The Triumph of Time and Disillusionment in St. John's Church in Helsinki, the 21st of September, 2018

The autumn concert season is at full swing and the weekend began with Georg Friedrich Handel’s first oratorio ”Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno” (The Triumph of Time and Disillusionment) from 1707 performed by Finnish Baroque Orchestra in St. John’s Church in Helsinki. Like so many other compositions, also this oratorio exists in several versions (even in English) and some of them are performed more often than this original version in Italian. But I do have to say that this particular oratorio was so good, that it really should have more frequent outings.

Even though the altar area in St. John’s Church is not huge, there was enough room on it not only for the orchestra, but also for a short “catwalk” and a screen, that was used to show the performers or some other relevant pictures.

Oratorios used to be popular because the church looked down on operas and it was, after all, possible to tell stories in oratorios with the help of music. That was the case also in this opera: during the performance the singers moved around the altar and in the pulpit as if they were in an opera and the story line tells about Beauty, who with the help of Time and Disillusionment understands that life is not pure pursuit of pleasure.

The singers of the oratorio were from Central Europe: Maria Erlacher (Beauty), Marie Luise Werneburg (Pleasure), Marian Dijkhuizen (Disillusionment) and Nino Aurelio Gmünder (Time). I was a bit worried at the start, when Beauty sang with her back toward the audience and her front view was reflected on the screen. The quality of the hearing experience suffered and I wondered is this going to be the gist of the performance. Fortunately most of the time the singers did face the audience, so that you could really enjoy all the subtleties of the singing. All the soloists were good, but my own favourite was Marian Dijkhuizen. She has a lovely, rich and mellow voice and I really was looking forward to all of her solos.  

The Finnish Baroque Orchestra was also in superb shape and they had an excellent chance to prove their versatility. This oratorio may not be the most typical work of Handel. Sure, it has tons of “handelisque” music, but there are also plenty of parts, where at least I would not have immediately guessed that the composer is Handel. At the same time I have to say, that those parts were almost mischievous and rattling, and I really liked them.