Sunday Classics, Christmas Eve edition: A Christmas miracle, courtesy of Hector Berlioz

by Ken

Last year, hobbled by the limitations of the music available on YouTube, the closest I was able to bring you to Berlioz' remarkable -- and not especially sacred -- oratorio The Childhood of Christ was a rather lumbering video clip of the Farewell of the Shepherds from Part II. More than anything I wanted you to hear the opening narration. This year we hear all of the narration, four times over.

PART I: HEROD'S DREAM

All we're going to hear of Part I of L'Enfance (in which King Herod conceives the slaughter of the innocents to protect his power, and we meet the Holy Family) is the two-minute opening narration by the solo tenor with orchestral accompaniment scored to sound like an organ or harmonium, but I consider this wisp of narration that launches Part I one of Berlioz's (or anyone else's finest, most haunting achievements. The trap always is that tenors want to make it sing-songy rather than declaiming it -- albeit beautifully declamatory. Although I'm giving you only an English translation, listen to the graceful rhymes of the French text. Note too the precision of the setting, and the quick changes of tone -- the crucial ones being at "Or apprenez, Chrétiens, quel crime épouvantable" ("Now learn, Christians, what a monstrous crime"), and then at "et le céleste avis que dans leur humble étable" ("and the celestial warning that in their humble stable").

The other performance trap, which applies to the whole of L'Enfance, is to smother it in religiosity. It tells this hard and uplifting story of the saving of a child and then his whole family in blunt and sharply felt terms.

Among these performances, note that the Adès recording goes beyond the opening narration to include the whole first scene: a characteristically Berliozianly eccentric Nocturnal March, followed by a dialogue between a centurion (tenor) and the patrol commander Polydorus (bass) in which we learn of King Herod's increasingly erratic behavior. ("He dreams; he trembles; he sees traitors everywhere.")

Opening Narration

In the manger at this time Jesus had just been born,
But no wonder had yet made him known.
And already the powerful trembled;
Already the weak began to hope.

Now learn, Christians, what a monstrous crime
Was suggested to the King of the Jews by terror.
And the celestial warning that in their humble stable
Was sent by the Lord to the parents of Jesus.

Jean-Luc Viala, tenor; Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Naxos, recorded Dec. 4-7, 1996


Cesare Valletti, tenor; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 23-24, 1956


Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Ledger, cond. ASV, recorded c 1984

Opening Narration plus Opening Scene:
Nocturnal March; Centurion-Polydorus dialague

Michel Sénéchal, tenor (Narrator and Centurion); Xavier Depraz, bass (Polydorus); Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Pierre Dervaux, cond. Adès, recorded 1959

PART II: THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT

We're actually going to hear the whole of Part II. First there's a lovely overture and the moving Farewell of the Shepherds, who give the young family an emotional sendoff on the journey into the desert they have to undertake to save the infant boy's life. Then the Narrator returns to describe the first leg of the journey.

Part II: Overture and Farewell of the Shepherds

He is going away far from the land
Where in the stable he saw they day.
Of his father and his mother
May he remain the constant love.
May he grow up, may he prosper,
And may he be a good father in his turn.

If ever among the idolaters
He comes to experience misfortune,
Let him, felleing the unkind land,
Come back to happiness among us!
Let the shehpherd's poverty
Remain always dear to his heart.

Dear child, may God bless you!
May you never have to feell
The blows of injustice!
May a good angel warn you
Of the dangers hanging over you!

Choeur Régional Vittoria de l'Ile de France, Maîtrise de Radio-France, Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Naxos, recorded Dec. 4-7, 1996


New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 23-24, 1956


chorus directed by John Alldis, English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Ledger, cond. ASV, recorded c 1984


Chorus of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Pierre Dervaux, cond. Adès, recorded 1959

Part II: The Resting Place of the Holy Family (Narration)

The pilgrims have come
To a place of beautiful appearance,
Where there were leafy trees
And pure water in abundance,
Saint Joseph said: "Stop
By this clear spring.
After such long toil,
Let us rest."
The baby Jesus was sleeping. Now Saint Mary,
Stopping the ass, replied,
"See this carpet of sweet and flowered grass.
The Lord extends it into the desert for my son."
Then, having sat under the shade
Of three palm trees with green foliage,
The ass drowsing,
The child sleeping,
The sacred travelers slumbered for some time.
Cradled by happy dreams,
And angels from heaven, on their knees around them,
Adored the child.

Jean-Luc Viala, tenor; Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Naxos, recorded Dec. 4-7, 1996


Cesare Valletti, tenor; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 23-24, 1956


Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Ledger, cond. ASV, recorded c 1984


Michel Sénéchal, tenor; Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Pierre Dervaux, cond. Adès, recorded 1959

PART III: THE ARRIVAL IN SAÏS

We continue directly from the end of Part II above.

Narration

For three days, despite the ardor of the wind,
They made their way in the moving sand.
The poor servant of the holy family,
The ass, had fallen in the desert;
And well before seeing the walls of a city
Would have succumbed from fatigue and thirst
Without the help of God. Only Saint Mary
Walked on calm and serene, and her child's
And his blond locks and blessed head
Seemed to reanimate her, resting on her head.
But soon her steps stumbled!
How many times the parents stopped!
Finally, however, they arrived
In Saïs, gasping,
Almost dying.
It was a city that had long been joined
To the Roman Empire,
Full of cruel people, with haughty airs,
Hear how the pilgrims endured
Grueling agony searching for shelter and bread.

Jean-Luc Viala, tenor; Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Naxos, recorded Dec. 4-7, 1996


Cesare Valletti, tenor; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 23-24, 1956


Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Ledger, cond. ASV, recorded c 1984


Michel Sénéchal, tenor; Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Pierre Dervaux, cond. Adès, recorded 1959

Part III: Epilogue

On the brink of death the family is taken in by an Ishmaelite householder who sets his whole household the task of reviving them. The crisis past, the fathers discover that they're both carpenters. The Ishmaelite Father asks his guest the baby's name. Told it's "Jesus," he replies, "What a charming name." The Narrator returns to teach the lesson of the happy ending.

So it was that by an infidel
The Savior was saved.
For ten years Mary, and Joseph with her,
Saw flower in him a sublime gentleness,
Infinite tenderness
United with wisdom.
Then finally, returning
To the land in which he saw day,
He wanted to accomplish the divine sacrifice
That redeemed the human race
From eternal torment
And marked out the path to salvation.

NARRATOR AND CHORUS
O my soul, what remains for you to do
But to break your pride before such a mystery?
O my heart, fill yourself with the deep and pure love
That alone can open the heavenly kingdom to us.

Jean-Luc Viala, tenor; Choeur Régional Vittoria de l'Ile de France, Maîtrise de Radio-France, Orchestre National de Lille, Jean-Claude Casadesus, cond. Naxos, recorded Dec. 4-7, 1996


Cesare Valletti, tenor; New England Conservatory Chorus, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA/BMG, recorded Dec. 23-24, 1956


Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor; chorus directed by John Alldis, English Chamber Orchestra, Philip Ledger, cond. ASV, recorded c 1984


Michel Sénéchal, tenor; Chorus of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française, Orchestre des Concerts Colonne, Pierre Dervaux, cond. Adès, recorded 1959

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