Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Parry: Judith

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

It has been a long time since I last featured the music of Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918), who was the most important composer in late Victorian England, next to the most famous musical figure of the era, Sir Arthur Sullivan. I devoted the entire afternoon of Sunday, December 3, 2006 to the then brand new Chandos CD release of Parry's big choral compositions: The Soul's Ransom (1906), Blest Pair of Sirens (1887) and The Lotus Eaters (1892), etc. The only choral work for which Parry is still known today is his hymn Jerusalem, to William Blake's verse. British Labourites made this hymn into a workingman's anthem, sung at many public events.

Any Victorian composer worth his salt was expected to try his hand at oratorio. To this genre, Parry contributed his splendid Judith, or The Regeneration of Manasseh (1888). It was a rousing success when first heard at the annual Birmingham choral festival. Parry prepared his own libretto from the Apocryphal Old Testament Book of Judith, augmented by verses from the prophet Isaiah and the Psalms. So much of this rich Victorian musical heritage long ago passed out of the repertoire.

The world premiere recording of Parry's Judith was made in 2019, again for release through the Chandos label of the UK. William Vann directs the London Mozart Players and Crouch End Festival Chorus. There's also a children's chorus and five vocal soloists. Soprano Sarah Fox is heard as the heroine of the Israelites, Judith, who saves the city of Jerusalem from the besieging Assyrian army and cuts off the head of their general Holofernes. She consoles the people upon the sacrifice of the Hebrew children to the monstrous idol Moloch: a sacrifice for which Manasseh, King of Judah, was held responsible.