Posted on 11/17/2011 3:58:03 PM PST by MDJohnPaul
Pope Benedict XVI minces no words when he describes the medieval judges who interrogated and sentenced St. Joan of Arc to death 580 years ago. The French clergymen were aligned with St. Joan’s political opponents, the pope said in a Jan. 26 general audience, and they “lacked charity and the humility to see God’s action in this young woman.”
“Joan’s judges were radically incapable of understanding her or of perceiving the beauty of her soul,” Pope Benedict XVI said. “They did not know that they were condemning a saint.”
As the world prepares to celebrate the 600th anniversary of St. Joan’s birth early next year, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will showcase a rarely performed oratorio that captures the drama of the French saint’s trial and execution.
“Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher” – “Joan of Arc at the Stake,” a groundbreaking work by Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, will be performed Nov 17-18 at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore before hitting the bright lights of New York’s Carnegie Hall.
In an e-mail interview, BSO Music Director Marin Alsop told me the work defies categorization.
“It’s a dramatic oratorio with narrative creating a unique story and sound world,” the maestra said. “Joan is portrayed as a living, breathing human being who did not comprehend how she found herself in such an unbelievable predicament.”
Honegger’s work features folk tunes, plainchant, classical music and contemporary jazz. It includes many of the instruments of a modern orchestra, along with saxophones, pianos and the ondes martenot – a rarely used instrument best known for producing the eerie, glissando “woooooo” sounds of old-time science fiction and horror movies.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLBn9KK2Ss0
by the way the dialogue in the film is taken from her trial.
Looks to be a fantastic event.
The French always kill their saviors then makes hero’s out of them. I’ve read so much about St. Joan of Arc that it has really turned me off anything French.
The men who condemned Joan were treasonous Frenchmen in the pay of the English invaders. (Not that she was treated especially well by the real French, of course.)
I'm glad to see the historic smackdown on Byzantine style politics as practiced during that time. It was horrible and nasty. All sides were guilty. Joan, apparently, was not.
/johnny
It's too bad that France is populated by the French.
French fries, French bread, French pastries.
I eat ranch fries, don’t eat white bread (not because I don’t think it’s unhealthy, I prefer whole grain bread) and not much into pastries. They eat horse meat and cover it with tons of gravy. Yum.
Well, then you got it all covered.
I love French fries, French bread...and there aren't too many pastries, French or otherwise, that I dislike.
I find things good and ugly in all cultures, even our own, but can't bring myself to condemn an entire culture for their culture. The French have had some marvelous saints. Lourdes is one place I will visit...as a healthy person (I hope.).
Oh well, to each his own.
It’s not like I boycott the French or anything to do with France. I dislike their condescending attitude towards others. I dislike their attitude that they never own up to mistakes they’ve made in history. You can’t speak French to a French person because you’ll never satisfy them as to your ability to speak French. They’d rather speak fractured English than listen to you speak French. It’s all about attitude.
I love Joan of Arc. The only Frenchman who was ever worth anything. She deserved better.
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