Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

This brilliant aria comes from an oratorio that is rarely heard today.  A quarter of a century before Haydn's late oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons, he wrote another oratorio, Il ritorno di Tobia (The Return of Tobias), which, although it was one of the major works of his decades at Esterháza, has been so eclipsed that few music lovers today know of its existence and even fewer have heard it.  Written in 1775 for a concert of the Vienna Tonkünstler Societät (Society of Musicians) to benefit their charity for widows and orphans, it was an enormous success not only financially but also artistically.  It made Haydn more famous than ever, and copies of the score circulated throughout Europe. 

It is indeed a major work with some beautiful music, virtuosic arias and powerful choruses, but several factors have worked against it.  Six years after the premiere, Haydn mounted a new production, for which he shortened the work from its original three hours of music, reduced some of the difficult passage work in the arias, and wrote a few new choruses.  But popular tastes had changed by then, and the revival was not the kind of success that Haydn had had at the premiere.  When he first wrote the work, any oratorio or opera performed in Vienna was expected to be in Italian -- including even Handel's oratorios, which were translated into Italian.  But by the time of this revival in 1781, that fashion had passed, and an Italian oratorio like this one was not as much of an attraction as it had been.  

The greatest problem, though, even beyond being overwhelmed by the success of his later oratorios, is in the libretto.  It was written by Giovanni Boccherini, the brother of the composer, and it is based on a story from the ancient Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha.  It was an extremely popular and well known story in Haydn's day and one that had inspired many musical settings and paintings.  Tobias's journey to find a cure for his father's blindness leads to exciting adventures, including a battle with a sea monster and an encounter with an evil demon who, on their wedding nights, has killed seven bridegrooms of the woman that Tobias is about to marry. 

But none of this plays much of a role in the oratorio.  The adventures are simply reported in a recitative, and most of the libretto is devoted to moralizing thoughts about the story and to conversation between characters.  As a result, Haydn does not have the kinds of dramatic opportunities that he has in his later oratorios.  Instead, he gives us extended arias that are wonderfully inventive and virtuosic but that almost seem to stand on their own, like concerto movements.  This is wonderful music that deserves to be known and heard, even if it means that individual arias may be extracted to be played as concert pieces.

The aria, "Anna, m'ascolta" occurs early in the oratorio.  It is sung by the archangel Raphael, who is disguised as Tobias's traveling companion and prophesies to his friend's distraught mother, Anna, that her son will return safely from his journey and cure his father's blindness.

Translation

Boston Baroque Performances

"Anna, m'ascolta" from Il ritorno di Tobia

October 25 & 27, 2019
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloist:
Amanda Forsythe, soprano

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