Stirling Newberry writes:

>There is a word for this assumption, that word is *religion*.  The
>religious sentiment is the belief that the narrative of the self, the
>conscious self, is the narrative of the whole universe.  On the one hand I
>am glad that music can inspire religious feelings in its devotees.  On the
>other, it troubles me that some become zealots about the belief that what
>they feel is what the composer must have felt, and that if they don't feel
>the composer felt that way, then their feeling is proof positive that the
>composer its at fault.

Look at some of the remarks Bruckner made about his eighth symphony.

Of the Adagio he stated that he had been thinking too much of a "young
girl's eye" into which he had "gazed too deeply".  Not exactly what the
music first brought to my mind, nor can it do it on repeated listenings
thankfully, but there you have it.  Granted Bruckner had his odd moments.
Still, his statement is not the kind of thing that just pops out of one's
mouth when asked a question.

In such cases, it is best, don't you think, to take the music for what it
gives you and say, "thank you very much.".

Thomas Heilman
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