Sacrificio - Oratorios de Carissimi et Rossi

Giacomo Carissimi : Jephte – Luigi Rossi: Oratorio per la Settimana Santa

Mariana Flores (soprano – Filia & Vergine), Valerio Contaldo ( tenor - Jephte), Luigi De Donato (baritone -Demonio), Raphaël Hardmeyer (Pilate)

Chœur de Chambre de Namur / Cappella Mediterranea

Musical direction : Leonardo García Alarcón

Historia di Jephte a 6 voci et organo
Composer: Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674) Booklet (in Latin): excerpt from the Old Testament

The subject of Jephthah is borrowed from the Book of Judges in the Old Testament. The play is divided into two parts: rejoicing and victory precede drama and lamentation. Called to lead the army of Israel against the Ammonites, Jephthah promises God to sacrifice on his return from the war the first person to come out of his house if he returns victorious. Returning with the honors, Jephté sees his daughter singing his praises, accompanied by other young women, arrive to meet him. A long dialogue ensues between the father and his daughter. Jephthah, with a lament, explains his vow to his daughter. She asks him to go and pray in the desert before the sentence is carried out.

Oratorio per la Settimana Santa
Composer: Luigi Rossi (c. 1597-1653)
Livret (in Italian): Giulio Cesare Raggioli (v. 1601-1678)

Housed among the anonymous manuscripts in the Barberini collection of the Vatican Apostolic Library, the Oratorio per la Settimana Santa is a prototypical example of a mid-seventeenth-century oratorio vulgare (Italian-language “oratorio vulgaire”) in Rome. While Jephthah is written for six voices and organ, this oratorio mentions two violins, a continuo, a three- and five-voice choir, and solos. Attributed to Luigi Rossi, this Roman oratorio was composed during his service with the Barberini before their departure from Rome in 1645.
The work is structured in two distinct parts: Pilate confronts a crowd by asking in vain for Barabbas to be pardoned and delivered. He gives in and denounces Jesus who will be condemned and crucified. The second part makes heard the Virgin Mary who through her lamentations implores the mercy of the heavens and the stars while the demons rejoice after the death of Jesus.
Like the final choir of Jephthah, Plorate, filii Israel, this oratorio by Rossi closes with a Madrigale ultimo, a lament of rare beauty as the sacrifice is accomplished.