Rédemption

Premiered at the Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival on 30 October 1882, Rédemption is a sacred trilogy in a prologue and three parts (Le Calvaire, De la Résurrection à l’Ascension, La Pentecôte), divided into sixteen numbers, for soloists, chorus, orchestra and organ, to a text by Gounod. Dedicated to Queen Victoria, the work received an ovation from the English audience at its first performance. The French premiere was held in April 1884 at the Palais du Trocadéro. In an introduction, Gounod made his intentions clear: Rédemption, he wrote, “is the lyrical expression of the three major events upon which the existence of Christian society rests and which are 1. The Passion and Death of the Saviour 2. His glorious life on earth, from His Resurrection to His Ascension 3. The Spread of Christianity throughout the world as a result of the Apostolic Mission”. The sequence of choruses, recitatives and ensembles places Rédemption in the tradition of the oratorio. The treatment of the vocal parts, however, is noteworthy for its great restraint: no rhetorical effects, any descriptive effects are written exclusively for the orchestra (in particular, the representation of chaos). The work also shows Gounod’s interest in Gregorian chant (quotation from Vexilla Regis and the Stabat Mater) as well as in the spare resources and simplicity of the Renaissance. Characterised, like many of Gounod’s religious pieces, by great stylistic eclecticism, Rédemption is sometimes similar to the genre of opera (particularly in its evocation of the earthly paradise), which led it to be criticised for being overly secular and sensual. According to Gounod himself, the composer also used the expressive possibilities of a sort of leitmotiv symbolising the Redeemer, both God and man, which is heard in the prologue, then on eight occasions during the first two parts of the work.