Arthur Honegger

(1892-1955)

mode 35

Christophe Colomb – A Radio Play With Music

$14.99

mode 35 Arthur Honegger: Christoph Colomb — premiere recording of Honneger’s radio-play scored for actors (in English), orchestra and chorus. Opera Sacra Orchestra of Buffalo conducted by Charles Peltz. (Deluxe set, 64-page libretto)

In stock

Christophe Colomb - A Radio Play With Music

A RADIO PLAY WITH MUSIC

Text: William Aguet

Music: Arthur Honegger

Stratton Rawson The Magician

Neil Garvey Christopher Columbus

Elaine Knecht Queen Isabella

Anthony Furnival King Ferdinand

Opera Sacra of Buffalo Orchestra & Chorus

Charles Peltz, conductor

The art of the radio-play was a very important and respected creative mode of entertainment in Europe before theage of television, where subsidized radio stations encouraged experiments in this medium. Composers such as Britten,Hindemith, Gerhard, and Honegger were quick to take up the challenge, composing memorable scores which were designed fromthe start as close collaborations with poets and dramatists.

Honegger was keen to reach the widest possible public while retaining his own musical ideas. He had alreadycollaborated with numerous distinguished writers for the theater and had supplied scores for films, such as Abel Gance’sNapoléon. All of this experience made readied him for a collaboration with William Aguet when ChristophColomb was proposed for Radio Lausanne in 1940.

Christoph Colomb is an ambitious radio-play, scored for 10 actors, an orchestra of 40 musicians, plus alarge chorus with soloists. Perhaps it is due to these unusual forces that the piece faded into obscurity after its radiopremiere.

Through much hard work, Opera Sacra of Buffalo, New York reconstructed Christoph Colomb from the originalmanuscript and performed it with a new English translation of Aguet’s surprisingly astute and politically correct text.

For the first time on record, Mode is proud to present this major addition to the Honegger discography. The deluxeslipcase packaging includes a 64-page libretto with complete texts in English, French and German along with liner notesby music historian Jeremy Noble.
Released 1989.