Santa Pelagia

Santa Pelagia is an Italian-language oratorio by Alessandro Stradella. The subject of the piece is Pelagia of Antioch, a courtesan in Asia Minor who repented and became a hermit on the Mount of Olives. Musical sources are thought to come from posthumous performances in Modena in 1688, six years after the death of the composer. 10 years after this another composer Marc'Antonio Ziani made the only other known oratorio on this subject.

Cast

Pelagia - soprano
Nonno - bishop Nonnus, tenor, who tries to convince Pelagia to repent
Religione - personification of religion, alto
Mondo - personification of the world, bass
Chorus

Recording

The work was recorded by musicologist Andrea De Carlo and Ensemble Mare Nostrum in 2016.^[1]^[2]^[3]

References

^ Gramophone
^ Bachtrack "Santa Editta was followed in 2016 by another Stradella oratorio called Santa Pelagia which is even more fun as it concerns “the Harlot of Antioch” who was a 5th century equivalent of a high-class hooker and hoofer finding God but dying of starvation on the Mount of Olives as a result of her new-found piety."
^ The Guardian Review

[1] Gramophone

[2] Bachtrack "Santa Editta was followed in 2016 by another Stradella oratorio called Santa Pelagia which is even more fun as it concerns “the Harlot of Antioch” who was a 5th century equivalent of a high-class hooker and hoofer finding God but dying of starvation on the Mount of Olives as a result of her new-found piety."

[3] The Guardian Review

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