November 9 was the birth anniversary of Iqbal, which I spent mostly revising my second Urdu biography of Iqbal for a reprint. However, two of my articles were published in The Express Tribune, and I hope that they would be of some interest to those interested in the "applied" side of Iqbal Studies.
1. Re-Reading History: who wants to be enlightened by Iqbal?(published November 9): "Iqbal's philosophy is a tool for training the minds for looking into the conscience of nations and humanity." This is how the editor captioned the gist of the article (rightly in my opinion). You can read the complete article on ET's website, and also post comments. Personally, I was particularly amused by two of the comments because, while I disagree with them, they are succinct and honest expressions of that approach with which I beg to differ in all my writings:
"Whatever message iqbal wanted to convey he did through his poetry. No need for further enlightenment." (Posted by ZQ)
"Anybody should think twice before buying an idea, any idea 'for which even the least enlightened man among us can easily lay down his life.'..." (Posted by Cynical).
2. Breaking down the Wall(Published November 11): The editor's introduction for this piece is, "If Ravi is India, then who is Vijay? Khurram Shafique revisits the 70s’ Bollywood blockbuster Deewar, a film which has constantly been the subject of analysis, and juxtaposes it with the current state of the subcontinent." Iqbal also features in this article, as he does in the movie itself (through his lyrics). I hope that the regular readers of this blog would be able to guess that the title of the article, however, was not suggested by me, but I think its good because it can draw more readers. I was particularly drawn to one of the comments posted there by a very polite reader, Manish, but I won't copy it here because it would be out of context then. You can read the article and comments on the website of ET.
The clouds of war linger over the East and while some people there may suspect the hand of "Western powers", the people in the "West" are themselves harrowed by myriad problems, some of which are essentially similar to those elsewhere. Is it not the time for taking the first practical step towards a meaningful action based on the certainty that regardless of the odds, the intentions may not, would not and cannot fail eventually?
It is not possible for any individual to outline the course for such action, but the first step towards discovering it collectively has to be a common understanding about our past - a simple and optimistic overview of the recent history of humanity highlighting some ideals on which nations have already agreed and may cooperate in future.
This is the aim of this serialization of my recent publication, 2017, which will appear in weekly instalments on this blog on Fridays, so that input may be gathered from everyone as "comments", and possibly also related posts on other blogs.
The first instalment is just an attempt to raise the question: can we reclaim the goal of "an age of plenty" for "all the nations" that was a commonly held dream in a recent past?
Regards,
Khurram Ali Shafique
On March 5 1946, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill visited Westminster College in Missouri, USA. In his speech, which later became famous for several reasons, he said:
The United Nations Organisation must immediately begin to be equipped with an international armed force… It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organisation, while it is still in its infancy… Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organisation with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organisation [i.e. the United Nations].
…If the dangers of war and tyranny are removed, there is no doubt that science and co-operation can bring in the next few years to the world, certainly in the next few decades newly taught in the sharpening school of war, an expansion of material well-being beyond anything that has yet occurred in human experience… there is no reason except human folly or sub-human crime which should deny to all the nations the inauguration and enjoyment of an age of plenty.
Churchill may have been stamping his authority as a world power rather than making a prediction, but the dreams embedded in his words were being dreamt by so many at that time, even more ubiquitously outside the English-speaking world of the British Prime Minister. Less than seventy years later, those dreams not only seem to have failed but also to be forgotten. It was said that only folly or sub-human crime could prevent an age of plenty.
Instead, we now find ourselves to be in an age where even the remembrance of such promises seems to be sub-human folly, if not also crime.
The promised paradise may not have happened until now, but can it be reclaimed soon? Why or why not? Post your answers as comments.
Earlier this year, James Bond escorted Her Majesty the Queen to the Olympics in London.
The Muslim community in Britain celebrated Eid-ul-Azha on October 26. It was also the 50th Anniversary of James Bond movies. The latest, Skyfall, was released to mark the anniversary.
It may not be a coincidence that the first James Bond novel was received in the same year when Sir Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower directed their secret agents to topple an unfavourable government in Iran.
Creative artists can sometimes assimilate a deeper current in the lives of their societies, and this may have happened to Ian Fleming. The secret agent created by him can be seen as an embodiment of the complications embedded in the post-colonial vision of the West, and perhaps also some of its apparent self-contradictions. Moreover, the continuous evolution of the famous spy also seems to be consistent with the evolution of that vision, and the present resurrection is a candid example.
In the new century, a burning issue for Great Britain has been whether it should see its participation in the much-needed action against terrorists as "a war on terror" (as believed by the American allies), or whether terrorism should still be regarded as a mere "crime" and dealt with accordingly.
The twenty-third official adventure of James Bond seems to be addressing this issue (and the high-point is the speech delivered by M to a group of decision-makers, where M ends up reciting lines from Tennyon's poem 'Ulysses').
It is beside the point whether this was actually the intention of the team who created this film. Being a creation of several minds, even a one-off film is a mystery that could be explored forever. The complexity increases where the film involves a legend that has been evolving for half a century and has brought out 22 predecessors.
As such, the surface of a popular film's narrative can always be scratched to reveal something about the collective consciousness of its parent society. What may have always lurked beneath the surface of the 007 legend has perhaps come out most succinctly in the 80-second "official teaser trailer" of Skyfall(embedded below).
James Bond: pride of a wounded empire, or apprehensions about the future?
"Country?" "England."
"Gun?" "Shot."
"Agent?" "Provocateur."
"Murder?" "Employment."
"Skyfall?" "[Silence]."
"Skyfall?" "Done."
"Some men are coming to kill us. We gonna kill them first."
Is this how the British patrols stationed at Suez Cannal thought in January 1952 when they shot down 49 Egyptian policemen and invoked the wrath of the natives ("Some men are coming to kill us. We gonna kill them first.")? Were these the very words that rang in the mind of the CIA officer Kermit Roosevelt in August 1953, when he saved his job by stirring up riots in Iran that claimed 700 civilian lives and toppled a liberal democratic government ("Agent?" "Provocateur". "Murder?" "Employment.").
The role of Western powers in the post-colonial era has generated many controversies (not to mention outrage and criticism). Skyfall might be one of the most useful resources for anybody looking for a well-rounded and honest answer, befitting the dignity of a former world power that has been known for its "sense of fact".
Nevertheless, the answer is disturbing. It gives a basis for asking: Was the immortal James Bond born out of the pride of a wounded empire, or does he stand for apprehensions about the future?
Beethoven's death mask by Austrian painter Josef Danhauser (1805-1845)
"Who was it that at last became familiar with the secret of Oneness? Who is the wise one that has true awareness?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
Now famously called The Choral Symphony, The Symphony of Joy or sometimes even The Ultimate Symphony, the last symphony of Beethoven was first performed in Vienna in 1824. Initially applauded by some and described by some others as "the fading glimmers of a dying genius", it soon came to be regarded as possibly the greatest symphony ever composed.
The lines from the German poet Schiller which Beethoven introduced in finale (against the convention of symphony up to that time), actually prophecy a new age when "all men shall become brothers." The later French composer Hector Berlioz found "the novelty of the form" of the ninth symphony justified "by an intention that is quite independent of any philosophical or religious thought, which might seem equally reasonable and beautiful to anyone, be he a fervent Christian, a pantheist or an atheist, in short by an intention of a purely musical and poetic kind." (See The Hector Berlioz Website).
Video: Symphony No.9 (Complete) 0:00 First Movement 15:26 Second Movement 26:36 Third Movement 42:36 Fourth Movement [Ode to Joy 46:01; Choral 48:31; Bliss 55:21]
Beethoven in 1815 by German painter Willibrord Joseph Mahler (1778–1860)
"What point does the claim, ‘I am the Creative Truth’ imply? Do you think that this mystery was mere nonsense?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
The eighth symphony of Beethoven was first performed in 1814, when Beethoven was 43 and was growing increasingly deaf. It would turn out to be the shortest of all his nine symphonies. himself called "The Little Symphony in F". Critical acclaim would forever remain divided: it is said that Beethoven himself was asked why it was less popular than his seventh and he replied, "Because the Eighth is so much better." (See Wikipedia).
Generally, the posterity has described the symphony as "light-hearted, though not lightweight, and in many places cheerfully loud" whereby "various passages in the symphony are heard by some listeners to be musical jokes." (See Wikipedia).
Video: Symphony No.8 (Complete) 1. Allegro vivace e con brio @0:00 2. Allegretto scherzando @7:15 3. Tempo di Menuetto @10:53 4. Allegro vivace @15:00
Recitation of Surah Qadr with text, transliteration and translation
Laylah tul Qadr, or "the Night of Destiny" is one of the odd-numbered nights among the last ten of Ramazan (it is also translated as the night of Power, Majesty or Grandeur). According to Chapter 97, 'al-Qadr', the Quran was revealed ("bestowed from on high") on this night. According to a common Muslim belief, this was 27 Ramazan, 13 years before migration to Madinah (some authorities suggest alternate dates).
Someone who reads the Quran after absorbing the spirit of Iqbal's message cannot help observing the connections which this brief surah establishes between Quran, Destiny and the mysteries of Time:
Behold, from on high have We bestowed this on Night of Destiny.
And what could make you conceive what it is, that Night of Destiny?
The Night of Destiny is better than a thousand months:
in hosts descend in it the angels, bearing divine inspiration by their Sustainer's leave; from all that may happen
does it make secure, until the rise of dawn.
(This is approximately how Muhammad Asad translates the chapter). In Pakistan, this chapter of the Quran is also a reminder of a happy coincidence. Pakistan was "the final destiny" of its people, according to Iqbal, and it was also described by him as "an unborn world of the Quran". This unborn world of Quran came into being on the same night which was the anniversary of the revelation of Quran itself: 27 Ramazan (coinciding with the midnight of August 14-15, 1947).
Pakistan was born on the Night of Destiny. Can the country also work as a clue for showing us how destiny works in our lives? "Never did I, for a single moment, doubt that Pakistan would survive," said the first Prime Minister of Pakistan. "For I think, indeed I believe, that we had not done anything to deserve so high a boon as Pakistan, and that God will not deprive us of this boon unless and until we prove ourselves, by our misdeed, to be unworthy of it."
Let's remember this when we celebrate the Independence Day this year. The electronic edition of my new book will also be released on that date. The print edition will follow later. The book is in English, and is approximately 80 pages. It is called 2017: the Battle for Marghdeen. I hope that it will offer some more explanation of issues which I have briefly touched upon in this post.
Of what sort is this traveler who is the wayfarer? Of whom shall I say that this person has attained completion? (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
Beethoven's seventh symphony was first performed in Vienna in 1813. Napoleon had just been defeated and their was optimism and confidence in the air. The symphony well suited the occasion and has been remembered as an expression of energy and power. Beethoven himself is reported to have described it as " "one of the happiest products of my poor talents." (See NPR Music: 'Beethoven's Symphony No.7').
Posterity has often discussed this symphony with special reference to perfection and completion. Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) described it as "the apotheosis of Rhythm" (see Symphony Salon: 'Beethoven: Symphony No.7') while Liszt's contemporary German composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883) more famously described it as "the Apotheosis of the Dance", finding in it "a blissful insolence of joy, which carries us away with bacchanalian power through the roomy space of nature, through all the streams and seas of life, shouting in glad self-consciousness as we sound throughout the universe the daring strains of this human sphere-dance." (See NPR Music: 'Beethoven's Symphony No.7').
Part of a sketch for Symphony No.6 in Beethoven's hand
"What is that part which is greater than its whole? What is the way to find that part?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
This is the sixth of the nine questions listed by Iqbal in 'The New Garden of Mystery' in Persian Psalms (1927). The answer we may gather from his writings is that the ego or the self is a part of the apparent world but also greater than it. We reach it through the inner dimension of Life, i.e. by first losing it in the larger picture.
The sixth symphony of Beethoven was first performed in Vienna in 1808, on the same evening as the fifth. The name given to it by the composer himself was "Pastoral-Sinfonie oder Erinnerung an das Landleben. (Mehr Ausdruck der Emphindung als Mahlerey.)" – “Pastoral Symphony or Recollection of the Life in the Countryside”. (See All About Beethoven: Symphony No.6)
The connection of this symphony with the world of Nature is often discussed in terms that may remind the readers of Iqbal of his sixth work Gabriel's Wing (Baal-i-Jibreel; 1936). Consider, for instance, the French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz described it as an "astonishing landscape" as vivid as that painted by the greatest painter except that "we are dealing here with real nature." (See The Hector Berlioz Website: 'A Critical Study of the Symphonies of Beethoven'). Or even some observations from our contemporaries like Yvonne Frindle, the publications editor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra: "it is in the 'expression of feelings' – the poetry – that the Pastoral Symphony finds its real strength and imagination: the infinite repetition of pattern in nature conveyed through rhythmic cells, its immensity through sustained pure harmonies." (See Programme Note for Beethoven & Schubert in Vienna).
Video: Symphony No.6 (Complete) I. Happy Arrival @0:00 II. By the Brook @13:54 III. Merrymaking @28:16 IV. ThunderStorm @34:22 V. Shepherd's Song @38:31
This post is for the benefit of those who want to apply the art of interpreting literature as a collective dream. The eight videos embedded here represent the journey of a character, Nasir (Waheed Murad) in search of his unseen ideal. Good luck!
Stage 1: Inquiry
Nasir (which means protector, helper or supporter and hence a literal equivalent of the Greek name Alexandros, or Alexander) is in search of an unseen ideal, and is taking into account all the factors and people in his surroundings (including the working class). He is certain that Time itself will carry him forward in his journey as long as the desire is there.
Stage 2: Discovery
The ideal has manifested itself in Najma (literally meaning a celestial body, or a little star), but the protagonist is yet to know if the longing is mutual (note the wording of the first stanza).
Stage 3: Transcendence
The ideal reciprocates, and now the protagonist has found answer to the question asked in the previous stage (compare the opening lines of this song with the first stanza of the previous).
Stage 4: Freedom
The lover and the beloved are now bonded in a relationship that has a life of its own
Stage 5: Action
Deceived into believing that his ideal has turned out to be less than what he thought, the protagonist carries on the journey nevertheless: returning to the night club of the first song, he isn't "looking" any more. Thus we see his grief but also his maturity, and we may notice that self-development has taken place. This is "action" because now he is interacting with his original environment in a very different manner from how he was at the beginning. The video begins with his turning his face away from the artificial lamps of the night club and ends with him walking out of darkness into a source of light that is larger than life.
Stage 6: Expansion
Misunderstood by the one who claimed to love her, Najma asks some questions about the rules of destiny and the travails of love.
Stage 7: Creation
Since accepting a false accusation against his ideal, the protagonist has ended up with a household where unwanted guests are partying behind his back (note the invitees listed in the two stanzas of the song).
End of Stage 7: the Climax
The protagonist is now presuming that the ideal he pursued is no more (a false news about Najma's death has reached Nasir). He is at the end of his journey, contemplating suicide by falling off a cliff. His ideal saves him by returning, as if it were, from beyond this life. Note that last stanza establishes a union between the lover, the beloved and God (and the proverbial line used here, "God is the friend of those who have no friend" is actually a translation from the Persian poet Nezami Ganjavi). The video itself is full of allusions: note how the sequence from 0:40 to 0:47 alludes to the iconic tree in the movie Gone With the Wind, where the tree is the symbol of an entire society coming back to life after the devastation of a civil war. Such touches bring a meaning to this story beyond an ordinary tale about lovers, and at least some of the audience (like myself) are compelled to interpret it as an allegory about societies and nations.
"What am I? Tell me what ‘I’ means. What is the meaning of ‘travel into yourself’?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
The four-note opening motif of this symphony counts among the most widely heard music in the world. As such it may be regarded as the symphony that defines Beethoven to most people in the world, especially those who don't know him otherwise (whereas for the critics the greatest work of Beethoven remains, of course, his final symphony).
The symphony was first performed in Vienna in 1808. It is said that it wasn't well received in its first year but ever since then it has been applauded in extraordinary terms such as those employed by the fellow German composer E.T.A Hoffmann (1776-1822) just a year and a half later: "Radiant beams shoot through this region's deep night, and we become aware of gigantic shadows which, rocking back and forth, close in on us and destroy everything within us except the pain of endless longing..." A little later, in 1813, Hoffmann again described it as leading "the listener imperiously forward into the spirit world of the infinite."
Beethoven himself is reported to have said about the famous four-note opening of the symphony: "So pocht das Schicksal an die Pforte! " (That’s how destiny knocks on your door). On the authority of this saying attributed to the composer, the symphony is also known quite commonly as The Symphony of Destiny.
Video: Symphony No.5 (Complete) I. Allegro con brio @0:03 II. Andante con moto @7:19 III.Allegro @16:18 IV. Allegro @20:57
"How did the temporal and eternal separate so that one became the world, and the other God? If the knower and the known are one pure essence, what are the aspirations of this handful of earth?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
Portrait of Beethoven painted by Austrian painter F. Waldmüller (1793—1865) in 1804
The fourth symphony of Beethoven was first performed in March 1807. It is usually heard as depicting "a more cheerful mood" as if the composer was "enjoying a period of recreation after the storm and stress" (See Symphony Salon: 'Beethoven: Symphony No.4').
Nevertheless, there is something peculiarly otherworldly about this symphony. This "heavenly" aspect is captured, perhaps most effectively, in the analysis of the French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), who wrote about the second movement of the symphony: "So pure are the forms, so angelic the expression of the melody and so irresistibly tender, that the prodigious skill of the craftsmanship is completely hidden from view. From the very first bars one is gripped by emotion which by the end has reached an unbearable pitch of intensity. It is only among one of the giants of poetry that it is possible to find something to compare to this sublime movement from the giant of music... This movement seems to have been breathed by the archangel Michael when, seized with a fit of melancholy, he contemplated the universe, standing on the threshold of the empyrean."
This sounds very similar to what Iqbal may have described as "rethinking the thought of Divine Creation", an epithet he chose for the works of Shakespeare and Goethe.
Title page of the third symphony in Beethoven's hand showing the erased dedication to Napoleon Bonaparte
"What is the union of the contingent (creation) and the necessary (the Creator)? What are near and far, more and less?"
This is the third of the nine questions listed by Iqbal in 'The New Garden of Mystery' in Persian Psalms (1927). The answer we gather from his writings is that the universe may be constantly expanding and therefore boundless. It still has boundary, which lies within because at the centre of the universe is the Reality that never changes. Therefore, anyone who gets connected with the Ultimate Reality, i.e. God, may also grasp the entire universe including parts yet to be born.
Beethoven composed his third symphony at a time when his deafness was increasing. The symphony was originally meant to honour Napoleon Bonaparte as saviour of democracy but the dedication was famously erased when Napoleon crowned himself emperor. It was first performed in 1805. Personally, for me, it is a useful tool for reflecting on the third question of Iqbal.
The third symphony, also called Eroica, happens to be among the most well-analysed of Beethoven's symphonies along with the fifth and the ninth. Einstein famously commented about it, " Alfred Einstein commented, "Why are there a dozen or more programmatic interpretations for the Eroica -none of which is right or even convincing?" (See Beethoven's Eroica Website: 'historical overview'). Usually, the analysis tends to be centre on observations such as those recorded at one of the websites dedicated exclusively to this symphony: "When the Eroica first appeared, one of the criticisms leveled at it was it's 'colossal piling of ideas'. Among the 'ideas' and methods that distinguish the Eroica from its forerunners is the bold use of harmony, ambiguous meters, rhythmic emphasis, liberal use of counterpoint and increasing the role of the winds, all within an architecture that stresses expansion and shifting of balance." (See Beethoven's Eroica: 'Musical Analysis')
"Turning tradition upside down" and embodying a "sense of human potential and freedom" unprecedented in music, the symphony is usually regarded as the commencement of the Age of Romanticism in music. In the career of Beethoven himself it was a landmark almost in the same way as The Call of the Marching Bell would later be in the career of Allama Iqbal: a work marking "the full arrival" of the artist's middle-period, "a series of unprecedented large scale works of emotional depth and structural rigour." (See Wikipedia).
Video: Symphony No.3 - Complete Movement 1. Starts at 00:01 - Allegro con brio Movement 2. Starts at 17:10 - Marcia funebre: Adagio assai in C minor Movement 3. Starts at 31:05 - Scherzo: Allegro vivace Movement 4. Starts at 37:20 - Finale: Allegro molto The performance ends at 48:40
"What is this ocean whose shore is knowledge? What is that pearl which is found in its depth?"
This is the second of the nine questions in 'The New Garden of Mystery', a part of Persian Psalms (1927) by Allama Iqbal. The answer which we may gather from the writings of Iqbal is basically something like this: Life is the ocean and the pearl to be found in its depth is selfhood (خودی). Knowledge is just the shore.
The state of mind in which Beethoven composed his second symphony was perhaps painfully conducive for such kind of introspection. The symphony was performed for the first time in 1803 and had been composed shortly before that at the time when Beethoven had first become aware of his impending deafness. Around that time he wrote in a famous letter: "I would have ended my life. Only my art held me back. It seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had produced all that I felt was within me." (See 'Notes on Beethoven's Second Symphony' by Christopher H. Gibbs).
The symphony itself was described by one of its earliest critics, quite famously, as ""a hideously writhing, wounded dragon that refuses to die, but writhing in its last agonies and, in the fourth movement, bleeding to death." (See Wikipedia). Later, the French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz described it as a symphony that was "smiling throughout." His commentary on the symphony is sometimes regarded as definitive:
In this Symphony everything is noble, energetic, proud. The Introduction [Adagio molto] is a masterpiece. The most beautiful effects follow one another without confusion and always in an unexpected manner. The song is of a touching solemnity, and it at once commands respect and puts the hearer in an emotional mood. The rhythm is already bolder, the instrumentation is richer, more sonorous, more varied. An Allegro con brio of enchanting dash is joined to this admirable introduction. The fast motive which begins the theme, given at first to the violas and cellos in unison, is taken up again in an isolated form, to establish either progressions in a crescendo or imitative passages between wind instruments and the strings. All these forms have a new and animated physiognomy. (See Christopher H. Gibbs)
"First of all I am intrigued about my thought – what is it which we call thinking? What kind of thought is needed on the path, why is it sometimes a virtue and sometimes a sin?" (Iqbal, Persian Psalms; 1927)
Beethoven's Symphony No.1 was first performed in 1800 AD when the composer was twenty-nine. Something which no analyst has ever failed to observe is that despite being " in accordance with the established composing tradition", the symphony starts, as if, "in the 'wrong' key... so that the listener only gradually realizes the real key (or home key) of the symphony." (See Wikipedia).
The point is too peculiar to be ignored but is usually interpreted with reference to the composer's personality, such as that "Beethoven introduced himself with this work uniquely and boldly as an advancing symphonic composer and stood true to this statement throughout his compositional life." (See Wikipedia).
Can we not dwell just a little bit more on this point (and the symphony which follows) as a tool for contemplating on the nature of human thought (the subject of Iqbal's first question) through the medium of music without words?
Beethoven painted in 1819-20 by German
painter Joseph Carl Stieler (1781-1858)
This article belongs to "The Valley of Wonderment" phase of my writings but remains one of my most favourite. It was originally published in Dawn, The Review, January 4-10, 2001.
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony lies on the top shelf in my study, in the form of two cassettes which I purchased from Rhythm House in Bombay nearly ten years ago. I have never had the heart to hear them. I fear that after I do, there would be nothing left for me to look forward to in music.
Heard melodies are sweet, those unheard, sweeter, said the romantic poet John Keats. I love both, Keats and Beethoven, who were contemporaries and who focused their entire existence to prove the same unique point: it is not what you do but how you feel that really determines who you are. In fact, that was the common manifesto of that great Romantic Movement which was started by people like Beethoven, Goethe, Wordsworth and Coleridge and perfected by Byron, Shelley and Keats.
As far as Beethoven is concerned, his life appears like a miracle, an impossibility, and if we read the story of his life with a ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ then it is certainly a fairy-tale written by the Creator Himself, who is otherwise known for writing non-fiction.
Beethoven (1770-1827) came from a family of court musicians in Bonn (Germany), and moved on to Vienna when he was twenty-two. Already a musician of repute with some published pieces to his credit; he was still in search of perfection and was delighted to take lessons from the legendary composer Haydn. However, upon realizing that the old master was rather lenient in correcting Beethoven's mistakes, Beethoven shamelessly ditched his mentor and kept on looking elsewhere until he had perfected his grip on the carft of music.
Beethoven was born with the ego of a monster, the first pre-requisite for any great artist, but he also had the wisdom to learn the most important lesson egoists often fail to observe: the importance of taking lessons. While in his twenties, Beethoven had not only composed and published several sonatas, a couple of symphonies and one huge opera, but had also gained respect for being a very disciplined artist. Goethe, who was at first a little averse to this arrogant and tactless ego maniac, had to also admit in the end, ’I have never seen an artist more concentrated, energetic and fervent.
Beethoven was not very interesting company. He was rude and bad-tempered, often quarrelsome and always visibly selfish. His capacity for self-criticism, so very evident in his approach towards music, would regretably disappear before an absolute arrogance where his behavior rather than his art were concerned. The man who never spared himself a single mistake in his music, barely ever bothered to correct a folly in his behaviour towards others at any point in life. This attitude isolated him from his friends and relatives, whom he had given every reason to hate him. Even at the peak of his agony, when it finally struck him that he had been the cause of his own miseries, he refused to correct himself.
‘O you men who consider me as quarrelsome, peevish or a hater of human beings, how greatly you wrong me,’ he wrote in his Will about two months before his thirty-second birthday. ‘You do not know the reason why I seem to you to be so. From my childhood onward my heart and soul have been filled with tender feelings of goodwill, and I have always been willing to perform great and magnanimous deeds. But reflect, for the past six years I have been in an incurable condition made worse by unreasonable doctors.’
Then he goes on to describe his loss of hearing, and how he feels isolated when someone hears the sounds of a flute coming from afar and Beethoven, standing next to him, is unable to hear anything.
His deafness had injected a lot of self-pity in him but that could hardly be accepted as an apology for treating others like dirt all his life. It would still less be an excuse for him to deprive the widow of his brother Karl of the custody of her only son a few years later, and then still further down the years to drive the young nephew himself towards suicide attempts. But Beethoven could not see the human needs of other human beings, simply because he had never seen himself as a human being. He had only understood his existence in terms of music, and even his vast reading in philosophy and literature had not helped him understand life, they had only helped him understand music better.
Even before he composed his famous Fifth Symphony, Beethoven had turned almost totally deaf. It didn’t affect his work though, in fact, it ended in bringing out the genius in him and resulted in his creating an astounding composition. His irritation at not being able to listen to his musicians had turned into anger and he perhaps had felt the need to take his revenge on circumstance by producing a masterpiece that was better than the ones he had produced until then.
The opening notes of the Fifth Symphony have become the most famous 5 seconds in the entire history of music. And they deserve to be: they are the symbol of human endurance throwing a defiant challenge to fate and death. It is the exact translation into music of the thought he had put in his Will a few years ago: 'Come when you will, death, I will meet you resolutely.’
Video: Beethoven's Symphony No.5You may also like to watch the BBC Documentary about Beethoven at Youtube: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3
Beethoven was performing an impossible task: he could no more correct his musicians, simply, because he couldn’t hear them. He soon became unable to conduct his own performances for the same reason. Most remarkably, it was now impossible for him to correct his own mistakes even in the matters of craft. But by then he had stopped making mistakes in music, only improvements. ‘At the age of 28 I was compelled to become a philosopher,’ he wrote. ‘It has not been easy, and more difficult for an artist than for anyone else.’
The most remarkable anecdote of Beethoven’s life is the composition of his greatest masterpiece, his Ninth Symphony when he was in his fifties. By that time Beethoven’s visitors had started to communicate with him through writing as he had become unable to hear a single sound, let alone that of the trumpet. It seems too much of a miracle to be true, but it was in this condition that Beethoven conceived, composed, prepared and presented the greatest symphony of his life, and possibly the greatest symphony ever produced. He added a choral piece at the end, which was a lyric he had always wanted to set to music since his early days at Bonn. At the end of the first performance of the Ninth, one of the solo singers from Beethoven’s choir shook him by the shoulder and pointed towards the audience because Beethoven hadn’t been able to hear the clapping that resonated the hall. They were applauding a symphony its creator had never heard.
And a greater symphony nobody has ever heard since then. Beethoven was fifty-four when the Ninth Symphony was first performed. Three years later he died. Years ago he had written, ‘(My loss of hearing) has brought me close to despair, and I came very close to ending my own life but my heart held me back, as it seemed impossible to leave this world until I have produced everything I feel it has been granted to me to achieve.’
That was Beethoven’s challenge to death and fate: nothing would stop him from achieving what he had been granted to achieve. And he proved it. The Ninth Symphony is a music that came from no other source except the depth of Beethoven’s own soul. To bring out music from within, it was perhaps inevitable that he first stopped listening to the music outside. To perform his impossible task, Beethoven had to be what he was. ‘O God,’ Beethoven had written in his will twenty-five years ago. ‘You look down on my inner soul, and know that it is filled with love of humanity and the desire to do good. O my fellow men! When you read this some day, reflect that you have done me wrong. And let him who is unfortunate comfort himself with the thought that he has found someone equally unfortunate who, despite all the burdens placed on him by nature, did all which was in his power.’
Layla and Simorgh may be regarded as the two most significant metaphors for the collective ego in the history of Muslim literature. While Layla emphasizes the beauty of the collective ego, Simorgh illustrates its power. These two aspects came together in the short story 'Time Bygone' (گزرا ہوا زمانہ) published by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan in 1873. The celestial bride presented in that story was obviously modelled after Layla but her dialogue was reminiscent of Simorgh: "I am the soul of all human beings."
Symbols of love and power, such as Layla and Simorgh, had come to be seen as metaphors of the Ultimate Ego (i.e. God) during the centuries of our intellectual and political decadence (and I am inclined to believe that this was not the meaning ascribed by the writers Nezami Ganjavi and Sheikh Fariduddin Attar). A lasting contribution of Sir Syed to our literature and culture is that in very subtle manners he shifted the focus on the collective ego. The concept was elaborated most clearly by Allama Iqbal in the next generation, and thus an intellectual revolution was completed.
It is true that the intelligentsia since 1936 have tried to undo this intellectual revolution by shifting the focus again on the individual self and God, and by taking out the collective ego from the equation, but it seems that they have not succeeded so far. Practically all the national songs that became phenomenally popular in Pakistan represent the nation either as Layla or as Simorgh, but usually in a manner reminiscent of the inferences drawn by Sir Syed in his short story.
I often play 'Sohni Dharti' in my workshops and ask the participants to note the lines that may be regarded as addressed to the celestial bride of Sir Syed's short story. Usually the participants end up observing that the song by Masroor Anwar, which has become a collective identity for Pakistan, can also be addressed in its entirety to the celestial bride of Sir Syed. In other words, the song 'Sohni Dharti' presents Pakistan as that celestial bride and thus emphasizes the beauty of the collective ego.
The other national song which has come to define the identity of Pakistan in the same phenomenal manner is 'Jeevay Pakistan' by Jamiluddin Aali. When I play this song and ask the listeners to note the lines that may be regarded as allusions to Simorgh as described by Sheikh Fariduddin Attar, they end up saying that the entire song may be described as a song about Simorgh. Same is the case with 'Mien Bhi Pakistan Hoon' written by Sehba Akhtar. To this may be added the official national anthem of OIC, 'Hum Mustafavi Hain' by Jamiluddin Aali.
Then there is that didactic song which is usually regarded as the most philosophical and profound of all national songs written in Pakistan: 'Yeh Watan Tumhara Hai' by Kaleem Usmani. Listening to it carefully, we may find it to be a straight forward listing of "do's" and "don'ts" from the perspective of the same collective ego - Layla and Simorgh. So is the national anthem written by Hafeez Jallundhri.
In my humble opinion, these national songs and anthems form the backbone of Pakistani literature, culture and art. Our explorations in this field cannot be seen as fulfilling their purpose until we recognize these national songs in this capacity, explore their deeper meanings and understand their connections with the centuries of our literary heritage. I have attempted this in Topline Social Studies Programme, a series of textbooks for secondary schools published in a revised edition last year.
