Monday, December 28, 2009

Going For Baroque, Or Trying To Get Someplace You've Always Been


Paul Banham, one of my music professors at the University of Utah, once said that baroque music sounded like an attempt to get somewhere one has always been. This sentence has stuck with me for over 40 years because it describes so much of my personal journey.


I've always looked for new ways to experience the world, get closer to nature and understand relationships on a deeper level, but every advancement I've made, in retrospect, seems superficial. All of these attempts were like getting in touch with things that were always there. In trying to go beyond mere existence and find new ways of being and experiencing the world, I think I have become quite baroque.


Baroque artists between 1550 and 1750 had to look beyond themselves for expression because they were following such impressive "acts" as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael. To "reach beyond themselves" in an artistic sense, meant to revolt against Renaissance ideals; to depart from an established order, much as I have done by rejecting certain aspects of my society in search of a more meaningful one.


The baroque period has been described by William Fleming in Arts and Ideas as one "...in which the artists cultivated eccentricity and reveled in their inner conflicts. They found excitement in breaking established rules and violating artistic assumptions. For the baroque artist, the adaptation of an affected manner arose out of the breakdown of an ideal order." 


To me, much of this description sounds like a diagnosis of schizophrenia. In describing the baroque style, Fleming says, "Naturalism gave way to the free play of the imagination; classical composure yielded to nervous movement; a clear definition became a jumble of contorted figures; symmetry and focus on a central idea were replaced by off-balanced illusions."


Any wikipedia definition will tell you that schizophrenia is a distorted sense of reality, bizarre thought patterns, disturbance of thought and language, and withdrawal from society.


In the baroque era, the notion that space on a canvas or notes on a staff could be filled with such varied, eccentric possibilities may have been the result of Copernicus's revolutionary theory of a solar system in which the earth revolved around the sun. Galilea's telescope further enabled baroque man to hold a new view of himself in the universe. This strange, new, moving universe did not have man (or earth) as its center. Faced with the dissolution of the framework from which baroque man existed, he was forced to conclude that he was not the center, only a part. This fragmentation was expressed in his art. 


In this respect, the excessive ornamentation seen in baroque art and heard in music of the era, could be an expression of that vain attempt to get someplace man has always been. Baroque man in the universe was a fragmentation of a whole, not a central theme. Instead of writing single notes of music, he wrote florid passages of trills, turns, and countrapuntal diversities in a frantic attempt to distinguish himself in a nebulous world.  As an artist, he painted obscure, ill-defined forms, reflecting his status in the universe.


Many of my friends have described me as being "all over the place" with my artistic and literary expressions. My baroque, schizophrenic reaction to the world may be a reflection of my status in the ever-expanding universe; a universe that, as physicists tell us, is steadily becoming more disorganized; gradually moving toward chaos. Cosmos aside, I have wanted to escape the chaos of a society that seems at odds with my search for esoteric truths.


My library is full of books that talk about ego death and mystic oneness with all things. Could mystic oneness be finally getting to that place we have always been? On the days I come close to feeling "at one" with my surroundings and relationships, everything seems to come together. My family is good. My friends are good. Everything is exhileratingly complete. Then things inevitably begin to break down. How do you sustain bliss?  What happens after the all-time, end-it-all culminating experience? If you'll pardon the pun, after The Big Bang in the universe, didn't everything break apart, become the random stability that we know as the universe today? Isn't it natural for elation to fracture after culminating moments of oneness with earth, friends, and self? 


Man has always had schizophrenic reactions to his environment, whether or not someone was there to label the symptoms. We're all mannered, ornamented and baroque in our reaction to life. Our "place" while peripheral in the universe, is central in our consciousness and therefore, open to vast and diverse interpretation. Perhaps the challenge is to find a stabilizing grace, symmetry and perfection to all this disorder. Like baroque artists, we can express, in our own schizophrenic ways, that there is no single "correct" reality; that distortion is as natural as the normal appearance of things. 


18 comments:

  1. Perhaps when we leave our bones behind will we be able to "return to where we've always been"! In the meantime, there is the journey.

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  2. there is SO much here, i don't know where to start. hmm, in the middle.
    bliss-i don't know that it's possible to sustain bliss and still function on this planet, at least in the beginning. perhaps it settles, post elation, into a quietly blissful, connected state that allows for all expressions of "reality."
    i'm gonna think on this more-you really said a mouthful here!

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  3. I will have something to say about this wonderful post, Kass-erole, but it won't be a snap reply. I need to muse on what you've written. Back as soon as I can sort it out.

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  4. While I would agree that you are Baroque, (not spelled b-r-o-k-e), I also know that you're not schizophrenic. I think highly intelligent people are often widely creative, which you are...both.
    You have given much pause for thought. (As a meditation teacher, I'm not sure that's a gift. )

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  5. perhaps pure bliss is acknowledging the presence of chaos...

    would you want to remain blissful all the time?

    thank you for stopping by my site and leaving such a lovely comment! I will return here often for new things to think about :)

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  6. Hi Kass. I just wanted to say thank you for visiting my blog. I've had fun exploring yours.

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  7. This entry reminds me of the first time I learned the word schizophrengenic - I liked the word and it also reminds me of a baroque style of classical guitar that I love to play.

    I am looking forward to reading what you are up to in the coming year.

    Tom Bailey

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  8. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around your thoughts. I think I'm hung up on the very notion of Baroque music. I can't seem to meld Pachelbel, Vivaldi, Telemann and Bach into some unified concept. Each was so unique.

    If by Baroque you mean unique, then you are most certainly Baroque.

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  9. An excellent post, Kass, starting with that epic statement about baroque music and then extrapolating. Good reflections and speculations at the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

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  10. It’s strange but my gut feeling about Baroque composers is that order was of still of great importance to them albeit their own brand of order. Their compositions were highly structured; form was paramount in a society where etiquette was everything. I can see though that the nature of their frilly, polyphonic music might suggest schizophrenia if not indeed multiple personalities, all those melodies going on with scant regard for harmony as we’ve come to know it, and I can also see that the painters, who also adhered to their own strict (and, of course, arbitrary) rules, produced paintings that are as cluttered in their own way. So, what am I suggesting? That they were trying to bring a form of order out of chaos. That’s the thing about rule-breakers, which they most certainly were, one of the first things they end up doing is establishing their own rules to make sense of the mess they find themselves in; rules make order visible even if they do come and go with the fashion.

    I’m not sure I understand your music professor’s statement; it feels like a Zen koan and I’ve never had much truck with them. It sounds as if it’s saying that life is all to do with reconciling ourselves to what we have rather than to improve ourselves; that smacks of a caste mentality: where we are, where we have been and where we are going are one and the same place. Rules do that; they contain movement and prohibit development. I think it’s ironic that we use the word ‘movement’ to describe schools of thought when all they do is impose restrictions on their members.

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  11. Badger - Yes, there is the journey, by bike, by mind, with friends. Good to concentrate on this. Thanks. Happy New Year!

    Standing - I agree, bliss cannot be sustained in the full-blown sense, but an underlying certainty of 'place in the universe' would be nice.

    Les - Hope to hear your thoughts -

    Marie - Did you mean I was both wild and creative or intelligent and creative? I hope 'wild.' I'm glad I've been successful in hiding my schizophrenia from you. I know what you mean about thought. It's a dangerous thing.

    Pauline - I agree with you about acknowledging and accepting chaos being a certain kind of bliss. I guess I keep hoping to find an underlying blissful attitude that doesn't become boring.

    Ellen - Glad you stopped by and had fun. Fun is what it's all about.

    Tom - I'm so happy for the new acquaintance and the new word. I've visited your blog and will be back to comment on critisism.

    Jonas - I agree. Baroque music is very diversely interesting and lends order to my mind. I wonder which pieces come to your mind.

    Dick - Thanks for your kind words. I am ever hopeful for a baroquely blissful New Year and wish you one as well.

    Jim - I think strictness to order was required by baroque musicians and artists BECAUSE their place in the universe was in question. But within that order, you can see frenetic doodling, as if to assert by mere complication, that they were important (another way of reasserting everything you said).

    I love your take on Paul Banham's statement. You've seen into and through him. He was possibly the most mannered, baroque person I have ever known. There were rumors that he crawled out of a grand piano to begin a lecture and he was flamboyantly gay in an era where it was quite undercover. While hugely intelligent, he often said things for effect (but I did love that our final consisted of analyzing "Abbey Road" in complete musical or sonata form). I loved his statement about trying to get someplace we've always been in the esoteric sense. We can't apply it to any kind of structure, or as you said, movement, if we want to achieve more knowledge, art production or relationships. Once again, you've reached into my brain and turned it a darker shade of gray, or maybe a whiter shade of pale, procol harum-wise.

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  12. "Any wikipedia definition will tell you that schizophrenia is a distorted sense of reality, bizarre thought patterns, disturbance of thought and language, and withdrawal from society." - zoiks, that describes most of the people I know: maybe I should get out (of the institution;) more!

    "Any wikipedia definition..." how many are there?

    Sorry, in a playful mood!

    Happy New Year - look forward to reading you more in the, um, New Year... :)

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  13. Oh Rachel, you rascal. I scanned several wikipedia articles about different kinds of schizophrenia and I just couldn't remember which one said what. Busted!

    If you google 'schizophrenia' you will get several wiki references. Oh dear, I'm over-justifying myself. Just deal with it, but you didn't miss the point - it really does describe the artistic type (and our friends).

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  14. You went "deep" on us with this post. Baroque music was never a favorite of mine but a necessary step in "freeing" the development of music.

    Chaos has been around me so much that it seems "normal" to me. There are times I need chaos to thrive and feel alive, Can't stand sitting still with everything in order.

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  15. Christella, thanks for reading this. It can't be easy catching up on all the posts from your blogroll that you've missed. Chaos is kind of a normal state for me and I think it's part of what motivates me - trying to make order and sense out of things.

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  16. Thanks, Kass, for checking on me. I think one of the reasons I like your blog is because one never knows where you might go and thinking is required. Yes, we both have chaos in our lives, as many others do, also.

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  17. It is important to note music from the baroque era has a very distinct feature
    Clarity... much emphises is put on producing music that plays with the mind by
    variation of sound and isolating instruments for short peroids of time thereby keeping listners involved and drawn in.All that said on a more scientific note :
    Indian Journal of pshyciatry 2004 has published info on numerous studies involving
    mental conditions and music and it seems that brainwaves are greatly effected by the type of music and the important part is that in schizophrenic patient the gamma waves reduced significantly and alpha wave =s increased meaning a more relaxed state of being and reduction of psycotic episodes and the severity thereoff on Baroque music Telleman Gluck etc.
    You can only go back to what you know and experienced ...you only have your world and yes you may visit places and times but not beyond your being or existance.
    Enjoyed being part and thank you for sharing your some of your life and wisdom
    Greetings Leroi

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  18. It is important to note music from the baroque era has a very distinct feature
    Clarity... much emphises is put on producing music that plays with the mind by
    variation of sound and isolating instruments for short peroids of time thereby keeping listners involved and drawn in.All that said on a more scientific note :
    Indian Journal of pshyciatry 2004 has published info on numerous studies involving
    mental conditions and music and it seems that brainwaves are greatly effected by the type of music and the important part is that in schizophrenic patient the gamma waves reduced significantly and alpha wave =s increased meaning a more relaxed state of being and reduction of psycotic episodes and the severity thereoff on Baroque music Telleman Gluck etc.
    You can only go back to what you know and experienced ...you only have your world and yes you may visit places and times but not beyond your being or existance.
    Enjoyed being part and thank you for sharing your some of your life and wisdom
    Greetings Leroi

    ReplyDelete

It's nice to know you've stopped by. Thanks.