Last night the Wellesley ladies had a field trip to the Musikverein to hear Nicholas Harnoncourt conduct Handel's "La Resurrezione di Nostro Signor Gesù Cristo" (the Resurrection of Jesus Christ) with Concentus Musikus and five soloists.
This piece is an oratorio, and Handel's oratorios were generally musical settings of Old Testament stories. To me, an oratorio is like the child of a mass and an opera. It is constructed like a mass, with different movements from various soloists and choral sections and with a religious theme, but then the movements are in recit and aria form, and the soloists play specific characters. It's just not fully staged, no costumes or scenery. The five soloists each played a character, which included Lucifer (bass), John the Baptist (tenor), the angel (soprano), Mary Magdalena (soprano), and Mary Cleofe (alto). This oratorio takes place during the three days following Jesus' crucifixion and depicts a fight between the angels and the Devil, to let Jesus out of hell and back onto earth, and the mourning turned to rejoicing of those closest to Jesus. It is funky because it tells the story jumping between dialogue at hell's gates, and the conversations of the mourning women on earth. Harnoncourt actually took a moment before Part 1 and Part 2 to explain each of the settings so that the audience would understand the juxtaposition of hell vs earthly settings.
This was my third time seeing Concentus Musikus perform, and really, each performance has just taken my breath away. First the Bach b-Minor Mass, then Monteverdi's Marienvespers, and now Handel's Resurrection. I feel like each piece has changed the way I view music, and the goals I have as a studying singer. I won't be satisfied until I have opportunities to sing my favorite roles of each of these pieces, and that is going to be a very hard dream to grasp.
btw, Christine Schäfer was the angel (wearing a heinous dress), Roberta Invernizzi was Mary Magdelena (AMAZING voice, but moved her head weirdly when she was trying to act sad), Wiebke Lehmkuhl sang Mary Cleofe (nothing special), Toby Spence sang John the Baptist (cute Brit, huge pipes), and last BUT NOT LEAST, Luca Pisaroni sang Lucifer!!!!!!!! He's like the new hot THANG at the Vienna opera right now.....and now I know why. Not only is he HOT, he has an amazing voice. He made a very, very scary Devil, take it from me!
sigh, such amazing musical experiences!
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