B35 Historical classification

The events of the French Revolution, which had serious consequences for the church, largely occurred during the term of office of two popes who held their pontificates for a long time. While Pius VI (pontificate from 1775-1799) had to witness the annexation of the Papal States by Napoleon and died as a prisoner of France in the citadel of Valence, his successor, Pius VII (pontificate from 1800-1823) succeeded with diplomatic skill, but also due to changing balance of power, to obtain the restitution of numerous material and immaterial church assets.

For historical context, one striking event should be singled out: Napoleon was dependent on the presence of the Pope at the imperial coronation in 1804. Even though he de facto crowned himself and his wife Josephine because he viewed Pius VII as a subordinate, it was the Pope's presence before the public that gave it an official and historically consistent character. Certainly the Pope's presence was not purely voluntary and negotiations with compromises on both sides were taking place in the background.

Jacques-Louis David, The Coronation of Napoleon, detail, Musée du Louvre, Paris (click to enlarge)

In return for his presence, Pius VII not only received the re-admission of some orders, but also the abolition of the republican calendar, i.e. that the calendar from the birth of Christ became - after a delay of one year - valid again. 

The separation of church and state was nevertheless a serious concern and so five inspectors in the first state conservatory founded in 1793 were responsible for keeping the teaching of music free of theological interpretations. The new, corrected theory of harmony appeared in 1803 and to this day there has been no restitution of the more than 1.800-year-old cultural heritage.

From a scientific perspective, the separation of church and state is not affected when cultural-historical events are taught in class. The difference is that state institutions do not have a missionary concern and therefore openly draw attention to the manipulative interventions that were associated with the Christian interpretation of the Greek tonal system. On the contrary, the concerns of the revolutionaries are only understood against the background of a massively indoctrinaire communication of the Catholic worldview.

Irrespective of that, the ethical content of the theory of harmony - the name goes back to Harmonia, the Greek goddess of concord - has a non-denominational character and touches a problem that is still one of the primary challenges facing humanity today, as it is about switching from strategic thinking and acting - in global dimension - to synergistic thinking and acting.

The current situation, in which the church's influence on the doctrine of harmony is ignored, results in a pedagogical disaster because the structures are understood neither by the teachers nor by the students. Despite the appreciation of technical specialization, more context is needed here. What was created on a catholic-, i.e. all-encompassing scale, cannot possibly be grasped from the perspective of a single discipline. Particularly in the context of historically informed performance practice, understanding brings about an immediate increase in quality and the audience experiences a deeper, more reflective and more intimate listening experience through the confrontation with their own fate. Without having an idea of the former greatness of the Catholic worldview, Western culture can only be understood incompletely.