The gothic symbol : manifestations of the medieval concept of order in music, architecture, and philosophy

Abstract

During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there was a concentration phase of synchronous development of music, architecture, and philosophy, which was more concrete than mere parallelism. All of these forms were united by a certain trait of character, although they were differentiated from one another by their own individual substance. In seeking to define this "trait of character" or "essence" of Gothic style it is possible to isolate certain essential principles.

The first of these is the fact that all three forms of expression were rooted in the common tradition of the Christian religion, and utilized its doctrine as the basis for their varied structures. For the cathedral the ground plan was the form of the Christian basilica; for the liturgical music the foundation was the Gregorian chant; and for the philosophical structures the base was the accumulation of Scriptures and patristic writings.

The infusion of Platonic concepts and Aristotelian methods into the Christina tradition deeply influenced the intellectual system of the medieval philosophers and the artistic structures of the architects and composers. Their attempts to reconcile faith and reason gave rise to religious and aesthetic concepts which became the ordering principles for the architecture, the music, and the great philosophical treatises.

The Scholastic philosophers thought of God as a rational force, the Creator of the world based upon principles of reason; He was the master-builder who had created the world by means of an architectural science based upon mathematics. The cathedral was the concrete manifestation of these mathematical ideas, while music was the reflection in sound of the same architectural system.

Structural elements--ratio, proportion, and systematic division-- were fundamental to the evolution of the Gothic style, but only as a means to an end. The dialectic in philosophy, the structural principles in architecture, and the techniques utilized in the composition of linear polyphony were methods devised to bridge the gap between matter and spirit.

For medieval man the physical world had no reality except as symbol. He was preoccupied with the symbolic nature of the world of appearances, for he believed that God had given to every created thing a cryptic meaning which could be read in the light of symbolism. The image was perceived not as illusion, but as revelation, for God was the beginning and also the goal of human knowledge. Music and architecture became vehicles to lead the mind toward the comprehension of the divine order.

Thus, the artistic forms became the perfect expression for the spirit of the age. Religious fervor was given expression in the soaring verticality of the architecture, and in the sonorous consonances of the music. The medieval passion for clarity and order was reflected in the principles of construction of the cathedral and the motet. But it was the potent combination of these two factors-- religious mysticism and Scholasticism-- that provided the essential motivation; it was a unique interaction of idealistic and technical factors which produced the Gothic style.