Jonah Seigler 

Tuesday, August 2, 2022 | Academia

Carissimi's Jephte ,which contains the Lenten themes of obedience and suffering. Specifically, looking at Jephtha's ariaosos and recitatives and how the music interacts with the text to exemplifies the themes of obedience and suffering. Giacomo Carissimi served as a part of the music program at the Collegio Germanico in Rome and the church of Sant'apollinare did not begin with Carissimi, but it was apparently well maintained by him (Clark). Carissimi has an immediate connection with the church which is used to create Jephte (Hanning). Carissimi's Jephte, contains the themes of obedience and suffering. These can be found in Jephthah’s ariosos and recitatives.

    Jephte is based on the story of Jephthah in the book of Judges. Judges contain the underlying message that sovereignty is from the grace of God, but Yahweh of Ammon wants to hold his sovereignty higher than God. The importance of loyalty to Yahweh is what causes the story of Jephtha to happen. In Jephtha’s situation loyalty can be observed with suffering and obedience found in his story. Obedience can be a physical example of obeying a person or your own oath taken for example where Jephtha is bound to duty, but vows to sacrifice the first thing he sees when he returns home. Jephthah also experiences suffering (pain, sadness, or sorrow) for example, after Jephtha asks for two months to lament for his daughter, an example of suffering, but submits again, to leave for his duty (Hanning), another example of obedience.  

    In Jephthah’s first recitative as stated in English translation "and made a vow to the Lord, saying: If You will indeed give the sons of Ammon into my hand, then whoever comes first out of the doors of my house to meet me, I will offer him to the Lord as a complete sacrifice” (Liu). This can be heard with confidence and a major tonality to reprise the confidence given by Jephthah in the recording (Carissimi 1). This is an example Jepthe will do his duty and will do this so long as he has a sacrifice this is a symbol of obedience, but also a sign of suffering. Consider that Jephte would not do this without a sacrifice, Jephte shows the sign of suffering because he observes himself as weak. There is emphasis on “the first who comes out of the doors of my house”(Liu) as this would imply Jephte’s family; Jephte only has one descendant, a daughter, Filia. Even after Jephtha considers that he may lose his daughter, he chooses to obey and fight in the war and he brings down cities and towns, “So Jephthah crossed over to the sons of Ammon with the spirit, strength, and valor of the Lord to fight against them” (Liu). Jephtah has felt victorious with this power of God and again is sung confidently with interaction to the continuo.

As Jephthah has made a vow to the Lord, “When Jephthah, who had sworn his oath to the Lord, saw his daughter coming to meet him, with anguish and tears he tore his clothes” (Liu) this show his obedience by submitting to give the first being he saw at his door, his daughter, as a sacrifice just as he had vowed. Throughout the whole oritario this next arioso sung by Jephthah contains the most suffering, as he laments in the recitative, “you have undone me, my only daughter, and you, likewise, my unfortunate daughter, are undone” (Liu) in this the continuo contains this minor tonality to envelope the feeling of sadness from Jephthah (Carissimi 2). Not only the feeling of sadness is evoked, but the feeling of pain and remorse that he must do this to his own child. This same pain is expressed in the next arioso “But what can I do, doomed daughter, to comfort you and your soul” (Liu), but this is sung more solem, shown by the change from lute to harpsichord, rather than full of pain as to respect the wishes of the dead; a form of obedience. This pain is reflected in Filia’s arioso “Send me away, that for two months I may wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity”, the pain is of the realization that she will not bear a fruitful life. It can be heard that the tonality changed to a minor tonality through the use of a different mode in this arisoso to reflect the grave feeling (Carissimi 2).  Also, reflective of obedience as she could choose to resist more than just wander the mountains for two months, Filia could choose to run but decides against it. Jephthah is obedient to his daughter’s wishes as he tells her “Go, my only daughter, go and bewail your virginity” (Liu) and allows her to go, as respect for the dead; a form of obedience. 

 Look at Filia’s lamet toward the end “Mourn, you hills, grieve, you mountains, and howl in the affliction of my heart” (Liu). Filia is expressing her grief due to her father’s ‘obedience’. The stress placed on the word “mourn” is much greater than the rest of the phrase as she is suffering and awaiting her death (Carissimi 3). Notice that the music does not give an angry tone to the section, rather it gives a feeling of sorrow and the effect given by the words “and howl in the affliction in my heart”. Filia is being obedient to her father’s oath that he had given, as the lament is for her as she had accepted her fate. This continues with the next arioso by Filia “Weep, you children of Israel, bewail my hapless virginity, and for Jephthah's only daughter, lament with songs of anguish” (Liu). Filia wants others to feel pain with her and send condolences to her father. This is a practical obedience as this is what people are supposed to do when someone dies; to give their condolences.

    As Jephthah has sacrificed his daughter for the greater good against the Ammonites, there was instances of both obedience and suffering. These themes were observed throughout the book of Judges. Obedience can be observed in Jephthah’s actions by call of duty and his determination to give a sacrifice to gain the power of the Lord. On the other hand suffering is observed through this sacrifice, as it ended up being his daughter. Both he and his daughter lament this soon to be sacrificed and ask the world to grieve with them. 

Works Cited:

“Carissimi: Jephte (1/3) Le Parlement de Musique” Youtube. July 30, 2008. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TN9VI1vNKM

“Carissimi: Jephte (2/3) Le Parlement de Musique” Youtube. July 31, 2008. www.youtube.com/watch?v=-URH_22zagk

“Carissimi: Jephte (3/3) Le Parlement de Musique” Youtube. August 1, 2008. www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0GNdPKFFGI

Clark, Alice V. Carissimi’s Jephte and Jesuit Spirituality. 1 April 2019.  symposium.music.org/index.php/current-issue/item/11430-carissimi-s-jephte-and-jesuit-spirituality 

Hanning, Barbra Russano. Concise History of Western Music. W.W. Norton and Company. New York. 5th Edition. 2014. 

Liu, James C.S. Notes on the Carissimi Oratorio, Jephte, 7 February 2003. www.jamescsliu.com/classical/Carissimi_Jephte.html