“Vengeance”

Sharing the title of its opera, this central-thematic piece finds Satan and his demons in a peak of rage, plotting revenge against our protagonist for her indirect and inadvertent sharing of the Gospel with the eavesdropping prostitute in the first opera, “Project Eternity”.

The hearer had repented right then and there, and she sought God earnestly from that day forward.

She eventually died and entered Heaven. And for that, Satan and a great horde of screaming and raging demons now vow to bring down upon our protagonist a terrible act of Vengeance.

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Tags: demon, evil, modern opera, rage, revenge, sad, salvation, Satan, vexed


 “Advice”

The second opera of the pair opens with this idyllic outdoor scene at a luxurious beach vacation resort. Our protagonist, the young woman from “Project Eternity”, is sipping a fancy drink with her boyfriend and his parents at an open-air restaurant. The mood is set with a relaxing and then playful mix of strings, then oboe, then clarinet.

Her boyfriend’s parents then begin, simultaneously no less, to question the young woman about her faith, which they relate they find offensive. They sing these lines as a pretty, major-key duet which, together with their accusing words, represents their passive-aggressiveness.

Both the young woman and her boyfriend answer these pointed questions — he first, with a denial that she is even a Christian, but then she, with direct honesty.

The parents then proceed to snub her, making a thinly-veiled suggestion to their son that he date a different girl. They even suggest one in particular, whom he is aware already likes him. This new information to the young woman provokes a jealous look from her to him. His parents then continue giving their simplistic and unsolicited advice.

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Tags: advice, argue, beach, beach resort, boyfriend, Christian, conversation, discussion, drink, girlfriend, idyllic, judgmental, modern opera, paradise, parents, relaxing, resort, warm summer day


 “Finale”

This is a very joyous piece. A celebratory yet light-and-quick polyphonic coronation trumpets the entrance of the former prostitute into Heaven, at the gates of which she is greeted by the angel with the Book.

As she approaches the angel, the spotlight that shone down from directly over her in “Life For Ever After” follows her, symbolizing and celebrating her sanctification.

As he did twice before, the angel looks scrupulously inside the Book. He then smiles broadly at her, and brings both of the Book’s covers together at once, so that it closes vertically.

All the stage lights turn off the instant the Book is closed, and the opera is over.

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Tags: angel, Book, celebration, ending, grand entrance, happy, Heaven, modern opera, prostitute, saint, smile


 “Life For Ever After”

The young Christian woman locates her friends at their local haunt, and, one by one, gently shares with them the truth of the Salvation that Jesus has already has provided for them. It is her fondest hope that at least one of them will make the ultimate decision to embrace their Creator and accept His greatest of all gifts to His children: Life, for ever after.

All of her friends reject her message. But, an overhearing woman — a prostitute — is fascinated by the words, and, soon after, privately commits her life to Christ in prayer. A spotlight then shines down upon her from directly above, signifying her new Salvation.

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Tags: angel, Bible, eternity, friends, God, Gospel, Heaven, Jesus Christ, modern opera, prayer, prostitute, repentance, salvation, Saved, witness


 “Master Deceiver”

In this necrowaltz, Demons frenetically praise their leader in both song and dance, to a theme consisting of sped-up and grotesque embellishments of the plainsong motif we heard in “The Friendship Waltz”. During the eventual peak of their manic glee over the prospect of more human eternal damnation, the voice of God is suddenly and shockingly heard in one word: “Enough!!” The now shrieking and wailing wraiths scatter in terror.

God’s following few and loud words to them speak of the young woman in the same way that He famously spoke to Satan of “My servant Job” in the Bible. We then see the young woman, and hear her plaintively giving up on ever again attempting to help bring her friends to Christ. Judging from what she has just heard from them, she now feels that such an attempt is futile.

But suddenly, we hear angels voicing robust encouragement, exhorting her to “Go!!” We hear this audibly, but she hears with her heart. She resolves to go to her friends, and to try one last time: She will share the Good News with them herself — and on their turf this time.

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Tags: damnation, dance of death, demon, doom, encouragement, eternity, evil, friends, Hell, impending doom, modern opera, revel, sad, Satan, shofar, totentanz


 “Friendship Faltz”

Its title parodying that of “The Friendship Waltz”, as well as more subtly suggesting the words “false” and “faults”, this minor-key embellishment of the former work once again features the group of four friends, who, short of blissfully singing simplistic songs about the supposed meaning of life, as they did before, now instead begin to shallowly gossip against their “friend”, the young woman whom they recently abandoned — and who now covertly is overhearing them, having just now arrived to try and talk with them again.

Though hurtful and sad to the young woman, her friends’ current behavior is simply delightful to one character in particular, and proves to be precisely what that “Master Deceiver” has been attempting to arrange, as we discover in the following piece, which bears Satan’s title.

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Tags: Christians, complain, damnation, demons, doom, eternity, evil, friends, gossip, impending doom, modern opera, sad, Satan


 “Christ”

Our protagonist has yet another prophetic dream, this time a “forthtelling” (revealing present but hidden truths) rather than a “foretelling” (revealing future events) dream, as she did last time (to use two theological terms). In this third dream sequence, God symbolically reminds her of the nature of the true path of all Christians: that they must follow in Christ’s own troubled and weary footsteps on His way to Calvary, and that all must “take up the cross and follow” Him. The dream conjures up a physical manifestation of that admonition by Jesus to His hearers in Matthew 16:24.

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Tags: attack, Christ's cross, count the cost, demon, dream, evil, Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:24, modern opera, prophetic, sacrifice, sad, take up your cross, visions


 “The Lie”

A new scene opens, in which Satan boasts aloud of his unparalleled skill in deception. He smugly muses over just how very simple it is for him to lead mankind to their ultimate destruction. After he’s finished gloating in soliloquy, the young Christian woman enters the scene with her four friends, her clearly having decided in favor of her love for her friends, over and against her own personal and immediate emotional need to grieve over the recent death of her brother.

Satan then stands nearby, unseen by all except us, as a strange man approaches the group. Satan exerts a strong spiritual influence over the man, feeding him a powerful urge to bully the young group and to block their path. Satan also puts into the man brilliantly deceptive things to say, in order to dissuade the group, or at least some of its members, from proceeding and attending the church event.

The young woman humbly relies upon the wisdom of God within her to successfully answer the man’s subtle arguments and strong accusations. But her four friends eventually believe the boor, heed his clever lies and discouragements, and forsake her one by one.

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Tags: argue, bully, Christian concert, chruch, clever, debate, deception, demonic possession, evil, friends, Gospel, modern opera, sacrifice, sad, salvation, Satan, subtlety, young woman


“Prelude to Act Three”

As a Prelude to an Act, this piece naturally has no visual element. Total darkness is preferred in these cases, in order to better allow us to comtemplate the music and its plot significance.

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Tags: Act Three, dark, evil, friska, lassan, modern opera, prelude, sad, soulful, trombone, viola, violins