Оратория «Иуда Маккавей», HWV 63 (1746)

Сочинение для смешанного хора, двух блокфлейт, двух поперечных флейт, двух гобоев, двух фаготов, двух валторн, трёх труб, литавр, трёх скрипок, альта, виолончели, контрабаса, органа и клавесина....Читать дальше

Сочинение для смешанного хора, двух блокфлейт, двух поперечных флейт, двух гобоев, двух фаготов, двух валторн, трёх труб, литавр, трёх скрипок, альта, виолончели, контрабаса, органа и клавесина.

Сюжет оратории составлен на основе истории об Иуде Маккавее (погиб в 161 до н.э.) - третьего сына Маттафии Хасмонея, принявшего, согласно предсмертной воле отца, руководство восстанием евреев против Антиоха Эпифана.
Сын ревностного о законе Моисеевом священника Маттафии, он с детства проникся той же ревностью, и после смерти отца вместе со своими братьями восстал против попытки Антиоха искоренить иудейство и на его место ввести греческий культ. Собрав около себя всех ревнителей Бога, он нанёс несколько жестоких поражений войску Антиоха и достиг на время заключения мира, которым и воспользовался для восстановления чистоты поклонения в храме.
Храм, который согласно иудейским представлениям, был осквернён языческим идолослужением, был очищен и освящён, в память чего установлен был особый праздник обновления Храма - Ханука. В возобновившейся войне Иуда Маккавей погиб, но дело его продолжалось другими его братьями - которых тоже стали называть Маккавеями.


АКТ I
Народ оплакивает смерть своего лидера Маттафии, но его сын Симон призывает всех восстать и взяться за оружие (Arm, arm, ye brave). Брат Симона Иуда принимает на себя роль лидера движения и вдохновляет народ на предстоящие военные победы и завоевание свободы.


АКТ II
Решительные действия евреев привели к первой победе, но Иуда обеспокоен непрочным положением дел, когда командир войска Селевкидов решается
отомстить за свои военные поражения, что приводит еврейский народ к глубокому унынию и упадку сил (Ah! wretched Israel!). Но Иуда снова настраивает людей на боевой дух (Sound an alarm) и призывает разрушить языческий храм и отражать языческое идолопоклонство.


АКТ III
Наконец-то победа одержана (See, the Conqu’ring Hero Comes!). Приходят новости из Рима о формировании и отправке римского войска для борьбы против империи Селевкидов. Народ ликует (O lovely peace).

Оригинальный вокальный текст

OUVERTURE
(Allegro. Lento. Allegro)

PRIMO
ATTO

CORO

Mourn, ye afflicted
children, the remains

Of captive Judah, mourn in solemn strains;

Your sanguine hopes of liberty give o'er;

Your hero, friend, and father is no more.

RECITATIVO
(Uomo e Donna israeliti)

Well, may your sorrows, brethren, flow

In all th'expressive sign of woe:

Your softer garnments tear,

And squalid sackcloth wear,

Your drooping heads with ashes strew,

And with the flowing tear your cheeks bedew.

Daughters, let your distressful cries

And loud lament ascend the skies;

Your tender bosoms beat, and tear,

With hands remorseless, your dishevell'd hair;

For pale and breathless Mattathias lies,

Sad emblem of his country's miseries!

DUETTO

From this dread scene, these adverse pow'rs,

Ah! whither shall we fly?

Oh Solyma! thy boasted tow'rs

In smoky ruins lie.

CORO

For Sion lamentation make,

With words that weep, and tears that speak.

RECITATIVO
(Uomo israelita)

Not vain is all this storm of grief;

To vent our sorrows, gives relief.

Wretched indeed! But let not Judah's race

Their ruin with responding arms embrace.

Distractful doubt and desperation

I'll become the chosen nation,

Chosen by the great I AM,

The Lord of Hosts, who, still the same,

We trust, will give attentive ear

To the sincerity of pray'r.

ARIA

Pious orgies, pious airs,

Decent sorrow, decent pray'rs,

Will to the Lord ascent, and move

His pity, and regain his love.

CORO

Oh Father, whose Almighty pow'r

The heav'ns, and earth, and seas adore;

The hearts of Judah, thy delight,

In one defensive band unite.

And grant a leader bold, and brave,

If not to conquer, born to save.

RECITATIVO
(Simone)

I feel, I feel the Deity within,

Who, the bright Cherubim between,

His radiant glory erst display'd;

To Israel's distressful pray'r

He hath wouchsaf'd a gracious ear,

And points out Maccabaeus to their aid:

Judas shall set the captive free,

And lead us all to victory.

ARIA

Arm, arm, ye brave! a noble cause,

The cause of Heav'n your zealdemands.

In defence of your nation, religion, and laws,

The Almighty Jehovah will strengthen your han

Arm, arm, ye brave! a noble cause,

The cause of Heav'n your zeal demands.

CORO
(Coro maschile)

We come, we come, in bright array,

Judah, thy sceptre to obey.

RECITATIVO
(Judas)

'Tis well, my friends; with transport I behold

The spirit of our fathers, fam'd of old

For their exploits in war. Oh, may their fire

With active courage you, their sons, inspire:

As when the mighty Joshua fought,

And those amazing wonders wrought,

Stood still, obedient to his voice, the sun,

Till kings he had destroy'd, and kingdoms won.

ARIA

Call forth thy pow'rs, my soul, and dare

The conflict of unequal war.

Great is the glory of the conquering sword,

That triumphs in sweet liberty restor'd.

Call forth thy pow'rs, my soul, and dare

The conflict of unequal war.

RECITATIVO

To Heav'n's Almightyking we kneel,

For blessings on this exemplary zeal.

Bless him, Jehovah, bless him, and once more

To thy own Israel liberty restore.

ARIA

Come, ever-smiling liberty,

And with thee bring thy jocund train,

For thee we pant, and sigh for thee,

With whom eternal pleasures reign.

Come, ever-smiling liberty,

And with thee bring thy jocund train.

RECITATIVO
(Uomo e Donna israeliti)

Oh Judas, may these noble views inspire

All Israel with thy true heroic fire!

ARIA

'Tis liberty, dear liberty alone,

That gives fresh beauty to the sun;

That bids all nature look more gay,

And lovely life with pleasure steel away.

DUETTO

Come, ever-smiling liberty,

And with thee bring thy jocund train,

For thee we pant, and sighn for thee,

With whom eternal pleasures reign.

CORO

Lead on, lead on! Judah disdains

The galling load of hostil chains.

RECITATIVO

So will'd my father, now at rest

In the eternal mansions of the blest:

"Can ye behold", said he "the miseries,

In which the long-insulted Judah lies?

Can ye behold their dire distress;

And not, at least, attempt redress?"

Then, faintly, with expiring breath,

"Resolve, my sons, on liberty, or death!"

We come! oh see, thy sons prepare

The rough habiliments of war;

With hearts intrepid, and revengeful hands,

To execute, oh sire, thy dread commands.

SEMI-CORO

Disdainful of danger, we'll rush on the foe,

That Thy pow'r, oh Jehovah, all nations may know.

RECITATIVO
(Judas)

Ambition! if e'er honour was thine aim,

Challenge it here:

The glorius cause gives sanction to thy claim.

ARIA

No unhallow'd desire

Our breasts shall inspire,

Nor lust of unbounded pow'r!

But peace to obtain:

Free peace let us gain,

And conquest shall ask no more.

RECITATIVO

Haste we, my brethren, haste we to the field,

Dependant on the Lord, our strangth and shield.

CORO

Hear us, oh Lord, on Thee we call,

Resolv'd on conquest, or a glorius fall.

ATTO
SECONDO

CORO

Fall'n is the foe; so fall Thy foes, oh Lord!

Where warlike Judas wields his righteous sword.

RECITATIVO
(Uomo e Donna israeliti)

Well may we hope our freedom te receive,

Such sweet transporting views thy actions give.

DUETTO
E CORO

Sion now her head shall raise,

Tune your harps to songs of praise.

RECITATIVO

Oh let eternal honours crown his name;

Jidas! first worthy in the rolls of Fame.

Say, "He put on the breast-plate as a giant,

And girt his warlike harness about him;

In his acts he was like a lion,

And a lion's whelp roaring for his prey."

DUETTO
E CORO

Hail, hail, Judea, happy land!

Salvation prospers in his hand.

RECITATIVO
(Judas)

Thanks to my brethren; but look up to heav'n;

To Heav'n let glory and all praise be giv'n;

To Heav'n give your applause,

Nor add the second cause,

As once your fathers did in Midian,

Saying, "The sword of God and Gideon."

It was the Lord that for this Israel fought,

And this our wonderful salvation wrought.

ARIA

How vain is man, who boasts in fight

The valour of gigantic might!

And dreams not that a hand unseen

Directs and guides this weak machine.

How vain... (da capo)

RECITATIVO
(Messaggero)

Oh Judas, oh my brethren!

New scenes of bloody war

In all their horrors rise.

Prepare, prepare,

Or soon we fall a sacrifice

To great Antiochus; from th'Egyptian coast,

(Where Ptolomy hath Memphis and Pelisium lost)

He sends the valiant Gorgias, and commands

His proud, victorius bands

To root out Israel's strength, and to erase

Ev'ry memorial of the sacred place.

ARIA
E CORO

Ah! wretched, wretched Israel! fall'n, how low,

From joyous transport to desponding woe.

RECITATIVO
(Judas)

My arms! - against this Gorgias will I go.

The Idumean governor shall know,

How vain, how ineffective his design,

While rage his leader, and Jehovah mine.

ARIA

Sound an alarm! your silver trumpets sound,

And cali the brave, and only brave, around.

Who listeth, follow: - to the field again!

Justice with courage is a thousand men.

Sound an alarm, your silver trumpets sound!

And cali the brave, and only brave, around.

CORO

We hear, we hear the pleasing dreadful call:

And follow thee to conquest: if to fall,

For laws, religion, liberty, we fall.

RECITATIVO
(Simone)

Enough! To Heav'n we leave the rest. -

Such gen'rous ardour firing ev'ry breast,

We may devide our cares; the field be thine,

Oh Judas, and your sanctuary mine;

For Sion, holy Sion, seat of God,

In ruinous heaps, is by the heathen trod;

Such profanation calls for swift redress,

If e'er in battle Israel hopes success.

ARIA

With pious hearts, and brave
as pious,

Oh Sion, we thy call attend,

Nor dread the nations that defy us,

God our defender, God our friend.

RECITATIVO
(Donna israelita)

Ye worshippers of God,

Down, down with the polluted altars, down;

Hurl Jupiter Olyinpius from his throne,

Nor reverence Bacchus with his ivy crown

And ivy-wreathed rod.

Our fathers never knew

Him, or his beastly crew,

Or, knowing, scorn'd such idol vanities.

No more in Sion let the virgin throng,

Wild with delusion, pay their nightly song

To Ashtoreth, yclep'd the Queen of Heav'n.

Hence to Phoenicia be the goddess driv'n,

Or be she, with her priests and pageants, hurl'd

To the remotest corner of the world,

Ne'er to delude us more with pious lies.

ARIA

Wise men, flatt'ring, may deceive us

With their vain, mysterious art;

Magic charms can ne'er relieve us,

Nor can heal the wounded heart.

But true wisdom can relieve us,

Godlike wisdom from above;

This alone can ne'er deceive us,

This alone all pains remove.

Wise men, flatt'ring... (da
capo)

DUETTO

Oh! never, never, bow we down

To the rude stock or sculptur'd stone:

But ever worship Israel's God,

Ever obedient to his awful nod.

CORO

We never, never will bow down

To the rude stock or sculptur'd stone.

We worship God, and God alone.

ATTO
TERZO

ARIA
(Uomo israelita)

Father of Heav'n! from Thy eternal throne,

Look with an eye of blessing down,

While we prepare with holy rites,

To soemnize the feast of lights.

And thus our grateful hearts employ,

And in Thy praise

This altar raise,

With carols of triumphant joy.

Father of Heav'n! ... (da
capo)

RECITATIVO

See, see yon flames, that from the altar broke,

In spiring streams pursue the trailing smoke.

The fragrant incense mounts the yielding air;

Sure preage that the Lord hath heard our pray'r.

RECITATIVO
(Messaggero)

From Capharsalama, on eagle wings I fly,

With tidings of impetuous joy:

Came Lysias, with his host, array'd

In coat of mail; their massy shielda

Of gold and brass, flash'd lightning o'er the fields

While the huge tow'r-back'd elephants display'd

A horrid front; - but Judas, undismay'd,

Met, fought, and vanquish'd all the rageful train.

Yet more, Nicanor lies with thousands slain;

The blasphemous Nicanor, who defied

The living God, and, in his wanton pride,

A public monument ordain'd

Of victories yet ungain'd. -

But Io! the conqueror comes; and on his spear,

To dissipate all fear,

He bears the vaunter's head and hand,

That threaten'd desolation to the land.

CORO
DI ADOLESCENTI

See, the conqu'ring hero comes!

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums.

Sports prepare, the laurel bring,

Songs of triumph to him sing.

CORO
DI VERGINI

See the godlike youth advance!

Breathe the flutes, and lead the dance;

Myrtle wreaths, and roses twine,

To deck the hero's brow divine.

CORO

See, the conqu'ring hero comes!

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums.

Sports prepare, the laurel bring,

Songs of triumph to him sing.

See, the conqu'ring hero comes!

Sound the trumpets, beat the drums.

MARCIA

CORO

Sing unto God, and high affections raise,

To crown this conquest with unmeasur'd praise.

RECITATIVO
(Judas)

Sweet flow the strains, that strike my feasted ear;

Angels might stoop from Heav'n, to hear

The comely song we sing,

To Israel's Lord and King.

But pause awhile: due obsequies prepare

To those who bravely fell in war.

To Eleazar special tribute pay;

Through slaughter'd troops he cut his way

To the distinguished elephant, and, whelm'd beneath

The stabbed monster, triumph'd in a glorious death.

ARIA

With honour let desert be crown'd,

The trumpet ne'er in vain shall sound;

But, all attentive to alarms,

The willing nations fly to arms,

And, conquering or conquer'd, claim the prize

Of happy earth, or far more happy skies.

RECITATIVO
(Eupolemo)

Peace to my countrymen; peace, and liberty.

From the great senate of imperial Rome,

With a firm league of amity, I come.

Rome, whate'er nation dare insult us more,

Will rouse, in our defence, her vet'ran pow'r,

And strech her vengefol arm, by land or sea

"To curb the proud, and set the injur'd free".

CORO

To our great God be all the honour giv'n,

That grateful hearts can send from earth to Heav'n.

RECITATIVO
(Donna israelita)

Again to earth let gatitude descend, -

Praiseworthy is our hero and our friend.

Come then, my daughters, choicest art bestow,

To weave a chaplet for the victor's brow;

And in your songs for ever be confess'd

The valour that preserv'd, the pow'r that bless'd,

Bless'd you with hoursm that scatter, as they fly,

Soft quiet, gentle love, and boundless joy.

DUETTO
(Uomo e Donna israeliti)

Oh lovely peace, with plenty crown'd,

Come, spread the blessing all around.

Let fleecy flocks the hills adorn,

And vallies smile with wavy corn.

Let the shrill trumpet cease, nor other sound

But nature's songsters wake the cheerful morn.

Oh lovely peace... (da
capo).

ARIA
E CORO

Rejoice, oh Judah! and, in songs divine,

With Cherubim and Seraphim harmonious join.

Hallelujah! Amen.

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