Created on Easter Sunday, 1708, in the sumptuous Ruspoli Castle in Rome, home to the extravagant marquis of the same name and where a young Handel lived for two years, La Resurezzione is one of the German composer's first oratorios. He puts on stage Lucifer, Mary Magdalene, an angel, Saint John and Mary, the wife of Clopus. The day after its performance directed by Corelli, Pope Clément XI sent a severe reprimand to the marquis for allowing a woman to sing a religious work in public. The work presented a series of innovations with a libretto which superposed the dramatic duos and instrumental combinations which produced a wide range of colour thanks to an orchestra of forty-one musicians and numerous soloists, a considerable feat for the time. Performed in 1981 at the Kingsway Hall in London, the Christopher Hogwood recording has since been all but forgotten. Such is the problem with informed historical interpretations that age very quickly as a result of the evolution of methods and playing styles on period or imitation instruments. However, this interpretation maintains its appeal from a historical perspective thanks to the vocals of a young Emma Kirkby, the soprano Patrizia Kwella, the contralto Carolyn Watkinson, the tenor Ian Partridge and the bass singer David Thomas’ mischievous Lucifer who performs a most hellish representation to make audiences tremble. © François Hudry/Qobuz