Rosetti: Der sterbende Jesus (1785)

Series: Classical Era  Publisher: A-R Editions
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Antonio Rosetti
Der sterbende Jesus (1785)

Edited by Sterling E. Murray

C114 Rosetti: Der sterbende Jesus (1785)
978-1-9872-0335-6 Full Score (2019) 9x12, xx + 227 pp.
Special Price $256.00 Regular Price $320.00
SKU
C114

Performance Parts (Available Separately)

C114R
Rental Parts (2022)
1201 2200 timp. 66443 choral score
During the second half of the eighteenth century a new type of Passion oratorio with roots in the Empfindsamerkeit literary movement gained popularity in Germany. In this style, dramatic narrative was replaced with a lyric and contemplative text. Rather than unfolding the events of the biblical drama, the librettist assumed the listener’s familiarity with the story and concentrated instead on the expression of emotions evoked by the narrative. Details of this style are described in an essay published in Johann Georg Sulzer’s Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Künste (Leipzig, 1771–74). As a model, Sulzer cites Karl Wilhelm Ramler’s libretto for Der Tod Jesu (1754), a text that is perhaps best known today through Carl Heinrich Graun’s 1755 setting.
 
In the decades that followed, several Passion oratorios appeared in Germany that were influenced to some degree by Der Tod Jesu. Within this group, Rosetti’s Der sterbende Jesus, completed in March 1785 and performed on Good Friday of that year, won special approval among the audiences of southern Germany. The numerous printed and manuscript copies preserved today in archives and collections throughout Europe attest to its enormous contemporary appeal. In addition to the complete work, individual movements were performed outside the context of the oratorio, keyboard arrangements were made, and portions of the work were freely adapted into parodies. Even Mozart, a musician of especially discriminating taste, included a copy of Rosetti’s oratorio in his personal library. This edition, based on the manuscript parts used in the work’s first performance, presents Der sterbende Jesus for the first time in a modern edition.
Der sterbende Jesus
1. Chorus: “Er kommt zu bluten auf Golgatha”
2. Recitative (Johann) with Chorus: “Wohin verfolgt die Unruh”
3. Aria (Johann): “So steigt nach Ungewittern”
4. Recitative—Arioso (Maria, Jesus): “Schon steht das Kreuz auf Golgatha!—Meine Mutter, sieh, dies ist nun dein Sohn”?5. Chorale: “Preis und Dank!”
6. Recitative (Johann): “Woher die düst’re Mitternacht in Gottes Schrecken”
7. Recitative (Jesus): “Mein Gott, mein Gott! Warum verlassen auch von dir”
8. Chorale—Chorus: “Fallet nieder und dankt!—Der Vorhang im Tempel”
9. Recitative with Arioso (Maria): “Wohin? Wo flieh’ ich hin?”
10. Aria (Maria): “Wenn dann einst der Tränen”
11. Recitative (Maria, Johann): “Hier saß er oft”
12. Aria (Maria): “Weh mir Armen!”
13. Recitative (Johann): “Lass ab! Dein Schmerz zerreißt”?
14. Chorus: “Selig sind von nun an alle”
15. Recitative (Johann): “Einst schlief er sanft in stiller Nacht”?
16. Chorus—Fugue: “Doch der Sieger ist schon nah—Jesus Christus geht voran”
17. Recitative—Aria (Joseph): “Es ist gescheh’n!—Weine königliche Blume”
18. Recitative (Maria, Johann): “O lasst mich sie noch einmal seh’n!”
19. Chorale: “Zwischen Hoffnung, Angst und Beben”
20. Recitative (Joseph): “Hemmt nun die Flut der Tränen!”
21. Duet (John, Joseph): “Tief anbetend hier im Staube”
22. Recitative (Johann): “So bebet nicht!”
23. Final Chorus: “Frohlockt! Der Fromme steht”