Fri,
10.11.2017
7:00
PM
GOETHE-INSTITUT
No.4, 5th Street, Rutland Gate
Chennai
The concert begins with a symphonic poem by the
Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas.
“When my words fail I have to speak in music. I have tried to compose a ritual. A ritual for healing and light.” To be performed directly before Haydn’s Creation inevitably lends it a certain context: “healing and light” – the universe’s primal chaos is healed in the order brought by light.
“When my words fail I have to speak in music. I have tried to compose a ritual. A ritual for healing and light.” To be performed directly before Haydn’s Creation inevitably lends it a certain context: “healing and light” – the universe’s primal chaos is healed in the order brought by light.
The Première of Creation, conducted by Haydn in
Schwarzenberg Palace in Vienna in 1798, set off a chain of events that the city
had never experienced. The impact of the triumphant success was tremendous. The
audience expressed with a thunderous applause.
The work spread like wildfire throughout Europe. In
1801, the Press stated: “Never has a musical artwork caused such a sensation or
found such a wide audience as Haydn’s Creation”.
When Haydn’s Creation was heard for the first time
it was, quite literally, a hair-raising event: at the moment of “Und es ward
Licht” (And there was light), the audience was so electrified. With his grand
narrative of divine light bringing illumination to humanity Haydn unified
Europeans on the eve of the Napoleonic wars.
The Creation is a series of picturesque descriptions
of nature, a grandiose effect. In his oratorio Haydn represented the dispersal
of all darkness by the first light. The aria that follows develops the
conceptual pairing of order and confusion further. Light stands here as a
symbol for a just and orderly world in which every creature has its place.
Musically we could refer to these two aspects as
“symphonic” and “sacred.”
The excellent Rundfunkchor Berlin will present
itself as well as the trio of soloists: The tenor role is sung by Mark Padmore,
known for his virtuoso vocal line and perfect diction, joined by Elsa Dreisig,
a member of the ensemble of the Berlin Staatsoper and the baritone Florian
Boesch wonderfully conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
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