Barenreiter Album of Opera Choruses

This volume offers a selection of particularly attractive opera choruses from three centuries in their five original languages (Italian, French, German, English and Russian). Whether cheerful shepherd's tune, furious battle song, or poignant entreaty to the gods, choruses occupy an important place in opera and frequently service to carry the plot. The depiction of crowd scenes such as war tableaus and battle scenes, the empathizing with and the commenting on the fate of the protagonists, the reflecting upon opposing emotions, the explanation of events, and at times also intermezzos without direct connection to the plot - the functions of the chorus are manifold, and correspondingly varied is the expressive content of the music. The preface to this edition includes concise technical and interpretative information, and in that way provides valuable assistance for the preparation of the individual choruses for both professional and amateur choirs. Included are choruses from the following works: L'Orfeo (Monteverdi); Acis and Galantea (Handel); Alceste (Gluck); Idomeneo (Mozart); Fierabras (Schubert); Norma (Bellini); Samson et Dalila (Saint-Saens); Carmen (Bizet) and Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky).