3
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Laureates. Excerpts
Concord is expressed in music as harmony. An orchestra requires musicians to listen to each other;
none should attempt to play louder than the next, they must respect and know each other. It is
a song in praise of respect, of the effort to understand one another, something that is crucial to
resolve a conflict that has no military solution. The political solution may still be far off at the
present time, which strengthens my belief that a person’s essential obligation is to reflect, to act
within his own means. I believe an independent movement uniting both people could be born
in this way, and it would help by contributing to vanquishing the hate that stands between them
nowadays.
Music cannot be defined in words, because if we tried to do so, we would limit its scope.
Music provides a universal, timeless language. It is “sonorous air”, as Ferruccio Busconi said, and
its strength lies in the blending of a physical element —sound— and a human content, which has
not changed in the course of history and its civilizations.
There is a reflection on Seneca made by the great Spanish philosopher María Zambrano, which
we might recall today:
“The real measure of being cannot be found in dogma, but rather in a particular man who
perceives the harmony of the world in his own inner harmony. It is a question of hearing —we
are told— a musical virtue of the wise man. It is a permanent stance which perceives, and it is like
an ongoing chord. In short, it is an art. Morality has been explained in Aesthetics, and like any
aesthetics, there is something impossible to communicate in it.”
It is true that there is something impossible to communicate, something beyond words, in
music, and perhaps this is what makes young Israelis and Arabs unite to transform sound into a
musical experience.
Daniel Barenboim
—
Prince of Asturias Award
for Concord
2002
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for Concord on
25/10/2002.
