Save Me from the Grave and Wise

Save me from the Grave and Wise is an Irish folk song. Beethoven based his 7th symphony on the song’s dread of dull scholarship and love of life, culminating in the exhilarating coda.

This work has young Adeodatus, St. Augustine’s bastard son, escaping his father’s clutches. Augustine with Jerome and Ambrose are said the be the pillars of the Church. Their largely unreadable scholarship dominated European political thinking for over a millennium. Augustine wanted Adeodatus to following in his footsteps. Adeodatus had other ideas and thought his father personified the scribes and pharisees Jesus condemned as hypocrites.

Set in late fourth century Milan, western capital of the Roman Empire at its height. Augustine was spokesman for the emperor and the imperial court, role model for elegant mannerisms in dress and deportment as well as in speech. Save me from the Grave and Wise is a lively read as well as a play for acting.