FULL Das Paradies und die Peri (Schumann) Utrecht 2023 Siobhan Stagg, Lauren Urquhart, Sophie Rennert, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Rafael Fingerlos
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Das Paradies und die Peri
- Composer: Schumann Robert
- Libretto: based on a German translation (by Schumann and his friend Emil Flechsig) of a tale from Lalla-Rookh by Thomas Moore
- Venue & Opera Company: TivoliVredenburg Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Recorded: June 9, 2023
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Siobhan Stagg, Lauren Urquhart, Sophie Rennert, Sebastian Kohlhepp, Kieran Carrel, Rafael Fingerlos, Ludovic Provost
- Conductor: Harmut Haenchen
- Orchestra: Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor
- Chorus: Netherlands Radio Choir
- Chorus Master: Michael Alber
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: NPO Radio 4
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: yessubs, othersubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Paradise and the Peri, in German Das Paradies und die Peri, is a secular oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra by Robert Schumann. Completed in 1843, the work was published as Schumann’s Op. 50.
The work is based on a German translation (by Schumann and his friend Emil Flechsig) of a tale from Lalla-Rookh by Irish poet and lyricist Thomas Moore. The peri, a creature from Persian mythology, is the focus of the story, having been expelled from Paradise and trying to regain entrance by giving the gift that is most dear to heaven. Eventually the peri is admitted after bringing a tear from the cheek of a repentant old sinner who has seen a child praying.
Peter Ostwald in his biography Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius records that Schumann “confided to a friend that ‘while writing Paradise and the Peri a voice occasionally whispered to me “what you are doing is not done completely in vain,”‘” and that even Richard Wagner praised this work. The cantata is generally held to be a significant achievement by Schumann, and it perhaps appeals less than it might otherwise to modern audiences due to the flowery, Eastern-inspired verbiage of the libretto, which represents a vogue for orientalism that was in full swing in the 19th century but has receded considerably today. This oratorio premiered under the composer’s baton on 4 December 1843 in Leipzig. It was well received, and performances in Dresden and Berlin followed.
The first English performance took place under difficult conditions at the Hanover Square Rooms in London at the invitation of the Philharmonic Society conducted by William Sterndale Bennett with Jenny Lind taking the leading soprano part.
Quoted from Wikipedia