About this Recording 8.557574-75 - HANDEL: Solomon, HWV 67 |
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George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Solomon (An Oratorio in Three Parts) Solomon - Ewa Wolak, Mezzo-Soprano Pharaoh's Daughter, Queen / Second Woman - Elisabeth Scholl, Soprano Nicaule, Queen of Sheeba / First Woman - Nicola Wemyss, Soprano Zadok / Attendant - Knut Schoch, Tenor Levite - Matthias Vieweg, Bass Junge Kantorei Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra Joachim Carlos Martini It was in the mid-1740s that George Frideric Handel succeeded in making a great breakthrough with his biblical oratorios. There was enthusiastic approval for his music and the plot, the dramatic course of the text, not only in London but in the whole of England, and Handel further succeeded in winning over all the relevant social classes of the time, a result of a series of complex developments in British society. One factor in this development was that the music composed for the oratorio now also appealed to people for whom, because of an educational deficiency, the result of their background and their social milieu, a visit to the opera did not appear particularly attractive. The representation of court life with all its tricks and intrigues, the usual subject of operatic plots, generally found no response in the souls of the middle class, while the 'blood-and-thunder Judaism', as Winton Dean puts it, of a Judas Maccabaeus or Joshua did (Note 1). Christopher Hogwood makes this way of thinking clear with the aid of a letter from Lady Luxborough to the poet William Shenstone. She reported that her steward was 'highly entertained' at a performance of Judas Maccabaeus and concluded that musical understanding was no longer necessary for people of this kind to enjoy such performances. (Note 2) The public that in increasing numbers began to show interest in performances of oratorio came no longer from the aristocracy but also from the middle classes, and, as we can understand from Lady Luxborough's letter, not only from the upper middle class. In addition to the music for a broad circle of new audiences there were also moral and socio-cultural aspects of no negligible importance. Christopher Hogwood quotes Catherine Talbot, who in December 1743 heard the oratorio Samson and summed up her impressions with the opinion that 'this kind of entertainment must necessarily have some effect in correcting or moderating at least the levity of the age'. We read further that Lady Elizabeth Heywood, inspired by a performance of the oratorio Joshua, wrote in her Epistles for the Ladies of 1749 that such concerts might 'go a great Way in reforming an Age, which seems to be degenerating equally into an Irreverence for the Deity, and a Brutality of Behavior to each other; but as this Depravity of taste, of Principles, and Manners, has spread itself from London even to the remotest Parts of this Island, I should be glad there were Oratorios established in every City and great Town throughout the Kingdom; but even then, to be of general Service, they ought to be given gratis, and all Degrees of People allowed to partake of them, otherwise it is but an inconsiderable Number, in comparison with the whole, whose Fortunes would admit of their being improved this Way'. (Note 3) Hand in hand with this development there were changes also in the circle of those collaborating in oratorio performances. Choirs started increasingly to be made up of amateur singers, and at the same time orchestras declared themselves ready to take gifted amateurs into their ranks. In the place of Italian opera stars there were more and more singers from Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales who, while they might sometimes perhaps lack the Italian virtuosity so prized by the nobility, lacked nothing of heart, engagement and charisma. Handel composed his powerful oratorio Solomon in less than six weeks between 3 May and 13 June 1748, and after a short break sat down at his desk to start the score of Susanna, finishing it during the last week of August. The writer of the texts of both oratorios is not known. Winton Dean suggests that both texts are from the pen of a poet, since they are very similar in their diction and their choice of many metaphors derived chiefly from nature. Thomas Morell, mentioned by some music historians as the author, in the opinion of Winton Dean as also of Bernard Baselt (Note 4), on stilistic grounds, but above all on account of his earlier prosaic way of thinking and expression, cannot be considered. The unknown librettist used as sources the First Book of Kings, chapters 3-11 and chapter 22, 28-29, and the Second Book of Chronicles, chapters 1-9, and also The Early History of the Jews (VIII, 2-7) of Flavius Josephus, and made from these a text that could correspond completely to the long outstanding change in mental attitude of the composer and inspired him to music that is among his most extraordinary and wonderful creations. Winton Dean describes the change of Handel's world view and, associated with it, the change of his image of himself as a way of distancing himself from emotional openness, of objectivisation tending in performance to the confession of his personal belief, a belief that God is found also in nature. In Otto Erich Deutsch we find the text of the announcement of 17 March 1749 and the advertisement of the first performance. The General Advertiser wrote: 'At the Theatre Royal in Covent Garden, This Day will be perform'd a New Oratorio, call'd SOLOMON. With a CONCERTO … (to begin at Half an Hour after Six o'Clock.)' The singers were: English version: Keith Anderson Note: 1 Dean, Winton: Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, Oxford, 1990, passim 2 Hogwood, Christopher: Handel, London, 1984, p.212 3 ib. p.212 4 Baselt, Bernd: Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis: Oratorische Werke, Vokale Kammermusik, Kirchenmusik, Händel-Handbuch, Bd. 2, Leipzig, 1984 --- Synopsis [CD 1 / Track 1] & [1/2] Overture and Allegro Part I [1/3] - [1/11] Scene 1 At the centre of the first scene stands the Temple that Solomon, at the behest of his father, David, has had built in Jerusalem. For seven long years the builders and carpenters, sculptors and painters, have worked on it; but now, finally, it is finished and Solomon opens the doors and enters, together with the crowd of priests, the High Priest Zadok and the Levites, to bring a sacrifice to God and beg his blessing. Their prayer is heard, the sacrificial fire starts to glow and announces that the Lord of the Heavenly Host is present. Deeply moved the priests proclaim the grace and mercy of God, and Solomon understands that all his knowledge, all his wisdom without God's help would be empty and as nothing. [1/12] - [1/23] Scene 2 The Queen, Solomon's wife that he loves above all, enters. Solomon promises her, as a sign of his love, to have built a palace of cedar, decked with gold and precious stones, that will not have its equal in splendour. Deeply moved, the Queen praises the day on which she was married to him, and they are both united in their knowledge of the mutual tenderness of their love. Zadok blesses their union, based on love, trust and fidelity, and Solomon urges her away to be united with him in the nearby cedar grove. She follows him, not without expressing once more in wonder her deep love for him. Their friends, however, implore the flowers to surround the lovers with their fragrance and the nightingales the lovers with their song. Part II [1/24] - [1/28] Scene 1 The Israelites rejoice and praise Solomon's good fortune, wishing him eternal life. Solomon, however, well knows that he owes his knowledge, his wealth and his might only to the grace of God, which has brought him from darkness to light, from misery and mortal need to life, and he realises that to praise God is for him the most important task of his life. [1/29] Scene 2 A servant enters and announces that there are two women standing at the gates of the palace who are in violent dispute over the maternity of a child and want the King to settle the matter. [2/1] - [2/12] Scene 3 The two women storm in. One of them claims that the other has stolen her child from her. She lives together with her in the same house. The child of the other is dead, and the neighbour in the night has replaced the living baby with the body of the dead child. Now she claims to be its mother. The other woman claims this is false and that she alone is the child's mother. It is now for Solomon to find the truth. Solomon decrees that the two women should both have their portions and that the child be cut in two, so that each should have an equal part. One of them agrees to this cruel decision, but the other begs for the child's life to be spared; rather would she renounce her claim to the child than see it killed. In this way she has given proof of her claim to be the true mother, and so Solomon gives her the child, while he banishes the other woman from his sight. Part III [2/13] - [2/34] Scene 1 The astonished witnesses of Solomon's wisdom unite in praise and thanks. Wonderful music is heard and the Queen of Sheba enters Solomon's palace. His reputation as the wisest of the wise among rulers induced her to undertake the strains and dangers of a long journey through the Arabian desert and now she stands before him to learn of his 'heavenly wisdom'. Solomon receives her with great friendliness and attention and asks his singers and musicians to play for the royal guest of human passions, of lovely music, of the blasphemous aggressiveness of men, of mortal despair that scorned love brings, finally to let the music sound once more, as it can, to soothe rebellious feelings and lead souls into the state of rest. The Queen of Sheba is overwhelmed. She gives thanks with the gold, precious stones, incense and spices that she has brought with her from Sheba on the backs of a great caravan of numberless camels. Solomon is no less generous. With moving words they praise God, together with the priests, and with mutual good wishes they take leave of each other. 'The name of the wicked shall quickly be passed / But the fame of the just shall eternally last'. With this comforting promise the oratorio comes to an end. Joachim C. Martini English version: Keith Anderson Sung texts for this release are available online at http://www.naxos.com/libretti/solomon.htm. |
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