Concordia College - White and Blue Yearbook (Milwaukee, WI)

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YAN a coe mR St ein AR RENN A HES RHNNIONINS, SORA NSAI AE YR ROAR OME VND A uate MUR ORA SG Ry ALANNA RIN Abner namin semsnnmnetyaf SRN Rt ASA pC SA TNR AR ETAT RAR NEI Se RR ERS EEA SRE ERENT, eas AKANE TRAIT AN OTEANEe een THE WHITE @ AND BLUE WW i Ese CRS Ohre ape aia: of Good Mavic 12029 O85 O 2 Ge=O-=O1 = Ges Oer Hes Wee Bor G se Oss Ors Oe-O== Os: 0228-7 O28 ec Ore re ae “(rive me some music; that piece of song, That old and antique song we heard last “Song makes the sad night joyful, it gives courage to the faint-hearted, and the haughty it makes more gentle.” Methought it did relieve my passion much ; More than light airs and recollected terms Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times.” STAT : —Shakespeare. ” pOO1cOts Ose nertOri bt ereceros EO Coroners ory peta ies Bi en a hh sets Rey reer Yer fet fet ey eet tet See tee ee ee ee ee eee eee eee ee ee eee Music has been very aptly called the. language of the soul. What a privileged position it enjoys among all the fine arts! And indeed, not merely privileged; we do not hesitate a moment to assign to it one of the most important places among all branches of human achievement. No other art can so directly carry on discourse with our inner man; no other can so powerfully create and dispel moods of the human mind. We may sit en- grossed over a painting created by the most celebrated representative of that art; or we may be profoundly impressed by a strikingly beautiful passage in verse; but music alone can steal to the very bottom of our hearts and there impart to us, in a language intelligible to us all, those feelings and emotions which words fail to utter. True, on some of us its influence may be less marked, while others, endowed with a greater natural or acquired amount of musical appreciation, will be stirred to the inmost depths of their souls. But the heart which is entirely immune, the soul that is wholly unsusceptible, to its various influences is rare in the entire human race. Says Beattie, “Ts there a heart that music cannot melt? Alas! how is that rugged heart forlorn.”’— As just indicated, music exerts various influences, and this because of the various moods it assumes. There is in the first place merry music, music as we find it in the lively tempo of the rondo, as contained in the sprightly waltz movement, music which relieves our care-pressed soul and “exalts her in enlivening airs’. Music of this kind has been sung by poets all through the ages as the best means of dispelling gloomy and melancholy thoughts and moods. And indeed, which of us cannot remember similar experiences, when the joyful, sunny strains of sweet music brought cheer to a saddened heart, when spirits, weighed down with worries and cares, were brightened, when even life began once more to take a blissful aspect? Its power to drive away all traces of gloom and to place whole groups of people in a joyous frame of mind accounts for its presence at the most gor- geous royal banquets as well as at the merry-making of the humblest peasant folk, for “music is the medicine of an afflicted rel and joy is heightened by exultant strains.”—A similar influence we find exerted by military music, music of a martial order. Ask any war veteran, regardless of the banner under which he fought, and he will be able to recall many instances of the change in the spirits of entire companies brought about by the lively military Page Forty-six

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ze} bs they, % E v 2 on PRE He anemia ARIS ea AAR RAEN ORI INRIENS SANSA IN CSSA eee ned uinetein gen maeeAnaatnnia man mrainnaenaninn connie AYE ACN RANI arma NL o Veer, So a) x am xo See he Senetan hoa pee insababeaae co taearn aeetoes Sareanee ent enna ore) oseaanh tien catenin einai ainaaaaea ahaion teemmmnn oohenmniete cao sae ae onteaeeete D AY hy OX hoses SPATS emo Settle het cent ent stents aaa Sod wy AN = w { a . ¢ a) oo SS SY, ANA y Ny VBE er Feat rv8 = | = hs anges hy music of a band, how it caused their hearts to beat faster, their pulse to throb more violently, until their animation actually bordered on a state of frenzy. A general’s earnest and spirited address may impart courage and enthusiasm to his men, but nothing can so thoroughly rouse them to action as the fiery, warlike tunes of a military band. Tuckerman wrote, “Explain it as we may, a martial strain will urge a man into the front rank of battle sooner than an argument.” Pope expresses the same thought when he exclaims, speaking of the various influences of music, “Warriors she fires with animated sounds,’’— But all of life is not a succession of happy events, much less is it spent entirely in waging war. There come quiet moments, necessary for the de- velopment of our inner man, when we wish to be left to ourselves and en- gage in silent meditation and reflection. At such times we care not to be entertained by hght and frivolous music, but rather listen to music of a more serious, sublime character, music adapted to our particular mood, which will aid us in our reflection. And how eloquently it expresses our inmost thoughts and feelings, better even than we curselves could attempt to ex- press them! Surely, music of this kind was in the mind of Carlyle when he said, “Music is a kind of inarticulate, unfathomable speech, which leads us to the edge of the infinite, and lets us for a moment gaze into that”. How willingly we give ourselves up to its ennobling influences, at the same time becoming completely oblivious of our external surroundings and living only in the realm of the music we hear! Our emotions are aroused and we forget, as it were, the real world without, with all its griefs and sorrows, and we exist for the time being in a world without sorrow. ‘This is the music which inspires poets to write their best and gentlest lines when attempting to describe it. This, too, is the kind of music than which, aside from divine power, there is probably nothing more capable of purifying our emotions. It “cleanses the understanding, inspires it, and lifts it into a realm which iivOuldmnOtercacheiettawereslerteroritscell . | lhisus the music we have im mind when we claim for it the greatest power of bringing civilization to un- cultured savages. ‘This, finally, is the music which accompanies us in our hours of devotion and sacred worship and permits, as it were, our spirit to hear angelic hosts sing celestial anthems of eternal bliss. . Sacred and sec- ular history fairly teems with instances where music was used to calm, to elevate, to inspire. Let the account of David’s playing before Saul and Dirsaeli’s remark that Milton, poet and musician, listened to his organ for his solemn inspirations suffice as illustrations. But there are times when our heart asks for music of a still more sombre character, times when we mourn the loss of our closest friend or dearest family member and our heart, whose fibres are all but rent with anguish, seems about to burst with sorrow and grief. At such times it seeks only comfort, comfort to still the intense longing for the departed. And lo! even here music supplies our want. Accompanying us in our joy, communing with us in our soul’s meditations, it now takes part in our greatest of griefs and brings healing to our bleeding hearts. And oh! how gently it calms the Acninae void in our hearts, w ith what soothing voice it “appeals to our pain-racked soul, while earthly language would have been powerless to bring comfort. Then indeed do we Calla that music is truly the heart-language and we are even inclined to term it celestial, because its power of comfort- ing. Probably Shakespeare, abounding in beautiful passages on the essence and powers of music, also expresses this quality best when he says, Page Forty-seven