Chapitres
Elias
Overdue premiere
Soloists
Genia Kühmeier Soprano
Ann Hallenberg Alt
Lothar Odinius Tenor
Michel Nagy Bariton
Ensembles
Balthasar Neumann Choir and soloists
Balthasar Neumann Ensemble
Concept, Stage and Musical Direction
Thomas Hengelbrock
Work
Felix Mendelssohn
Elias
Thomas Hengelbrock and his ensembles perform the « Elijah » for the first time
When Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in 1829 performed Bach’s St Matthew Passion again for the first time after his death, the performance conditions certainly did not correspond to what today would be called historically informed performance practice: 150 singers offered a partly abridged, partly re-instrumented version of this choral work. Nevertheless, with this concert the young Mendelssohn made a weighty contribution to the historical cultivation of music in Germany.
Now Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy himself will become the object of historical performance practice at the KONZERTHAUS DORTMUND when one of the great standard works of choral literature finally finds its way into the repertoire of the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble: the oratorio « Elijah ». Conductor Thomas Hengelbrock has already conducted several performances of this work – but never with his own ensembles.
Now Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy himself will become the object of historical performance practice
As with the spectacular performance of « Parsifal », with which Hengelbrock blew the dust off the reception history of Wagner’s score in 2013, this time too the claim is for a performance entirely in the spirit of the composer. Although it will hardly be possible to assemble 396 performers (271 of them singers) on the Konzerthaus stage as at the premiere in Birmingham in 1846, and there will be no special train for the musicians involved, the chorus and orchestra are nevertheless opulently cast.
However, the dramatic character of the work, which Mendelssohn designed entirely in the spirit of Romanticism, lives not only from the « rather thick, heavy and full choruses » and the large orchestral cast, but also from the voices of the soloists who embody the prophets Elijah and Obadiah, the widow or the queen. Singers like Michael Nagy, Lothar Odinius and Genia Kühmeier are not only proven musical partners of Thomas Hengelbrock, but also like-minded people when it comes to the musical interpretation of a work from the gesture of language. So the signs are good for a historically authentic reception by the audience: a repeat of the sensational premiere success.
Performance practice
Elias
soli SATB, Boysoprano / choir SATB / 2.2.2.2 / 4.2.3.1 / percussion / organ / strings
Number of musicians
Choir: 14-12-12-12;
Strings: 12-11-8-8-4;
Woodwinds: 8;
Brass: 10; 1
Timpani; 1
Organ;
Diapason
430 Hz
Stage plan
Autres ressources associées
Contenu lié
Bibliothèque
Retrouver les ressources associées à cette œuvre dans notre bibliothèque numérique.
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