Thursday, January 31, 2013

1 Enoch—the opera

AN OPERA BASED ON THE BOOK OF 1 ENOCH is being performed in New York: Taconic Opera: World Premiere of New Oratorio - Enoch (Angela Usobiaga, RivertownsPatch).
Dan Montez’s Enoch is based on the life of the Old Testament prophet, Enoch, the father of Methuselah, who mysteriously disappeared from the Book of Genesis without explanation. Over 100 chapters of the Book of Enoch, lost for almost 2000 years, were discovered recently and translated from Hebrew, Aramaic and Ethiopian (Geez).
Sort of. Quotations of a Greek translation were known to Byzantine authors, but the complete Ethiopic text was recovered in in the West in the eighteen century. Fragments in Aramaic were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1940s. No Hebrew fragments of 1 Enoch survive.
Christian and Jewish scholars were surprised to find quotes from the Book of Enoch as many as 128 times in the Old Testament, more than any other book, and consider it to be scripture.
Uh, no. Completely wrong. But there is one quotation from 1 Enoch in the New Testament in Jude 14-15. I suspect that the Parable of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 also shows some familiarity with the book.
The story is the antithesis of the Sodom story inasmuch as a city becomes so righteous that is taken up into heaven.
No, no ascending cities in 1 Enoch.
Enoch is called as the first scribe of heaven and first author of scripture. With a little help from Montez, the newly-discovered Enoch will now have his very own oratorio. The work will feature the Taconic Opera chorus, professional lead singers and full orchestra. Performances will be conducted under the baton of Dan Montez himself who is delighted to debut the second of his oratorical compositions in Westchester County. Enoch will be sung in English and its musical influences include Fauré, Ravel and Poulenc. Those who come to the world premiere of the piece will have the opportunity to take part in the making of music history.
Should be interesting.

Cross-file under "Pseudepigrapha Watch."