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David and Orpheus

Old King Saul was a gloomy old soul and a gloomy old soul was Saul - until young David became his armor bearer. For David was also a fine musician, able to pluck out melodies on a harp that soothed old King Saul's soul. Or as the Bible puts it: "Whenever the evil spirit came upon Saul, David took up his harp and played, and Saul was refreshed; the evil spirit departed from him."

Because of such references to his musical skill, David has been long considered the source of much of the music in our biblical heritage. In 2nd Samuel he is actually described as composing a famous lamentation over the death of his friend Jonathan in battle: "Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! O how the mighty have fallen!" And tradition has attributed to him the whole Book of Psalms, all those wonderful lyrics of joy, sorrow and hope with which we are so familiar.

But David is not the only musician in our cultural past. We are also cultural heirs to another ancient composer, the legendary Orpheus. From the point of view of our Greek and Roman heritage it was Orpheus who introduced music into our world, a music played upon a lyre that had the same effect on wild animals that David's music had upon Saul. Everything in nature seemed to dance to his tune. It was also told that during the voyage of Jason in quest of the Golden Fleece, it was the music of Orpheus that quieted a mutiny and later saved the crew from the seductive songs of the Sirens.

Finally, upon the untimely death of his wife, Orpheus dared convey his repertory even into the depths of Hades. Down he went to retrieve her, singing, "With my song I will charm even the Lord of the Dead, moving his heart with my melody." And sure enough, according to the legend, all the watchmen of hell became entranced and the Furies wept and his wife was released to follow him and his music back into the realm of life. Did she make it? Well, as we used to say when we were kids, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

It's interesting that the early teachers of the Church saw in both David and Orpheus a forecast of Christ as the ultimate musician whose Gospel amounts to the best music we shall ever hear this side of Paradise. And why shouldn't the Gospel be equated with music? For music is something so special. It has the power to carry us beyond ordinary talk to a level of communication that is full of heart and harmony. It changes the atmosphere around us, causing us to weep or smile instead of frown all the time.

Think of the effect of Gregorian chant echoing among the vaults of some cathedral or of Beethoven's Choral Symphony or of even a simple ballad like Danny Boy on our minds and hearts. Music and Gospel are nothing less than the sound of love itself welling up from deep within humanity, so deep as to trace its source to the Holy Spirit himself, the biblical Muse who has composed this magnificent universe in which we live.

It's when we lose touch with that Spirit that discord happens. It's when love fades within us that the mere noise of civilization takes over: the scream of victims, the boom of bombs, the cackle of politics, pundits and commerce. And according to the early Church, it was to dispel all such discord that Jesus came in fulfillment of David and Orpheus and all composers before and after him - to teach us how to really sing! - to teach us how to become music ourselves, each of us the living lyric of a song that's never quite been sung before.

-- Geoff Wood