
Contents
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Sarah’s Love for Abraham Sarah’s Love for Abraham
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Issues of Motherhood and Infertility in the Sarah-Hagar Relationship Issues of Motherhood and Infertility in the Sarah-Hagar Relationship
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Sarah’s Relationship with Isaac Sarah’s Relationship with Isaac
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Hagar’s Relationships with Abraham and Ishmael Hagar’s Relationships with Abraham and Ishmael
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A Pious and Obedient Rebecca at the Well A Pious and Obedient Rebecca at the Well
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Jochebed and Pharaoh’s Daughter as Mothers Jochebed and Pharaoh’s Daughter as Mothers
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Miriam as a Strong Leader Miriam as a Strong Leader
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Michal as a Woman in Love Michal as a Woman in Love
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Bathsheba Re-imagined Bathsheba Re-imagined
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Hearing Their Stories in Music: A Conclusion Hearing Their Stories in Music: A Conclusion
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Bibliography Bibliography
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23 Exploring Biblical Women in Music
Get accessHelen Leneman, Ph.D., in an independent scholar. Her research investigates biblical narratives in music, especially in operas and oratorios, with a focus on biblical women. Among her publications are The Performed Bible: The Story of Ruth in Opera and Oratorio (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007); Love, Lust and Lunacy: The Stories of Saul and David in Music (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2010); Moses: The Man and the Myth in Music (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014); The Bible Retold by Jewish Artists, Writers, Composers & Filmmakers (co-edited with Barry Dov Walfish; Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2015); and Musical Illuminations of Genesis Tales (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017).
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Published:10 November 2020
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Abstract
This essay explores various musical works that retell the stories of biblical women who are largely silent in the biblical text. It analyzes operas and oratorios featuring biblical women with prominent roles in more than one musical work. These are: Sarah, Hagar, and Rebecca in the book of Genesis; Jochebed, Pharaoh’s daughter, and Miriam in the book of Exodus; and Michal and Bathsheba in the books of Samuel. This research draws on my previous scholarship on nineteenth- and twentieth-century opera, oratorio, and song settings of biblical women. Many musical settings of biblical narratives focus intensely on the women. The women’s singing voices add new elements to their depictions, and librettos almost always enlarge the women’s roles. Composers and librettists together turn the women into three-dimensional characters. The essay presents various threads in numerous musical works that tie together the re-visioning of several biblical women. The goal is to illustrate how the selected women move from the biblical background to the musical foreground, and to offer new and surprising perspectives on biblical women.
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