I would like to mark the passing of composer John Taverner, born 28 January 1944; died 12 November 2013. Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi Raji’un. The renowned Christian composer Sir John Tavener has looked to the Muslim faith for inspiration for his 2007 major work The Beautiful Names of Allah, a musical setting of the 99 names of God as found in the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet. The 70-minute work was originally commissioned by HRH The Prince of Wales, reflecting his own keen interest in inter-faith dialogue to create mutual respect and spirituality. Nonetheless, the work created controversy at its world premiere in Westminster Cathedral last year, when fringe Catholic groups objected to its performance there. Sir John himself explained: The 99 beautiful names of Allah (God) as culled from The Koran have formed the basis and inspiration of my work The Beautiful Names set in Arabic. It was composed in 2004. The divine names fall into two categories those of majesty and those of mercy. The 99 names are universal insofar as they are theophanies of the eternal primordial being. A companion of the prophet Mohammed said “I never saw anything without seeing God”, Man’s mission therefore is to join the outward to the inward. This is the aspiration of The Beautiful Names and perhaps by doing this in the language of music one may contribute a little to the appalling strife that permeates the modern world. The Beautiful Names came to me as a vision. I meditated on the individual names on an almost daily basis and the music seemed to come to me fully grown. It was never random or chaotic but seemed to have the logic of cosmic music or the music of the spheres. I regard The Beautiful Names highly and think of it as one of the most important of my works. It was first performed in Westminster Cathedral in front of a large throng and in the presence of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales who commissioned it and to whom it is dedicated. It was later performed at a very moving occasion in Istanbul. For millions in the UK Sir John Tavener is best known as the composer of Song for Athene, the defining piece of music at the funeral of the Princess of Wales. Though remaining devoutly Russian Orthodox, since 2001 much of his work has been inspired by his interest in the universalist theories of Fritjhof Schuon which embrace great religious traditions, with some of his more recent compositions setting Islamic, Hindu, Christian, Jewish and Sufi texts.
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 23:14:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015