Much has been written about atheism and religious music. We have no hymns or anthems. Not even Steve Martin’s song gets to be our anthem.
I was listening to a bit of classical music the other day, and for a moment stopped to think of what I was listening to.
The piece in question was Mozart’s Requiem Mass in D Minor. A most beautiful piece, but as a Mass, it is full of religion.
Can we as atheists hear this kind of music and be full of joy? I think we can and should enjoy the form and allow the meaning to slip by, just as we can when we watch a good movie or read a delightful novel. In the end we know it is fiction but the art is magnificent.
Or maybe I should go for music from the Enlightenment such as The Magic Flute also by Mozart?
Or continuing the Mozart line. Maybe I should listen to opera buffa like Le Nozze di Figaro?
Sorry if the captions are in Spanish, but Anna Netrebko is FABULOUS.
What do you think?
