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Sheffield, England to
stage the first Spanish Oratorio |
As part of the University's centenary celebrations, two programmes
of Baroque music in theatrical settings are to be staged at Sheffield
Cathedral in February 2005. Following the international success of
La Púrpura de la Rosa in 2003, the same team join forces once
more to produce a modern premiere as the first performance of the centenary
events.
Andrew Lawrence King, world expert in Baroque
performance, returns to Sheffield University, working alongside Jane
Davidson, Anthony Trippett and the students of the departments of
Music and Hispanic Studies. The result is two productions including a modern
première and a visually exciting collaboration with Swamp Circus,
England's longest running contemporary circus.
The first of these,
Amonya do los tres mundos (The Harmony of the Three Worlds,) is a
staging of the sacred Hispanic Baroque including Mexican Nocturnes, African
Dances and a première of the first ever Spanish Oratorio. The
performances explore three inter-related worlds of early music drama. In the
oratorio, the sacred mystery of the Christmas story is dramatised, bringing
vivid tone-colours of Hispanic opera into a cathedral setting with strophic
songs. Mexican villancicos, dramatic intermedios, provide social
comment and are based on the sensual rhythms of secular dances. They draw on
the indigenous sound world of tribal languages, accompanied by wind instruments
inspired by birdsong; dances brought by slaves from the Ivory Coast, and so are
accompanied by African drums, hand percussion and rhythmic
footwork.
Oratorio Sacro al Nacimiento de Christo
Señor Nuestro (Sacred Oratorio on the nativity of Christ Our Lord)
and the Sheffield Performances
This is the earliest Spanish
Oratorio for which we have both the libretto and the music. It was first
performed in Valencia in the Oratorio de San Felipe Neri (nowadays the church
of Santo Tomás). There were later performances in Valencia (1713) and
Menorca (1729). Orgambide (the composer) is mentioned as a tiple
(treble) in the capilla de Corpus Christi Patriarca (Valencia) a major centre
of music at the time. By 1705 he was the maestro de capilla
(choirmaster.) About 14 of his works survive.
Valencia had
Academies, comparable to the Florentine academies of the later sixteenth
century, in which poetry, music and even mathematics were discussed. Later in
the eighteenth century the increasing use of violin marks the Italianisation of
the oratorio. There is no certain knowledge as to the identity of the
librettist. At least one oratorio was performed in costume.
Sheffield
have been working from a manuscript discovered in Mallorca by the Spanish
musicologist Dr. María-Teresa Ferrer of the Music Department of
the University of Valladolid, who has been engaged in some ground-breaking
research on Spanish oratorios. Thanks to her the production team have been able
to convert an eighteenth century manuscript in the soprano clef with individual
written parts into a modern workable score. This is understood to be a world
premiere in modern times.
María-Teresa Ferrer will be giving a
talk at 6 p.m. in the Friends' Meeting House, 10 St. James' Street, Sheffield,
on Wednesday 16th February prior to the first performance in the Cathedral
at 7.30. The talk will be in Spanish but an English summary will be provided,
and an interpreter will be on hand to translate questions. A number of
villancicos, songs in Spanish on Christmas themes, some with New World
components, will accompany the staged performances of the Oratorio.
Weds 16 & Fri 18 February, 7:30pm, Sheffield Cathedral
Tickets: £10, £7 (Senior Citizens), £5 (Students,
unwaged)
Enquiries: University of Sheffield Department of Music, 38
Taptonville Road, Sheffield, S10 5BR, United Kingdom
Tel: 0114
2220499/0470
E-mail: concerts@sheffield.ac.uk