Franz Joseph Haydn

Il ritorno di Tobia

(The Return of Tobias) is an oratorio in two parts composed in 1775 by Joseph Haydn (Hob. XXI:1). The work is the first oratorio the composer wrote and, according to Jones, was "his most extended and

Setting#

Soloists: * Tobia (tenor) * Anna, Tobia’s mother (alto) * Tobit, Tobia’s father (bass) * Sara, Tobia’s wife (soprano) * Raffaele, an angel (soprano) Hebrew choir (SATB) and orchestra The venue of the event is the Tobias parents’ house in Nineveh.

Recordings#

1975 – Magda Kalmár (Raffaelle), Veronika Kincses (Sara), Klára Takács (Anna), Attila Fülöp (Tobia), Zsolt Bende (Tobit) – Budapest Madrigal Choir, Budapest State Orchestra, Ferenc Szekeres – 4 LPs/3 CDs (Hungaroton)
1980 – Barbara Hendricks (Raffaelle), Linda Zoghby (Sara), Della Jones (Anna), Philip Langridge (Tobia), Benjamin Luxon (Tobit) – Brighton Festival Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Antal Doráti – 4 LPs/3 CDs (Decca Records)
2006 – Roberta Invernizzi (Raffaelle), Sophie Karthäuser (Sara), Ann Hallenberg (Anna), Anders J. Dahlin (Tobia), Nikolay Borchev (Tobit) – VokalEnsemble Köln, Capella Augustina, Andreas Spering – 3 CDs (Naxos)

References#

Notes Sources *Olleson, Edward (2009) “Il ritorno di Tobia”. Article in David Wyn Jones (2009) Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn. Oxford University Press. *Smither, Howard E. (1977) A History of the Oratorio. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Composer: Franz Joseph Haydn