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The Crafting of Sacred Drama: An Analysis of Homiletical Style in Frederick Gore Ouseley’s Hagar and Arthur Sullivan’s The Light of the World
Loganbill, Daniel Joseph
Loganbill, Daniel Joseph
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Abstract
In 1873 two prominent composers premiered oratorios at prominent English choral festivals. These were Hagar by Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley, and The Light of the World by Arthur Sullivan. This paper will compare and contrast these two oratorios, focusing on their respective homiletical styles. This approach views oratorio as a preached sermon. Beginning with a brief history of the oratorio, we explore how these works rose from humble beginnings in medieval drama to develop considerable social weight in Victorian England. This was largely due to the didactic nature of these performances, which brought the scriptures to the people. These performances pulled together diverse groups of people around a common theme and were simultaneously seen as sources of religious education and national pride. Ouseley’s Hagar exposits an allegory found in the Pauline interpretation of an Old Testament narrative. Sullivan’s The Light of the World summarizes and dramatizes the earthly career of Jesus before finally proposing his metaphysical significance. Ouseley is bringing his realm of ideas down to the practical level through a retelling the story of Hagar, Abraham, and Sarah. Sullivan is taking the practical narrative up to the realm of the ideal, embodied in “The Light of the World.” Both are crafting sacred drama. The Recital Selection Analysis found in the appendix compares and contrasts the musical settings of specific selections performed on this lecture recital according to four categories: (1) Choral Opening: Expository Hymn Text vs. Prophetic Scripture Text (2) “Consolation Arias” (3) Dramatic Narration vs. Narrative Drama and (4) Persuasive Conclusion Sets. These further highlight the homeletical contrast.
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2022-01-01
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University of Kansas
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This item contains archived web content.
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Loganbill_ku_0099D_18741_DATA_1.pdf
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Music, Theology, Music history, English Oratorio, Hagar, Homiletics, Ouseley, Oxford Movement, Sullivan