DAILY DOSE of BEETHOVEN (August 13, 2020)
Beethoven’s oratorio captures a unique, human, and powerful aspect of the story that could move the heart of anyone, including one of another faith or an atheist. It portrays a universal truth about the qualities that allow humanity to progress.
We have just seen Jesus intervene and tell Peter to lose his rage and "Love your Enemies." The enraged enemy soldiers seize Jesus. Even the Disciples lose their courage and fear for their own lives. Jesus however, sings of victory! How can a man about to be crucified do that? To comprehend this, we must once again turn to Friedrich Schiller: this time, to his: "On the Sublime":
"No man must must" ...”The will is the species character of man... Precisely for this reason, nothing is so unworthy of man, as to suffer violence, for violence annuls him. Who does it to us, disputes nothing less than our humanity; who suffers it in a cowardly manner, throws away his humanity.”
For Schiller, it is human nature to shape our lives out of free will, rather than find yourself as a victim of circumstances (no man must must), or even violence. That is easier said than done, but people do have some success—up to a certain point that he (Man) succeeds in his mastery over the physical.
But, there is one thing no one seems to be able to control: For everything, the proverb says, there is a remedy, but not for death.
“The single exception would annul the whole notion of Man. By no means can he be the being, which wills, if there is even but a single case where he absolutely must, what he does not will. He ought to never suffer something against his will.”
How does he propose we make death part of our will? It requires a moral state he calls the “sublime”. He gives the case of a person having a beautiful character, who enjoys natural beauty, is well-off, able to enjoy the finer things, is gracious and kind, and finds his pleasure in the practice of justice, beneficence, temperance, constancy, and faithfulness.
Say that this same man shall, however, suddenly fall into a great misfortune. One shall deprive him of his possessions, one shall ruin his good name. Illnesses shall throw him onto a painful bed, death shall tear away from him everything which he loves, everything in which he trusts, shall forsake him in his distress. In this condition, let one seek him again and demand of the unhappy one the practice of the same virtues
Ths disposition, of being able to remain the same loving soul, despite such hardship, is what Schiller calls the “Sublime”—a personality ruled by the beauty of his or her mind—not the beauty of nature-gardens, scenery, possessions, health, even family. That internal beauty is fed by nature, but becomes developed enough to survive independently, no matter what the circumstances and surroundings are. The beautiful mind does not depend on external circumstances. For such a disposition, even death is not outside of one's will.
Nothing which it exerts upon him is violence, for before it comes up to him, it has already become his own act.
For the ordinary person that can mean not fearing death, but seeing it as necessary. For a few, it really does become their means of changing the world. That is the case here with Jesus. He has gone from fearing death, as something imposed on him that he seeks to be taken away, to accepting it out of love of mankind, to making it his own act, one that will accomplish his life's mission on earth.
Beethoven composed this work shortly after writing the “Heiligenstadt Testament”, where he confessed that his growing deafness had driven him to suicidal thoughts. Beethoven had suffered an act of violence imposed on him by nature, outside of his control: irreparable hearing loss. In the “Heiligenstadt Testament”, he said that only his art kept him going. Would that be a mediocre art, written out of defeat and resignation? No, Beethoven "made it his own act." He turned his deafness into an asset, getting to the non-sensuous heart of music, while, ironically communicating that heart through increased sensuous beauty! He composed better than anyone blessed with hearing!
In this “Finale”, different states of mind at first sing in succession:
The soldiers are furious and impatient to arrest Jesus:
1.Soldiers
Auf! ergreifet den Verräther, weilet hier nun länger nicht! Fort jetzt mit dem Missethäter, schleppt ihn schleunig vor Gericht.
Quick, seize and bind this arrant traitor; Let’s here no longer stay. Death to the arch imposter! Let’s drag him hence away"
The Disciples, who love Jesus, lose their courage and begin to fear for their own lives:
2. Disciples
Ach, wir werden seinetwegan auch gehasst, verfolget sein! Man wird uns in Bande legen martern und dem Tode weih’n.
O, how our Lord is hated, cruelly treated, dragged on high. We’ll now join him in his bondage, doomed to anguish, doomed to die.
3. Jesus sings a great triumphant aria:
Mein Qual ist bald verschwunden, der Erlösung Werk vollbracht, bald ist gänzlich überwunden und besiegt der Hölle Macht.
My torment will soon be over, the work of redemption accomplished, soon we will be completely overcome and defeat the Power of Hell!
After their separate turns, all three sing together. It is amazing to hear Christ's sublime mindset soar over the rage and fear.
This leads directly into a great chorus, sometimes sung as Hallelujah. Choirs of angels ask the entire universe to sing His praises! Beethoven's love of Handel shines through. On the words " Preiset ihn", a powerful fugue emerges:
Welten singen Dank und Ehre dem
erhab’nem, Gottes Sohn,
Preiset ihn, ihr Englechöre,
laut im heil’gen, Jubelton!
Worlds sing thanks and honor to it
exalted, God's son,
Praise him, you angel choirs,
loud in the holy, cheering tone!