The Theology of Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Credo, and Verdi's Dies Irae: How Listening to Sung Theology Leads to the Contemplation of God

This is a musical analyses of three classical religious works that create a process focusing the impact of music on spiritual contemplation. This book carries out a new approach in analyzing three works of sacred music: The Christmas portion of Handel's "Messiah", the Credo of Beethoven's "Mass in D", and the Dies Irae of Verdi's "Requiem". The analyses show how the composers' melodic, harmonic, and structural events work on and determine the ideas and images in the texts. The goal is to point to the "heard analogy" that becomes available when listeners pay attention to the musical relationships and their impact on the contemplation of God.