CCIII. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus: Betulia liberata

CCIII. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)

Betulia Liberata (1771)
[performers unknown]
(2:25:48)

Unidentified performers. Copyright issue?

Whatever, this is a stunning piece of music written by a 15-year-old kid.

Mozart's only oratorio, on a text by Pietro Metastasio -- previously set by such well-known composers (lol) as Georg Reutter the younger (1734); Niccolò Jommelli (1734); Ignaz Holzbauer (1752), Florian Leopold Gassmann (1772) and Joseph Schuster (1787).

From the Book of Judith, a Hebrew widow who snuck into the Assyrian camp and beheaded Holofernes.

So far, so good. Let's just look at the first verse of Judith:

"In the twelfth year of the reign of Nabuchodonosar, who reigned in Nineve, the great city; in the days of Arphaxad, which reigned over the Medes in Ecbatane."

Who wouldn't want to write a two-and-a-half hour oratorio on the subject? [the video provides a calming pictorial to accompany the music!]

**

Time: Reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians.
Place: Israelite city of Bethulia.
Dramatis personae:

• GIUDITTA (Judith), a widow from Bethulia (ALTO)
• AMITAL, a noble Israelite woman from Bethulia (SOPRANO)
• OZIA (Ozias), governer of Bethulia (TENOR)
• ACHIOR, prince of the Ammonites (BASS)
• CABRI (Chabris), an elder of Bethulia (SOPRANO)
• CARMI (Charmis), an elder of Bethulia (SOPRANO)
  
• The people of Bethulia (CHORUS)

Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Assyrians at Nineveh, conducted an aggressive campaign, attacking neighbouring peoples in an attempt to gain control over the widest possible area. He therefore sent Holofernes, captain of his host, to attack the city of Bethulia, home of the Israelites. Holofernes surrounded the city and captured the fountain which supplied it with water. Deprived of their source of water, the people of Bethulia began to die of thirst and lose their resolve to continue the struggle.

The overture shows Mozart handling simple I-IV-V progressions -- but with finesse in the orchestration and clarity of thought.

Aria #1 (OZIA) [6:16] -- He addresses the citizens to expatiate on the value of faith, hope, and love.

Aria #2 (CABRI) [15:14] -- His spirit vacillates as he doubts that anything but doom awaits the city.

Aria #3 (AMITAL) [23:37] -- She goes to OZIA to persuade him to surrender to the foe and hand over the city and its people; at least survival will be possible if the gates are opened.

Aria #4 (OZIA/CHORUS) [31:26] -- He expresses his dismay that he will soon have to hand the city over to its foes.

Recitative (GIUDITTA) [37:43] -- Check out how WAM accompanies this introductory recitative with decorative flourishes in the strings!

Aria #5 (GIUDITTA) [40:20] -- She berates the people for their cowardice and proposes her own plan to deal with the city's plight. She begs the people meanwhile to await divine assistance.

Aria #6 (ACHIOR) [58:44] -- He describes Holofernes's awful cruelty.

Aria #7 (GIUDITTA) [1:06:30] -- No longer clad in widow's weeds, but in magnificent finery and strongly perfumed, she says valiantly that she is going to leave the city unarmed.

Chorus #8 [1:14:04]

Aria #9 (OZIA) [1:23:22] -- The unwavering quality of his faith.

Aria #10 (AMITAL) [1:34:16] -- With a sharp tongue, she likens the desperate Bethulia to a ship at the mercy of a storm and the governor of the city to the ship's captain. [WAM's music at this stage is at its most descriptive anywhere in the work; the ferocity of a shipwreck is portrayed musically in a highly skilled manner.]

Aria #11 (GIUDITTA) [1:50:23] -- Judith returns accompanied by the excited voices of the people. She gives a detailed description of how she managed to slay Holofernes. She had entered the enemy camp and used her beauty to get Holofernes to relax his guard. He had fallen asleep in an intoxicated stupor, whereupon Judith decapitated him. She accepts the heathen ACHIOR into the Bethulian camp.

Aria #12 (ACHIOR) [2:00:17] -- He is overwhelmed by Judith's spiritual fortitude and declares his conversion to the God of Abraham.

Aria #13 (AMITAL) [2:04:54] -- She is ashamed of her previous exhibition of cowardice.

Aria #14 (CARMI) [2:14:27] -- He announces that with loud moaning and wailing the forces of Holofernes have withdrawn and the enemy is no more.

#15 (GIUDITTA/CHORUS) [2:18:00] -- Bethulia has been saved. The people extol Judith, who replies by saying that God has been the true saviour and it is God alone to whom praises should be offered. The Bethulians thus direct their praises to the Almighty.