Christmastime comes with its musical traditions, from sing-along Messiahs to Christmas carols to Mariah Carey singing “All I Want for Christmas is You”. And there’s no denying that shouting any of the above at the top of your lungs will immediately get you into the Christmas spirit. If, however, you would rather experience the sublime at this time of year, you should have been at Montreal’s Notre Dame Basilica to hear the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, under the direction of Kent Nagano, along with some of Canada’s finest singers, perform Berlioz’s L’enfance du Christ (“The Childhood of Christ”).
Not one of Berlioz’s best-known works, the oratorio tells the story of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. In Part One we hear Herod’s tormented nocturnal cry: in a dream he has been told that a child has been born who will destroy his throne and take his power. He consults the soothsayers who confirm that this is true, and tell him he must order the deaths of all new-born children. A chorus of unseen angels warns Joseph and Mary that they must flee with their son. Part Two depicts their difficult flight into Egypt. Part Three tells of their arrival in Sais and their eventual entrance into a modest Ishmaelite home, where they are fed, serenaded, and allowed to rest. There are solo roles for Herod, Polydorus, a centurion, Joseph, Mary, an Ishmaelite, and a narrator.
The work has its origins in a musical prank Berlioz played on his Parisian audience, whom he knew despised him and his bombastic musical ways. In 1850 he composed and had performed a work titled L’adieu des bergers (“The Shepherd’s Farewell”), which he claimed to be the work of a fictional 17th-century composer named Ducré. The Parisians loved it. It became the penultimate number in Part Two, which he composed next, and then incorporated into the rest of the work which was completed in 1854.
Indeed Parisians loved L’enfance du Christ, thinking Berlioz had finally reformed his histrionic ways, but the composer later explained that the story naturally lent itself to a more reserved musical treatment. Still, he noted the Parisian reaction, writing in his Memoirs, “It was received like a Messiah, the Magi nearly appeared and offered it frankincense and myrrh.”
Despite its sometimes tricky acoustics, the Basilica proved to be the ideal venue. Approaching the cathedral on a dark and snowy Montreal evening puts one in a festive yet solemn mood. And the space lends itself perfectly to the work’s subdued tone colors. The spare but striking use of woodwinds, the organ during the angels’ chorus, the offstage voices, the trio for harp and two flutes: all of these were wonderfully if subtly highlighted by Nagano, and shone beautifully in the Basilica’s cavernous interior. The ethereal sound of much of Part Two would not have worked nearly as well in the concert hall.