Agnus Dei (Barber) Agnus Dei (Barber) Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is a choral composition in one movement by Samuel Barber, his own arrangement of his "Adagio for Strings" (1936). In 1967, he set the Latin words of the liturgical Agnus Dei, a part of the Mass, for mixed chorus with optional organ or piano accompaniment. The music, in B-flat minor, has a duration of about eight minutes. Barber's "Adagio for Strings" began as the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11, composed in 1936. At the request of Arturo Toscanini, he arranged it for string orchestra, and in January 1938 sent
Painting of a Nestorian Christian figure It is speculated that this painting was made based on the icon of Christ that the Persian missionary Alopen carried to Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Empire. The figure with the right hand held open and the thumb touching the middle finger, which is a variant of the , the gesture of discussion and transmission of the teachings, it is generally seen in the Hindu and Buddhist iconography. At first glance, the figure resembles a Bodhisattva, but the western features of the face, together with the red mustache and beard, which are quite different from the green, curling moustaches