“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


 “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


“Nightmares”

Our protagonist is plagued with strange, dark and disjointed dreams, which are acted out for us in the vicinity of her bedroom, before she suddenly awakens with a gasp of terror!

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Tags: danger, demon, evil, friends, horror, modern opera, nightmare, prophetic, sad, sleep, tragedy, visions, warning


 “The Friendship Waltz”

This blissful dance piece begins as a new scene with new characters: four friends of our protagonist. During a complex waltz, they sing about how wonderful their lives are, and about how having friends is the ultimate fulfillment in and meaning of life. The setting itself is unspecified, but should probably be a picturesque outdoor clearing on a beautiful summer’s day. This is a very elaborate and graceful piece which offers a sense of sublime victory, while at the same time subversively poking a little fun at their simplistic credo.

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Tags: cheerful, dance piece, friends, friendship, happy, light waltz, modern opera


 “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.

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