1995-97 Music & Aesthetics (3)

My third posting from Harvey’s aesthetic studies at Sussex University relates to the final dissertation he had to submit at the end of the course.

It was an analysis of Ludwig van Beethoven’s great setting of the Catholic mass, ‘Missa Solemnis’, including a comparison with philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer’s monumental study of hermeneutics in his ‘Truth and Method’.

Although this was very demanding for Harvey – as you can imagine – he learned a great deal.  For one thing, it helped to clarify an abiding concern about the interpretation of texts (hermeneutics), especially with its implications for biblical expository preaching.  It confirmed Harvey’s view that any Biblical Text for a preacher is a musical manuscript which must be studied, interpreted and performed for present-day hearers and listeners – i.e. hermeneutically.

In this dissertation, Harvey was seeking to expound the intricacies of the text of the Roman Catholic Mass and to resonate with Beethoven’s hermeneutical interpretation (as far as that might be possible).

With all the analytical ‘brain’ work required, there was a glimpse of Harvey’s bodily involvement in the writing of this essay.  He was acutely aware that Beethoven had completely lost his hearing by the time he wrote the ‘Missa Solemnis’, and Harvey, as he prepared his essay (September 1996), was beginning to be aware of some hearing difficulties of his own.

(Inside my body – again!)

As he reflected upon the section of the ‘Credo’ which relates the suffering of Jesus ‘under Pontius Pilate’, I’m sure Harvey’s whole body was resonating with the musical setting of the words.  The poignancy of Christ’s suffering was being interpreted in a ‘moving’ way by the deaf composer, and at the same time this was somehow actively perceived in the body of my resonating player.

Memories of the day in Vienna when Beethoven struggled to play me ‘in tune’ came flooding back into my own frame.

But here surely, in Harvey’s ‘brain’ and ‘body’ analysis, Music and God were coming together. From now on, we revert to more practical and active experiences…………….