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Händel's Oratorio La Resurrezione Performed by Les Arts Florissants

Apr. 23, 2025

For their Easter season concerts on April 25 and April 30, leading Baroque ensemble, Les Arts Florissants, present a very special work to French audiences: George Frideric Händel's oratorio La Resurrezione. For these concerts in the Cathédrale de Luçon and in the Paris Philharmonie they are utilizing the Bärenreiter Edition by Terence Best.

La Resurrezione was composed during Händel's time in Rome and is about the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. It was first performed on Easter Sunday 1708 with great splendor and expense by a large orchestra under the direction of Arcangelo Corelli in the Palazzo Bonelli, the Roman palace of Handel's patron Marchese Francesco Maria Ruspoli. The premiere took place at a time when Pope Clement XI banned all opera performances and the participation of women in musical performances.

In its place came the oratorio. Händel had his very own approach to the genre, as La Resurrezione shows a striking proximity to Italian opera in its scenic structure and the characterization of the dramatis personae. The unusual musical richness of this work and the virtuosic and masterfully crafted arias are clearly audible. In addition, a woman sang the role of Mary Magdalene at the premiere, causing a scandal. Thus, subsequent performances were taken over by a castrato.

Despite its interesting genesis, the performance score was not thoroughly analyzed until the middle of the 20th century. The editions by Arnold around 1796 and Chrysander in 1878 merely reproduced the autograph version of the work. The Bärenreiter Edition by Terence Best fills this gap. The edition is part of the Hallische-Händel-Ausgabe and is the first complete critical edition of this spezial oratorio, one of the most outstanding compositions by the young Handel in Italy.


"Disserratevi, O porte d'Averno" from La Resurrezione/Le Concert d'Astrée/Camilla Tilling, soprano/Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor

To learn more about , visit baerenreiter.com.

Georg Friedrich Händel
La Resurrezione di nostro Signor Gesù Cristo HWV 47
Edited by Terence Best (Hallische Händel-Ausgabe I/3)
First performance using the new edition:
Wien, 12./13.3. 2011, Concentus Musicus Wien, conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Cast: Angelo (soprano), Maria Maddalena (soprano), Sante Maria Cleofe (Contralto), San Giovanni Evangelista (tenor), Lucifero (bass)
Choir: SATB
Orchestra: Fl dolce I, II; Fl traverso; Ob I, II, Fag – Tromba I, II – Trombone – Vl I, II, III, Va, Va da gamba, Bassi (vc, violone, cbb, arciliuto, tiorba, harpsichord)
Publisher: Bärenreiter, performance material on hire

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