Kálmán Strausz 70

Divine Hell as described by its author, composer Péter Tóth: “Ferenc Baranyi’s poetic work, Divine Hell, derives from his own new Dante translation and verses by medieval poets. I made several starts on setting the love drama of Paolo and Francesca to music, but I did not feel that the music I had completed was authentic. When Kálmén Strausz unexpectedly commissioned me to compose a cantata, I immediately knew that the libretto could be none other than that particular libretto. The work took off and in just a few months the 30-minute cantata was ready, complete with operatic elements, in which only men sing either solo or as a choir alongside the single female vocal.” Joan of Arc at the Stake is an unusual work hallmarked by the profoundly Catholic Paul Claudel and the Protestant Arthur Honegger. The fundamental lesson of the work written for a vast musical apparatus and two prose actors is that however irretrievable the situation may appear, faith in God and a burning patriotism are sufficient in themselves to rouse a nation. The originally French libretto is performed in a translation by István Raics. There are sounds of plainchant, medieval secular music, a march, French folk and children’s songs in the musical fabric.