KAOS Radio Austin

Here's the complete version of the Offenbach overture

Here's one you have definitely heard before.

"The mythical Prometheus was a Titan, credited with bringing enlightenment to humans. Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to humankind, bringing the power of warmth and light to the dark and miserable earth. Prometheus acted against the express wishes of the Olympian Gods, who wanted to keep the power of fire - enlightenment - for their exclusive use. Zeus punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains. Every day, his liver was devoured by a giant eagle, only to regenerate overnight."

Prometheus is not only a dying and rising god, he is also a bringer of light from the realm of the gods for the enlightenment of mankind, which makes him very much like the Gnostic Jesus, who brought knowledge from the heavens to free mankind from the burdens of this life.

Aeschylus' "Prometheus Bound"
"Behold, here I am, pained and crucified
By will of a god, though I myself am a god;
My love for mortal men the only offense that bows me to this yoke." -- written in the 5th century B.C.E., hundreds of years before the birth of Christianity

Like most of the pieces presented as part of the Mysteries of Easter, I do not recommend this for training the mind. It's far too turbulent and emotional for that. Nevertheless, it is incredibly beautiful and should be enjoyed for the work of genius it is. Here is a bit I copied out of the internet about it:

Alexander Scriabin - Prometheus: The Poem of Fire
"Prometheus: The Poem of Fire, first performed in Moscow on March 2, 1911, with Scriabin as piano soloist and Koussevitsky conducting, forms a distinct chapter in his symphonic work. Across its twenty-minute span, Scriabin attempts to depict nothing less than the development of human consciousness, from primordial formlessness through man's emerging self-awareness to a final ecstatic union with the cosmos. In Greek mythology
(and in Aeschylus and Shelley), Prometheus had been a rebel who battled the gods on behalf of man, but Scriabin saw in Prometheus' fire the symbol of human consciousness and creative energy. He attempted to depict this musically in "Poem of Fire" and he envisioned not simply a "symphony of sound" but a "symphony of color rays". Toward this end he conceived a new instrument --the tastiera per luce, or "color-keyboard"-- that would project light of different colors on a screen behind the orchestra, reproducing visually what the orchestra was dramatizing in sound. It was a visionary conception and one of the earliest early multi-media events."

The use of a children's choir to sing about the brutal treatment of poor John Barleycorn sort of gives a "Children of the Corn" feel to the allegorical song about the harvesting of the barley and the making of the beer

John Barleycorn

There were three men came out of the west, their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die
They've ploughed, they've sown, they've harrowed him in
Threw clods upon his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn was dead
They've let him lie for a very long time, 'til the rains from heaven did fall
And little Sir John sprung up his head and so amazed them all
They've let him stand 'til Midsummer's Day 'til he looked both pale and wan
And little Sir John's grown a long long beard and so become a man
They've hired men with their scythes so sharp to cut him off at the knee
They've rolled him and tied him by the waist serving him most barbarously
They've hired men with their sharp pitchforks who've pricked him to the heart
And the loader he has served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart
They've wheeled him around and around a field 'til they came unto a barn

And there they made a solemn oath on poor John Barleycorn
They've hired men with their crabtree sticks to cut him skin from bone
And the miller he has served him worse than that
For he's ground him between two stones

And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl and his brandy in the glass
And little Sir John and the nut brown bowl proved the strongest man at last
The huntsman he can't hunt the fox nor so loudly to blow his horn
And the tinker he can't mend kettle or pots without a little barleycorn

I can't say enough good things about this sweet, sweet performance of St John Passion by J S Bach. It was second runner-up for this week's Easter Special. Check out the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC8QEn8s-yE&feature=related