The Natural Power of Music

Summary

Amalarius of Metz, an early medieval author, argued that liturgical music and singing produce a physical and emotional effect that goes beyond simply evoking emotions. In his work Liber Officialis, he described how listening to music creates a “spiritual state” of nakedness of the heart, making a person receptive to tears and sensitive to God’s voice. This represents a shift from the earlier patristic idea of compunction (penthos), where tears in prayer were linked to sorrow for sins and liturgical music was seen as an obstacle. For Amalarius, music’s natural power (vis) moves a person to a receptive state that prepares the soul to welcome the Word of God, leading to conversion and fruitful listening.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Among the early medieval authors, Amalarius of Metz (8th–9th century) is one of those who discussed the impact of religious music and song on the body and soul. In his main work: the Liber Officialis, listening and singing liturgical music are depicted as having a corporeal effect that generates sensations of an intense sensory and emotional character. In Amalarius, living the musical religious phenomenon not only coincides with the idea that music can evoke emotions but there is something that goes further. What Amalarius emphasizes is a particular emotion: a “spiritual state” of the nakedness of the heart, almost a weakness of those who are capable of tears and sensitive to God’s voice. During the patristic era, especially in the East, “penthos” (compunction) was used to describe the experience of tears in prayer or meditation; however, Fathers of the Church described liturgical music as an obstacle to compunction. For this reason, an evolution of that compunctory doctrine emerges from the exposition of Amalarius. In this context, it is not a question of crying for one’s sins but of exploiting a natural power (vis) of music. By simply listening to music, a person would seem capable of being moved and reaching a particularly “receptive state” to welcome the Word of God and make it bear fruit. What Amalarius describes in religious music seems to be the natural experience that one feels when, just listening to a melody, a tear spontaneously falls. This physical reaction is connected to a spiritual transformation that seems to pass through the flesh (carnalia) of our humanity. The result of this singular experience, strongly connected to musical ethics, is the conversion to good action and the possibility to dispose human beings to attentive, deep, and fruitful listening.