• Joy of Music – Over 250 years of quality, innovation, and tradition
Lieferzeit
2-3 Tage
Hire/performance material

Sonata about Jerusalem

Cantata with texts adapted from the autobiography of Obadiah the Proselyte and the chronicle of Samuel ben Yahya ben al Maghribi (12th century)
Part III from Music Theatre Tryptich
Edition: Performance material

Product Details

Description

The third part of Alexander Goehr’s Music Theatre Triptych was commissioned by Testimonium, Jerusalem and is based on texts derived from the ‘Autobiography’ of Obadyah the Proselyte and other Hebrew texts of the 12th century. Obadyah, originally a monk from Oppido in Italy, was a Jewish convert who fled to the East where he travelled and observed the Jewish communities in Jerusalem, Syria and Persia. The fragments of his autobiography include a Latin text transliterated into Hebrew Letters: 'The sun shall turn to darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come'. With Monteverdi’s Sonata Sopra Sancta Maria as his musical model, Goehr sets this text for female voices and uses it as a refrain throughout the opera.
By order of the Governor Abischogea, the Jews in Bagdad are to wear badges on their heads and round their necks. The women are to wear one red shoe and one black, and they are to wear bells to distinguish them from the women of Bagdad. Overseers are put over them who beat them cruelly. A rumour, of a ‘Messiah’ who will rescue the people and bring them back to Jerusalem, is brought to the land by a mad boy: The news. The Jews - described as the ‘wisest of all the Jews’ - don green clothes (the colour of paradise). They climb to the roofs of their houses and await a miracle. As night falls they seem to see a vision of Jerusalem; in their ecstasy they seem to become a great bird - they fly. But the morning light finds them still on their roofs. Shamefully they descend among the jeers of the people. A child mocks them: 'Ha: they thought to fly to Jerusalem! But to fly, you must have wings'.

Orchestral Cast

fl(pic).Bbcl(bcl)-hn.tpt.btbn-pno-vn.vc.db-sets of little oriental or Indian bells for the female singers

Cast

Narrator · bass - A mad boy · soprano - A boy's voice · speaking role - female chorus (the parts may be performed by the soprano solo and two additional contralti)

More Information

Title:
Sonata about Jerusalem
Cantata with texts adapted from the autobiography of Obadiah the Proselyte and the chronicle of Samuel ben Yahya ben al Maghribi (12th century)
Part III from Music Theatre Tryptich
Texts adapted by Recha Freier and the composer
English version by the composer. German version by Frederik Prausnitz
Language:
German, Latin, English
Edition:
Performance material
Publisher/Label:
Schott Music Ltd., London
Year of composition:
1970
Opus:
op. 31
Duration:
20 ′
World Premiere:
Jan 1971 · Tel Aviv (IL)
Conductor: Gary Bertini · Israel Chamber Orchestra

Commissioned work :
commissioned by Testimonium, Jerusalem
Series:

Technical Details

Product number:
LSL 1849-04

Performances

Set Ascending Direction
  • Sonata about Jerusalem
    Conductor: Richard Bernas
    Orchestra: Music Projects London
    November 9, 1998 | London (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) , St James' Piccadilly
  • Sonata about Jerusalem
    Conductor: Oliver Knussen
    Orchestra: Schönberg Ensemble
    April 14, 1996 | Den Haag (Netherlands) , Dr Anton Philipsaal
  • Sonata about Jerusalem
    Conductor: Oliver Knussen
    Orchestra: Schönberg Ensemble
    April 11, 1996 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) , Paradiso
  • Sonata about Jerusalem
    Conductor: Oliver Knussen
    Orchestra: Schönberg Ensemble
    April 9, 1996 | Maastricht (Netherlands) , Theater aan Vrijthof — National Premiere
  • Sonata about Jerusalem
    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra
    August 23, 1986 |
  • Set Ascending Direction

    More from this series

    Music Theatre Triptych

    Reviews

    Be the first to review this product.