Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers



Like many of you, I'm trying to put together my curriculum for next year and to finally wrap up this year's work. While diving through my cache of textbooks and other homeschooling materials I uncovered this gem again. What a beautiful book! Patrick Kavanaugh, Executive Director of the Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship, has gathered his materials from various composers' letters, writings, and recollections of friends and families to offer an inspiring look into the spiritual lives of twenty great composers.
In the introduction to this book, Christopher Parkening writes,

There is so much in this book that every musician needs to know. What a joy to find that so many of the great masterpieces we love were written to the glory of God. It strengthens our faith to see the higher purpose that motivated these composers, many of whom faced severe difficulties. Reading about them, we too many sense a mandate to follow the example of those who acknowledged that their talents were a gift from God.

That's exactly our purpose for teaching our children the arts. Whatever talent that we possess is a gift from God. We must be good stewards of those gifts, those talents, by developing them to the very best of our ability. They were given to us by a gracious God, who has a plan and a purpose for all His gifts throughout creation. Music, drama, dance, writing, and drawing are all gifts that we are to nurture along with science, math, athletic ability, etc. for the ultimate glory of God. As artists, and teaching artists, we forget this at our own peril.
It's so beautiful to see that so many of our great classical composers had such faith! I love sharing the information in this book with my boys. Definitely recommended!

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