Check out my follow-up post: I don’t separate art from the artist.
Every week, I declare that composer’s identities matter by including their biographies in the Order of Worship. And every week, those who read the notes implicitly agree with me that the composers matter.
This week, when I went to write one of my notes, I found incredibly troubling information about one of the composers. (Briefly, many credible allegations of abuse from the composer’s students.)
So I decided to pull that anthem and program a different piece instead.
The whole situation bring up the sticky question:
Can you separate art from the artist?
I think that we often experience art disconnected from its creator. We don’t know who wrote the music, we don’t know anything about the painter of the print we like.
But in this specific situation, I actually connect creator to art by including composer biographies in the bulletin every week.
Here’s how I explained my choice to the congregation:
“By writing these weekly Music Notes—and by your reading them—together we make a statement that the people who create music matter. Because of how we are expressing our values through music, I decided to pull a planned anthem this week and program a different anthem instead. When I began writing a note about the composer, I quickly discovered the many credible abuse allegations against him. While I do think that art and creator often become disconnected in the ways that we experience art, our Music Notes habit says that ‘the people who write the music matter.’ So for this instance, I believe the best choice is choosing another piece of music.”
Check out my follow-up post: I don’t separate art from the artist.
Interesting and a REALLY good thing to talk about! I think differently. I think that the art /music comes from God, not to the composer necessarily. So, it could be that the music is the most important thing. In the Episcopal Church, we are taught that, even if the priest is tainted, the sacraments are valid because God is the ultimate Source and, it doesn’t matter who says the words. I think the same thing could be said of composers. Wagner has inspired and brought solace to many people. He was also a Nazi supporter. Thanks for bringing up the topic!!! Kathy
Hi Kathy! Thanks for your kind thought! I agree with you, that if music/art is coming from God, then the composer is largely irrelevant. It’s not how I see music (I tend to think of music as a medium for craft and for expression), but I see how your viewpoint makes sense! (In fact, I bet most church musicians share your view 🙂