In the wake of the recent tragedy in France I have read many opinions on the matter. I've read that free speech is important, we should unite in defending it. I agree. I've read that we should respect other religions more. I agree. I've read that the Western world is waging a terrible war upon Muslims everywhere and we are deceiving ourselves if we think we are innocent. I agree. There seem to be no easy answers, no quick fix for these entrenched problems that divide us. How can something as simple as a cartoon make any difference at all when hatred is so strong?
Arvo Pärt was born in Estonia in 1935 and thus grew up in the Soviet Union. He played the oboe and percussion in the army band then went on to study composition at the Tallinn Conservatory. Although he had artistic success, he soon became a target of the Soviet cultural police who did not appreciate his "avant-garde bourgeois music." The performance of his 1968 choral work Credo, which proclaims in the Latin text "I believe in Jesus Christ," outraged the atheist officials. A huge scandal ensued. Officers in the Estonian Philharmonic organization were fired. The conductor Neeme Järvi only managed to hang onto his job because there was no one to replace him. Pärt's commissions dried up and he found it difficult to work for the next eight years.
What's most compelling about this story is that the Credo itself was Pärt's commentary on hate, the very hate it spawned. The piece opens with musical quotes from a famous prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is calm, serene, and lovely. Then a wild cacophony of sound interrupts and nearly destroys the prelude. But the peace is victorious and the prelude returns at the end. As Pärt explains in an interview for the New York Times, "It was my deep conviction that the words of Christ, 'You have heard an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, do not resist evil, go with love to your enemies,' this was a theological musical form. Love destroyed the hate: Not destroyed, the hate collapsed itself when it met the love. A convulsion."
I am an idealist. I believe the arts; visual, theater, music, dance, literature, and yes, cartoons, can change the world. And when the arts are combined with love, they become the most powerful tools we have. I am not Charlie. But I am a member of the human race, and as a member of that race I mourn the loss of any who die in a tragic and untimely way. If you are a member of the human race (and Vulcans are welcome, too!), join me in going with love to our enemies. Hate collapses when it meets love. Let's have a convulsion.
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| Arvo Pärt |
