"Music affects every emotion...It awakens the gentler feelings of tenderness and love, which readily pass into devotion. It likewise stirs up in us the sensation of triumph and the glorious ardour for war...We can concentrate...greater intensity of feeling in a single musical note than in pages of writing...Love is still the commonest theme of our songs...music "arouses dormant sentiments of which we had not conceived the possibility, and do not know the meaning...tells us of things we have not seen and shall not see" (272).
I love this passage. Music can be therapeutic, uplifting, inspirational, and cathartic. Even without words, the strength of a melody can be life-altering. You cannot see music; it is not tangible. Yet, music affects humans and almost all organisms in great ways. It is also interesting that love is the most common theme. Birds use melodies as courtship rituals. Humans similarly are moved by "love songs." In a book as dry and hard to get through as The Descent of Man, I found this passage touching and thought-provoking. Music is a source of passion.
1 comment:
Thank you for pointing out this section. It is really lovely, and your insights fit so well. They say that music is so mathematical, and I know that it is, but it seems to me that it has a direct tie to our emotions, not our logic. Think of the power of movie soundtracks, and how different the movie would be without music!
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