American Symphony Orchestra with soloists & chorus, under the direction of Leon Botstein bring a the rarely heard oratorio by Robert Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri
Schumann's secular oratorio, written in 1849, is based on a section from english orientalist Thomas Moore's 1812 poem, Lala Rookh. Moore's Paradise and the Peri borrows from a Persian legend to tell the story of a “Peri”, a race decedent from fallen angels and humans, who are perpetually barred from Paradise.
Das Paradies und die Peri solidified Schumann's reputation with the general public as a major contemporary composer, and the oratorio remained one of his most popular works for most of the 19th Century. Both Schumann's treatment of the secular oratorio as well as the musical content were innovative for the time, soon Berlioz and Wagner would take Schumann's precepts even further, as the nature of the music drama evolved.
While the text of Das Paradies und die Peri was a fit for the early German Romantics, it fell from the repertoire as tastes changed in the 20th century. During the last decade Das Paradies und die Peri has been performed more frequently, both as critical respect for Schumann large scale compositional talent has improved and, perhaps because we can more readily appreciate Moore's sentimentality by putting it in perspective.
American Symphony Orchestra
Schumann: Das Paradies und die Peri
Sunday, January 29th, 2006
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, at 3 pm
Robert Schumann
An essay by James M. Keller, continued
