Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era

Isacco figura del redentore is perhaps the best work of the Bohemian composer Josef Myslivecek (1737–81). Although recognized in his day primarily as a composer of opera seria, Myslivecek was also skilled at composing Italian oratorio, considered by some to be opera’s sacred counterpart. Myslivecek originally composed Isacco for Florence, but in 1777 revised it for use as part of a commission for the 1777 Carnival season in Munich. Isacco conforms to the conventions of Italian oratorio and opera seria with its emphasis on solo singing, ternary forms, and use of the male soprano voice. Other musical features, however, point to Myslivecek’s later compositional style and the musical preferences of the Munich court.

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