On Friday night I had the pleasure of listening to the first modern performance of Stefano Rossetto’s Consolamini, consolamini popule meus, a Christmas motet in 50 parts, conducted by Davitt Moroney. The most striking part of this piece of music is its complexity. With 50 voices it is virtually impossible to separate out any single phrase. Prior to the performance, Davitt Moroney had warned us that it was impossible to do separate out a single phrase, and at the same time assured us that every phrase was present. Yet we know that the composer arranged these voices to have a powerful effect on the audience. At times the only reminder of an individual voice was when a brief “s” made by an individual would rise above the massive harmony of this piece. To an untrained listener, such as myself, these brief indications of the presences of individuals appeared randomly during the performance.
The parallels to our understanding of biological processes are enlightening and therapeutic, and certainly not the intended message of the composer Stefano Rossetto. Biology is a complex process with many “voices” contributing to an observed behavior, such as disease progression. Modern biology has becoming exceedingly good at separating out the individual voices. But, just as the constructive and destructive harmonization of individual voices leads to an inspiring experience, a multitude of separate biological processes combine to create a limb bud or a disease condition. The challenge for us is to incorporate more of the complexity and dynamic behavior of biology into our thinking, models, diagnosis and treatments of disease.
If you have the opportunity to experience a live performance of a 40 to 50 voice Renaissance motet, I would highly recommend it.