He thought he had seen Heaven before him. He knew not whether he was in or out of his body when he wrote it. Twenty-four sleepless nights, many untouched dinners and endless tears later, his Messiah was ready to see the world. Or maybe not just yet.True, there had been times when he was ambitious and proud. There had been times when it was all about him. Now he had learned the truth.
The short life and terrifying death of Joan of Arc are the subject of Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher ("Joan of Arc at the Stake"), a curious masterpiece of an oratorio dating from 1938. The nearly-forgotten work received a well-deserved resurrection by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Saturday night.
