Advent Oratorio

Texts on the liturgy? And by when... Christmas (for which the end of Advent is at the door)... counting the rehearsals...

... perhaps you mean for 2014?

Let us know.

...must it strive toward the sacred or the profane?

the typical theme of Advent is the prefiguration of the coming of Christ. Therefore, all the Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah, here is a list

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2008/12/7?lang=ita

the prophet par excellence is John the Baptist, in this sense...

it would also be interesting to delve into the novenas, which are typical of Advent

The liber usualis is always a good source

www.pianoconcerto.it/forum/index.php?/topic/1961-liber-usualis

Naturally for 2014 (maybe) ... more likely for 2015

anyway ... in order to perform it in church, it is better if it at least leans towards the sacred ... perhaps for me I would do it in Latin, but in Italian it is much better.

To answer all of you :

I don't want a sequence of prayers one after another, so the liber usualis is not suitable, nor are the prayers from the liturgy,

instead I would like to draw from the texts (Thallo has already given a good tip) and put together a story based on the events that prepare for Christmas ... the novenas are already a good starting point.

Now I will look into it and then return with more details.

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In the meantime, I am asking you if you know (or if you can do it yourselves, perhaps) someone who can compose the verses.

My intention is to only indicate where to get the literary material and to leave full freedom to whoever writes the text/verses.

The structure would be that of a classic oratorio with choral/solo sung parts and preferably alternating recited parts.

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...and a beautiful nativity scene do you sing?

Marcello wrote:

...and a nice nativity scene song?

My intention is to avoid things that are already too overused like nativity scenes, shepherds etc., so I would exclude the nativity scene.

John Adams has written a very original Christmas oratorio, which focuses in the first part on Mary and angels and therefore could also be understood as an oratorio of the Advent and the birth: "El Niño". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o_(opera) I see that some texts are also cited in the link. For my taste, it would be very nice to find some absurd medieval texts, those strange theological treatises that dealt with the most absurd things, like whether Jesus had a navel or not. There will be some dissertation on the pains of Mary...

thallo wrote:

John Adams has written a very original Christmas oratorio, which focuses in the first part on Mary and angels and therefore could also be understood as an Advent and Nativity oratorio: "El Niño". http://en.wikipedia....El_Niño_(opera) I see that some texts are also cited in the link. For my taste, it would be very nice to find some absurd medieval texts, those strange theological treatises that dealt with the most absurd things, like whether Jesus had a navel or not. There will be some dissertation on the pains of Mary...

I have listened to some pieces ... a bit too advanced for my tastes musically, but the setting is just right.

I found some material, for example, on the novena of the Immaculate Conception and on the Christmas novenas sung during Advent ... we'll see ... what is certain is that I want to tell what happens before Christmas but which is not known or is not included in, let's say, "standard" celebrations.

Now I will see what I can find and then we will talk about it again.

In the meantime, any tips are welcome, and if there is someone who wants to try their hand (RISK IT!) at writing something like this, they are more than welcome.

rstrauss wrote:

if there is someone who wants to try their hand (RISK IT!) at writing something like this, they are more than welcome.

Personally, I wouldn't mind, but there are a couple of difficulties. The first is my availability of time; let's just say I could barely manage it for 2015... and the distance doesn't help, consider that I wrote a 7' fugue with Gozzo and we had to meet at least a couple of times, not to mention the downtime caused by subsequent offline discussions.

Regarding an oratorio (what duration?), I anticipate a significantly greater commitment... but it can be discussed, even via PM... so as not to bore the forum members...

Frank wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't mind, but there are a couple of difficulties. The first is my availability of time; let's just say I might barely manage to fit it in for 2015... and the distance doesn't help, consider that I wrote a 7' fugue with Gozzo and we had to meet at least a couple of times, not to mention the downtime caused by subsequent offline discussions.

On an oratorio (of what duration?) I anticipate a significantly greater commitment... but it can be discussed, even via PM... so as not to bore the forum members...

To tell the truth, I needed someone to write the lyrics ...

I have never considered a four-hands musical composition ... it could be a new experience ...