Joseph Haydn’s self-proclaimed masterpiece, The Creation, met with an instant and enthusiastic standing ovation in Madison on Saturday evening.
Around 440 attended the performance by the Wisconsin Chamber Choir and Stoughton Chamber Singers at the Madison Masonic Center.
The Creation is properly termed an oratorio, but in many ways it resembles an opera staged concert-style, complete with characters Adam, Eve and three angels. As we head into the Easter season it would be a fine salute to this year’s 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, from which the text is drawn (along with Milton’s Paradise Lost). Or it would be, except the English libretto was translated into German for Haydn, and then translated back into English several times.
The work tells the story of Biblical creation and the early days of Eden, foreshadowing the fall from grace. The performance overall was rich, lush and satisfying, presenting great caramel-flavored swirls of sound. The choir was always precise in phrasing, and stunning in its presentation of big, wide-open chords.
Soprano Deanna Horjus-Lang was bold and athletic; bass Brian Leeper presented a fine anchor throughout. Madeline Olson, as Eve, performed with bright ease. J. Adam Shelton was a stand-out as the angel Uriel, with his fine, clear tenor.
Many of the soloists were drawn from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, as was conductor Robert Gehrenbeck, who led the choirs and fine orchestra in a spare, effective manner.
The auditorium of the Masonic Center revealed itself as an excellent space for live classical presentation, with little or no amplification evident or even necessary. The center is too seldom-used, despite its history as a home for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra’s annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah in the 1980s.
Let’s hope for many more concerts there from the outstanding Wisconsin Chamber Choir and Stoughton Chamber Singers.
The concert was made possible in part by support from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission and the Overture Foundation.
For a previous article on the Masonic Center’s performance space, see my Isthmus article at http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=29485.
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On a side note, portions of the copyrighted program notes, by UW-Whitewater Department of Music chair J. Michael Allsen, appear identical to the work’s entry on Wikipedia.
For example, take Allsen’s assessment of The Creation: “It was also quite obviously an act for this deeply religious man, who appended the words ‘praise to God’ to the end of every completed composition. He later remarked that: ‘I was never so devout as when I was at work on The Creation: I fell on my knees each day and begged God to give me the strength to finish the work.’ ”
The Wikipedia entry reads, “It was also a profound act of faith for this deeply religious man, who appended the words ‘Praise to God’ at the end of every completed composition. He later remarked, ‘I was never so devout as when I was at work on The Creation,' ” etc.
Again, from Allsen’s program notes, reporting the work’s unveiling and reaction by impresario Johann Peter Salomon:
“The performance was sponsored by a group of noble citizens, who paid Haydn handsomely for the right to stage the premiere. (Salomon briefly threatened to sue, on the grounds that the English libretto had been translated illegally.) The performance was delayed until late April – the parts were not finished until Good Friday – but the full oratorio was rehearsed before a full audience on April 29.”
And from Wikipedia: “The first performances in 1798 were sponsored by a group of noble citizens, who paid the composer handsomely for the right to stage the premiere (Salomon briefly threatened to sue, on grounds that the English libretto had been translated illegally). The performance was delayed until late April -- the parts were not finished until Good Friday -- but the completed work was rehearsed before a full audience on April 29.”
The Wiki entry is not footnoted. It appears to be based in part on 2009 program notes created by the European Culture Society of Vienna, which in turn appear to liberally quote the liner notes from a 1969 recording by the Berlin Harmonic.
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