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Saul

Author Sabrina

Published on: August 28, 2023

A stunning opera production with spectacular scenery and music

Barrie Kosky's award-winning production of Handel's Saul is an operatic experience like no other, with sumptuous period costumes, picturesque tableaux and magnificent music.

"Saul" is the best opera Handel never wrote - an intense, dramatic, magnificent musical tour de force that combines the best of both worlds.

Almost by accident, in 1732 Handel created the genre that would define the rest of his life and career - the oratorio. A few years earlier, Handel had composed his Coronation Anthems for the coronation of George II, and the grand, dramatic effect of the music had taken London by storm (many will recognize Zadok the Priest, which was performed at the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik in 2004 by Concerto Copenhagen). So when Handel experienced declining interest in its Italian operas, it made sense to try something new. And that was the dramatic oratorio. An oratorio typically has a plot, but it is based on biblical events and characters, and therefore inappropriate to present on a theater stage as scenic characters. But it provided an opportunity for music that took the best of both worlds - the intense drama of opera and the grandeur of church anthems. And it was sung in English, and not in the Italian language that is foreign to many.

Handel set to music the Old Testament story of Saul, who becomes so jealous of the young David that he cracks and, like another King Lear, ends up in a madness of Shakespearean dimensions. This provides ample opportunity for the intense, dramatic and emotional arias we know from Handel's operas, such as David's aria "Oh Lord, whose mercies numberless" and Michal's "Oh Godlike Youth", both in Act I. And since the action includes both soldiers and large crowds celebrating both the king and the hero David, there is also room for many magnificent choral movements, including a Hallelujah Chorus that rivals the more famous Hallelujah Chorus in the oratorio "Messiah". And if that's not enough, "Saul" also features iconic music for orchestra alone. Perhaps the most famous is the Act 3 Death March, which was later used at the funerals of statesmen like Winston Churchill and Abraham Lincoln.

Saul is sung by English bass-baritone Christopher Purves, and David by Danish countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen. Star director Barrie Kosky has created the staging, which features lots of dancing and costumes with wow effects, plus spectacular set design and an entire stage floor covered in flickering candles.

In order to fill the entire Opera House with Handel's music, Concerto Copenhagen will be performing with a orchestra of 43 musicians, including flutes, oboes, bassoons, trumpets, trombones, timpani, lute, harp - and a glockenspiel! All this is led by Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

Saul is sung in English with Danish and English subtitles.

Listen to some of the music here!