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Music Teachers as Missionaries: Understanding Europe's Recent Dispatches to Ramallah

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 20; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17411912.2011.641370

1741-1920

Rachel Beckles Willson,

Music Education and Analysis

Abstract In this article I address ideas underpinning the teaching of western classical music by European and North American musicians on Palestine's West Bank. I introduce the establishment and growth of this teaching movement since the mid-1990s as a product of broader international investment in the region, and suggest that it can be approached tellingly through the lens of mission. My extensive interview material has indicated ideational echoes with nineteenth-century Protestant interventions into 'the Holy Land', and exposed how Orientalist tropes about social difference, western music's beneficence and regional violence continue to underpin the thinking of foreign workers in the region. It has also revealed a structural similarity to earlier missionary impulses: foreign musicians in residence focus on their music-aid work in Palestine, yet—just as were nineteenth-century missionaries—they are most often there as a result of perceived problems in their homelands. Keywords: MissionMusicPalestineNon-governmental OrganisationsDemocracyHeritageViolence Acknowledgements I should like to thank Philip V. Bohlman and Martin Stokes for their incisive comments on an earlier draft of this paper. They enabled me to improve it substantially. Notes 1. Urbain (2008 Urbain , Olivier 2008 . Music and Conflict Transformation. Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics . London and New York : I. B. Tauris . [Google Scholar]) is one example, but see also Grant et al. (2010 Grant, M. J., Möllemann, Rebecca, Morlandstö, Ingvill, Christine Münz, Simone and Nuxoll, Cornelia. 2010. Music and Conflict: Interdisciplinary Perspectives'. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 35(2): 183–98. [Google Scholar]), which gives due attention to music's participation in conflict. 2. See Hall (2002), Melman (1992 Melman, Billie. 1992. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718–1918, Basingstoke and London: Macmillan. [Google Scholar]) and Murre-van den Berg (2006 Murre-van den Berg , Heleen 2006 . New Faith in Ancient Lands. Western Missions in the Middle East in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century . Studies in Christian Missions 32 . Leiden : Brill [Google Scholar]); for music-related literature, see McGuire (2009 McGuire, Charles Edward. 2009. Music and Victorian Philanthropy. The Tonic Sol-Fa Movement, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar]) and Wilde (2007 Wilde , Guillermo. 2007 . 'Toward a Political Anthropology of Mission Sound: Paraguay in the 17th and 18th Centuries' . Music & Politics . http://www.music.ucsb.edu/projects/musicandpolitics/archive/2007-2/wilde.html (accessed 10 November 2011) . [Google Scholar]). 3. Orientalism and Musical Mission: The Case of Palestine, in preparation. 4. See, among other sources, Colbi (1998 Colbi, Saul P. 1998. A History of the Christian Presence in the Holy Land, Lanham, MD and London: University Press of America. 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The Politics of Religion, Social Protestantism and Mission in German Evangelical and Anglican Institutions of the Holy Land 1917–1939], Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. [Google Scholar]), Marchand (2009 Marchand , Suzanne L. 2009 . German Orientalism in the Age of Empire. Religion, Race, and Scholarship . Publications of the German Historical Institute Cambridge : Cambridge University Press . [Google Scholar]), Marten (2006 Marten, Michael. 2006. Attempting to Bring the Gospel Home. Scottish Missions to Palestine, 1839–1917, London and New York: I. B. Tauris. [Google Scholar]), Melman (1992), Murre-van den Berg (2006 Murre-van den Berg , Heleen 2006 . New Faith in Ancient Lands. Western Missions in the Middle East in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century . Studies in Christian Missions 32 . Leiden : Brill [Google Scholar]) and Vreté (1972 Vreté, Mayir. 1972. The Restoration of the Jews in English Protestant Thought 1790–1840'. Middle Eastern Studies, 8(1): 3–50. [Google Scholar]). 5. For examples of such rhetoric, see 'Vorhandner Kinderkreis' in Dritte Bericht über die Diakonissen-Stationen im Morgenlande, von den Jahren 1856 und 1857, pp. 22–8, preserved in the Bibliothek des Diakonischen Werkes der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (Library of the Diaconate of the Evangelical Church in Germany). 6. The Reverend Theodor Fliedner founded several educational institutes for women and children in Germany that were centred on the Diaconate in Kaiserswerth, opened in 1836. The idea was that an 'inner mission' to lapsed Christians would lead to a renewal and moral improvement in society at large, and it developed initially in a 'home'—the 'Mutterhaus' (Motherhouse)—where Fliedner, a number of pedagogues and his two successive wives trained women in nursing, teaching and community work. The Jerusalem mission was one of several that Fliedner established in the Middle East. 7. For example, Ranke referred to Luther's famous poem in praise of music when he observed that 'Frau Musica' kept moroseness and discord at bay, brought peace and joy, and raised up young hearts to God. For Luther's complete text in German and in English translation, see Leaver (2007 Leaver, Robin A. 2007. Luther's Liturgical Music. Principles and Implications, Michigan and Cambridge, , UK: Lutheran Quarterly Books. [Google Scholar]:74–5). Leaver presents Luther's understanding of music and theology in five points, namely: 'Music is a Gift of God', 'Music Creates Joyful Hearts', 'Music Drives Away the Devil', 'Music Creates Innocent Delight' and 'Music Reigns in Times of Peace' (see 2007:89–97). 8. 'The Mother of S. George's. By one of her boys'. Bible Lands, January 1909, No. 39:103–5 (at 105); emphasis added. 9. Ibid. 10. Finn's father was Reverend Alexander McCaul, a leading Hebrew scholar and millenarist and founding member of the London Jewish Society. See Melman (1992 Melman, Billie. 1992. Women's Orients: English Women and the Middle East, 1718–1918, Basingstoke and London: Macmillan. [Google Scholar]:179ff) for more on Elizabeth Finn's missionary work. 11. Translated by the current author. The original is as follows: 'Schauen wir fünf Jahre zurück, so waren wir damals schon froh, die Zahl der uns anvertrauten Kinder bis über zwanzig gestiegen zu sehen. Jetzt springen und singen, essen und schlafen, weinen und lachen, beten und arbeiten ein halbes hundert Kinder in den engen Raume, weiße, braune und schwarze, Protestanten, Proselyten, Griechen, Abessinier und Muhamedaner. Aber wenn die verschiedenartigen Herzen und Lippen ihr: "Lobe den Herren, o meine Seele!" oder: "Wie selig ist's, ein Schäflein Christi werden!" anstimmen, da giebt's eine so liebliche Harmonie, daß einem das Herz im Leibe vor Freuden lacht' ('Das Erziehungshaus' in Sechster Bericht über die Diakonissen-Stationen im Morgenlande von Mitte 1862 bis Mitte 1864, 8–13 (at 8), preserved in the Bibliothek des Diakonischen Werkes der Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland (Library of the Diaconate of the Evangelical Church in Germany). 12. S. J. 'G. George's School'. Bible Lands, January 1905, No. 23:96–7 (at 97). T. E. D. [The Venerable Theodore Edward Dowling, D. D., Archdeacon of the Church of England in Syria], 'S. George's Choir School, Jerusalem'. Bible Lands, January 1909, No. 39:92–3 (at 92). 13. S. J. 'G. George's School'. Bible Lands, January 1905, No. 23:96–7 (at 97). 14. The Barenboim–Said Foundation was legally established in July 2004 as a structure through which the regional government of Andalusia funded a range of projects (including the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, see http://www.west-eastern-divan.org/music-classes-in-ramallah/ last [accessed 10 November 2011]). Prior to this time, the government funding for these projects was channelled through the Fundación Tres Culturas del Mediterráneo (http://www.tresculturas.org/ [accessed 10 November 2011]). I am grateful to Muriel Páez Rasmussen, Director General of the Barenboim–Said Foundation, for clarifying this with me. 15. The close of the Cold War in 1989 led the USA to transfer its primary concerns away from the former Soviet Union and towards the Middle East, with Palestine in receipt of intense scrutiny. Thus, while US military forces drove invading Iraqis out of Kuwait (ending the Gulf Wars), Secretary of State James Baker undertook shuttle diplomacy between Israeli and Arab leaders. The consequent face-to-face conference hosted in Madrid in the autumn of 1991 made minimal progress, but subsequent meetings hosted by Norway resulted in 1993 in a set of agreements known as the Oslo Accords, and the following year saw the founding of the Palestine National Authority. This administrative organisation of governance for Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip was intended by many to be a five-year interim authority that would negotiate with Israel regarding territories and responsibilities in the region. 16. I have provided my interviewees with false initials. Please see further information on the interviews, including dates, at the end of the article. 17. In a few cases it was Barenboim's name that had enticed a musician to Ramallah to work. CD and HJ also mentioned the appeal of this. Additionally, CE actually left his job at Ramallah's National Conservatory to take up a job at the Barenboim–Said Foundation School in order to secure Barenboim's name on his CV. He even turned down a teaching position in England at that point, because 'Barenboim' was apparently the better investment for his eventual career. The shift also made quite good financial sense: he received a salary that was higher than most recent graduates in Europe could dream of, and this came with an additional accommodation allowance, several flights home annually, and a free mobile phone. CE's tax-free salary in the 2008/09 year was €2000 per month, plus €350 accommodation allowance (most teachers at the Conservatory received US$1300 and no accommodation allowance at this time). The accommodation allowance is generally sufficient to cover the US$500 he pays for an apartment he shares with one other teacher (obviously subject to some exchange rate fluctuations). CE informed me that the salary is not subject to tax in Spain, Palestine, or the UK. It is paid into an offshore bank account, and he draws it from an HSBC cash point in Ramallah. 18. The salaries of Al Kamandjâti employees were substantially lower than those of the Barenboim–Said Foundation. 19. See, for instance, reports on the German Diaconate established in Kaiserswerth by Theodore Fliedner in 1836, with branches in the Middle East from 1851- Berichte über die Diakonissen-Stationen im Morgenlande; and the quarterly publication of the UK's Jerusalem and The East Mission, Bible Lands ( 1899 Bible Lands . 1899 onwards. Revd C. J. R. Berkeley , first ed. Quarterly paper of the Jerusalem and The East Mission . [Google Scholar] onwards). Secondary sources are few and far between, but see Köser (2006 Köser, Silke. 2006. Denn eine Diakonisse darf kein Alltagsmensch sein. Kollektive Identitäten Kaiserswerther Diakonissen 1836–1914 [For a Deaconess Cannot be an Ordinary Person. Collective Identities of the Deaconesses of Kaiserswerth 1836–1914], Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. [Google Scholar]) for a discussion about Fliedner's interpolation of music into the lives of the women he trained to be Deaconesses, and McGuire (2009) for attitudes in the UK. 20. See, for instance, texts and images in Avran and Sablonnières (2001 Avran, Isabelle and Pascal Sablonnières . 2001 . 'Concerto pour Pierres et Violon' [Concerto for Stones and Violin] Regards , 5 October , 64 – 7 . http://alkamandjati.free.fr/ARTICLES_ALKAMANDJATI/2001/concerto_article.jpg (accessed 9 November 2011) . [Google Scholar]) and Brunet and Trevert (2004 Brunet , Arnaud and Emille Trevert . 2004 . 'Le Gamin d'Intifada est Devenu un Virtuose' [The Child of the Intifada has Become a Virtuoso] . Le Figaro , 21 August , 21 – 3 http://alkamandjati.free.fr/ARTICLES_ALKAMANDJATI/2004/005_figaro_article.jpg (accessed 9 November 2011) . [Google Scholar]), both available online. Additional informationNotes on contributorsRachel Beckles WillsonRachel Beckles Willson is Reader in Music at Royal Holloway, University of London. She is the author of the books örgy Kurtág's The Sayings of Péter Bornemisza (Ashgate, 2004) and Ligeti, Kurtág and Hungarian Music during the Cold War (Cambridge University Press, 2007), as well as a range of articles on music and politics connected with the former Eastern Europe and with the Palestinians. Her latest book is Orientalism and Musical Mission: The Case of Palestine.