Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Honegger) Buenos Aires 2023 Annie Dutoit, Axel Blind, Dominic Rouville
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher
- Composer: Honegger Arthur
- Libretto: Paul Claudel
- Venue & Opera Company: Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Recorded: August 12, 2023
- Type: Concert Live
- Singers: Annie Dutoit, Axel Blind, Dominic Rouville
- Conductor: Charles Dutoit
- Orchestra: Ensemble Orchestra of Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires
- Stage Director:
- Costume Designer:
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Teatro Colon
- Date Published: 2023
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- This Recording is NOT AVAILABLE from a proper commercial or public source
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake) is an oratorio by Arthur Honegger, originally commissioned by Ida Rubinstein. It was set to a libretto by Paul Claudel, and the work runs about 80 minutes.
It premiered on 12 May 1938 in Basel, with Rubinstein as Jeanne, and Jean Périer in the speaking role of Brother Dominique, with the Basel Boys Choir singing the children’s chorus part, and Paul Sacher conducting.
The drama takes place during Joan of Arc’s last minutes on the stake, with flashbacks to her trial and her younger days. Honegger entitled his work a dramatic oratorio, adding speaking roles and actors. The work has an important part for the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument (played at the premiere by its inventor Maurice Martenot).
Claudel’s dramatic frame provided Honegger with a space – between heaven and earth, past and present – where he could mix styles from the popular to the sublime. A hybrid work: partly oratorio and partly opera, Honegger uses all his musical means, monody, harmony and counterpoint to build towards sculpted blocks of sound