Last week I did something for the first time: I cancelled an anthem because of the composer’s very public sin. In other words, I did not separate art from the artist—I made a choice affirming my belief that composers matter to our experience of the music they create.
Then, I wrote about my reasons for canceling the music on my blog (read that post here) and in that Sunday’s “Music Notes” included in the Order of Worship (bulletin).
My congregation and choir supported my decision, and several individuals thanked me for it.
But many of my friends and colleagues objected. They argued that I shouldn’t have cancelled the anthem.
There were 5 main arguments that folks made, so I’m addressing those below.
At the heart of this situation though, is a pastoral concern. My main goal in selecting music is to serve my specific congregation by leading them in musical worship.
As I select music, I take into account many factors, including the composer. The composer is far from being the only factor I consider, but it’s an important one to the congregation I serve. I strive to make my choices spiritually beneficial to the congregation and would never want to distress someone in the church by my musical selection.
With that in mind, here are the 5 main viewpoints that folks voiced about my decision to cancel the anthem:
1. “Music comes from God, so the composer is basically irrelevant when selecting music.”
This is a philosophical argument about what music IS in its very nature.
I don’t think that it’s necessarily a problem if you believe that music comes from God. But here’s an alternative viewpoint to consider:
Music can be a medium of skilled craft and/or self-expression. God gifts people to use this medium and many other mediums, like painting and writing. And while that gift is from God, it is also relevant what we people do as we create with this medium.
2. “Since music comes from God, focusing on the composer takes glory away from God.”
Similarly to #1, this is one way of thinking about what music IS. And similarly, I want to offer another way of thinking about God’s glory in relationship to music.
One way God can be glorified is through what we do, such as writing music. So praising what a specific composer created can give glory to God, because God is the One gifting the composer with the aptitude to create music.
This is the underlying reason why I write mini composer bios for the “Music Notes” included in the Order of Worship (bulletin). The congregation and I give glory to God for making people so marvelous that we can create marvelous things.
I also write these bios because I believe that representation matters. Highlighting the composers is a way of demonstrating diversity in the people who have created the music we worship with. I wouldn’t feel comfortable highlighting composer’s bios and personal diversity, and then intentionally including a composer whose choices have harmed children.
3. “Performance setting is irrelevant.”
Many friends and colleagues brought up Wagner because of his abhorrent personal anti-Semitism, as well as the use of his music by Nazis. By asking something like, “What about Wagner?” they suggested that if I would program his music (or presumably listen to it), then it would be unfair to cancel the anthem as I did.
But I think this question confuses sacred and secular settings.
I don’t think that Wagner’s music should be used in a sacred service. Nor should we use any other music so strongly associated with anti-Semitism. In fact, I once worked for a congregation that explicitly forbade Wagner’s Wedding March in their wedding services!
Whether or not to use Wagner’s music in a secular setting is another debate.
I believe our sacred services are held to a higher standard than a secular setting—a standard that requires we intentionally hold ourselves to the highest good in the music we employ.
4. “Jesus says forgive. You are yourself judging (sinning) by cancelling the composer’s anthem.”
There are two elements to this argument. First, that all or nearly all sins are basically the same. I’ve sinned, you’ve sinned, we’ve all sinned. Second, that we should never or almost never reject what someone has created because of their sin, either because we’ve all sinned or because composers don’t factor into our musical selections.
I agree that all of us sin, but I also believe the some sins have very serious, public consequences. So yes, a murderer and I are both sinners, but the murderer’s sin of murder carries a far more serious and public consequence. I don’t think it’s being “judgy” to make that distinction.
A composer’s serious sin might have very serious consequences. Maybe even the semi-public consequence of one musician in one church choosing to cancel their music. (I say semi-public since I did not identify the composer.)
5. “Other composers have been discriminated against because of their religion/ethnicity/orientation/etc., and that’s wrong. You’re doing something similarly wrong by canceling a piece because of a composer’s serious sin.”
No I’m not. A specific sin is not religion/ethnicity/orientation/etc.
What do you think? Do you take composers into account as you select music?
