From Ashes to Light
This Lent, I decided to create a musical companion for the season: a curated week-by-week collection of classical and sacred works to focus on from Ash Wednesday through Easter. I should say upfront that I’m not a classical music scholar by any stretch, although I am lifelong listener and appreciator of it, and I know what’s moved me over the years.
What I’ve put together here is partly a listening journey and partly a self-education mini-course for my own learning. I started with pieces I already know and love, and then filled in the gaps with help from Wikipedia, ChatGPT, Claude, Google, and a few other resources along the way. What’s emerged is a curated musical journey that I hope will deepen my, and perhaps your, experience of this season.