Depictions of Saint Sebastian in the visual arts and musicZeitgeist, a German term often attributed to the philosopher Georg Hegel (1770-1831), literally means “the spirit of the time”. The Zeitgeist is based on the awareness that a dominant school of thought – be it political, social, philosophical, or otherwise – influences the culture of a specific period in time, and that the art and thought of that period influence each other. Zeitgeist presupposes that culture and art are therefore faithfully united, since an artist is the product of his time. This semester, when comparing works of visual art and opera, and particularly between works from the same period, many parallels emerge. But beyond the scope of individual time periods (e.g., Renaissance, Romantic, Modern), there are parallels that completely transcend the scope of time. Individuals from different cultures and historical periods seem to be invariably fascinated by the idea of ​​an archetypal character that they can adapt and reinterpret in the terms of their own zeitgeist and with which they can identify. A salient example is the figure of Orpheus, which comes from the myths of antiquity and has been remade and adapted into works by composers including Monteverdi, Schütz, Lully, Fux, Telemann, Rameau, Gluck, Haydn, Offenbach, Debussy (in a unfinished project ), Milhaud, Birtwistle and Philip Glass: and this is just the tip of the iceberg! We also see Opreo depicted in the paintings of Gennari in the 17th century and of Redon in the 19th century, Corot (1861), dell'Abbate and Rubens. In the same way I could enumerate artists, writers or composers who have famously depicted some of the figures we have studied so far: the Norse figures so dear to Wagner, Saint Sebastian... half of the sheet... It's a drama." Music , subsequently, exists today in a concert version, much like an oratorio, for choir, orchestra and soloists which included a spoken narrative based on D'Annunzio's work. Lemartyre also released a suite of symphonic fragments, without le voices and narration, which has gained some popularity. How does it sound? The music for Lemartyre comes from a late stage in Debussy's career. As a point of reference, Pelléas et Mélisande had already been written in TK. There is a short introduction spoken [excerpt TK], in which the narrator invites the audience to silence and attention, followed by the Prelude to the First Palace, or First Act, the music is reminiscent of Pelléas, but with an even more sober orchestration a more streamlined structure, which if nothing else serves to increase the sensuality of the music.