Evolution
The story, characters, and music of Paradise Lost have evolved greatly from inception to present day.
February 11, 2003: Every morning, Extasis would read from the Book of Light to the other angels, retelling the story of Creation in the multi-movement piece "Genesis." A God-like character was referenced but never seen, the omniscient "One." Her brother Logos is charged with keeping order amongst the angels, and does so through routine and discipline. He sings the "This Is The Way" aria. Extasis is free-willed and passionate, and defies her brother Logos, who banishes her and her horse to the wilderness. . Here she sings the "Butterflies" aria, which includes a high F#, Whitacre's wink at the Magic Flute. Inspired and incensed, Extasis raises an army of angels and leads them back to Paradise for "War." In the culminating battle, Logos accidentally stabs Extasis, and she dies in his arms. At one point in the story, the Choir of Angels performed a version of Lux Aurumque with modified lyrics.
The Carnegie Hall performance on June 15, 2010 included a greatly altered story (Logos and Extasis are now lovers, not brother and sister, more choral singing, and was produced as a one act concert).
Read more about this topic: Paradise Lost: Shadows And Wings
Famous quotes containing the word evolution:
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“Historians will have to face the fact that natural selection determined the evolution of cultures in the same manner as it did that of species.”
—Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989)
“What we think of as our sensitivity is only the higher evolution of terror in a poor dumb beast. We suffer for nothing. Our own death wish is our only real tragedy.”
—Mario Puzo (b. 1920)