Many describe The Marriage of Figaro as the most perfect opera. In their first collaboration, librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart describe the intricacies, pains and pleasures of human love with wit, grace, and accuracy. The plot, far too complex to describe in a paragraph, is based on the revolutionary play by Pierre-Augustin Beaumarchais. No background in music or opera is necessary for participation. There has recently been an upsurge of interest in icons in the West, though for reasons that are somewhat obscure.
Icons have a standing in Eastern Orthodoxy comparable to that of Holy Scripture itself.
In this class we shall consider several particularly impressive icons, Greek and Russian, along with some Patristic and contemporary accounts of the theological significance of the icon. No story is found on earth that does not rest on this epic. This is the boast of the Mahabharata, India's rich epic of exile, romance, and war. But the distinction between good and evil is not always so clear. We will sample what we can from this vast collection, including the Bhagavad-Gita, an extended meditation on duty and salvation that has become an independent religious classic in its own right.