Boże Narodzenie w oczach współczesnych Amerykanów. Oratorium sceniczne „El Niño” Johna Adamsa

Abstract

Stage oratorio El Nino (2000) is associated with the theme of the Nativity. Its title in Spanish means “the little boy” (it also refers to the Infant Jesus – El Nino Jesus), but to the modem listener provides a connotation to the famous weather anomaly that caused particularly severe damage and destruction in winter of 1997. The main message of El Nino is to present the miracle of the Nativity as a biological miracle, of a universal character, which is shared in some way by people living around the world. Libretto contains passages from the Bible, medieval and anonymous texts, apocrypha and poetry of authors living in the twentieth century, from the circle of Latin America. Important part of the libretto are poems written by women. Adams’s oratorio has some links with the aesthetics of postmodernism by the variety of texts and references used, a silent film introduced in the stage work and also by using of repetitive techniques by the composer. However, Adams breaks postmodern convention through a clear structure of the work and a very dramatic style of music. Intertextual context of the oratorio is manifold. It is based on links with the musical tradition (especially with Handel's oratorio Messiah, which was the model for the music of this work) and with the broader tradition of European culture.