Daniel and Genre Confusion: The Strange Case of The Burning Fiery Furnace

Authors

  • Simon Peter McGrail Liverpool Hope University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/rsrr3-1-586

Keywords:

Britten, Benjamin, Burning Fiery Furnace

Abstract

This article explores an opera by Benjamin Britten, designed especially for a church setting. It does so through the lens of musicology and of ritual. It argues that there is here a blurring of the border between ritual more generally, especially the Noh form, and Christian liturgical drama. The presentation of a specific setting of biblical material through the medium of musical performance focuses interpretation of text on the impact of sound and sight on an audience whose perspective is already shaped by encountering the performance within a church building. The paper concludes that watching and believing are not necessarily separate actions.

Author Biography

Simon Peter McGrail, Liverpool Hope University

Associate Professor, Head of Department, Director of the Institute for Pastoral Theology

Downloads

Published

2013-09-18

How to Cite

McGrail, S. P. (2013). Daniel and Genre Confusion: The Strange Case of The Burning Fiery Furnace. Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception, 3(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.11157/rsrr3-1-586

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2013)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. The work may not be used for commercial purposes. The work may not be altered, transformed, or built upon.

    1. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

  1. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).