self’ too.

Does this talk of ‘dance’ have any connection to my passion for holding Music and Theology together?

John, the pianist in Harvey’s ‘Parson’s Noyse’ trio (see my Diary Entry for 8 April [1999-2005 – Fifth Station; Parson’s Noyse and Family History]) once wrote:

“From our playing together, we recognise that ‘perichoresis’ is a helpful metaphor for three Christian ministers in the enterprise of music-making. The word……was originally used to describe the reciprocal participation of the two natures of Christ…….It was then later applied to the mutual participation within the Trinity.  The word ‘perichoresis’ is not easy to translate.  ‘Interpenetration’ is one rendering; ‘coinherence’ is another, carrying within it that sense of mutual and reciprocal participation.  ………It can also mean ‘to go around’ or ‘to dance around’.  This is an attractive image, suggesting order and symmetry in the midst of diversity……For Roberta and me, who enjoy Harvey’s musical colleagueship as well as his friendship, such a ‘perichoretic dance’ sounds, resonates and flows through rehearsal, performance, laughter and conversation, giving us some auditory insight into the nature of the Triune God.”

If Jesus Christ can be known as ‘Lord of the Dance’, perhaps Violin and Player can have the potential to produce a dancing sound together!