STEUBENVILLE, OH, December 9, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – An often missed element in the culture wars is the influence of the arts. One powerful art-form, employed by advertising agencies and pop-culture manipulators – music – has a power most people dismiss. Ancient philosophers such as Socrates and Plato recognized the importance of music on culture. Socrates is quoted as having said, “Let me control the music of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.” Plato, in The Republic, showed that for good or for evil, the role of music is crucial in education. A modern-day musical artist who recognizes the power of music and its tremendous influence on culture is classical composer Eric Genuis, who currently lives in Steubenville, Ohio with his wife and three children. Mr. Genuis, is an accomplished musician who has played concerts, consisting of all original orchestral, piano and violin compositions, throughout North America and Europe. The composer, who has completed his second instrumental album, is a modern rarity, since he is a classical composer in the style of the greats such as Mozart, Bach, Beethoven¸ Brahms, Chopin, Handel, and Haydn.
Just as ancient philosophers appreciated music and its importance, modern philosophers have also commented on music. Alice Von Hildebrand, recently featured in a Zenit interview on the harm feminism causes women, said of Genuis’s composition, “it combines fire, ardour, noble passion with tenderness and poetry. It is rooted in the great classical tradition which – alas – has been buried under the noisy clamors of Rock and Roll.” Dr. Von Hildebrand, said in a letter to Genuis, “You prove that -disastrous as our anti-culture is – there is hope for the future: continue your great work.” In an interview with LifeSiteNews.com, Mr. Genuis stressed “To engage in battle in the culture wars on the level of the arts, parents must encourage in their children an appreciation of classic art. Speaking about music, Genuis said, “Checking lyrics of songs to ensure non-detrimental or profane messages is only a beginning. Music itself is a language that speaks to the heart and can encourage order or disorder.”“Just as a regular diet of fast food deprives one of the capacity of truly appreciating fine dining, so too regularly listening to crass, disturbing music robs our appreciation of classical music which moves the soul, rather than causes the hips to gyrate,” Genuis told LifeSiteNews.com. He encouraged parents to take their children to live classical performances. Music, said Genuis, is an attempt to express the mystery of man, the inner soul of man. “It is an expression of the mystery in all of us that yearns for beauty, order, the perfect , the sublime, true peace.” He explained that music, “written well, reaches beyond touch, beyond the empirical, and beyond emotions to touch our souls in a mysterious way to get at that which we don’t see and don’t fully know. Ultimately it is an expression of hope, of wanting and striving for The Perfect – for God.” Ontario residents have an opportunity to hear Eric Genuis in concert in Toronto Jan 4 and in Peterborough Jan 3. (For more information on these concerts: contact The Beads, [email protected] (Toronto) and Wayside Academy [email protected] (Peterborough) To contact Eric Genuis: [email protected] (740) 282-4050 www.eternitymedia.com