Portrait of Francis Bacon (1617),
Frans Pourbus the Younger
Music for Master Bacon
By Matt Marble
In 1983 an interviewer asked one of America’s most prolific composers, Alan Hovhaness, if he believed reincarnation explained his "empathy with other times and cultures." The composer responded in the affirmative, though he only noted his innate understanding of counterpoint as an example of past life intelligence. The truth, however, was much bigger. Hovhaness neglected to tell the interviewer that he believed he was the reincarnation of an obscure 16th century musician who took supernatural direction from the mystical European statesman Francis Bacon. As we’ll see, it appears that this past life identity was a guiding force in Hovhaness’ life and music.
Over the years, Hovhaness tended to diagnose the past lives of great composers. He claimed Wagner was "a gagaku composer way back in a former incarnation." Because of his proclivity for massive orchestras, French composer Hector Berlioz was said to be the reincarnation of a musician from ancient China, while Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, was ascribed to a past life among the Chinese Shinto, due to his use of double reeds in his Swan of Tuonela. Such historical correspondences are more a poetry of association than any legitimate diagnosis of past incarnations. But these ongoing comments speak to how prevalent reincarnation was in Hovhaness' awareness, even cropping up in his music. Inspired by Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene, Hovhaness’ Garden of Adonis (1971) depicts "a garden of rebirth or reincarnation where souls appear as flowers."
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Over the years, Hovhaness tended to diagnose the past lives of great composers. He claimed Wagner was "a gagaku composer way back in a former incarnation." Because of his proclivity for massive orchestras, French composer Hector Berlioz was said to be the reincarnation of a musician from ancient China, while Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, was ascribed to a past life among the Chinese Shinto, due to his use of double reeds in his Swan of Tuonela. Such historical correspondences are more a poetry of association than any legitimate diagnosis of past incarnations. But these ongoing comments speak to how prevalent reincarnation was in Hovhaness' awareness, even cropping up in his music. Inspired by Edmund Spencer's The Faerie Queene, Hovhaness’ Garden of Adonis (1971) depicts "a garden of rebirth or reincarnation where souls appear as flowers."
Subscribe to the New PRS Journal to read on...
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