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Benjamin Britten's The Burning Fiery Furnace Presented at The Church of the Transfiguration

Feb. 25, 2014

Benjamin Britten's <em>The Burning Fiery Furnace</em> Presented at The Church of the Transfiguration

On March 28, The Church of the Transfiguration in New York City presents a fully staged production of Benjamin Britten’s rarely performed parable, The Burning Fiery Furnace. The performance, directed by Claudia Dumschat with stage direction by Richard Olsen, represents the second part in the organization’s presentation of Britten’s church parables of which the first, Curlew River, was presented last season.

Premiered at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1966, The Burning Fiery Furnace is composed for a small ensemble of eight players with five soloists and chorus. The work is remarkable for its economy of means and instrumentation used to portray the story from the Book of Daniel with rich and penetrating music. Tony Palmer notes in his documentary about the historic 1967 Decca recording:

The opera is conceived in terms of a medieval ritual. In a public performance…a group of monks process into the church and sing a plainsong chant... [The monks] enact the story of Nebuchadnezzar and his encounter with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego: how the three Israelites are cast into a burning fiery furnace from which they are delivered by an angel and how Nebuchadnezzar is converted by this miracle away from his worship of his god of gold, Merodach. The monks then change back, and after a final blessing from the Abbot, process out of the church.

For more information on Benjamin Britten, please visit www.fabermusic.com.

Details on the performance can be found at www.littlechurch.org.

Benjamin Britten
The Burning Fiery Furnace (1966)
second parable for church performance
text (En, Fr, Gr) by William Plomer from the Book of Daniel
for two tenors, two baritones, bass, chorus and chamber ensemble
fl(pic)-hn.atbn-perc-hp(little harp)-chamber organ(small cymbals)-va.db (babylonian drum)
64’

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