Scott believed that the "depictive value of music over and above that of literature, drama, painting and poetry, consists in its total lack of restrictedness, and in its direct appeal to the intuition or subconscious." (Scott, 2013, Ch. 9)
In his opinion, the music by Handel, for example, promoted to the fact that affectation, haughtiness, and formalism were usual to many people of the Victorian era which was filled with "conventions". He wrote that these imperfections of human characters should be considered as a result of the influence of his music on these characters:
Those who have closely examined Handel's technique will observe that he had a strong predilection for the repetition of single chords, for two or more bar phrases, and for sequences, – viz.: the reiteration of a phrase in a different position or on a different degree of the scale. Thus, apart from its emotional content, Handel's music was pre-eminently formal in character, consequently it was formal in effect. If, however, we combine its emotional qualities with its formalism, and to repetition and musical imitativeness – for sequence is but imitativeness – add grandeur, the net result is the glorification of repetition and imitativeness; and if we translate all this from the planc of music to that of human conduct, we get love of outward ceremony and adherence to convention. (Ibid., Ch. 7)
According to Prof. Antoine Faivre, it is "difficult to discuss" musical esotericism without taking into account the opinion of the composers, in particular, stated in the work by Cyril Scott Music and Its Secret Influence. (Faivre 1994, p. 106)
Maud MacCarthy (1882-1967) was a violinist, singer, writer, Indian music expert, and Theosophist. She studied violin in London at the Royal College of Music, where her teacher was Enrique Fernandez Arbos (1863-1939). (Mann, 1913; Mansell, 2016)
John Foulds (1880-1939), a composer, was an author of World Requiem, dedicated to the memory of those dead in World War I. This work was conceived, as Godwin noted, in the "non-sectarian spirit of Theosophy." MacCarthy worked on the text using passages from the Bible, excerpts from The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1628-1688), and poems by Hindu poet Kabir (1440-1518). (Godwin, 2012; Mansell, 2016)
Renato de Grandis (1927-2008) had been interested, in addition to music, in philosophy, poetry, and painting. He engaged in research in the field of Theosophy, Buddhism, and Kabbalah. This was bound with the long journeys, especially in Asia. He was an active member of the Italian Section of the Theosophical Society and dedicated his piano prelude "Echi" to the president of the Theosophical Society Adyar Radha Burnier. He founded the International Center for the Theosophical Research in Cervignano del Friuli. He wrote the Theosophical books Teosofia di base, Teosofia contemporanea, Theos-Sophia, Abhidharma e Psicologie Occidentali, in addition, he published comments to the Book of Dzyan and The Voice of the Silence. (Godwin, 2012; Hahn, 2013)
The musicians and Theosophy
Richard Wagner (1813-1883) had been endorsing (in the last years of his life) ideas "remarkably similar to Madame Blavatsky's." He had been saying of "universal currents of Divine Thought," "vibrating ether," and the "great cosmic law." He believed that music is capable of introducing an audience into a state of trance, provoking a kind of "musical clairvoyance." (Godwin 1987, p. 39; Lachman 2002, p. 135) Prof. Wouter Hanegraaff wrote that Wagner's "great music dramas were sometimes interpreted from esoteric perspectives." (Hanegraaff, 2013, p. 153) He believed in the "spiritual oneness of all living things, abhorred cruelty to animals and was a vegetarian." (De'Ath, 2005)
Speaking of the impact of Wagner's music, Cyril Scott wrote that the basis of his general composition idea was "a profound spiritual principle" of "unity in diversity."
As the waves of the ocean are each different, yet are one with it and inseparable from it, so each melody was one with the great art-work of which it formed a part. Wagner's music was the prototype of the principle of co-operation against competition; symbolically speaking it symbolized the mystic truth that each individual soul is unified with the All-soul, the All-pervading Consciousness. (Scott, 2013, Ch. 14)
Fig. 3. The Theosophical "music-form", composer Richard Wagner. (Besant; Leadbeater, 1905, p. 82)
Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) composed ten piano sonatas, some of which, according to Kurt Leland, "have Theosophical subtexts". For example, the Fourth Sonata is about "flight toward a star, as in the experience of astral projection", the Seventh, subtitled White Mass, is about the "mystical forces unleashed in a magical ceremony", and the Ninth, subtitled Black Mass, is about "purging the corresponding dark forces". The Eighth Sonata "uses five musical fragments to represent the constant interplay of the elements earth, water, air, fire, and, as he called it, the mystical ether". (Leland, 2011)
Even before he became acquainted with Theosophy, Scriabin became interested in philosophy of Hinduism, which had become one of the sources of Blavatsky's teachings. This is evidenced in the Katha Upanishad from the composer's personal library with notes made by his hand. He emphasized those places in the book that illuminate idea of the universal community, the absolute unity of the world. (Шабанова, 2017, p. 107)
Musicologist Dmitry Shumilin states that in 1905, in Paris, Scriabin began to study the French translation of Blavatsky's book The Key to Theosophy. He became acquainted with her book The Secret Doctrine no later than October 1905. This book has become for him the most authoritative source of information of occult nature, as well as a "storehouse" of new creative ideas. He considered Blavatsky's attempt to unite religion, philosophy, and science into one teaching as "quite reasonable and successful." All of the work from his latest period, albeit in varying degrees, was imbued with ideas, concepts, and provisions set forth in The Secret Doctrine. (Шумилин, 2009, p. 69)
Scriabin not only read this work, he studied it as a textbook, examined it how the newly founded ancient manuscript, trying to comprehend and assimilate the ideas contained in the book. More than 513 text fragments ranging in length from several words to one and a half pages are differently highlighted by the composer in five volumes of the French edition of The Secret Doctrine. (Ibid., p. 67)
An idea of unity is the basic idea of both Theosophy and Scriabin's philosophy. The "principle of unity", which he often mentioned, talking on its "immutable action", is, in his opinion, a universal law. He accepted with "great enthusiasm" Blavatsky's concept about a singular source of all religions and religious-philosophical systems, as well as the proclamation by the Theosophists an idea of universal brotherhood as the highest ethical value. In Theosophy, the composer had saw that "reality" which was "desired" for him. On the basis of his own experience, he concluded that Blavatsky's assertions were true, and for him as an artist it was precisely this criterion that was decisive. (Ibid., pp. 60, 69)
Scriabin considered music a means of transforming humanity, accelerating his spiritual evolution. He dedicated the last years of his life to the Mysterium, a giant drama combining music, dance, theater, poetry with religious ritual, trying to create a synthesis of the emotional and spiritual aspects. (Godwin, 2012; Lachman, 2002; Шабанова, 2017)