Re: What is the world coming to...

There are many dramatic versions of the Faust legend. Here at Messiah, we
used to require all students to read Christopher Marlowe's play, "Doctor
Faustus," as sophomores. Marlowe was quite possibily a genuine atheist --
if true, a genuine rarity in his day (Shakespearean age) -- and his play is
full of stuff about the devil, alchemy, temptation, power, and knowledge. I
read Goethe's version (on which Gounod's opera is based) in high school, as
my own choice (as part of a term paper), and it fits the same description.
My goodness, if we're going to start objecting to standard dramatic versions
of the Faustus legend then we might as well start banning the Magic Flute
(all that masonic stuff, alchemy, and ... well, magic) and Don Giovanni
(just sex, pretty much, but also some literal hellfire and fatal swordplay).
 

Then again, there are people on the other end of the "culture wars" who
object to school choirs singing Christmas carols that aren't limited to
mindless stuff about chestnuts, Santa, and silver bells. In several
districts in this state you can't sing the finest choral music ever
composed, stuff like Handel's Messiah or Brahms' Requiem or William
Billings' superb anthems. NO ONE WINS when this kind of censorship takes
place. Might as well say that Fiddler on the Roof is too Jewish (hush--they
did that musical in my school district two years ago) or Inherit the Wind
(which we will be doing here next spring) too antireligious (and that would
not be far from the mark), but I bet those two staples stay on the approved
list.

Idiots do seem to dominate the public airwaves, when it comes to matters
like this (not to mention many others).

Ted
  
Received on Tue Mar 21 15:43:14 2006