Heidemaria Gruber: Terribile d'aspetto; Gassmann (Betulia liberata)

Florian Leopold Gassmann (1729-1774)

'La Betulia liberata' (1772)
Azione sacra/Oratorio in 2 parts

Libretto: Pietro Metastasio

Achior's aria

Terribile d'aspetto,
barbaro di costumi,
o conta se fra'Numi,
o Nume alcun non ha.

Fasto, furor, dispetto
sempre dagli occhi spira;
e quanto è pronto all'ira,
è tardo alla pietà.

Stereo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e14nliTcSKw&fmt=18

Conductor: Mario Aschauer
Ensemble NovAntique Linz

Live recording (2003)

Playlist with some other clips from this work
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F09A773157D55F7D

Category:

Music

Tags:

• gassmann
• betulia
• gruber
• aschauer
• oratorio
• opera
• metastasio
• mezzo
• soprano

[Thrax1982]

I posted Holzbauer's setting of this aria ;)

[Thrax1982]

indeed, it's more than that ;) Gassmann's Betulia was the first of the yearly oratorios of the Viennese Tonkünstler-Societät. Later examples include: Haydn's 'Il ritorno di Tobia' (1775) watch?v=nPBB9jCcBJc Salieri's 'La Passione di Gesù Cristo' (1778) watch?v=dvVo2XDKVF4 Ditterdorf's 'Giob' (1786) watch?v=mxlOX686IiI Kozeluch's 'Moise in Egitto' (1787) watch?v=xe5eGoYbrTc

[Thrax1982]

Betulia is Mozart's only oratorio (and it was never performed in his lifetime).

[zarihueya555]

(And I'm ashamed to admit that I had no idea of the existence of Mozart's oratori. I focused on his opera plays & cantate.)

[zarihueya555]

I'm hearing them right now (the overtura, D'ogni colpa, Pietà, se irato sei, Te solo adoro, etc.) Again, thanx a lot. This is what we need. I love Mozart and definitely I love Glück, but we need to remember that Classicism is more than just Mozart, Glück & Haydn.

[Thrax1982]

In case you're interested I posted one more aria from this work.

[zarihueya555]

Thanks a lot.

[Thrax1982]

This libretto was set by not just Mozart and Gassmann but by many other composers.

Naumann and Holzbauer come to my mind but there are more.

[zarihueya555]

I don't understand, is this oratorio written by Mozart or by Gassmann?