Today, September 23, 2021, in class we talked about Handel’s Messiah and some of his works and how they relate to each other.  Handel’s Messiah is an oratorio without the character and is considered one of Handel’s greatest works.  At first when beginning to listen to it you realize that it is two hours long… Continue reading Handel’s Messiah

Studying has always been a hassle for me and something I hate doing, but music is something that truly enhances the experience. It allows me to completely focus on the task at hand and stray away from any distractions. Though what I’ve realized is that at times it is better to listen to primarily instrumental… Continue reading Listening to Music While Studying?

Through listening to some excerpts from Handel’s The Messiah, we were able to observe how music can influence words and even entire scriptures and passages from the Bible. The music behind the lyrics can actually symbolize the words, providing listeners with not only a great image of the words but a greater understanding of the… Continue reading Music’s Effect on Words

George Frideric Handel combined multiple Bible verses to create an opera. His organization is not what one would expect, but somehow he gets it to flow very well. Many of the verses are well-known to us, but the way Handel places the verses together is what is so compelling. An interesting approach to his song… Continue reading Analyzing Handel’s Messiah

As we discussed in class, Handel’s Messiah contains many texts that can be taken out of context. Because of the prophecies that Jesus fulfills, Christians tent to interpret old testament texts in a way that they were not intended to be interpreted in.  Because of Jesus, texts take on a new meaning and Christians take… Continue reading Out of Context

Prophecy basically means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things which cannot be known by the natural light of reason. A prophecy is a message that is delivered by a prophet, that usually involves some kind of revelation… Continue reading Prophecy in the Bible

The Messiah is Hebrew and Greek for the “anointed” or the “anointed one.” Handel does a good job of summarizing the events in Jesus’ life all the way up until his resurrection and glorification in Heaven. In detail, he writes about the birth of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice for human kind, and then his resurrection.… Continue reading The Messiah

Having been raised in a Christian household, and choosing to be religion major in college, I have read the Genesis creation narratives quite a few times.  Since I’ve read these texts as many times as I have, they’ve honestly lost their luster, becoming merely something I have written papers about, talking at length in seminars… Continue reading How Music Can Influence Our Perception of a Text

Oratorio is a large-scale musical composition on a sacred or semisacred subject for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra. It is usually based on scripture. Opera is defined as a dramatic work in one or more acts, that is set to music for singers and instrumentalists. A musical is a play or movie that has singing… Continue reading Differences between oratorio, opera, musical, and libretto

In 2012, a group of Christian Artists got together to form a compilation album called Music Inspired by the Story, an album entirely of songs meant to interpret the Bible into music. I have been a long time fan of this album, but only after the last couple of weeks in this class have I realized… Continue reading A Higher Biblical Interpretation in Music