Engaging with religious history and theological concepts through music composition: Ave generosa and The Song of Margery Kempe
Article
Inglis, B. 2023. Engaging with religious history and theological concepts through music composition: Ave generosa and The Song of Margery Kempe. Religions. 14 (5). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050640
Type | Article |
---|---|
Title | Engaging with religious history and theological concepts through music composition: Ave generosa and The Song of Margery Kempe |
Authors | Inglis, B. |
Abstract | This article explores the intersections among music composition, religious history and spiritual texts, with their attendant concepts. It focuses on two works with medieval sources—the concert piece Ave generosa (1996) and the chamber opera The Song of Margery Kempe (2008)—which were featured in the online Gallery of the conferences in 2021 and 2022, respectively, of the British and Irish Association for Practical Theology (BIAPT). Through the lenses of semiotics and intertextuality, it explores the ways by which theological concepts and spiritual contexts can be evoked and ‘translated’ into musical sound, both instrumental and vocal. A sampling of the literature on medieval monasticism and St Hildegard of Bingen, whose corpus forms the source of Ave generosa, supports a musical exegesis of its ‘spiritual programme’. In the case of The Song of Margery Kempe, recent scholarship on the text frames examples of the multiplication of meanings provided by dramatisation and musical setting. Art in general and music composition in particular are presented as a commentary, or gloss, on both religious history and enduring spiritual themes, and a different way of thinking about religion and spirituality. |
Keywords | religious history; spirituality; mysticism; theology; music composition; St Hildegard of Bingen; Margery Kempe |
Middlesex University Theme | Creativity, Culture & Enterprise |
Publisher | MDPI |
Journal | Religions |
ISSN | 2077-1444 |
Electronic | 2077-1444 |
Publication dates | |
10 May 2023 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 23 May 2023 |
Submitted | 05 Mar 2023 |
Accepted | 05 May 2023 |
Output status | Published |
Publisher's version | License |
Copyright Statement | Copyright: © 2023 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. |
Additional information | This article belongs to the Special Issue Researches with Spirituality and Music https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/RSMUSIC |
Web address (URL) | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/5/640 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050640 |
Web of Science identifier | WOS:000997711700001 |
Language | English |
https://repository.mdx.ac.uk/item/8q622
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