La Betulia Liberata

The Biblical story of Judith, who hacked off the head of the Babylonian general Holofernes to liberate her city, Betulia, inspired the Italian poet and librettist Metastasio to write ‘Betulia liberata’. The libretto was set to music by no fewer than thirty composers, from Jomelli to Salieri. The most famous of these settings was the oratorio that Mozart wrote in Padua in 1771. Despite the fact that Mozart was only fifteen at the time, the choruses and arias already showed great dexterity. The tenor aria ‘Pietà, se irato sei’ in C minor, for instance, is striking not only because of the original interventions by the chorus, but also because of a sensitive pizzicato string accompaniment that is reminiscent of Gluck. With singers like Sonia Prina and Roberta Invernizzi, B’Rock has put together the perfect cast to breathe new life into Mozart’s seldom heard ‘azione sacrale’.