FULL LE ROI DAVID (Honegger) Prague 2019 Katerina Knezikova, Marketa Cukrova, Ondrej Koplik, Jaromir Meduna
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Le Roi David
- Composer: Honegger Arthur
- Libretto: Arthur Honegger based on a play by René Morax
- Venue & Opera Company: Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic
- Recorded: December 7, 2019
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Katerina Knezikova, Marketa Cukrova, Ondrej Koplik, Jaromir Meduna
- Conductor: Lukáš Vasilek
- Orchestra: Vlamsky symfonicki orkestr
- Chorus: Prague Philharmonic Choir
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Czech TV
- Date Published: 2019
- Format: Broadcast
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Le Roi David was composed in Mézières, Switzerland, in 1921 by Arthur Honegger, as incidental music for a play in French by René Morax. It was called a dramatic psalm, but has also been performed as oratorio, without staging. The plot, based on biblical narration, tells the story of King David, first a shepherd boy, his victories in battle, relationship to Saul, rise to power, adultery, mourning of his son’s death, and finally his own death. The work has 27 musical movements consisting of voice solos, choruses, and instrumental interludes. A narrator unifies the work by providing spoken narration of the story of King David.
Arthur Honegger was commissioned to write incidental music to accompany René Morax’s play Le Roi David in 1921. The commission outlined that the work was to be performed by 100 singers and seventeen instruments. Honegger struggled with these limited resources, and wrote to Igor Stravinsky for advice. Stravinsky advised him to think as if he had purposefully chosen that instrumentation, and compose as such. Honegger had a nearly impossible deadline of 2 months to complete the work. This short deadline made it necessary for him to write the movements of this 27 movement work out of order. First, he wrote the choral and solo voice parts to allow the music to be copied and rehearsed. Honegger wrote the orchestration for the entire work last. He completed his composition on May 20, 1921, and was rewarded with much acclaim at the premiere on June 11, 1921. In 1923 he combined Morax’s narrative with his music and created a “symphonic psalm”, the form that is familiar today, and titled his work Le Roi David.
Plot
Le Roi David is divided into three main parts and tells the biblical story of King David. In the first part, the Lord directs the prophet Samuel to choose Saul as the ruler of the people of Israel. However, when Saul does not follow the Lord’s instructions, Samuel is told to place David as ruler. The first part continues to tell the story of David’s battles against the Philistines as well as Saul’s growing jealousy of David. The second part covers David’s crowning and unification of Israel. The third and final part tells of David’s lust for Bathsheba and his punishment for adultery. In this final section of the piece, David flees Jerusalem, loses his power, manages to restore his position as king then offends God by censusing the people. An epidemic disease afflicts Jerusalem, and David appoints his son Solomon to succeed him and then dies. At the end of the piece an angel tells of Isaiah’s prophecy of a flower blooming from David’s stem.
Quoted from Wikipedia