César Franck completed his largest choral work, the oratorio Les Béatitudes in 1879, but it wasn't publicly performed until 1891, after his death. The piece generated an unusually wide spectrum of responses, ranging from favorable comparisons with the choral masterpieces of Bach and Beethoven to dismissive contempt. It has never established itself in the choral repertoire, perhaps because of its length and the huge performing forces required, but perhaps also because its level of musical inspiration isn't high enough to ...
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César Franck completed his largest choral work, the oratorio Les Béatitudes in 1879, but it wasn't publicly performed until 1891, after his death. The piece generated an unusually wide spectrum of responses, ranging from favorable comparisons with the choral masterpieces of Bach and Beethoven to dismissive contempt. It has never established itself in the choral repertoire, perhaps because of its length and the huge performing forces required, but perhaps also because its level of musical inspiration isn't high enough to make its overheatedly fervent and mediocre text palatable to broad audiences. The music has a relentless Wagnerian intensity and earnest weightiness that are too rarely leavened by moments of textural and emotional transparency. Those moments, such as the closing to the Third Beatitude, are all the more lovely for the contrast they provide. The libretto, by an amateur poet, stretches the 10 verses of Matthew's gospel out to operatic length and complicates the meaning with the addition...
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Add this copy of Les Béatitudes to cart. $34.80, new condition, Sold by newtownvideo rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from huntingdon valley, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Haenssler Classics.
