Satan and The Passion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Equites_Christi
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Equites_Christi

Guest
I am becoming very interested in the idea of writing a musical setting of Christ’s Passion (as so many composers before me have done) and I want to include a - proportionally small - part for Satan.

I know that Satan does not really appear in the Gospel accounts except in how he had a hand in Judas’ betrayal, but I like how the film The Passion of the Christ made him, though in the background, an ever-present figure. I’m also interested in how Satan related to Christ - we know that when Satan tempted Him in the desert he obviously must not have known that he was God, but did he realize this afterwards? Or only once Christ rose from the dead?

If anyone has any ideas on how to properly treat Satan in the context of the Passion or can direct me to material that treats the topic I would be most appreciative. I want my setting to be very theologically correct so that hopefully it can really bring a message to people 🙂

I also anticipate having more questions in the future as my ideas develop on this project.

Thank you! 👍
 
If you want to look at Satan and his temptations during the Passion, I would definitely watch Mel Gibson’s* “The Passion of the Christ.” *I’m sure that movie would give you more ideas and help you out more than any other movie today.

Also a side note, this movie was largely influenced by the visions on Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a German nun who had the stigmata. You can read all about this in her book, “The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
Nelka said:
Please don’t make a musical about the Passion.
Click to expand...
No no, a setting. Like an oratorio - a concert, certainly not a play.

J.S. Bach wrote two monumental ones on the Passion account of Saints Matthew and John, and many other composers of his day and earlier wrote their own settings.

It’s for singers and instrumentalists, no actors involved!
 
Nikos Kazantzakis’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” is an interesting novel that treats your area of interest. Be aware though it includes heresies from the gnostic gospels.
 
Equites_Christi said:
I’m also interested in how Satan related to Christ - we know that when Satan tempted Him in the desert he obviously must not have known that he was God, but did he realize this afterwards? Or only once Christ rose from the dead?
Click to expand...
Oh no, he knew it was Him all along. The temptation in the desert and in Gethsemane were Jesus’ two weakest moments. He suffered also the pain of temptation in excess for us!
 
triumphguy said:
Nikos Kazantzakis’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” is an interesting novel that treats your area of interest. Be aware though it includes heresies from the gnostic gospels.
Click to expand...
Ah, the novel. When people usually speak of The Last Temptation they usually mean the film version; I’ve yet to see people actually talk about the novel. The two are quite different beasts really.
 
Equites_Christi said:
I am becoming very interested in the idea of writing a musical setting of Christ’s Passion (as so many composers before me have done) and I want to include a - proportionally small - part for Satan.

I know that Satan does not really appear in the Gospel accounts except in how he had a hand in Judas’ betrayal, but I like how the film The Passion of the Christ made him, though in the background, an ever-present figure. I’m also interested in how Satan related to Christ - we know that when Satan tempted Him in the desert he obviously must not have known that he was God, but did he realize this afterwards? Or only once Christ rose from the dead?

If anyone has any ideas on how to properly treat Satan in the context of the Passion or can direct me to material that treats the topic I would be most appreciative. I want my setting to be very theologically correct so that hopefully it can really bring a message to people 🙂

I also anticipate having more questions in the future as my ideas develop on this project.

Thank you! 👍
Click to expand...
Just a suggestion. Why not compose a special musical ‘motif’ or ‘theme’ representing Satan and place it in certain key moments, say, during Jesus’ agony (which is where many people retelling the Jesus story would tend to place Satan post-Temptation in the Desert anyways)? IMHO a subtler ‘portrayal’ would work more from a dramatic POV than an explicit, in-your-face version.
 
You have make Satan smooth, charming, and handsome.

Remember he was once God’s greatest Angel.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top