Towers of Babel?
If your mother-tongue is Swahili, Icelandic, Uzbekistan, Maori
or one of the more familiar world-languages: Spanish, Chinese,
Arabic,
Italian or Russian it is always possible to translate it
into "real" (UK) or American English. Such a human request
as: "I need a drink of water!" can be translated from any
of the world's thousands of languages and local dialects.
This is the universal capability of the spoken and written
word: we have virtually exact equivalents in our own European
languages. Despite this, it has often been realised in the past, more so than in modern times of universal
communication, that probably some cultures, remote from our
own, have concepts that are not properly understood by us
in western society. In the same way we have long-standing
historical notions of thought and philosophy of which other
cultures probably still do not have any concept. This divide,
it has been said, was, if not to some extent still is, one
of the great stumbling blocks to world co-operation in agreeing
treaties between one country and another: Some basic philosophical
ideals, almost universal in western society, appear not to
be capable of being understood by societies who view the
human condition and morals differently from our own. In the
main, however, the simple words of human usage, no matter
from whatever near or distant society, can somehow be translated
from one to the other.
Listening to discussions between experts or reading analytical
reviews and theses in almost any field: literature, art,
the theatre,
economics, religion, politics or whatever, language can be
revealing and assist one to understand the essence of the
speaker's or the writer's personal view. Over the years I
have read countless books about music. Many of them have
become universally accepted authorities on this or that aspect
of it. Without many of such learned - or even modest personal
opinions - we should perhaps still be un-enlightened about
many of the tantalising things
that we have come to know through our reading what others
have discovered. Unlike almost all other topics, such as
the visual arts or literature, however, discussing or writing
about music can be an elusive subject. Of course opinions
about this or that kind of music, this or that composer from
a variety of cultures or periods of history is a matter of
personal taste that can be accepted or rejected. In the same
way opinions about performance and the often conflicting
ways that any given piece of music is interpreted can be
a matter of the most absorbing debate.
Compared with most other things we can contemplate and discuss with others,
perhaps by its nature, music somehow seems forever to remain
elusive. Obviously it is possible to say whether a certain
piece appeals, and - roughly - even to recognise why
we either like or dislike it; whether it has one quality
or another. Unlike most other means of communicating ideas,
though, it cannot properly be translated into another language.
Whilst it is relatively straightforward to say what a novel
or a play is about, or what a picture illustrates, to which
there is no gainsaying by critics; describing what a piece
of music is really about is almost impossible. Music allied
to words - all vocal music, whether opera, folk-song, oratorio,
love songs, politically-stirring national anthems, is obvious
enough, for the words explain everything and music - even
if exalted enough in itself in such cases - does after all
depend on the words to confirm what the emotional or intellectual
intention is; words give the secret away. It is with music
that has no verbal explanation that can leave the listener
guessing. One of the sometimes irritating aspects of this
abstract, or absolute music is that we are often bombarded
with explanations that are not necessary. Academics, like
research scientists are ever seeking to explore hidden meanings.
This can be useful to all of us in the pursuit of a better
understanding, and through generations of writers and thinkers
we have been brought to a better understanding of what music
is really about; so we have to be grateful for the researches
they have made. The objection to a lot of written commentary
such as critics indulge in, is that it can be so conflicting:
each claiming that his or her view is the true explanation
of the music's meaning; whereas there can never be a final
and true explanation which relates to each individual listener's
own perception
As with so many other facets of knowledge, some things appear
- at least in the present state of discovery - to remain
unknowable.
It has been remarked before in some of these commentaries
that music is certainly a language; but unlike literal languages
it has this unique quality of being universal, or virtually
so, while at the same time being incapable of translation.
This is the paradox: the concepts expressed in Swahili, Icelandic
or Tibetan can be translated with precision and accuracy
as to what they mean in our own languages, but music, being
universal in one sense is not capable of being more accurately
translated from itself. We all 'know' what it means though
we can never say exactly what it means to us personally.
We can draw close parallels, but these only ever remain notions
at the back of our own minds that we cannot find counterpart
words in any other verbal or literal language to define precisely
what such and such a passage of music means to us.
Despite the ever-growing number of theses, essays, analyses,
critiques, reviews, academic dissertations and musical books
of all
kind that confront us, in many ways perhaps we would be better
not to be cajoled into accepting this or that expert's assessment
or 'translation' of what a piece of music really means, but
merely listen and leave it at that. Every piece of music
which we hear for the first time has it unique meaning for
each one of us. Whether, by reading a review of it and being
exhorted to get to know what its meaning is said (by others)
to be, there can be no substitute for the unique meaning
- which we cannot even describe to ourselves - having something
about it that, while we might struggle endlessly to explain,
it remains tantalisingly elusive
in our minds: either forever captivating and infinitely meaningful
and alluring, (or totally repellent); we shall never truly
be able to find the precise words to describe to another
person the exact inner meaning or vision music brings to
us.
Arthur Butterworth
January 2007
