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'Jonas' and 'Dives Malus' are particularly showy examples of the "sacred oratorios" with Latin texts chiefly taken from the Bible, which were extremely popular among the Italian aristocracy, both secular and clerical, throughout the 17th Century. Such musical theater pieces were the Counter-reformation's answer to the opera and secular oratorio, usually based on tales from Graeco-Roman sources, beloved of the Humanists. If any difference in the music is to be heard, it is that the sacred oratorios are more purely aesthetic and intellectual, while the secular oratorio is more easily comprehended by the untrained listener. If that sounds backwards, just remember that the sacred oratorios were written for the upper reaches of society, often on commission, and performed at the altars of private chapels in palaces. The works of Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674) were favored by the wealthy members of the Confraternity of the Holy Crucifix, and sung in the "oratory" they constructed in the neighborhood of the most opulent private palaces of Rome.
Both of these works use the typical baroque structures of recitativo, solo aria, chorus, and orchestral ritornello, all supported by basso continuo. Conductor Diego Fasolis has assembled an outstanding cast of singers, almost all from Italy, to sing with his Swiss Radio Chorus. The recording was made at a live performance in Lugano, in a hall with fine acoustic resonance. The singers I've heard most -- Roberta Invernizzi, Furio Zanasi, Antonio Abete -- are vocal artists of such reliable skill that I bought the CD merely on the recommendation of their participation. I was not misguided. This is a splendidly sung performance.
"Jonas" is a dramaticization of the ever-popular story of Jonah and the Whale. "Dives Malus" -- the Evil Rich Man -- is based on a parable told by the radical social critic and preacher of redistributive justice, Jesus of Nazareth, to his disciples. The central text comes from Luke 16: 19-31:
Jesus says: "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day; and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom; the rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot... Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they come also to this place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him; they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."
I find a certain delicious irony in the thought of Carissimi and his chorus singing their homily on the sinfulness of wealth to the assembled plutocrats of Bernini's Rome. This is the kind of class-warfare preaching of the Nazarene that Christians have been able to ignore from the days of Constantine to the "we-are-the-greatest-nation-on-earth" Red State fundamentalists of our times, who seem to believe that poverty is the victim's own fault rather than, as Jesus believed, that wealth is the possessor's own sin.
But don't take my word for it! Let Carissimi deliver that bitter message in his beautiful music.
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