Kálmán Strausz 70

“Ferenc Baranyi’s poetic work, Divine Hell, created using his own new Dante translation and verses by medieval poets, waited patiently for years in order for me to discover the most suitable form for it. I made several starts on setting the love drama of Paolo and Francesca to music, but after some time I always halted the work because I did not feel that the music I had completed was totally 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 I had made so many attempts at. 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.” (Péter Tóth)

Joan of Arc at the Stake is an unusual work hallmarked by the profoundly Catholic poet Paul Claudel and the Protestant Arthur Honegger. The work written for a vast musical apparatus and two prose actors develops the remarkable story of Saint Joan.The fundamental lesson of the work is that however irretrievable the situation may appear, faith in God and a burning patriotism are sufficient in themselves to rouse a nation and win, albeit at the cost of massive endeavour. The libretto, originally in French was translate by István Raics. There are sounds of Gregorian chant, medieval secular music, French folk songs and a French children’s tune in the musical fabric.