FULL HANNAH (Lehrman) New York 2014

Information on the Performance

• Work Title: Hannah  
• Composer: Lehrman Leonard  
• Libretto: Leonard Lehrman, Orel Odinov based on Midrashic Chanukah legends  
• Venue & Opera Company: Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York City  
• Recorded: December 23, 2014
• Type: Concert Live
• Singers: Cantor Erik Contzius, Cantor Raphael Frieder, Cantor Fredda Mendelson, Cantor Janet Leuchter, Cantor Moshe Bear, Jonathan Kline, Helene Williams, Cantor Meredith Greenberg, Cantor David Katz, Cantor Galit Dadoun Cohen
• Conductor:   
• Orchestra: Pedro D'Aquino, ORGAN, Lehrman Leonard, PIANO  
• Chorus: The Metropolitan Philharmonic Chorus:  
• Stage Director: Barbara D'Andrea  
• Costume Designer:   
• Lighting Designer: Nic Christopher  

Information about the Recording

• Published by: Leonard J. Lehrman  
• Date Published: 2014  
• Format: Unknown
• Quality Video: 3 Audio:3
• Subtitles: yessubs, ensubs  

• ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE

  INFO

  Hannah, the daughter of the high priest, Mattathias,
  is told she will have to spend her wedding night with
  the local overlord, Nikanor, as per the local custom.
  In protest against this, at her wedding ceremony,
  she tears off all her clothes. This shames her father
  and her brothers into taking action
  against the oppressive regime.
  Nikanor is killed, but so is Hannah’s beloved Eleazar.
  In the final scene, Hannah prophesies that
  her youngest brother Simon will be the sole survivor
  of the Civil War she has unintentionally ignited.
  He promises to remember her,
  “by lighting the earth with candles.”

  In the opening Prologue, Dinah
  (Eleazar’s sister and Hannah’s cousin)
  is raped by soliders in the synagogue.

  Rather than prosecute them,
  Mattathias puts Dinah on trial
  for allegedly provoking them.
  Hannah tries to console her.

  In a love duet, Eleazar persuades Hannah
  to elope with him.

  Mattathias (with his wife Zipporah)
  catches them in the act,
  and decrees they must marry the next day.

  At the wedding, as Judah (behind her, to her left)
  and others look on, Hannah wears a purple shawl
  that comes rippling down her as she disrobes.

  Eleazar stops the men from killing her,
  and her speech persuades them
  that they must protest to Nikanor
  against the law of the first night.
  But Nikanor makes fun of them,
  quoting erotic Greek poetry,
  insisting that Mattathias bow down
  to a statue of Zeus.

  Mattathias’s refusal results in a battle
  in which Nikanor is killed by Judah,
  but Eleazar is stabbed and dies in Hannah’s arms.

  Hannah’s prophecy is taken to heart by Simon.

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