''La '' (''The Liberation of

Bethulia Bethulia (, ''Baituloua''; Hebrew: בתוליה) is a biblical "city whose deliverance by Judith, when besieged by Holofernes, forms the subject of the Book of Judith." Etymology The name "Bethulia" in Hebrew can be associated, in an allegori ...

'') is a libretto by Pietro Metastasio which was originally commissioned by

Emperor Charles VI , house = Habsburg , spouse = , issue = , issue-link = #Children , issue-pipe = , father = Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor , mother = Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg , birth_date ...

and set to music by

Georg Reutter the Younger Johann Adam Joseph Karl Georg Reutter, during his life known as Georg Reutter the Younger (6 April 1708 – 11 March 1772) was an Austrian composer. Karl Geiringer, ''Haydn: A Creative Life in Music'', 1982, p. 19: "There were two Viennese comp ...

in 1734. It was subsequently set by as many as 30 composers, including

Niccolò Jommelli Niccolò Jommelli (; 10 September 1714 – 25 August 1774) was an Italian composer of the Neapolitan School. Along with other composers mainly in the Holy Roman Empire and France, he was responsible for certain operatic reforms including re ...

(1743),

Ignaz Holzbauer Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer (18 September 1711 – 7 April 1783) was an Austrian composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the '' Sturm und Drang'' "mo ...

(1752), Florian Leopold Gassmann (1772), Joseph Schuster (1787), and most famously

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

(1771).

Mozart's setting

The work of Mozart is the best known, if only because the composer's output receives more examination. Composed in March to July 1771 when Mozart was 15 years old, K. 118 (74c) is a 140-minute on a text by Metastasio tracing the story of Judith beheading Holofernes from the biblical ''

Book of Judith The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells ...

''. It was commissioned in March 1771 by Giuseppe Ximenes, Prince of

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to so ...

, while Mozart and his father Leopold were on the way home to Salzburg from their first

journey to Italy ''Journey to Italy'', also known as ''Voyage to Italy'', is a 1954 drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini. Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders play Katherine and Alex Joyce, a childless English married couple on a trip to Italy whose marriag ...

. It is the only

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

Mozart ever wrote. Its two parts comprise sixteen

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

s, with

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ' ...

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which s ...

parts, scored for soloists, choir and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. Not performed in Mozart's lifetime, ''La Betulia liberata'' is shaped stylistically to works by

Leonardo Leo Leonardo Leo (5 August 1694 – 31 October 1744), more correctly Leonardo Ortensio Salvatore de Leo, was a Baroque composer. Biography Leo was born in San Vito degli Schiavoni (currently known as San Vito dei Normanni, province of Brindisi) ...

and

Johann Adolph Hasse Johann Adolph Hasse (baptised 25 March 1699 – 16 December 1783) was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a co ...

. Recent high-profile performances of Mozart's setting include one in the 2006

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

conducted by Christoph Poppen, as part of the M22 series, masterminded by Bernhard Fleischer to perform all Mozart's operas (and the only oratorio) in 2006 Salzburg Festival. The performance was recorded and subsequently released as DVD. (See Recordings section below.) In 2010 both the Mozart and the Jommelli settings were performed side by side at the Salzburg Whitsun and

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

festivals under the leadership of Riccardo Muti.

Roles

* Ozia, prince of Bethulia (

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

) * Giuditta, widow of

Manasses Manasses or Manasseh (;churchofjesuschris ...

( alto) * Amital, noblewoman of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

( soprano) * Achior, prince of the

Ammon Ammon ( Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; he, עַמּוֹן ''ʻAmmōn''; ar, عمّون, ʻAmmūn) was an ancient Semitic-speaking nation occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Arnon and Jabbok, in ...

ites (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

) * Cabri and Carmi, chiefs of the people (sopranos) * Bethulians (chorus)

Structure

First part # Overtura # Recitative: ''Popoli di Betulia'' (Ozia) # Aria #1: ''D'ogni colpa la colpa maggiore'' (Ozia) # Recitative: ''E in che sperar?'' (Cabri, Amital) # Aria #2: ''Ma qual virtù non cede'' (Cabri) # Recitative: ''Già le memorie antiche'' (Ozia, Cabri, Amital) # Aria #3: ''Non hai cor'' (Amital) # Recitative: ''E qual pace sperate'' (Ozia, Amital, chorus) # Aria with chorus #4: ''Pietà, se irato sei'' (Ozia, chorus) # Recitative: ''Chi è costei che qual sorgente aurora'' (Cabri, Amital, Ozia, Giuditta) # Aria #5: ''Del pari infeconda'' (Giuditta) # Recitative: ''Oh saggia, oh santa'' (Ozia, Cabri, Giuditta) # Aria with chorus #6: ''Pietà, se irato sei'' (Ozia, chorus) # Recitative: ''Signor, Carmi a te viene'' (Cabri, Amital, Carmi, Ozia, Achior) # Aria #7: ''Terribile d'aspetto'' (Achior) # Recitative: ''Ti consola, Achior'' (Ozia, Cabri, Achior, Giuditta) # Aria #8: ''Parto inerme, e non pavento'' (Giuditta) # Chorus #9: ''Oh prodigio! Oh stupor!'' (Chorus) Second part # Recitative: ''Troppo mal corrisponde'' (Achior, Ozia) # Aria #10: ''Se Dio veder tu vuoi'' (Ozia) # Recitative: ''Confuso io son'' (Achior, Ozia, Amital) # Aria #11: ''Quel nocchier che in gran procella'' (Amital) # Recitative: ''Lungamente non dura'' (Ozia, Amital, chorus, Cabri, Giuditta, Achior) # Aria #12: ''Prigionier che fa ritorno'' (Giuditta) # Recitative: ''Giuditta, Ozia, popoli, amici'' (Achior) # Aria #13: ''Te solo adoro'' (Achior) # Recitative: ''Di tua vittoria'' (Ozia, Amital) # Aria #14: ''Con troppa rea viltà'' (Amital) # Recitative: ''Quanta cura hai di noi'' (Cabri, Carmi, Ozia, Amital) # Aria #15: ''Quei moti che senti'' (Carmi) # Recitative: ''Seguansi, o Carmi'' (Ozia, Amital, Cabri, Achior, Giuditta) # Aria with chorus #16: ''Lodi al gran Dio'' (Giuditta, chorus)

Recordings

(Conductor, label, catalogue number, year) * Leopold Hager,

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, 422522-2 * Carlo Felice Cillario, A. Charlin, AMS 2627/8-2 * Mario Rossi, Opera d'Oro * Peter Maag,

Brilliant Classics Brilliant Classics is a classical music label based in the Dutch town of Leeuwarden. It is renowned for releasing super-budget-priced editions on CD of the complete works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and many other composers. The label also ...

, 99944 (also in earlier ''Complete Works'' box, 92540) *Riccardo Favero, Brilliant Classics, 94496 (also in updated ''Complete Works'' box, 94051) * Christoph Poppen,

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family o ...

, DVD 4400734248 *

Michi Gaigg Michi Gaigg (born in Schörfling am Attersee, 1957) is an Austrian violinist and conductor. She is founder and conductor of the Baroque music, Baroque orchestras L'arpa festante and L'Orfeo.Goldberg: early music magazine: Issues 53-54 2008 "So alt ...

, Challenge Records,

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple ...

CC72590, 2013 *

Christophe Rousset Christophe Rousset (; born 12 April 1961) is a French harpsichordist and conductor, who specializes in the performance of Baroque music on period instruments. He is also a musicologist, particularly of opera and European music of the 17th and 1 ...

, Aparté, AP235, 2020

Settings by other composers

Antonio Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monar ...

in 1820 revised Florian Leopold Gassmann's ''La Betulia liberata'' by shortening some recitatives and arias, and adding additional choirs taken from Gassmann's other compositions. As a student of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

set "Te solo adoro", Anchior's aria from the second part, as a composition exercise for four voices in November 1812. The exercise was first published in 1940, and, catalogued as D. 34, again in the ''

New Schubert Edition Franz Schubert (1797–1828): New Edition of the Complete Works (), commonly known as the New Schubert Edition (NSE), or, in german: Neue Schubert-Ausgabe (NSA), is a complete edition of Franz Schubert's works, which started in 1956 and is sche ...

'' in 1986. Alfred Mann (ed.) ''

''
Series VIII: SupplementVolume 2: ''Schuberts Studien''
Bärenreiter, 1986. No. 39

References

External links

* * *

, with corrections by

Autograph of "Te solo Adoro" for SATB (D 34)
a

by Austrian Academy of Sciences (OAW) Compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1771 compositions Classical church music Libretti by Metastasio 1734 operas 1771 operas Oratorios based on the Bible {{Interwiki extra, qid=Q1798628