Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard joins the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya (Barcelona Symphony Orchestra) for a performance of Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher, broadcast live on medici.tv!
By Swiss composer Arthur Honegger, Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher (1938) is an imposing oratorio. Unlike other banal versions of the myth, the libretto is a highly original creation by French poet and playwright Paul Claudel, who perfectly dramatises the last moments of the martyr's life. Honegger highlights all the anguish and tension of Joan's interrogation and subsequent execution. Originally written for actress Ida Rubinstein, an excellent ballerina and actress who was the first to perform the part, the oratorio is written as a flashback in which Joan recalls her life, just before she dies. A great film composer, Honegger creates visually evocative ambiances and fills the orchestra with new sounds (saxophones, ondes Martenot). The initial prologue to the piece was added in 1944 as a symbol of the resistance during the Nazi occupation of France: again, Joan goes beyond her own story.
Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher
©1938, by Honegger, Arthur Oscar & Claudel,Paul Louis Charles. Authorized by Francis Salabert Ed. S.A. to Universal Music Publishing S.L. All rights reserved.
