“Dilemma”

This scene takes us back to the interior of our protagonist’s home, once again, but this time in the middle of the night. She is slowly pacing, with her head lowered, clearly feeling buried in heavy thoughts. She laments aloud her predicament, which involves a specific decision which she is now faced with. Somehow, she must reconcile the two main events that have occurred with her so far in our story: the recent death of her brother, and the invitation she offered to take her friends to church for the unique event. Her being personally so grief-stricken, the church event seems trivial in appearance.

But, as so many “regular” events in our lives prove themselves to be, the significance is actually quite profound. The reason is that she plans for her friends to attend an especially moving concert with her, after which the Gospel message of Christ will be shared with the audience. This new significance is revealed to us in a soliloquy, as she thinks out her problem: She is deeply depressed due to the loss of her brother, but she is also highly convinced that this particular one-time church event will likely be an eternity-deciding point in her friends’ lives. Thus, to her mind, her love for them is placed directly at odds with her very personal and profound need to grieve her recent loss.

Download “Dilemma” score

Tags: anxiety, Christian, depression, difficulty, dilemma, eternity, grief, impasse, modern opera, night, pacing, sad, salvation, soliloquy, worry


 “Invitation”

This is a very brief and light incidental interlude.  Our protagonist, a young Christian woman, calls her friends on her phone, and invites them to a unique event at her church.

The music has fun with each little event in this short scene.

Download “Invitation” score

Tags: Christian, church, classical music, friends, invitation, modern opera, phone call

A single story thread runs through both operas, beginning in “Project Eternity” and ending with its sequel, “Vengeance”. I should explain the meanings of the two titles here. “Project Eternity” refers simply to God’s wish and various attempts to bring each of us to Heaven. The title “Vengeance” refers to Satan’s expressed vow of retribution against our protagonist, the unnamed young Christian woman, for her indirectly sharing the Gospel with a prostitute, who overhears it as the Christian woman is explaining eternal salvation to a friend. Her friend disdainfully rejects the message and leaves, but the prostitute who overhears it feels moved by God to repent, and, then and there, privately turns her life over to Him. She enters Heaven in the final scene of “Project Eternity”. Satan is livid at this turn of events; after all, he had owned that woman’s soul, and she would have been his to torment forever — until the Christian woman came along and interfered. Thus, in “Vengeance”, Satan takes out his wrath in full upon our protagonist.

Tags: angel, chorus, Christian, classical music, demon, God, Jesus Christ, modern opera, Satan