The 24th Caprice

Between 1805 and 1809, Niccolo Paganini wrote his 24^th Caprice. It is a beautiful and complex violin solo, widely regarded as one of the most difficult violin pieces to master.

The 24^th Caprice has been so popular that, over the last 200 years, no less than 42 "variations" have been developed by other composers. These variations use Paganini's piece as a springboard and inspiration for derivative works; in fact, many of the variations are based on other variations by other composers! (My personal favorite is Rachmaninov's)

If you were to listen to all of these variations performed, no doubt you would eventually hear most of what Paganini composed two centuries ago. And if you grab the common fragments from these variations you can, with dedication and time, assemble them together to have a piece which would be very close to the original. Moreover, since we still have Paganini's original score, you can listen to it being performed, and therefore verify your assemblage.

But! Since my blog is not about music, we will flex our brain muscles and consider a hypothetical situation. Let's say that, for reasons beyond our understanding, Paganini decided not to document the score -- instead requiring that every performer learn it by rote memorization, note by note, as they hear it. After three years of teaching this complicated piece to perhaps a dozen pupils, Paganini dies, leaving nothing behind.

In those days, only a select few had the education necessary to document musical notation, and even fewer had the finances to afford quill and parchment. Let's say that thirty years pass by before violinists are able to commit the 24^th Caprice to paper.

Naturally, over the course of some decades, it is certain that the score would have changed. The score would slowly start to change -- to evolve -- as certain violinists (intentionally or unintentionally): modified arrangement, added flourish, removed difficult bars, etc. Compounding this evolution is that, the more pupils a teacher had, the more potential for branching and subsequent changes. After so many years, three distinct problems would manifest:

1. The score undoubtedly would be modified. This would be glaringly evident by taking all the (eventually) documented scores and comparing them to each other.
2. Since the original score was never documented, we have absolutely no way of ever comparing the documented scores of decades later to the original, to determine what has changed. All we can do is compare the different variations and try to find the common themes, assigning priority based upon prominence.
3. As time progressed, hundreds of copies of the scores would be made, with hundreds of different "schools of interpretation" on how Paganini originally wanted it performed. Arguments would ensue over which notations were oldest, or more numerous, or more "correct."

I am sure by now that my thinly-veiled allegory has become transparent. And so what we find is that the overarching problem with Christianity isn't so much its message, as it is its messenger.

The bible is rampant with contradictions which exist due to competing legends, forgeries, religious motivations, and politics. It is very well documented that all of the gospels were written between 30 and 60 years after the events they record and were not written by any witnesses to the events recorded. They weren't even written in the native language of Christ and his followers!

During the course of the 400 years following the death of Christ, the biblical canon slowly evolved. There are actually more gospels left out of the bible than there are left in. There are possibly dozens of other "books" of the New Testament which were abandoned. The choice of the canon we use today was not a final, judiciary decision - it evolved out of political and spiritual convenience to a certain point and has remained thus for 1600 years. And even today there is conjecture as to what books should be included, which translations are more accurate, and which interpretations are correct.

Undoubtedly Paganini would be proud to learn that his beautiful work spawned so many beautiful variations. But here is the challenge to Christians: do you really suppose that Christ -- who was allegedly teaching the "one way" to god -- would be so proud to learn that his story has spawned so many thousands of variations of that "one way?"

Until next Monday,

Frank