Israël en Égypte

Israël en Égypte Georg Friedrich Haendel A voyage along the banks of the Nile and into the Holy Land, through the pen of Handel.

Israël en Égypte

Georg Friedrich Haendel

A voyage along the banks of the Nile and into the Holy Land, through the pen of Handel.

Cast

Thaïs Raï-Westphal | soprano I

Melissa Petit | soprano II

Avery Amereau | alto

Rupert Charlesworth | tenor

Andreas Wolf | bass I

Matthieu Walendzik | bass II

Orchestra and Chorus Le Concert Spirituel

Hervé Niquet | conductor

In a few words

Israel in Egypt occupies a somewhat particular place in Handel's output and is certainly one of his most daring oratorios where the choruses are concerned. Written entirely to sacred texts, as his Messiah would be two years later, it was nonetheless intended to be staged in theatres. The work illustrates in turn the ten plagues of Egypt and the return of Israel to the Promised Land. Unlike a Bach Passion or a Mozart opera, Handel uses recitative here only very rarely, and gives the choruses the bulk of the narrative discourse.

Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées