Doxologist ContentTune-age Tuesday: Satie
We’ve been having some typically blustery and rainy days here in Seattle as of late and I can’t get enough. Come March or April, I probably will have had enough and will be ready to move on to our beautiful Spring and Summer weather. Until then, I enjoy a cup of tea and seek to find some music which accentuates the gray skies.
Satie: French revolutionary composer, and the godfather of ambient music. A friend gave me a CD compiling most of his piano works recently and I was instantly hooked. The Gymnopédie pieces are probably my favorite at this point some of the most beautifully simple melodies and colorful chords I’ve heard in a long time. My first thought was that it sounded very modern and had a hint of the minimalism I’ve come to love from Arvo Part and Brian Eno. After a little research, I was surprised to find out that he composed much of this music in the 1800s! I can’t very well imagine what kind of reaction these songs would have gotten in his day, but they seem to have influenced a ton of modern composers and bands.
In all of his glory, though, Satie worshiped art as an end in itself and toyed with spirituality in a variety of ways, apparently never coming to a belief in Jesus. He even started some kind of bizarre church for art/artists. I found some interesting info on this here.
As Christians we can’t worship art as an end in itself, but it seems like more often than not, we’re so afraid of doing so that quality gets sacrificed. Is God more glorified when our offering of worship is more excellent by human standards? I find it curious that so many of the greatest artists of all time have been in it for their own glory and not the glory of God. What does this say? Can you not be simultaneously a worshiper of Jesus and someone whose craft is perfected in a more humanistic way?
I’ve been wondering lately whether a self serving attitude affects musicality. If we are serving others and Jesus what will that sound like?
Relentless. That is the word. Maybe this response belongs under Matt’s blog on Howard Best. True worship is relentless. True discernment in worship is extremely relentless. Mystery is the second answer. No matter how much we believe to know, Jesus cannot be so fully grasped that we can just build a trailer that has all the answers. Man I love those trailers of hymn writers. Please all who work on them continue. It’s Great work. It’s Great thought. It’s Great worship. Yet they are just trailers, like advertisements for what’s coming soon. Previews of the whole story right? And then we return to relentless, which is part of the mystery I think. It is the mystery, not being able to fully grasp, that makes true worship so relentless.
i had never heard of satie until a year or so after i got married, my wife pulled out the music for Gymnopédie from under the piano bench and played a few. i had the identical reaction to you. my first reaction was “those are really, really pretty, dear.” my second reaction was “when were these written?” i had to believe they were, at the earliest, 1930s or 1940s, influenced by ravel and gershwin and shostakovich. i heard an elevation of the sound of the chord, rather than a focus on melody, which was sort of jarring - especially since the melodies that resulted were so sublime. it’s very nice stuff.
art is such a difficult world to understand, in my opinion, in terms of the questions you posed. there seems to be a very common strain amongst ‘creative Christians’ that there is a mandate to pursue artistic perfection, because there is a Godly dictum to do everything with excellence. while this seems like an admirable goal, it also smells of a puritanical worldview, which gives me pause. as does the idea that, since i am creative, if i am not creating, i am sinning, which seems to be the natural outgrowth of this thought.
that, along with the reality that a lot of really wonderful artists do not acknowledge the primacy of God in their worldview, creates a sort of conundrum. many artists have acknowledged it, on the other hand, and have, in many cases, been similarly wonderful artists - like H Best’s favorite, Bach.
which leads me to this conclusion: talent, effort, dedication, inspiration, and the like - these are the things that stimulate the artist. talent is God-given. inspiration CAN be God-given, and effort and dedication can be maximized in service to a loving and inspiring relationship with the Creator of the World. therefore, Christian artists have an innate orientation different than Godless artists. however, if you were looking for art that reflected being lost, hurt, isolated and broken, honestly, you’d better find some one whom God hasn’t found (or who hasn’t found God, depending on your theological/organizational framework).
either way, the creative process is, like everything else, commingled with the God-given spirit for Christian artists. if your life takes to you to the pursuit of artistic perfection, then you can be an Christ-worshipper, and an artist. i don’t see any conflict.
at least, i think that’s what i think.
Thanks for the comments, folks! Interesting thoughts, Brenton. I’d say I essentially agree with what you’re saying. I guess the thing that many of us wrestle with in the worship department is as Christians, properly going from the God-given talent and inspiration side to the effort and dedication side. It’s hard to pursue what we believe is a godly life and still put forth the effort and dedication of those who outpour themselves in worship of artistic perfection. Just the simple logistics of time can be difficult when you (for example) are a married man trying to appropriately provide for and love your wife kids. Musicians will often either avoid obtaining or neglect these responsibilities once they do have them and in turn lack real maturity in life and their walk with God. So on one hand you’re left respecting someone as an artist, and on the other, you have a hard time wanting to follow the example of their life…
To answer your question, Dan, I think a self serving attitude may not look any different than one which serves Jesus and others. It is possible for someone’s attitude to come across in their music, but many times it comes down to someone’s heart - which is often hidden from the surface. That’s why it’s hard to establish true lines between Christian and non-Christian music…
I am really curious to hear this Satie character’s music. It sounds fascinating, an ambient music from the 1800? I hope it’s way better than my line of work.
Kenny G
THE CREATIVE ACT IN A RELATIONSHIP
For me the artist faces the decision to live with God in the creative acts, or to create in concert with something or someone else.
Artists don’t like to consider their decisions. Inspiration is often an excuse for an undisciplined abandonment to the creative moment with whomever is there. But the outstanding products come when an artist decides:
With whom will I create?
And what is my pleasure in it, the relationship or the recognition?
Living works, things created that have godly life in them and keep on giving life, are a different creative product than a good song or sculpture. And they are only produced when the relationship with God is the absorbing passion in the creative act.
I can sense the difference when I experience a song or a picture or a story, and I am taken to the relationship with God, not the artist. “Let your light so shine…that they may glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” That is where the artists are living, so that is where I am transported.
I really value living works of an artist creating with Him. Let the love-creating expand!
Lewis Brown
Satie’s Gymnopedie is part of my music library which spans everything from rock and country to jazz and classical. It never fails to delight each time I hear it.
May I suggest that if you like Gymnopedie there’s a good chance you may also like Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Bach’s Sleepers Awake.