Ah, but does someone have to believe in God before they can be "spiritually uplifted"? I don't, and I often am. I assume that it's the same with composers. Verdi was an atheist, if I'm not mistaken, yet his Requiem is spiritually uplifting (and terrifying). I would say that Desdemona's scena is as spiritual as music can be. One mustn't mistake spiritual experiences (or numinence (sp?) as I prefer to call it) with belief in the supernatural. They are merely experiences which we find transporting in ways that we find very agreeable, but cannot fully understand. I submit that an atheist composer may be in a better position to write a spiritual uplift because he understands that the emotion resides within the communication between him and his audience rather than in some metaphysical entity. Richard, who invites you to visit his music, outdoors and other WWW sites at: http://infoweb.magi.com/~richard/