Flight of Angels

About this artwork

OPERA Source: “PANIS ANGELICUS” (“Bread of Angels”) PAINTING TITLE: “A Flight of Angels” I have never attended a stage presentation of a full operatic work, so I decided to use as my source of artistic inspiration a “church” choir piece, “Panis Angelicus,” sung operatically by Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Andrea Bocelli, and others. Opera transcends most popular music in that it pulls the listener and uplifts that person to a spiritual and emotional level. It is not the words which lures the listener; it is the music itself (and how it’s sung). The song was written in Latin by St. Thomas Aquinas, so I didn’t necessarily know what Placido Domingo (and other operatic singers) was/were singing about. All I knew was that the music lifted me to a place where my body responded (throat choked up), my heart lifted beyond earthly concerns, and I felt tears running down my face. I felt myself rising to a divine realm, one in which angels live and humans strive to reach. From a universe filled with random chaotic sound, the singer intentionally chooses the perfect ones to create a response from an audience. It is not flour and yeast which feed angels; it is the transcendent spiritual essence which gives rise to hope and love.