El Niño (oratorio)
Encyclopedia
El Niño is an opera
-oratorio
by the American
composer John Adams. It was premiered on December 15, 2000 at Paris
's Théâtre du Châtelet
by the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, the London Voices
, the Theater of Voices, La Maîtrise de Paris and soloists Dawn Upshaw
, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
and Willard White
, with Kent Nagano
conducting. It has been performed on a number of occasions since, and has been broadcast on BBC
television.
Described by Adams as a "nativity
oratorio", the piece is designed to be performed equally well in both concert and stage settings, and uses texts from the King James Bible, Wakefield Mystery Plays
and poems by Mexican
poet
Rosario Castellanos
as well as Adams and librettist Peter Sellars
.
It retells the Christmas story, with the first half of focusing on Mary's thoughts before the birth and the second half on the aftermath of the birth in the stable in Bethlehem
, Herod
's slaughter of the Holy Innocents and the early life of Jesus
. The text follows the traditional biblical story of the birth of Jesus but also incorporates poetry from a wide range of sources. Included are poems by Rosario Castellanos
, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gabriela Mistral
, and Rubén Dario
. The work also includes selected passages from the Wakefield Mystery Play, Martin Luther
’s Christmas Sermon, the Gospel of Luke
, and several "gnostic" gospels from the Apocrypha
. John Adams also quotes Gabriela Mistral’s
"The Christmas Star" and a choral setting of "O quam preciosa" by Hildegard von Bingen.
, mezzo-soprano
and baritone
soloists, a trio of counter-tenors and forty-five piece orchestra
(which includes two guitar
s and a sampling keyboard), SATB
chorus, and children’s chorus. The work can be performed either as a fully staged production or as a concert oratorio. The fully staged production piece includes dance
and film
elements created by Peter Sellars
.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
-oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer John Adams. It was premiered on December 15, 2000 at Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
's Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
by the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra, the London Voices
London Voices
London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble led by Terry Edwards, who founded the ensemble in 1973...
, the Theater of Voices, La Maîtrise de Paris and soloists Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw is an American soprano described as "one of the most consequential performers of our time" by the Los Angeles Times. The recipient of several Grammy Awards and Edison Prize-winning discs, Upshaw is at home both in opera and art song, and in repertoire from Baroque to contemporary...
, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson was an American mezzo-soprano, known for the dramatic power of her vocal artistry as well as her commitment to performing infrequently-heard Baroque era and contemporary works...
and Willard White
Willard White
Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE is a Jamaican-born British bass-baritone.-Early life:He was born into a poor but supportive Jamaican family in Kingston. His father was a dockworker, his mother a housewife. White first began to learn music by listening to the radio and singing Nat King Cole...
, with Kent Nagano
Kent Nagano
__FORCETOC__Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. He is currently the music director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Bavarian State Opera.-Biography:...
conducting. It has been performed on a number of occasions since, and has been broadcast on BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television.
Described by Adams as a "nativity
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
oratorio", the piece is designed to be performed equally well in both concert and stage settings, and uses texts from the King James Bible, Wakefield Mystery Plays
Wakefield Mystery Plays
The Wakefield or Towneley Mystery Plays are a series of thirty-two mystery plays based on the Bible most likely performed around the Feast of Corpus Christi probably in the town of Wakefield, England during the late Middle Ages until 1576...
and poems by Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos was a Mexican poet and author. Along with the other members of the Generation of 1950 , she was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century...
as well as Adams and librettist Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
.
It retells the Christmas story, with the first half of focusing on Mary's thoughts before the birth and the second half on the aftermath of the birth in the stable in Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...
, Herod
Herod the Great
Herod , also known as Herod the Great , was a Roman client king of Judea. His epithet of "the Great" is widely disputed as he is described as "a madman who murdered his own family and a great many rabbis." He is also known for his colossal building projects in Jerusalem and elsewhere, including his...
's slaughter of the Holy Innocents and the early life of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. The text follows the traditional biblical story of the birth of Jesus but also incorporates poetry from a wide range of sources. Included are poems by Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos
Rosario Castellanos was a Mexican poet and author. Along with the other members of the Generation of 1950 , she was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century...
, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
, and Rubén Dario
Rubén Darío
Félix Rubén García Sarmiento , known as Rubén Darío, was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo that flourished at the end of the 19th century...
. The work also includes selected passages from the Wakefield Mystery Play, Martin Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
’s Christmas Sermon, the Gospel of Luke
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...
, and several "gnostic" gospels from the Apocrypha
Apocrypha
The term apocrypha is used with various meanings, including "hidden", "esoteric", "spurious", "of questionable authenticity", ancient Chinese "revealed texts and objects" and "Christian texts that are not canonical"....
. John Adams also quotes Gabriela Mistral’s
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
"The Christmas Star" and a choral setting of "O quam preciosa" by Hildegard von Bingen.
Performers
The work is scored for sopranoSoprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
, mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
and baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
soloists, a trio of counter-tenors and forty-five piece orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
(which includes two guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s and a sampling keyboard), SATB
SATB
In music, SATB is an initialism for soprano, alto, tenor, bass, defining the voices required by a chorus or choir to perform a particular musical work...
chorus, and children’s chorus. The work can be performed either as a fully staged production or as a concert oratorio. The fully staged production piece includes dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
elements created by Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
.
Musical sections
El Niño is composed of two sections and is approximately two hours long and is subdivided further into thirteen sections as follows:Part 1
- I Sing Of A Maiden
- Hail, Mary, Gracious!
- La Anunciación
- For With God No Thing Shall Be Impossible
- The Babe Leaped In Her Womb
- Magnificat
- Now She Was Sixteen Years Old
- Joseph's Dream
- Shake The Heavens
- Se Habla De Gabriel
- The Christmas Star
Part 2
- Pues Mi Dios Ha Nacido A Penar
- When Herod Heard
- Woe Unto Them That Call Evil Good
- And The Star Went Before Them
- The Three Kings
- And When They Were Departed
- Dawn Air
- And He Slew All The Children
- Memorial De Tlatelolco
- In The Day Of The great Slaughter
- Pues Está Tritando
- Jesus And The Dragons
- A Palm Tree
Recordings
- DVD video: Sellars' Paris production of El Niño.
- 2-CD recording: original cast from the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, issued by Nonesuch (79634-2)
External links
- Death and the maiden: John Adams’s El Niño restages the Nativity, Josh Kun, The Phoenix, 15 - 22 November 2001.
- http://www.earbox.com/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/mw63