Slaughter
and Sacrifice
two tragic
oratorios
Giaccomo
Carissimi: Historia di Jephte (1648)
Antonio
Bertali: La strage degl' Innocenti (1665)
Scoring: six singers, 2
renaissance violins, dulcian, keyboards
Pitch: a’=465Hz
Temperament:
1/4-comma meantone
| Giaccomo Carissimi’s Historia
di Jephte counts among the greatest
masterpieces in music history and its final
chorus is one of the most gripping movements ever
written (Handel used it in Samson):
Jephthah, judge and leader of the Israelite army,
vows to God that, if he be victorious in battle,
he would sacrifice the first living thing to come
out of his house upon his return. This turns out
to be his daughter. This performance features
rarely performed 17th -century instrumental
accompaniment which Carissimi presumably intended
for this work. |
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Antonio
Bertali was chapel master to the Holy Roman
Emperors, Ferdinand III. and Leopold I for two
decades. Although highly regarded by his
contemporaries, his work is only now being
recovered from oblivion. His only surviving
oratorio, La strage degl’ Innocenti,
tells the story of the slaughter of the Holy
Innocents by king Herod. The first act portrays
the deliberations of the king and his counselors;
the second is a heart-breaking lament of the
mothers of the severed children. The work is
concluded by a breathtaking chorus, on par with
with the final chorus of Carissimi's Jephte.
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