Full Description
This volume focuses on the story of Judith as presented by composers, librettists and playwrights over four centuries. Helen Leneman analyzes numerous examples of music, librettos and the librettists' views of Judith - strongly influenced by societal attitudes of their time - and how these works in turn suggest unexpected ways of understanding biblical women and their stories. Music adds nuances, colors and emotions, becoming a subtext that suggests character and emotions.
Leneman presents in-depth analyses of the librettos and music of 16 operas and oratorios based on the book of Judith that span 300 years (1694-1984), in addition to two influential plays that inspired several librettos in the nineteenth century. Exploring works by such varied composers as Vivaldi, Mozart, Parry, Honegger, Serov, Chadwick and von Reznicek, Leneman reveals the ways in which each adaptation expands, distils or reinterprets Judith's character and story. In this first ever extensive study of musical settings of the Book of Judith, Leneman enables the biblical heroine to transcend her source.
Contents
Acknowledgements
List of Works with Links to audio and scores
List of Musical Illustrations
Introduction
Part One: Oratorios
Chapter 1: Seventeenth - Eighteenth century
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725): La Giuditta (two versions: 1694, 1697)
Antonio Vivaldi (1675-1741): Juditha Triumphans (1716)
Thomas Arne (1710-1778): Judith (1761, 1764)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791): Betulia Liberata (1771)
Chapter 2: Nineteenth - Twentieth century
Henry David Leslie (1822-1896): Judith (1858)
C. Hubert Parry (1848-1918): Judith, or The Regeneration of Manasseh (1888)
Paul Hillemacher (1852-1933): Judith, Scène Lyrique (1876)
Arthur Honegger (1892-1955): Judith, Drame Biblique (1925)
Part Two: Operas
Chapter 3: Influential Nineteenth Century Plays
Friedrich Hebbel Judith (1840)
Paolo Giacometti Giuditta (1857)
Chapter 4: Nineteenth Century Operas
Achille Peri (1812-1880): Giuditta (1860)
Domenico Silveri (1818-1900): Giuditta (1885)
Charles Lefebvre (1843-1917): Judith, drame lyrique en 3 acts 4 scenes (1877)
Alexander Serov (1820-1871): Iudif (1863)
Chapter 5: Twentieth Century Operas
George Whitfield Chadwick (1854-1931): Judith (1901)
Emil von Reznicek (1860-1945): Holofernes (1922)
Eugene Goossens (1893-1962): Judith (1927)
Siegfried Matthus (1934--): Judith (1984)
Table and Conclusion
Bibliography of musical works (chronological)
Bibliography
