''La Terre Promise'' is an

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

in three parts by

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

to a French

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

by the composer based on the French translation of the

Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Bible translations into Latin, Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Diocese of ...

Silvestre de Sacy Antoine Isaac, Baron Silvestre de Sacy (; 21 September 175821 February 1838), was a French nobleman, linguist and orientalist. His son, Ustazade Silvestre de Sacy, became a journalist. Life and works Early life Silvestre de Sacy was born in Pa ...

. It was first performed at L'église Saint-Eustache in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on March 15, 1900, with

Jean Noté Jean-Baptiste Noté (6 May 1858 in Tournai – 1 April 1922 in Brussels) was a Belgian operatic baritone. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in 1884 with first prizes in singing and lyrical declamation. He made his professional ...

, baritone, Lydia Nervil, soprano, and the orchestra and chorus totaling 400, directed by a former pupil of Massenet, Eugène d'Harcourt. The work was preceded at its first performance by the French premiere of '' Das Liebesmahl der Apostel'' (given as ''La dernière Cène des Apôtres''). The oratorio's three parts relate scenes from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. The first part (Moab - L'Alliance) depicts

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

' pact with God: that the

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

will obey His law if He allows them passage across the river

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

to the promised land. The second part (Jéricho - La Victoire) recounts the fall of

Jericho Jericho ( ; , ) is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, and the capital of the Jericho Governorate. Jericho is located in the Jordan Valley, with the Jordan River to the east and Jerusalem to the west. It had a population of 20,907 in 2017. F ...

, and in the third (Chanaan - La Terre Promise) the Jews reach

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

and sing a hymn of praise to God.Gillis, Patrick. La Terre Promise ~ Oratorio. ''L’Avant-Scène Opéra 148 – Esclarmonde ~ Grisélidis.'' L’Avant-Scène Opéra, Paris 1992, p.133-5. In a rare modern performance ''La Terre Promise'' was part of the 1992 Massenet Festival, (with

Laurent Naouri Laurent Naouri, Chevalier L.H. (born May 23, 1964) is a French bass-baritone. Initially beginning his education at the École Centrale de Lyon, Naouri decided to concentrate on opera in 1986 and continued his musical studies at the Guildhall Sc ...

among the cast).Laurent Bury
"Jean-Louis Pichon: 'Je pense avoir fait évoluer le regard des gens sur Massenet'"
Interview with Jean-Louis Pichon, 9 Nov 2011, on forumopera.com. Retrieved 10 August 2014.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Terre Promise Oratorios by Jules Massenet Cultural depictions of Moses 1900 oratorios