Musical Instruments

Daily Meditation 674–1/1/2024

With a few keystrokes, this organ can take you to Heaven or to Hell. But is it evil?

Are some musical instruments evil? Demonic?

Handel’s Passacaglia in G Minor (specifically the orchestral version — not the harpsichord rendition) remains one of my favorite classical pieces.

Now, Bach, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Purcell et al had many wonderful songs written as pieces to single out specific instruments. And, we know the “vibe” or the mood of the instruments by how they are played.

Purcell’s “Rondeau” from Abdelazer has a pomposity.
Saint-Saëns’s “Aquarium” from his sweeping Carnival of the Animals suite does an exquisite job capturing the darkened, underground feeling of the zoo aquarium with the ribbons of scintillating water reflects dancing on the walls. It has a sense of curiosity to it.

And, Bach’s infamous “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” — the penultimate “Halloween” song — has this powerful, evil sensation to it with the opening movement. You can almost hear the yellow, waxy-skinned, bony fingers of some ghoul dancing on the organ keys as it swells and swells and swells in overwhelm.

When you hear Saint-Saëns’s “Aquarium,” is it a “good” song? And when you hear “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” is it an “evil” song? Are the musicians wielding their bassoons and harps and organs bad for playing one or the…