The Bible and Music

In class on March 19,  we discussed how the Bible can be dramatized. A good example of this was in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar. It took place through the last week of Jesus’s life. This movie was very controversial because it was about Mary and Jesus’s relationship. The perspective was through Judas. He betrayed Jesus because he was paid off, something more than just money. This was an inner circle betrayal. There was some mismatch between the Bible and the lyrical text, and the criticism is that it’s not what happened, but we questioned “can you ever really know what happened?” Written stories and sources can be wrong or untruthful.  History is hidden beneath the surface. We can only assume what events we think happened behind the text.

Also, we discussed what a magnificat is, and that is a music project. An oratorio has no acting or staging. An opera has staging and acting, for example, Les Miserables and Jesus Christ Superstar. Musical theater has words and acting involved with it.