Foreword
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-19 - 1 clipping

Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Charles Wolcott, Foreword, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1989, bahai-library.com.
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THE CREATIVE CIRCLE
Art, Literature, and Music in Baha'i Perspective

Edited by Michael Fitzgerald

Kalimat Press
Los Angeles
•

First Edition

Copyright © 1989 by Kalimat Press
All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

"Can Baha" Art Become Distinctive?"
Copyright © 1989 by Ludwig Tuman
All rights reserved

"Poetry and Self-Transformation"
Copyright © 1988 by Association for Baba" Studies
All rights reserved
CONTENTS
•• •
Preface by Michael Fitzgerald ....... . ........... .                         V1l1

•
Foreword by Charles Wolcott . ..... , , , , , , , • ••••...                    Xl

Poetry and Sell-Transformation
by Roger White .................. ........ ..... .                              1

T he Creative Act and the Spirit
by Bonnie Wilder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..    17

But . .. My Mother Was a Singer
by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .           39

The Dilemma of the Artist: A Perspective
on the Development of Baha'i Aesthetics
by Anne Gordun Atkinson .. . ... .. ........ •••••..                          51

Can Baha'f Art Become Distinctive?
by Ludwig Tuman . . .... . ....... ... .• . ••• . • .. . .                    97

The Artist As Citizen
by Thomas Lysaght . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 121

Restating the Idealist Theory of Art
by Geoffrey Nash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. 159

v
vi      Contents

Poetry and the Arts in Rebuilding Society
by Duane L. Hemllann . .. . . ...... . .. .. . ....•... 175

Ladder of the Soul
an interview with Lasse Thoresen              •   •   • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •   193

Looking Forward in the Visual Arts
by Fritz A. Mann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Biographical Notes .. ....... ... .. . .... .•...•.. . 241
"Painting is a way of being."
- Jackson Pollock

"It is as difficult to write simply as it is to be good ."
- w. Somerset Maugham
") will hear in Heaven."
- Beethoven's last words
Preface

"The artist creates the uncreated conscience of the race. "
- James Joyce
" What bestowal could be greater than tltis, that one's art
should be as the act of worshiping the Lord?"
-'Abdul-Baha

RT IS THE LAST vestige of the mysterious in an age
that rejects religion . The twentieth century is widely
known for its themes of alienation and a profound despair
over the state of human affairs. Religion has abused its office.
Responding, existentialists put forward a serious, but incom-
plete, philosophy which sought to address the situation of
modern man, impotent in the face of titanic destruction.
Humanists by and large have reserved themselves to intellec-
tuallabor, disdaining the world's spiritual traditions. There
is thus a gaping void in human values.
The Baha'i F aith has emerged as an artist's impetus and
as an instrument for the renewal of society. Baha'u'llah
(1817-1892), its Founder, anticipated the need for the inclu-
sion of religion in a thinking person's modern repertoire of
ideas. His expansive teachings on the oneness of mankind
and the oneness of religions lead to a Whitmanesque embrace
of diverse and conflicting cultures . Thus, the artist informed
.. .
VIIl
•
Preface      IX

by a Baha'i sensibility will be able to build on a wide variety
of cultural raw materials that another artist might not accept.
Pericles said that "where there is no vision the people
perish." The planetary vision of a Baha'i artist will lead him
or her to relish the gifts that an exploding world culture
offers. Without the need to be restricted by a parochial view,
the artist with access to the Baha'i Writings can glean a rich
pool of ethical and aesthetic inspiration.
Poetry is often termed a "contact" with the natural world,
as by Whitman; or "contact" with the locality, as by William
Carlos Williams. When the "locality" is the whole planet, the
frontiers of the imagination are expanded beyond provincial-
isms of every sort. Thus, prejudice can be overcome and the
threat of war due to misunderstanding will be forestalled.
Still, artistic integrity for the Baha'i must be foremost.
Without preaching, without didacticism, the Baha'f artist can
form the themes of his faith into an individual vision that is
authentic. In seeing art as both a service and as a means of
healing, the development of young and mature talent must
become a major priority in an evolving world culture. If
James Joyce is right, and "the artist creates the uncreated
conscience of the race," then here is a major responsibility.
The Baha'i will be eager to practice art in a web of merg-
ing world visions, be detelmined to maintain the highest ethi-
cal standards, be assured that the effort to be consistent in
public and private life will provide new sources. The pros-
pects of authentic visionary work for a BaM'f, in contrast to
the documentation of an age at odds with itself, stirs the real
longings of artists for honest, serious work. In hal mony with
the best that the contemporary world offers, expressing the
unique value of diverse cultures, and committed to the
highest standards of artistic and personal integrity, the Baha'f
artist can create a new world.
Michael Fitzgerald
Winchester, Virginia
CHARLES WOLCOTT
musician and member of the Universal House of Justice,
c. 1982.                    .
Foreword

T CAME IN A CLUTTER of mail one morning- an invitation
I to contribute an essay on music for inclusion in a book on
the arts. The opening sentence was intriguing: "As a piano
player and a Baha'" you must certainly, or one would think,
have experienced the dynamics of artistic endeavor in the
context of the pull toward community ." My instincts cau-
tioned me to forget it, but as in a movie flashback, my
thoughts went scurrying pell-mell through time and space to
what can best be described as another life, a professional life
spanning some forty years-encompassing, yes , being a
"piano player" early on, but widening in scope to include be-
ing a leader of dance bands, a music arranger, a composer,
a conductor of studio orchestras, and eventually the General
Music Director of not one but two major motion picture stu-
dios . (Not at the same time of course!)
Though my professional piano playing days are long gone,
and little time is available for composing, opportunities to
listen to music are abundant. From that viewpoint, accep-
tance of the invitation became a definite possibility. So I did
just that. And you, dear reader, must judge whether the
exercise was worth the doing.
What is music? According to that time-honored tome, the
Oxford English Dictionary, music is defined as:
•
XI
xii     Charles Wolcott

That one of the fine arts which is concerned with the com·
bination of sounds, with a view to beauty of form and the
expression of thought or feeling.

Listening to some of the noise that pours out incessantly from
television screens or radio makes me wonder whether the
creators of such incoherent mish·mash were ever conscious
of the dictionary's precise definition.
Where did music get its name? In Greece there is an an·
cient mount, Parnassus, and legend has it that the mount was
(and maybe stilI is!) the home of the nine sister goddesses,
daughters of Zeus, who collectively bore the name of the
Muses. IndividualIy, each related to an expression of artis·
tic endeavor. For example, Terpsichore was the goddess
associated with dance. But since music is inexorably inter·
twined with all art forms, it seems logical to accept it as the
offspring of the collective name of the "Muses."
Before concentrating on music as an art form , we may
benefit from a few thoughts expressed by some serious
thinkers about art as a whole. Albert Schweitzer, in addition
to his medical skills, possessed a truly professional facility for
playing the pipe organ. That immortal contrapuntist, Johann
Sebastian Bach, observed that art can be categorized accord·
ing to the material the artists use to express the world around
them: The artist "is not only a painter, or only a poet, or only
a musician, but all in one . ... The distinction consists only
in that one idea is dominant and artists choose the language
that suits them best. '" It is said that Goethe fancied himself
a painter and Schiller reckoned himself a musician, though
1;>oth are known as poets.
Then there is the remarkable comment purportedly made
by an eminent though highly controversial nineteenth-century
French poet: "A toy is a child 's first introduction to art."
While accepting the possibility that a child's interest in some
form of art might, or even should, be stimulated in this way,
•••
Foreword       XIII

it seems •
to me that the little one who becomes a great artist
has been blessed by the Almighty with a special gift. And so,
this brings us to a thought-provoking question: How is music
related to religion? Given that records pertaining to the ori-
gins of the handful of ancient, divinely revealed religions with
adherents in today's world go back less than a few thousand
years, we must rely on findings of archeologists and other
scholars who are diligently trying to uncover more informa-
tion about our forebears.
It is more or less commonly accepted that in ancient times
mankind's basic relationship to the gods was one of appease-
ment, that is, seeking protection from the elements-drought,
flood, thunderstor illS, earthquakes-by raising one's voice in
praise of the gods. We may assume that in the beginning it
was an individual effort: one voice plaintively chanting a sup-
plication. Later, a communal petition came into being, many
voices joined in the chanting, and primitive instruments were
added. Probably the first of these were skins stretched over
wooden frames, some to be struck by sticks and others with
strings to be plucked.
Migrations of Chinese and Hindus added their contribu-
tions of traditions handed down orally through the genera-
tions. It is thought that the ancient Greek traditions probably
came from Asia Minor importing the novel idea of one God-
Zeus. And after the advent of Abraham, in time there came
the psalmist, David, who contributed some one hundred fifty
Psalms, texts dedicated to one God, which live today through
being sung in synagogues and churches. Originally, the
psalms were accompanied by the psaltery, a dulcimer-like
stringed instrument which the player plucked.
Allow me a momentary digression for the benefit of today's
youthful generation of Baha'is-many of whom are musicians
who can, at a moment's notice, produce an instrument case
and from it whip out a guitar, ready to accompany themselves
in song or to encourage the eager group surrounding them
xiv     Charles Wolcott
to participate in a sing-along. This is in the tradition of the
troubadors, twelith-century lyric poets who traveled through-
out southern Europe, accompanying themselves on stringed
instruments. Often they were the purveyors of news picked
up as they went back and forth through eastern Spain,
southern France and northern Italy. Today's troubadors, Sa-
h:fi youth on projects throughout the world, share songs they
have picked up along the way, as well as their own tunes.
Returning to the subject of music related to religion, the
most famous hymn of the Greek Church, Akathistos, thought
to be from the fifth century A.D. is still sung today in the
Feast of Annunciation service.
Then came the surge of great music suffused with religious
emotion-the cantatas of Bach and oratorios of Handel (un-
doubtedly inspired by Luther's impassioned Protestantism),
and the masses and requiems of Mozart, Berlioz, Brahms,
Dvorak, and a host of other well-known eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century composers. The western world is familiar
with these compositions sung by huge church choirs, the
texts of which are rooted in Christianity.
In his great work on Bach, Dr. Schweitzer pays this trib-
ute to the man: "Music is an act of worship with Bach. His
artistic activity and his personality are both based on his
piety." In another passage: "All great art, even secular, is in
itself religious in his eyes; for him the tones do not perish, but
ascend to God like praise too deep for utterance." 2 Schweit-
zer quotes from the rules and principles of accompaniment
that Bach prescribed to his pupils: "Like all music, the
figured bass should have no other end and aim than the glory
of God and the recreation of the soul; where this is not kept
in mind there is no true music, but only an infernal clamor
and ranting." HOlm-one could almost imagine Bach had a
forewarning of the music of the last half of the twentieth
century_
At this juncture, it would be pertinent to ask what Baha'u'-
Hall, Founder of the Baha'i Faith, had to say about the work
Foreword         xv

of artists, craftsmen and scientists. The following brief ex-
cerpts will serve to show the high regard in which He held
this pursuit.

The third Tajallf (Effulgence) is conceming arts, crafts and
sciences. Knowledge is as wings to man 's life, ami a ladder for
his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone.

And:

The ft/th Tardz (Omament) concemeth the protection and
preservatimi of the statiOlts of God's servants. . . . In this Day
the sun of craftsmanship shineth above the horizon of the oc-
cident and the river of arts is flowing out of tile sea of that
•
regIOn . ..

Finally:

It hath been revealed and is now repeated that the true worth
of artists and craftsmen should be appreciated, for they ad-
vance the affairs of mankind.

T hough Baha'u'llah is addressing all humankind, and we
are aware that all work done with care is akin to worship, we
must distinguish between the exceptional and the pedestrian
when assessing the work of those who place the results of
their creative endeavors before us. The burden falls on fa l-
lible human beings-all of us. In my view, with regard to
music, people can be classified as those who create, those
who perfor 10 , and those who listen. Those who listen consti-
tute by far the greater proportion of humankind. They may
never compose or perforlll on an instrument, though they
may attain the joy of raising their voices in song. And it is to
them my plea to read and digest the above words of wisdom
from Bah<i 'u 'llah is addressed.
We should all be concerned about the state of music today.
xvi     Charles Wolcott

Parents of young children and soon-to-be parents need espe-
cially to be aware of what is happening to the current crop
of teenagers according to the findings of a California State
University study, published in the Los Angeles Times, June
1986. The intent of the study was to ascertain the impact of
song lyrics on youth. Two excerpts from that study will
suffice:

[Only] 2% or 3% of all teenagers devote their full attention
to lyrics; most use rock'n 'roll as background noise.
Teenagers cannot accurately describe their favorite songs,
they are seriously lacking in literary skills to understand
and interpret metaphors and symbolism .

This sad state of affairs didn 't just appear in the 1980s . It
is an insidious virus that has been slowly developing since the
1950s. However, before further commenting on the present,
let's take a peak at the past.
The use of music to enhance drama wasn't a discovery of
the twentieth century. Ancient Greek dramas rediscovered
by the Renaissance were not just plays with spoken verses
but dramas requiring actors and actresses who could s ing!
Seventeenth-century Claudio Monteverdi, composer of
madrigals and part songs, delighted by this new development,
set about to write music for the stage-his works were called
operas. We are the beneficiaries of Monteverdi's zeal. Operas
by Mozart, the Italians-Verdi, Puccini, Bellini, Rossini-and
others too numerous to mention grace today's opera house
stages. Eve n seventeenth-century works of Monteverdi,
Or/eo and The Coronation 0/ Poppaea, have been revived.
Opera lives today because it communicates through its music.
Arias are carried in one's head to be savored over and over
•
agam.
Now to revert to the plight of today's teenager and his in-
ability to absorb the incoherent lyrics of so many of the cur-
••
Foreword      XVll

rent songs. Two instances that occurred during my stint at
MGM studios in the 1950s will illustrate the importance of
understanding the words of a pop song. The writer/director
of a black-and-white movie about the pupils and teachers in
a high school located in a New York slum district asked me
to hear a record he had which he felt caught the spirit of the
film he was about to make. He was right. The music and the
lyrics supplied the color he was looking for to set the mood
of his picture. The record he played for me had been released
by the record company some two or three years before and,
as they say in show business, it died . I wrote a 24-measure
drum solo in the style of Gene Krupa which built up in inten-
sity to the first words of the record- "Rock Around the
Clock." The film, Blackboardjlmgie, became a sensation. The
record by Bill Haley and His Comets was reborn; to date it
is second only to Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas" in the
number of records sold. The point is, while the rock'n'roll
rhythm was loud and incessant, every word of the lyric was
heard distinctly. The young people dancing in the theatre
aisles were singing along with the movie! It happened every
time the picture began.
The second instance involved a rising young pop singer
who was making his first movie at the studio. Listening in the
control booth at his first recording session, it was impossible
for me to distinguish the words he was singing. The sound
engineer was asked to adjust the microphone set-up , but the
singer's manager objected, saying, "That's the sound we get
with all his records and they sell ." His argument was that if
a teenage buyer couldn 't understand the lyrics, he (or she)
would buy another copy.
And that, I'm sorry to say, was his method of selling the
records of his singer. This incident underscores my belief that
the deterioration in pop music started in the late 1950s.
Teenagers today react to the loud, driving rhythms of what
they see and hear on television and videos. If you were to
•

• ••
XVIII      Charles Wolcoll

read the lyrics of a T op-40 song without being distracted by
. the superstar charisma, the flashing colored lights, the gyra-
tions of the performer, you would discover another reason
why youth are unable to describe their favorite songs. In the
vast majority of cases, the words are incoherent or utterly de-
void of meaning.
Having examined the art of music, where its name comes
from , and its historical relationship to religion. ow we need
to determine, as Baha 'is, how we can use music to support
the thesis that man is created to carry forward an ever-
advancing civilization. Those who comprise the largest
group- the listeners-are reminded of Baha 'u'llah 's words in
the Kitab-i Aqdas: " We have penllilled you to lis/en /0 trIusic
and singing. Beware lest such listening co use you to transgress
fhe bounds 0/ decency and dignity."3 They can also follow the
advice given by 'Abdu 'I-BaM . That is , from the earliest age,
teach the child the verses of God, expose him to music that,
in the words of Bach, are tones that "do not perish, but
ascend to God like praise too deep for utterance."
Those who create music have an enormous responsibility.
We know that in bygone days, composers were given us-
tenance by royal patrons. Mozart, for instance, composed for
the royal court . Bach was a church organist and composed
for the weekly services held throughout the year. T oday, to
eam his livelihood, a composer may find it necessary to spend
much of his time and God-given talent on producing music
of a secular nature. But in whatever he does he should main-
tain the highest standards . God willing, in the future, national
governments will recognize their responsibility to provide
subsidies to qualified artists who will then be able to contrib-
ute to the well-being of mank ind. The perf01 Iller mayor may
not also be a composer, but he should be guided, as is the
composer , to so develop his artistic talent that his perfor-
mance provides a " ladder by which souls may ascend fa the
realms on high. '"
CHARLES WOLCOTT
editing music at his desk at the Walt Disney Studios. c. 1945.
xx       Charles Wolcott

What about the teenage Baha'j composer and/or per-
former? Everything depends on God-given talent. Is it
present? If so , that person should be given whole·hearted en·
couragement by parents and peers. Talent is an elusive thing.
Proficiency is often confused with talent and can be the
source of eventual hear tbreak for the proficient but untal·
ented musician. Nevertheless, there is a place for those who
lack talent, but have sufficient ability to give enjoyment to
an audience. They belong to a category into which falls the
majority of Bahli' is who are guitarists, drummers, or other
instrumentalists. They constitute the reservoir of manpower
on which Baha'i youth projects often depend.
We can't all be stars, but we can all be Baha'is!

Charles Wolcott
Ha ifa, Israel

Editor's Note: Charles Wolcol/, musicum and member a/the Univer·
sal HOllse 0/ jllstice, passed away all the day he dictated this essay.

Notes

1. Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. II , Chap. 20, p.8.
2. Ibid ., Vol. I, Chap . IX, p. 167.
3. Compilation of Extracts from the Baha'i Writings on Music.
4. Ibid.
-- Foreword (Used by permission of the curator)