The dilemma of faith and religion in conflict with skepticism is the most enduring theme in Menotti's work, starting with The Island God in 1942 and continuing with The Medium, The Saint of Bleeker Street, The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi, and Martin's Lie. It wasn't until 1979, however, beginning with Missa O Pulchritudo, that he turned his attention to explicitly religious music, some if it for liturgical use and some for concert performance, and (except for one early song) using texts that he hadn't written himself ...
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The dilemma of faith and religion in conflict with skepticism is the most enduring theme in Menotti's work, starting with The Island God in 1942 and continuing with The Medium, The Saint of Bleeker Street, The Death of the Bishop of Brindisi, and Martin's Lie. It wasn't until 1979, however, beginning with Missa O Pulchritudo, that he turned his attention to explicitly religious music, some if it for liturgical use and some for concert performance, and (except for one early song) using texts that he hadn't written himself.Menotti's new outpouring of religious works was not necessarily an indication that the faith dilemma had resolved itself. Rather than setting the full text of the Mass, he omitted the Credo, the central and longest section, which contains an affirmation of the historical tenets of the Christian faith, and substituted a paean to beauty by St. Augustine, "O Beauty, ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You...." Yet the Mass bears the dedication, "In honor of the most Sacred Heart of...
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