Antonio Vivaldi's only surviving oratorio, Juditha triumphans, has received several good recordings. For sheer crowd-pleasing music it is the equal of the commonly performed Handelian masterpieces, and its biblical story of the Jewish widow Judith, who seduces and then decapitates the Assyrian general Holofernes, would seem to conform to a general cultural trend toward the depiction of strong female personalities. For various reasons it has never quite become a standard. It is missing an opening instrumental movement (an ...
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Antonio Vivaldi's only surviving oratorio, Juditha triumphans, has received several good recordings. For sheer crowd-pleasing music it is the equal of the commonly performed Handelian masterpieces, and its biblical story of the Jewish widow Judith, who seduces and then decapitates the Assyrian general Holofernes, would seem to conform to a general cultural trend toward the depiction of strong female personalities. For various reasons it has never quite become a standard. It is missing an opening instrumental movement (an independent Sinfonia, RV 562, is used here). The Latin-language libretto is awkwardly half-recast into a setting involving the Venetian Republic's contemporary struggle with the Turkish empire. And the work, written for Vivaldi's teenage choristers at the Ospedale della Pietà, is scored for an all-female ensemble -- choir and soloists -- which limits its appeal for the community groups that keep the Handelian tradition going. None of this matters when the listener hits the highlights...
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![Vivaldi: Juditha triumphans [Highlights] - Anke Hermann (vocals); Anke Herrmann (vocals); Magdalena Ko?ená (vocals); Maria José Trullu (vocals);...](https://www1.alibris-static.com/vivaldi-juditha-triumphans-highlights/cover/m67548b5prg_l.jpg)
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