The Bible and Music

In class on February 14, we discussed in groups a specific scene from the Bible that we could make into a movie. My group chose the Resurrection, John chapter 20. We decided we would have 20 people total, no extras. They would all be main, key characters playing important roles. We didn’t get much farther than that, unfortunately, but we did decide our music would include an uplifting, mystical tone.

After this brief collection of ideas, Professor McGrath taught us that Handel’s Messiah was an oratorio. This is basically just an opera without the theatrics. We also learned that libretto is a text that has been set to music. Apocrypha are works that were not included in the Bible. The Canon is a list of works that we focus on in text and music. The takeaway from the class was that you can leave stuff out to focus in on other things, for example a movie or a book.