Handel: Israel in Egypt
NDR Das Alte Werk: Concerto Köln
In 18th century England, the main focus of Puritan prejudice against theatre and music was the Italian opera. The focus of attack was: the vain castrati, the eccentric divas, the immoral behaviour of the ballet dancers and the lavish scenery. When in 1738 a campaign to support the opera found no subscribers, Handel changed his plans and remembered the growing enthusiasm in London for oratorios – in English, based on biblical topics.
From there, history took its course, and George Frederic Handel – a British citizen since 1727 – became the foremost English national composer of the time. His fame is not founded on his Italian operas written for London, but instead, it is based on his oratorios written for his adopted country. These oratorios idealise biblical heroes in a political way, they allow the British listeners to identify with God’s chosen people, the Jews: they overlay the past with the present, drama with reality, and art with the modern state – combined, they cement the triumph of Handel’s oratorios.
It was a triumph of the highest patriotic order over the looked-down upon entertainment called Italian opera. But the 1739 oratorio »Israel in Egypt« – first heard at London’s King’s Theatre and now performed by Philipp Ahmann and the NDR Chor – surpassed such historical patriotism. It creates an almost visionary musical theatre: a grand opera without a stage, a historical drama with tableaus and epic dimensions, in short, it is a living legend.
Performers
Concerto Köln
NDR Vokalensemble
Gillian Webster soprano
Franz Vitzthum alto
Benjamin Hulett tenor
Andrew Foster-Williams bass
director Philipp Ahmann
Programme
Georg Friedrich Händel
Israel in Egypt / Oratorium in drei Teilen HWV 54 für Soli, Chor und Orchester / Fassung der Uraufführung von 1739
Estimated end time
22:50