Still reeling from a performance last night of Hector Berlioz’s “Te Deum.” I’m not sure it was the loudest Berlioz concert I ever attended, but with its roaring chorus and arsenal of skull-shattering cymbal crashes, it certainly came close.
Nearly an hour in length, the “Te Deum” was originally conceived as the climax of a projected symphony celebrating Napoleon Bonaparte. The first performance in 1855 was led by Berlioz himself and involved over 900 performers. I can’t even imagine. Still, it’s like chamber music next to the composer’s heaven-storming Requiem. Say what you want about Berlioz, he was a guy who liked to swing for the fences.
A much more intimate program on tap for this morning, with a concert of art song, mostly by French composers (hosted by the witty and erudite Byron Adams), and then later this afternoon, a performance of Pauline Viardot’s fairy tale opera, “Le dernier sorcier” (“The Last Sorcerer”). It’s not every opera that features a chorus of elves!
I’ll write up a more complete report in the coming days. This year’s Bard Music Festival, “Hector Berlioz and His World,” runs through August 18 at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, with two supplementary midweek programs at Church of the Messiah in nearby Rhinebeck.
You’ll find more information at https://fishercenter.bard.edu/whats-on/programs/bard-music-festival/
Fisher Center at Bard
