MOSHE IDEL ANAMNESIS AND MUSIC, OR KABBALAH AS RENAISSANCE BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE ESTRATTO da RIVISTA DI STORIA E LETTERATURA RELIGIOSA DIRETTA DA G. CRACCO - G. DAGRON - C. OSSOLA F. A. PENNACCHIETTI - M. ROSA - B. STOCK Anno XLIX - N. 2 - 2013 Leo S. Olschki Editore Firenze Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa diretta da GIORGIO CRACCO - GILBERT DAGRON - CARLO OSSOLA FABRIZIO A. PENNACCHIETTI - MARIO ROSA - BRIAN STOCK Periodico quadrimestrale redatto presso l’Universita` degli Studi di Torino Direzione Cesare Alzati, Giorgio Cracco, Gilbert Dagron, Francisco Jarauta, Carlo Ossola, Benedetta Papa´sogli, Fabrizio A. Pennacchietti, Daniela Rando, Mario Rosa, Maddalena Scopello, Brian Stock Redazione Linda Bisello, Paolo Cozzo, Valerio Gigliotti, Giacomo Jori, Marco Maggi, Chiara Pilocane, Davide Scotto Tutti gli articoli proposti alla rivista sono soggetti a un esame affidato a membri interni o esterni al Comitato Scientifico, competenti per la tematica specifica, al fine di valutarne la rispondenza ai criteri di carattere scientifico. Articoli Dattiloscritti di Articoli, Note, Recensioni, Cronache, ecc., A. DORDONI, Il «riposo» dell’anima in Dio: Sebastiano Valfre` e la mistica . Pag. 293 come pure opere da recensire vanno indirizzati a: C. FERLAN, Tramandare una memoria scelta: le cronache dei Collegi gesuitici. Il Redazione della «Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa» caso goriziano nel contesto austriaco (secoli XVII-XVIII) . » 315 Via Giulia di Barolo, 3, int. A – 10124 Torino tel. +39.011.670.3861 – [email protected] M. BRAGAGNOLO, Il Castelvetro di Muratori. Storia, religione e diritto tra le carte dell’Estense . » 351 Gli autori devono restituire le bozze corrette insieme ai dattiloscritti esclusivamente alla Redazione di Torino. Rassegne e discussioni La responsabilita` scientifica degli articoli, note, recensioni, etc., spetta esclusivamente agli autori che li firmano. M. IDEL, Anamnesis and Music, or Kabbalah as Renaissance before the Renais- La Direzione assume responsabilita` sance . » 389 solo di quanto viene espressamente indicato come suo. S. CAMPANINI, Des oiseaux a` la langue perce´e. Sur une parabole zoharique . » 413 Il testo dattiloscritto pervenuto in Redazione si intende I. COSTA, Le murmure (susurratio, susurrium) comme phe´nome`ne moral et pro- definitivo. Ogni ulteriore correzione e` a carico degli autori. phetique a` l’e´poque de Thomas d’Aquin . » 425 Per richieste di abbonamento e per quanto riguarda la parte editoriale M. 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Altri interventi, pronunciati in quella giornata, sa- ranno pubblicati nei prossimi fascicoli della Rivista. Non si e` trattato di esplorare cio` che non arriva ad esprimersi, ma cio` che si raccoglie – come ci ha insegnato Moshe Idel – nella memoria di un can- to, di un popolo, o di un palpito. ANAMNESIS AND MUSIC, OR KABBALAH AS RENAISSANCE BEFORE THE RENAISSANCE 1. The Combination of Anamnesis and Divine Harmony Two well-known themes, Pythagorean music of the spheres 1 that was known also to Plato,2 and Platonic ‘anamnesis’,3 are found in separate sources in anti- quity. In any case according to scholars in the field Plato’s two main formulations of anamnesis represent some form of de-mythologization of earlier Orphic-Pytha- gorean theories.4 According to the interpretation offered by Jean-Pierre Vernant, anamnesis is related to a sort of ecstasy, which has in some cases salvific over- tones.5 To my best knowledge of the rich bibliography on Plato’s anamnesis, de- spite his interest in music of the sphere, he did not link it to recollection.6 How- 1 See the comprehensive monograph of L. SPITZER, Classical and Christian Ideas of World Harmony, Prolegomena to an Interpretation of the Word ‘‘Stimmung’’, Baltimore, John Hopkins Press, 1963. To a certain extent, the following study is a small appendix to this book, which did not address the Jewish aspects of the topic of the otherwise very erudite monograph. For the theory of harmony of the spheres in the more recent centuries see J. GODWIN, L’e´sote´risme mu- sical en France 1750-1950, Paris, Albin Michel, 1991. 2 See E. MOUTSOPULOS, La musique dans l’oeuvre de Platon, Paris, PUF, 1959. 3 See Phaidon, 75e, Phaedrus, 249b-250b, and Menon, 81cd. On anamnesis in Plato see A. CAMERON, The Pythagorean Background of the Theory of Recollection, Wisconsin, Menasha, 1938; F.M. CONFORD, Principium Sapientiae, New York, ed. W.K.C. Guthrie (Harper Torch- book, 1965), pp. 45-61. On the reverberations of Platonic anamnesis in Neoplatonism and then in the Middle Ages see G. SHAW, Theurgy and the Soul, The Platonism of Iamblichus (Penn State University Press, University Park, PA., 1995), pp. 24, 164, 175, 194, 201. See also the interesting reflections of Mircea Eliade on Platonic anamnesis and the archaic man in Aspects du mythe (Paris, 1963), pp. 147-155 and below beside note 113. To judge from a perusal of Mary Car- ruther’s books anamnesis was not a widespread vision in the Latin Middle Ages. 4 J.-P. VERNANT, Mythe et pense´e chez les Grecs, Paris, Editions La Decouverts, 1988, pp. 51-78 and M.L. MORGAN, Platonic Piety, Philosophy & Ritual in Fourth-century Athens, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1989, pp. 47-54, 69-70, 175-177. 5 J.P. VERNANT, Mythe et pense´e chez les Grecs, cit., pp. 51-78 and J.E. MENARD, La function soteriologique de la memoire chez les gnostiques, «RSR», LIV, 1980, p. 306. 7 390 MOSHE IDEL ever, as part of the syntheses between Platonism and Pythagoreanism in Neopla- tonism, the two themes are found together and the question is whether this is a new synthesis between two independent themes in Neoplatonism, or preservation or a reconstruction of a pre-Platonic view or a Middle Platonic view, which did not survive in such explicit a manner in earlier sources.7 Let me adduce the most explicit combination between the two themes found in a late Neoplatonic thinker deeply influenced by Pythagoreanism: 8 Iamblichus. Indeed, before the soul gave itself to the body, it heard the divine harmony plainly. There- fore, after it departs into the body and hears the sort of melodies that especially preserve the trace of the divine harmony, it welcomes these and recollects the divine harmony from them. It is drawn to this, makes itself at home with it, and partakes of it as much as possible. 9 We may distinguish between three main stages of the soul represented in this pas- sage: 1] the soul preexisted its descent in the body and when in the supernal world it heard the divine harmony, which should be understood from the context as mu- sical since it is connected later on with melodies. 2] when the soul is within the body and listens to music she is recollecting the primordial melodies. 3] This recollection brings the soul to a state reminiscent of the initial one, but within this world. Thus, recollection by listening to harmonious music, reminiscent of the divine harmony, is a possible way of regaining the experience of the preexisting soul while alive. Earlier in the same book Iamblichus claims that «by means of such melodies adapted to the Gods, their divinity becomes present... So, whatever happens to possess a likeness to the Gods directly participates in them: a perfect possession immediately takes place and the [experience of] being filled with the essence and the power of a Higher Being». 10 Elsewhere in the same book Iamblichus writes that «the inspiration of the Gods is not separate from divine harmony». 11 Melodies belonging to Gods instantiate therefore the divine presence within the soul while she is in the body. Recollection constitutes therefore the counterpart of the possible ascent of the soul to its source, by drawing the divine inspiration down. Let me point out the conceptually composite nature of Iamblichus’ book as 6 See E. MOUTSOPULOS, La musique dans l’oeuvre de Platon, cit. 7 See F. BUFFIERE, Les mythes d’Home`re et la pense´e greque, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1956, p.