| MATRIX The Modular Structure of Music DEDICATION |
| (a work in progress) |
With the Name of the Gracious and Compassionate Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, King James Version) When all else has passed away, only the face of the Creator will remain. I never met my mother's father. He died eight or nine years before I was born. He was the choirmaster and a trustee of the New Chapel Baptist Church in Plymouth, North Carolina. They sang the old spirituals in his church, a body of worshipful music close to my heart. His name was Moses Towe. His blood flows in my veins. Johann Sebastian Bach was also a choirmaster. The body of worshipful music he left behind is also close to my heart. He dedicated all his music, both sacred and secular, to the glory of the Creator. His blood flows in my veins. Muhammad was a prophet. You may not know this - you may have heard and believed the slander - but Muhammad was one of the most noble human beings that ever lived. He was the last of those commissioned by the Creator to deliver messages to mankind. The message he delivered, a message from the Creator of the heavens and the earth - the Qur'an - is closest to my heart. He is dearer to me than my mother and father. Only the Creator is more beloved. His blood flows in my veins. Music is a sacred trust. Music brings to the depths of the heart remembrance and contemplation of the joys and tragedies of human life. Its aim is not merely to entertain but to enlighten, to bring not only happiness and ease but sadness and difficulty. Surely with difficulty comes ease, according to the Qur'an. The tradition of serious music, not only European but global, must be maintained and carried forth, for the sake of human life. If we do not remember and contemplate, we are doomed. It is in remembrance of all the prophets, including Muhammad, and of all serious composers, particularly J.S. Bach, and of my grandfather and all my ancestors, and of all those who suffer the indignities of injustice and oppression, of war and extermination, and to the glory of the Creator of the heavens and the earth that I dedicate this web site. Lester Allyson Knibbs, Ph.D. October 7, 2003 |
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| With the Name of the Gracious and Compassionate Creator of the Heavens and the Earth |