This project will set out to examine Messiaen’s opera Saint François d’Assise, comprising four-and-a-half hours of music, in the context of the medieval theatrical genre mystery play. From the historical perspective, we can observe the reincarnation of the mystery play genre, or its synthesis with another genre such as opera.
The main stylistic sign of such a mixed genre is a religious plot and a phenomenon of ritual. One of the best models demonstrating the stable characteristics of the genre of mystery play in the 20th century is Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise.
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