A new work by Schumann... or at least, that is how it seemed to me, for I had never heard "Paradise and the Peri," and it not only made a fresh impression on me, but also was very melodious and inventive. That being said, the story of the Peri - a tale about a fallen angel looking for a way back to Eden - is 19th century Biedermeier sentimentality incarnate - and therefore also the music, to a degree. Although it was a big success for Schumann as the oratorio saw fifty performances in just over ten years, the 20th century, which was made of sterner stuff, turned away from it. It seems however that our era has again learned how to live with that sentimentality, for the work is making something of a comeback.
Das Paradies und die Peri, a secular oratorio (by Schumann called "Dichtung" by him), was completed in 1843. The subject was suggested to Schumann by his friend Emil Flechsig, who together with the composer made the translation and adaptation in German. The source was the
Oriental epic Lalla Rookh by Thomas Moore, which represents a vogue for orientalism (with flowery, Eastern-inspired verbiage) that was in full swing in the 19th century but has receded considerably today. Perhaps that is why Schuman's oratorio fell out of favor in the last century. But on its publication in 1817, Lalla Rookh was a gigantic bestseller. It consists of four poems surrounded by a
framing tale in prose. The eponymous princess (Lalla Rookh is Persian
for “tulip cheeked”) is on a journey to meet the young king to whom she
is betrothed. Along the way she falls in love with a poet in her
entourage who sings four songs/poems to her, the second one being
“Paradise and the Peri.” In the end, the poet is revealed to be the very king she has set out to marry.
A "Peri" (Persian for "fairy, elf") is the child of a fallen angel and a mortal. Because of her impure origin she has been expelled from paradise. To regain entry she has to bring a gist of something that is most dear to Heaven. Her first two offerings - the last drop
of blood of a brave young freedom fighter against a tyrant and the last
sigh of a virgin dying in the arms of her lover, who had been carried
off by the plague - are not recognized by the Angel standing at the gates of Heaven. Eventually the Peri is admitted after bringing a tear from the cheek of a repentant old
sinner who has seen a child praying (reminding him of the innocence of his own childhood).
This is of course unbearable sentimentality, so it is best to concentrate on the musical rather than the moral message. And musically it is quite innovative: Schumann brought the
overt emotionalism of opera into the more constrained environment of the
concert hall. The music is also very pictorial and its melodic inventiveness is unceasing. Despite its length of more than an hour and half, it is fast-moving.
The text with English translation.
Listen to the Chor der Chorakademie 2020, soloists and the OÖ Mozartensemble conducted by Erwin Ortner, in the Stadtpfarrkirche Krems.
Choral Masterworks