My Years With Proust - Day 553

For those phrases, historians of music could no doubt find affinities and pedigrees in the works of other great composers, but only for secondary reasons, external resemblances, analogies ingeniously discovered by reasoning rather than felt as the result of a direct impression.  The impression conveyed by these Vinteuil phrases was different from any other, as though, in spite of the conclusions to which science seems to point, the individual did exist.  And it was precisely when he was striving with all his might to create something new that one recognised, beneath the apparent differences, the profound similarities and the deliberate resemblances that existed in the body of a work; when Vinteuil took up the same phrase again and again, diversified it, amused himself by altering its rhythms, by making it reappear in its original form, those deliberate resemblances, the work of his intellect, necessarily superficial, never succeeded in being as striking as the disguised, involuntary resemblances, which broke out in different colours, between the two separate masterpieces; for then Vinteuil, striving to do something new, interrogated himself, with all the power of his creative energy, reached down to his essential self at those depths where, whatever be the question asked, it is in the same accent, that it is to say its own, that it replies.

Marcel Proust, The Captive, pp. 257-258

Proust writes in rich and evocative language of Vinteuil's masterpiece, or at least his imagined masterpiece.  One of the most amazing aspects of Remembrance of Things Past is the complex world that he creates, and his discussion of Vinteuil's sonata, which pops up occasionally over hundreds of pages of the novel, is describes so intensely the deeply here that it's almost hard to remember that it is an imaginary piece.  For some reason this passage reminds me, not of any particular classical music piece, but rather John Contrane's seminal album A Love Supreme, which I cannot recommend too  highly.  There have been many songs, paintings, poems and buildings over the years that have been identified as spiritual.  If there is one that clearly deserves that designation it is A Love Supreme. Coltrane was influenced by his own Christian roots, Ahmadiyya Islam, some Indian mysticism, and his own deeply spiritual quest.  It is broken down into four passages: Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm. I love every section, but go back and forth on whether Resolution or Pursuance is my favorite; they both make the hair stand up on the back of my neck.  So why did the Coltrane album come to mind?  Part of the reason relates to Proust's description of the Vinteuil piece: "And it was precisely when he was striving with all his might to create something new that one recognised, beneath the apparent differences, the profound similarities and the deliberate resemblances that existed in the body of a work; when Vinteuil took up the same phrase again and again, diversified it, amused himself by altering its rhythms, by making it reappear in its original form, those deliberate resemblances, the work of his intellect, necessarily superficial, never succeeded in being as striking as the disguised, involuntary resemblances, which broke out in different colours, between the two separate masterpieces . ."  At one point in A Love Supreme Coltrane takes four notes and plays them something like thirty different ways, as if he is exploring, testing the limits, but still coming back to the unity of all things.  However, maybe what made me think of the Coltrane album most insistently is Proust's final description of the sonata when Vinteuil, "striving to do something new, interrogated himself, with all the power of his creative energy, reached down to his essential self at those depths where, whatever be the question asked, it is in the same accent, that it is to say its own, that it replies."  I can't read that without thinking of Coltrane.  A Love Supreme is a required purchase for anyone with aspirations of cultural sophistication, and who needs that jump start in their own quest for God.