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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Material Of The Servant: Theology And Hermeneutics In Handel’S Samson, Sara E. Eckerson
The Material Of The Servant: Theology And Hermeneutics In Handel’S Samson, Sara E. Eckerson
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
George Frideric Handel’s Samson oratorio (HWV 57, 1743) has posed critical difficulty for scholars because of its libretto. The librettist, Newburgh Hamilton, is often accused of making a poor adaption of John Milton’s Samson Agonistes (1671). One of the main points of criticism centers on how Hamilton removed much of Samson’s deliberation from the source text. In this article, however, it will be argued that the way ideas and commentary pass through different voices (namely, from Samson and Micah to the Chorus of Israelites) contributes to the unique interpretation the oratorio puts forward of the Samson narrative. The method to …
Relational Power, Music, And Identity: The Emotional Efficacy Of Congregational Song, Nathan Myrick
Relational Power, Music, And Identity: The Emotional Efficacy Of Congregational Song, Nathan Myrick
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Relational Power, Music, and Identity: The Emotional Efficacy of Congregational Song
The power of congregational song to unify (or divide) people along various lines is well documented. Yet, how this process of uniting or dividing is accomplished has proven necessarily difficult to document. This paper examines the complex and polyvalent factors that contribute to the meaningfulness of congregational music making, seeking to offer a synthetic, conceptual framework with which to engage this often murky milieu.
Employing interdisciplinary research techniques drawn from sociology, ritual studies, and ethnomusicology, I construct a conceptual framework with which to understand the profoundly formative power of …