We’ve had some posts about the Christian inspiration for much great literature. Something of the same prevails with great music. In Darkness Visible, William Styron’s account of his bout with serious depression, he declares himself a nonbeliever. But one night, in deep despair and on the verge of taking his own life, he hears Brahms’s Alto Rhapsody–and is pulled out of his dark thoughts. This turns out to be a turning point, and from thereon Styron began to return to normal living. The interesting point, evidently unknown to Styron, is that Brahms explicitly described his creative inspiration as coming from God and from the same place that Jesus spoke of as the source of all power.