Georg Friedrich Händel: Saul - CD, Choir Coach, multimedia | Carus-Verlag

Georg Friedrich Händel Saul

Oratorio HWV 53, 1739

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Saul is one of Handel’s most dramatic oratorios. As in almost no other of his oratorios, with its exciting drama, this work comes close in style to the opera of his time. Handel avails himself of a broad scale of expressive characterizations in music, which convey in superb manner both the unpredictability of Saul, as well as the virtuousness of David. Initially the choir functions as the central element in a dramatic plot, but also assumes the role of providing commentary, as in a Greek tragedy. The score demands the most colorful orchestra which, up to that time, had been employed by Handel: In addition to normal orchestra forces, trombones, harp, organ, glockenspiel, as well as timpani are used. As part of the Handel series Carus present another recording made in the Dresden Frauenkirche. It features outstanding soloists, the Dresdner Kammerchor and the Dresdner Barockorchester, under the direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann.
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  • Symphony
  • Chorus: How excellent thy name
  • Air (Soprano): An Infant rais’d
  • Trio: Along the monster Atheist
  • Chorus: The Youth inspir’d
  • Chorus: How excellent
  • Recit. (Michal): He comes, Air (Michal): O God-like youth!
  • Recit. (Abner, Saul, David): Behold, O King
  • Air (David): O King, your favours with delight
  • Recit. (Jonathan): O early piety!
  • Air (Merab): What abject thoughts
  • Recit. (Merab): Yet think
  • Air (Jonathan): Birth and fortune I despise!
  • Recit. (High Priest): Go on, illustrious pair!
  • Air (High Priest): While yet thy tide
  • Recit. (Saul): Thou, Merab, first in birth
  • Air (Merab): My soul rejects the thoughts
  • Air (Michal): See with what a scornful air
  • Air (Michal): Ah! lovely youth!
  • Symphony
  • Recit. (Michal): Already see
  • Chorus: Welcome, welcome, mighty King!
  • Accompagnato (Saul): What do I hear?
  • Chorus: David his ten thousands slew
  • Accompagnato (Saul): To him ten thousands!
  • Air (Saul): With rage I shall burst
  • Recit. (Jonathan, Michal): Imprudent women!
  • Air (Michal): Fell rage and black despair
  • Recit. (High Priest): This but the smallest part
  • Accompagnato (High Priest): By thee
  • Recit. (Abner): Rack’d with infernal pains
  • Air (David): O Lord, whose mercies
  • Symphony
  • Recit. (Jonathan): ’Tis all in vain
  • Air (Saul): A serpent in my bosom
  • Recit. (Saul): Has he escaped my rage?
  • Air (Merab): Capricious man
  • Accompagnato (Jonathan): O filial piety!
  • Air (Jonathan): No, cruel father, no!
  • Air (High Priest): O Lord, whose providence
  • Chorus: Preserve him for the glory
  • Chorus: Envy! eldest born of Hell!
  • Recit. (Jonathan): Ah! dearest friend
  • Air (Jonathan): But sooner Jordan’s stream
  • Recit. (David, Jonathan): O strange
  • Air (David): Such haughty beauties
  • Recit. (Jonathan): My father comes
  • Recit. (Saul, Jonathan): Hast thou obey’d
  • Air (Jonathan): Sin not, O King
  • Air (Saul): As great Jehova lives
  • Air (Jonathan): From cities storm’d
  • Recit. (Jonathan, Saul): Appear, my friend
  • Air (David): Your words, O King
  • Recit. (Saul): Yes, he shall wed my daughter!
  • Recit. (Michal): A father’s will
  • Duet (Michal, David): O fairest
  • Chorus: Is there a man, who all his ways
  • Symphony
  • Recit. (David): Thy father is as cruel
  • Duet (David, Michal): At persecution
  • Recit. (Michal, Doëg): Whom dost thou seek?
  • Air (Michal): No, no; let the guilty tremble
  • Recit. (Merab): Mean as he was
  • Air (Merab): Author of peace
  • Symphony
  • Accompagnato (Saul): The time at length
  • Recit. (Saul, Jonathan): Where is the son
  • Chorus: O fatal consequence of rage
  • Accompagnato (Saul): Wretch that I am
  • Recit. and Accompagnato (Saul): ‘Tis said
  • Recit. (Witch, Saul): With me what would’st
  • Air (Witch): Infernal spirits
  • Accompagnato (Samuel, Saul): Why hast thou
  • Symphony
  • Recit. (David, Amalekite): Whence comest
  • Air (David): Impious wretch
  • Dead March
  • Chorus: Mourn, Israel
  • Air (High Priest): O let it not in Gath be heard
  • Air (Merab): From this unhappy day
  • Air (David): Brave Jonathan his bow
  • Chorus: Eagles were not so swift as they
  • Air (Michal): In sweetest harmony
  • Solo (David) and Chorus: O fatal day!
  • Recit. (High Priest): Ye Men of Judah
  • Chorus: Gird on thy sword
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  • Symphony

    Act I

    Scene 1

    An Epinicion, or Song of Triumph, for the victory over Goliah and the Philistines

    1. Chorus of Israelites

    How excellent thy name, O Lord,
    in all the world is known!
    Above all heav’ns, O King ador’d,
    how hast thou set thy glorious throne!

    2. Air (Soprano)

    An infant rais’d by thy command,
    to quell thy rebel foes,
    could fierce Goliah’s dreadful hand
    superior in the fight oppose.

    3. Chorus

    Along the monster atheist strode,
    with more than human pride,
    and armies of the living God
    exulting in his strength defied.

    4. Chorus of Israelites

    The youth inspir’d by thee, O Lord,
    with ease the boaster slew;
    our fainting courage soon restor’d,
    and headlong drove that impious crew.

    5. Chorus of Israelites

    How excellent thy name, O Lord,
    in all the world is known!
    Above all heav’ns, O King ador’d,
    how hast thou set thy glorious throne!
    Hallelujah.

    Scene 2

    Saul, Jonathan, Merab, Michal, etc.; Abner introducing David; High Priest

    6. Recitative (Michal)

    He comes, he

    ...
  • Texte du livret du CD Carus 83.243

    David Vickers
    Traduction : Sylvie Coquillat

    Au début des années 1730, Haendel commence à faire représenter des oratorios anglais pendant le carême, période où il était interdit de donner des opéras italiens. Jusqu’à l’été 1738, il devient évident que des représentations d’opéras italiens ne seraient pas réalisables durant la saison suivante, si bien que Haendel s’affaire à préparer une série de concerts au King’s Theatre, composée presque exclusivement d’œuvres dans le style d’oratorio. Il écrit la partition de Saül entre le 23 juillet et le 27 septembre 1738 ; son oratorio à l’intention dramatique ambitieuse inaugure la saison le 16 janvier 1739 pour être donné six fois en tout.

    Charles Jennens (1699/1700–1773) rédige le livret de Saül. Il a suivi des cours à Oxford, mais un diplôme lui a été refusé car il n’a pas reconnu la légalité de la monarchie de Hanovre. Contrairement aux Jacobites

    ...
  • Text from the CD Carus 83.243

    David Vickers

    In the early 1730s Handel began to perform English oratorios during Lent while Italian opera entertainments were forbidden. By summer 1738 it was evident that Italian opera ventures in London were not viable for the forthcoming season, so he set about preparing for a concert series at the King’s Theatre that almost entirely consisted of oratorio-style works. He composed the score of Saul between 23 July and 27 September 1738, and his ambitious dramatic oratorio opened the season on 16 January 1739, and ran for six performances.

    The libretto of Saul was written by Charles Jennens (1699/1700–1773), who was educated at Oxford but prevented from gaining his degree because of his political opposition to the legitimacy of the Hanoverian monarchy. Unlike the “Jacobites,” who plotted to restore the Roman Catholic Stuarts from exile, Jennens was a staunch Protestant, and therefore

    ...
  • Booklet-Text der CD Carus 83.243

    David Vickers
    Übersetzung: Helga Beste

    In den frühen 1730er Jahren begann Händel mit der Aufführung von englischen Oratorien während der Fastenzeit, während derer italienische Opern nicht aufgeführt werden durften. Bis zum Sommer 1738 wurde offensichtlich, dass Aufführungen italienischer Opern in der kommenden Saison nicht durchführbar sein würden, so dass Händel sich an die Vorbereitung einer Konzertreihe im King’s Theatre machte, die fast ausschließlich aus Werken im Oratoriumsstil bestand. Er schrieb die Partitur des Saul zwischen dem 23. Juli und 27. September 1738; sein ehrgeizig angelegtes dramatisches Oratorium eröffnete die Saison am 16. Januar 1739 und wurde sechs Mal aufgeführt.

    Charles Jennens (1699/1700–1773) verfasste das Libretto für Saul. Er hatte eine Ausbildung in Oxford genossen; ein Abschluss blieb ihm jedoch verwehrt, da er die Rechtmäßigkeit der Hannoverschen Monarchie

    ...
  • Sinfonia

    Act I

    1. Chorus

    Wie groß und hehr ist, Gott, dein Nam’,
    ihn preiset alle Welt!
    weit über alle Himmel, weit
    strahlt deines hohen Thrones Glanz!

    2. Air (Soprano)

    Dem schwachen Jüngling rief der Herr:
    Erwach’ und dämpf’ der Feinde Mut.
    Vergebens trotzte Goliath,
    dem Gottgewählten ward der Sieg.

    3. Chorus

    Der Gottesleugner trat einher
    mit übermüt’gem Spott,
    und des lebend’gen Gottes Heer,
    hohnlachend trotzt der Frevler ihm.

    4. Chorus

    Der Jüngling stand in Gottes Kraft,
    erfechtend leichten Sieg.
    Nun kehrt dem Heere Mut zurück,
    da floh er ihm, der Frevler Schar.

    5. Chorus

    Wie groß und hehr ist, Gott, dein Nam’,
    ihn preiset alle Welt!
    Weit über alle Himmel, weit
    strahlt deines hohen Thrones Glanz!

    6. Recitative (Soprano)

    Er kommt, er kommt!

    7. Air (Soprano)

    Heil! edler, bester Jüngling dir,
    der Menschheit schönster Ruhm.
    Unsterblich Heil! o Mädchen, dir,
    die einst sein Arm als Braut umschließt.
    Der Töchter Juda Seligste,
    o wie

    ...
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Compact Disc, 3 CDs, English Carus 83.243/00, EAN 4009350832435 CD, digipac
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Contents

  • George Frideric Handel put his exceptionally versatile compositional abilities to the test at an early age. After moving to London in 1712, where he was appointed Composer of Musick for His Majesty’s Chapel Royal in 1723, he wrote numerous masterpieces for the royal court as well as his major opere serie. For many years he enjoyed triumphant successes with his operas, which were sung by outstanding performers, with serenades, and later also with oratorios such as Saul and Israel in Egypt. Over the years Handel’s reputation grew far beyond the city where he worked; some of his choral works, particularly Messiah, have enjoyed a performance tradition which remains unbroken to this day, and are sung by choirs throughout the world. Personal details
  • DRESDNER KAMMERCHOR Radiant, transparent, homogeneous and flexible: the Dresdner Kammerchor is internationally esteemed for its unique culture of sonority. Its artistic director Hans-Christoph Rademann has shaped this distinctive sound since the choir was founded in 1985, leading it to worldwide renown. The choir’s diverse repertoire has its foundation in Baroque music, with a special focus on Saxon court music. As a cultural ambassador for Dresden and Saxony, the choir keeps the musical heritage of its homeland alive and makes it known to an international audience. A prominent example of this is the world’s first complete Heinrich Schütz recording, which was concluded in 2019, published by Carus-Verlag, and has won several awards: among others, the St. John Passion was awarded the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics in 2016, and the last installment of the edition containing “Psalms and Peace Music” was honored with the Opus Klassik 2020. The choir has also rediscovered, performed anew and recorded on CD numerous works by other Central German masters such as Johann Adolf Hasse, Johann David Heinichen and Jan Dismas Zelenka in collaboration with the Dresden Baroque Orchestra and other musical partners. In addition to symphonic choral works from the Classical and Romantic periods, a further repertoire focus is on challenging a cappella works of the 19th and 20th centuries. This includes music by Johannes Brahms, Max Reger, Olivier Messiaen, Francis Poulenc, Arnold Schoenberg and Herman Berlinski. For years, the Dresdner Kammerchor has been intensively dedicated to modern and contemporary music, with world premieres, first performances and its own commissioned works. This commitment is deepened further by diverse music education and youth projects. In 2009, Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Dresdner Kammerchor initiated the Dresden Choral Workshop for New Music, which took place for the 4th time in 2018. For its services to contemporary choral music, the choir was awarded a Sponsorship Prize by the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation. The Dresdner Kammerchor gives guest performances in centers of music and at festivals throughout Europe. Tours have taken the singers to Israel, India, Taiwan, China, Mexico, South America, South Africa and the USA. Musical partners to date have included René Jacobs, Sir Roger Norrington, Ádám Fischer, Václav Luks, Stefan Parkman, Trevor Pinnock, Christoph Prégardien, Jos van Immerseel, Herbert Blomstedt, Omer Meir Wellber, Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Chailly and Reinhard Goebel, as well as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Anima Eterna Brugge, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, and the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. The choir regularly collaborates with the Wroc"naw Baroque Orchestra. By means of a cooperation with the Dresden University of Music, the Dresdner Kammerchor keeps the connection to its roots alive. Personal details
  • One of the distinguishing features of the Dresdner Barockorchester, founded in 1991, is the fact that its membership includes both early music specialists and orchestral musicians drawn from the Dresdner Staatskapelle and the Dresdner Philharmonie. Working together with baroque instruments, with their specific clarity of sound and articulation they achieve a variegated, eloquent music-making in which their different areas of musical experience are combined. The musicians are united in their desire to follow the splendid example set by the Dresden Court Orchestra of Augustus the Strong. The heritage of that era is the music of such conductors and instrumentalists of the Court Orchestra as Hasse, Heinichen, Zelenka, Quantz and Pisendel, whose works have a prominent place in the repertoire of the Dresdner Barockorchester. This repertoire extends from the end of the 17th century through Mozart. The Dresdner Barockorchester works closely with the Dresdner Kammerchor and its conductor Hans- Christoph Rademann. Personal details
  • Conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann is an immensely versatile artist with a broad repertoire who devotes himself with equal passion and expertise both to the performance and rediscovery of early music and to the first performances and cultivation of Contemporary Music. Born in Dresden and raised in the Erzgebirge mountains, he was influenced at an early age by the great Central German kantorial and musical tradition. He was a student at the traditional Kreuzgymnasium, a member of the famous Kreuzchor, and studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. During his studies, he founded the Dresdner Kammerchor and formed it into a top international choir which is still under his direction today. Since 2013, Hans-Christoph Rademann has been the academy director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart. He regularly collaborates with leading choirs and ensembles of the international music scene. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the NDR Choir and from 2007 to 2015 chief conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir. Guest conducting engagements have led and continue to lead him to the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, among others. Hans-Christoph Rademann has been awarded prizes and honors for his artistic work, including the Johann Walter Plaque of the Saxon Music Council (2014), the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2008), the Sponsorship Prize as well as the Art Prize of the state capital Dresden (1994 and 2014 respectively). He received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik several times for his numerous CD recordings (most recently in 2016), as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (2002), the Diapason d’Or (2006 & 2011), the CHOC de l’année 2011 and the Best Baroque Vocal Award 2014. In 2016 he was awarded the European Church Music Prize of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. His exemplary interpretation and recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz with the Dresdner Kammerchor in the Stuttgart Carus-Verlag, which was completed in 2019, was awarded the newly endowed Heinrich Schütz Prize as well as the OPUS KLASSIK 2020 in the same year. Hans-Christoph Rademann is professor of choral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He is also artistic director of the Musikfest Erzgebirge, ambassador of the Erzgebirge and patron of the Christian Hospice Service Dresden. Personal details
  • Anna Prohaska was born in Neu-Ulm on the Danube and grew up in a musical family. Whilst still at school, she took a preparatory course in singing at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” in Berlin. She was accepted for the Académie Européenne de Musique in Aix-en-Provence in 2003, the International Handel Academy, Karlsruhe in 2006 was an Eisler prizewinner for the interpretation of contemporary music in 2005. As well as a busy concert schedule, she has already sung in most of the major Berlin theatres. As a member of the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, she has sung roles including Papagena, Barbarina and the First Flowermaiden and First Esquire in Parsifal. Further afield, she has sung at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, the Aachen Theatre with guest performances in Cologne, the Nationaltheater Mannheim and several times at the Lucerne Festival. Personal details
  • The young soprano Ditte Andersen was born in Copenhagen where she studied at the Royal Academy. Following her graduation in 2004, she has quickly established herself as one of the leading Scandinavian high lyric sopranos. She has performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris, Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, in Brussels and Monaco. She sang the role of Blonde in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and the Opéra de Lausanne. In Copenhagen she has sung roles in Gluck and Mozart operas. Ditte Andersen has also performed in many of the major concert halls. She joined the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin in the 2006-07 season. Personal details
  • The countertenor Tim Mead was a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, where he received his first musical training, later studying singing with Charles Brett. He continued his studies and won several scholarships to the Royal College of Music in London. The young countertenor is concentrating mainly on opera, singing in works ranging from Claudio Monteverdi to world premieres of contemporary works. His most recent operatic engagements include the title roles in Handel’s Giulio Cesare for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Siroe under Andreas Spering and Ezio for the London Handel Festival. In sacred vocal music, his repertoire includes works by Bach, Telemann and Handel. Tim Mead has been invited to perform the title role in Admeto at the Handel Festival in Göttingen in 2009. Personal details
  • Eric Stoklossa received his first musical training in the Dresdner Kreuzchor. He studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik “Carl Maria von Weber” in Dresden from 2000-06, graduating with a diploma. Whilst still studying, he performed in numerous productions and embarked on a busy concert schedule. He came to international attention at the Wiener Festwochen 2007 for his acclaimed portrayal of Aljeja in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead in Patrice Chéreau’s production, conducted by Pierre Boulez. He made his debut at the Holland Festival and the Aix-en-Provence Festival in this production, and will perform this role at the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. In 2005 he was a prizewinner in masterclasses at the European Music Festival Stuttgart. Personal details
  • Clemens Heidrich received his first musical training in the Knabenchor Dresden and later in the special music class at the Lessing-Gymnasium Hoyerswerda, Saxony. He graduated from the Hochschule für Musik “Carl Maria von Weber” in Dresden in 2002. Since then he has worked as a freelance singer, mainly in concert work. He has toured to Antwerp, Bergen (Norway), Jerusalem, Lisbon, Paris and to the “La folle journée” Festival in Tokyo. Clemens Heidrich has worked with ensembles including the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Dresdner Barockorchester, Dresdner Kammerchor, Das Kleine Konzert, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Dresdner Kreuzchor, Dresdner Singakademie, Rheinische Kantorei and the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden. Personal details
  • Maximilian Schmitt, tenor, discovered his love for music as a choirboy with the Regensburger Domspatzen. He studied singing at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1999. In 2005 and 2006 he was a member of the ‘Junges Ensemble’ at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, during which period he made his solo debut at the Salzburg Landestheater as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Maximilian Schmitt has been engaged by the Staatstheater Mannheim from the 2008-09 season. As well as his passion for opera, he is in increasing demand as a concert singer. He has performed with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Bavarian Radio and Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk [Central German Broadcasting] Symphony Orchestras and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 he will once again tour with Helmuth Rilling and the Bachakademie, and will be working with the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly. Personal details
  • The bass-baritone Yorck Felix Speer studied singing at the music conservatories in Hamburg and Lübeck. He has performed in numerous concerts with leading orchestras and choruses such as the Bach Collegium Munich, Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz [German Philharmonic Orchestra Rhineland-Palatinate] and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester. He regularly performs throughout Europe, in France, Italy, Hungary, Austria and Switzerland. He made his debut in 2002 as Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro under Christian Kabitz. A further highlight was a tour with the Orchestre des Champs-Élysées and Philippe Herreweghe in autumn 2006. Yorck Felix Speer has been invited to sing the part of Christus in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Riccardo Chailly in 2009. Personal details

Reviews

[...] Mit hervorragenden Solisten haben der Dresdner Kammerchor und das Dresdner Barockorchester unter Hans-Christoph Rademann Georg Friedrich Händels dramatisches Oratorium "Saul" eingespielt. [...]

Morgenpost am Sonntag, 11.1.2009

 

[...] Ohnehin ist die Art und Weise, in der Carus einige substanzielle Beiträge zum Händel-Jahr leisten will, recht sympathisch: Die Aufnahmen werden sorgfältig, detailgenau und mit erkennbarem Profil, aber nicht großspurig und marktschreierisch produziert. [...]

Matthias Hengelbrock
Fono Forum, 05/09

 

[...] Ein abwechslungsreiches, facettenreiches Oratorium mit dem Potenzial zu einem wirkungsvollen Bühnenstück. [...]

Musica Sacra, Heft 5/2009

 

 

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