Scarlatti : Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo or La Colpa, il Pentimento, la Grazia The Oratorio per la Passione, also known as La Colpa, il Pentimento, la…

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)

Oratorio per la Passione di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo or La Colpa, il Pentimento, la Grazia

The Oratorio per la Passione, also known as La Colpa, il Pentimento, la Grazia, is one of the little-known gems created at the court of Cardinal Ottoboni, who signed the libretto, for Holy Week 1708 in Rome. It represents the peak of the expressiveness of the elder Scarlatti, yet its posterity was eclipsed by Handel's young La Resurrezione, an oratorio premiered a few days apart in the same Roman palace. For this rediscovery, Hemiolia has joined forces with the Neapolitan theatre company Teatri 35. Accompanied by the orchestra, three sung allegorical figures, Guilt, Grace and Repentance, cast as the three women who witness Christ's resurrection, respond to three actors who form tableaux vivants in chiaroscuro after the paintings of Caravaggio. The extreme passions that Scarlatti paints in music find their full tragic meaning in this production, illustrated by the raw images of the master of Italian Baroque.