Performer: Gerard Lesne, Il Seminario Musicale, Jaël Azzaretti, Jean-François Novelli, Marie Louise Duthoit
Conductor: Gerard Lesne
Composer: Marc-Antoine Charpentier
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (image+cue)
Label: Astree
Size: 359 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. H 403, Rumor bellicus “Cum essent congregata”
02. H 403, “O mulier, suscita mihi in pythone”
03. H 403, 1ère symphonie de l’enchantement (Aether umbrosus nigro velamine)
04. H 403, 2nde symphonie de l’enchantement (Ecquid ad surdos nunc spargo..)
05. H 403, “Cumque Samuel volente Deo apparuisset”
06. H 403, “Surge Saül et responde mihi ! ”
07. H 403, “Quid Igitur interrogas me”
08. H 403, “Cecidit repente Saül porrectus in terram”
09. H 403, “Tolle, quaeso”
10. H 403, “Cumque miles invitus praecibus regis…
11. H 403, “Quisnam es tu ?”
12. H 403, “O sors ! sors infelix et acerb”
13. H 403, “Sed tu, unde scis”
14. H 403, “Doleo super te”
15. H 403, “David autem”
16. H 403, “Montes Gelboe nec pluvia nec ros”
17. H 402, “Cum centum esset annorum Abraham”
18. H 402, “Risum fecit mihi Deus”
19. H 402, “Et octavo die circumcidit filium suum”
20. H 402, “Abraham, Abraham”
21. H 402, “Expectate hic, ô juvenes”
22. H 402, “Pater mi, Pater mi !”
23. H 402, “Et pergentes pariter”
24. H 402, “Abraham, Abraham ! ”
25. H 402, “Levavit Abraham oculos suos”
26. H 402, “Et reversus Abraham ad pueros suos”
27. H 406, “Xenia pastores Christo portanda parastis”
28. H 406, “Sed prius narrate mihi ”
29. H 406, “Linquite oves intactas et puras”
30. H 406, “Eamus properemus festinemus”
31. H 406, “Et intrantes domum”
Something Rich and Strange
Before you listen to Charpentier’s operatic oratorio “Mors Saülis et Jonathae”, I recommend reviewing the story of King Saul, beginning with Samuel I:15 in the Jewish/Christian Bible. It’s one of the morally most detestable tales in scripture. Saul is identified as G_d’s favorite, installed as KIng of Israel, and issued the commandment to make war on the Philistine city of Amalek, to level the city and kill all its inhabitants, and to destroy all their goods and cattle. Saul does sack the city. He does slay all the Amalekites, women and children included. But he doesn’t destroy all the cattle; instead he saves the finest sheep and cows, and herds them to the Prophet Samuel, with the idea of making them a ‘holocaust’, a burnt offering. Samuel rebukes him for not obeying the Lord’s commandment to the letter. Later, when Samuel is dead and Saul is at war with David as well as the Philistines, Saul finds that nothing he does succeeds. He turns to magic, to a witch who has a ‘python’ – a ‘familiar spirit’ in the King James translation. The witch is able to raise Samuel from the Underworld. Samuel tells Saul that he has forever lost G_d’s favor because of his disobedience regarding Amalek. Saul also learns that his son Jonathan has been slain. Saul calls upon a soldier to kill him so that he will not be humiliated by capture. After resisting this order, the soldier does kill the king. He then rushes to tell David that Saul is dead. David declares that, since the soldier dared to raise his sword against royalty of any sort, his life is forfeit.