Artist Choir of the Church of Saint Luke in the Fields on February 21, 2006 at 08:32:42:
Thursday, March 16 at 8 p.m.
Pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m.
The Birth of the Oratorio
St. Luke’s Choir with period instruments
at the Church of Saint Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014
212-414-9419
$30/$20 students and seniors
Seventeenth-century Italy witnessed the birth of a new dramatic music genre, the oratorio. Giacomo Carissimi was the most significant composer of oratorios at the time, and the influence of his works rapidly spread throughout Europe. A student of Carissimi, Marc-Antoine Charpentier brought the sacred music drama to Paris. The concert will include Carissimi’s best-known oratorio, Jepthe, along with two of his most arresting works, Balthazar and Jonas. Charpentier’s Filius prodigus (‘The Prodigal Son’) will complete the program.