cover Página 1 de 213 title: Music and the Occult : French Musical Philosophies, 1750-1950 Eastman Studies in Music author: Godwin, Joscelyn. publisher: University of Rochester isbn10 | asin: 1878822535 print isbn13: 9781878822536 ebook isbn13: 9780585327020 language: English subject Music and occultism--France, Music--France--Philosophy and aesthetics, Harmony of the spheres, Symbolism in music. publication date: 1995 lcc: ML3800.G57213 1995eb ddc: 781/.1/09444 subject: Music and occultism--France, Music--France--Philosophy and aesthetics, Harmony of the spheres, Symbolism in music. cover Page i Music and the Occult page_i Page ii To Antoine Faivre page_ii file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 2 de 213 Page iii Music and the Occult French Musical Philosophies 1750-1950 By Joscelyn Godwin page_iii Page iv Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the netLibrary eBook. Copyright © 1995 University of Rochester Press All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation, no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. First published 1995 University of Rochester Press 34-36 Administration Building, University of Rochester Rochester, New York, 14627, USA and at PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK IBSN 1 87822 53 5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Godwin, Joscelyn. [Esotérisme musical en France, 1750-1950. English] Music and the occult: French musical philosophies, 1750-1950/ Joscelyn Godwin. p. cm. (Eastman studies in music: 3) Translation of: Esotérisme musical en France, 1750-1950. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1, MusicFrancePhilosophy and aesthetics. 2. Harmony of the spheres. 3. Symbolism in music. I. Series. ML3800.G57213 1995 781'.1'09444dc20 94-49102 CIP British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 3 de 213 This is a revised edition, translated by the author, of L'Esotérisme musical en France 1750-1950, published by Albin Michel in 1991 in the series "Bibliothèque de l'Hermétisme." This publication is printed on acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America page_iv Page v Acknowledgments This book is largely the fruit of a sabbatical year spent in Paris during 1985-86, generously supported by Colgate University and assisted by a Grant-in-Aid from the American Council of Learned Societies and a Travel to Libraries grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The first version was published in 1991 as L'Esotérisme musical en France, 1750-1950 by Albin Michel, Paris, in the series "Bibliothèque de l'Hermétisme," with the assistance of a grant from the Centre National des Lettres. The present work is a free translation from the French original, in which I have taken the opportunity of making revisions, corrections, and I hope improvements. It is a pleasure to acknowledge once more the friendship and encouragement of Professor Antoine Faivre, Director of Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (5th Section, Sorbonne), where he holds the chair of History of Esoteric and Mystic Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe. His seminars at the Sorbonne, and those of Dr. Jean-Pierre Laurant, were invaluable to my researches. Mr. Jean-Pierre Brach, in Paris, and Mr. and Mrs. Christian Chanel, in Lyon, gave freely of their erudition and hospitality. In North America, Professor Richard C. Wedgewood and Dr. Arthur Wenk supplied me with otherwise unknown documents. I am also grateful to the librarians of the many divisions of the Bibliothèque Nationale; the Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne; the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal; the Bibliothèque Mazarine; the Société Théosophique (Square Rapp); the Bibliothèque de l'Histoire du Protestantisme; the Bibliothèque Municipale de Lyon; the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (Bibliotheek J.R. Ritman), Amsterdam; the British Library; the Library of the University of Texas, Austin; and to the Interlibrary Loan services of the Colgate University Library. page_v Page vi Eastman Studies in Music The Poetic Debussy: A Collection of His Song Texts and Selected Letters (Revised Second Edition) Edited by Margaret G. Cobb Concert Music, Rock, and Jazz since 1945: Essays and Analytical Studies Edited by Elizabeth West Marvin and Richard Hermann file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 4 de 213 Music and the Occult: French Musical Philosophies, 1750-1950 Joscelyn Godwin "Wanderjahre of a Revolutionist" and Other Essays on American Music Arthur Farwell, edited by Thomas Stoner French Organ Music from the Revolution to Franck and Widor Edited by Lawrence Archbold and William J. Peterson page_vi Page vii Contents Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Chapter 1: The Harmony of the Spheres in the Age of Enlightenment 3 Preamble: Defining Terms 3 The Fortunes of Occult Philosophy 4 Special Conditions in France 6 Newton and the Doctrine of Correspondences 8 Père Castel and the Color-Tone Parallel 10 Eckartshausen, Goethe, Rameau 15 Briseux, Architect and Platonist 17 Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin: Music as Allegory and Symbol 20 Notes 25 Chapter 2: Pythagoras in Egypt and China 31 The Abbé Roussier and the Triple Progression 31 J.-B. de Laborde as Pupil of Roussier 36 A.P.J. de Vismes de Valgay, the Swedenborgian Opera Director 37 G.-A. Villoteau, the Egyptologist 41 Notes 45 Chapter 3: Fabre d'Olivet 49 file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 5 de 213 The "Hellenic Mode" and the Oratorio 51 The Curing of the Deaf-Mutes 57 Music Explained as Science and Art 62 True Freemasonry and Celestial Agriculture 68 Notes 72 Chapter 4: Fourier and the Fourierists 77 Cosmic Music 79 Human Music 83 The Fourierists 89 Fourier's Sources 92 Notes 95 Chapter 5: Wronski and the Wronskians 99 The Controversies with Troupenas, Fétis, and Azaïs 100 Camille Durutte, Wronski's Interpreter 102 Wronski's Influence in Belgium 108 page_vii Page viii Charles Henry: The Geometry of Perception 109 Ernest Britt and the Synthesis of Music 117 Notes 123 Chapter 6: The Pythagoreans of Mid-Century 129 Abbé Lacuria, Christian Pythagorean 129 Louis Lucas, Hermetic Revolutionary 136 The Kastners: Aeolian Harps and Singing Flames 139 Music Therapy: Dr. Chomet and the Marquis de Pontécoulant 141 Notes 144 Chapter 7: Edmond Bailly and Universal Harmony at the Fin-de-Siècle 151 Edmond Bailly and His Bookshop, "L'Art indépendant" 151 file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 6 de 213 Colonel Rochas and the Experiments with Lina 158 Spiritualists, Mediums, Occultists 159 The Synthetists: Swiecianowski; Guyot; Griveau; Azbel 162 Were Satie and Debussy Occultists? 170 Notes 174 Chapter 8: Saint-Yves d'Alveydre and his Archéomètre 181 Saint-Yves as Composer 181 The Genesis of the Archéomètre 183 Essay on Music: The Search for Sacred Scales 188 The Musical Archéomètre 190 Artistic Applications: Charles Gougy 193 Notes 195 Chapter 9: Speculative Music Encounters Modernity 199 The Musical Esthetics of Two Journals: Emile Bernard's La Rénovation and Paul Vulliaud's Les Entretiens idéalistes 199 Riciotto Canudo: Beethoven, Nietzsche, and the Cosmic Orgasm 204 Fidèle Amy-Sage: From the Pyrenees to the Pharaoh's Tomb 207 Le Voile d'Isis and the Collapse of Universalism 210 Jean Thamar: The Guénonian Challenge and the Rejection of History 214 Conclusion 220 Notes 222 Appendix of Musical Scores: 225 Fabre d'Olivet's Souvenirs mélancholiques 225 Edmond Bailly's La Tristesse d'Ulad 227 Saint-Yves d'Alveydre's Isola Bella 235 Bibliography 245 Index 255 page_viii file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 7 de 213 Illustrations Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin 1 Jean-Baptiste de Laborde 29 Fabre d'Olivet 47 Charles Fourier 75 Hoené Wronski 97 Abbé P.-F.-G. Lacuria 127 Title-Page of Bailly's La Tristesse d'Ulad 149 Saint-Yves d'Alveydre 179 Paul Vulliaud 197 page_ix Page 1 Louis-Claude De Saint-Martin page_1 Page 3 Chapter One The Harmony of the Spheres in the Age of Enlightenment Preamble: Defining Terms A book of this kind inevitably uses words that are not fully established in academic discourse, and which it is well to define from the outset. The ''occult" of the title is the subject of the famous work of Henry Cornelius Agrippa, De occulta philosophia (first published 1533), whose three volumes treat of "Natural Magic," "Celestial Magic," and "Ceremonial Magic." The occult philosophy holds that the universe is articulated by a network of correspondences, "occulted" or invisible to the senses. Agrippa's various types of magic exploit these correspondences, using objects in the lower realms of existence (e.g., words, metals, herbs) to draw down the influences of their higher counterparts (e.g., angels, planets). Springing out of the occult philosophy are the "occult sciences" that include astrology, alchemy, magic, and divination. These all depend on the doctrine of correspondences. When that doctrine was discarded after the Scientific Revolution, they no longer appeared to merit the name of "sciences," and have enjoyed only a twilight existence ever since. Whereas the occult sciences are as old as civilization, the figure of the "occultist" has only existed since the middle of the nineteenth century. It refers to persons who pursue the occult sciences, especially in an file://C:\Jogos\Occult\1878822535\files\__joined.html 26/9/2009 cover Página 8 de 213 eclectic way, in conscious defiance of scientific materialism. 1 "Exoteric" and "esoteric," as used in this book, refer to the division within a field between what is generally known and accepted, and what is reserved for only a few.