 | This article includes alist of references,related reading, orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Das Paradies und die Peri | |
|---|---|
| Oratorio byRobert Schumann | |
 The composer in 1839 | |
| English | Paradise and the Peri |
| Opus | 50 |
| Text | translation by Schumann and Emil Flechsig |
| Language | German |
| Based on | Lalla-Rookh byThomas Moore |
| Composed | 1843 (1843) |
| Movements | 23 in three parts |
| Scoring |
|
Paradise and the Peri, in GermanDas Paradies und die Peri, is a secularoratorio forsoloists,choir, andorchestra byRobert Schumann. Completed in 1843, the work was published as Schumann'sOp. 50.
The work is based on a German translation (by Schumann and his friend Emil Flechsig) of a tale fromLalla-Rookh by Irish poet and lyricistThomas Moore. Theperi, a creature fromPersian mythology, is the focus of the story, having been expelled fromParadise and trying to regain entrance by giving the gift that is most dear toheaven. Eventually the peri is admitted after bringing a tear from the cheek of a repentant old sinner who has seen a child praying.
Peter Ostwald in his biographySchumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius records that Schumann "confided to a friend that 'while writingParadise and the Peri a voice occasionally whispered to me "what you are doing is not done completely in vain,"'" and that evenRichard Wagner praised this work. The cantata is generally held to be a significant achievement by Schumann, and it perhaps appeals less than it might otherwise to modern audiences due to the flowery, Eastern-inspired verbiage of the libretto, which represents a vogue for orientalism that was in full swing in the 19th century but has receded considerably today. This oratorio premiered under the composer's baton on 4 December 1843 inLeipzig. It was well received, and performances inDresden and Berlin followed.
The first English performance took place under difficult conditions at theHanover Square Rooms in London at the invitation of thePhilharmonic Society conducted byWilliam Sterndale Bennett withJenny Lind taking the leading soprano part.
Paradise and the Peri was the vehicle forGabrielle Krauss's first important appearance, in Vienna in 1858, when she was not yet 16 years old.
| Orchestral |
| ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Concertante works | |||||||
| Chamber music |
| ||||||
| Solo piano |
| ||||||
| Vocal works | |||||||
| Choral works | |||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
