Gethsemane (oratorio)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gethsemane is a chamber-oratorio by British composer Matthew King. It was written for the opening concert of the 1998 Spitalfields Festival, for the early-music group Florilegium. The music is scored for four singers (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and a Baroque-style ensemble with a solo flute, two oboes, three natural trumpets, strings, harpsichord and percussion.

The text uses Biblical sources to tell the New Testament story from Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem to his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. Each singer represents several characters, and all four join together at times to sing as disciples, Pharisees and crowds.

In the drama, specific instruments symbolize characters: Jesus is always with a flute, the Pharisees with rumbling timpani, and Judas with a solo harpsichord.

The first performance drew praise. Roderick Dunnett called it “passion music in the great tradition,” and Michael White, in The Independent, said the music has an innocent, honest quality with memorable ideas that stay with the listener.