La mise en musique de la prophétie et ses enjeux dans l'Athalia de Haendel
Résumé
Handel's oratorio Athalia written on a libretto by Samuel Humphreys and first performed in Oxford in 1733 was a triumph. It follows as a whole the lines of Racine’s «tragédie sainte. » Prophetic enunciation is relevant at three decisive stages in the drama : the famous recital of the dream, at the basis of the whole of the subsequent action ; the final curses of the defeated queen ; the consolatory prophecy of high priest Joas in a trance. We propose to examine the setting to music of this structuring scansion of the prophecy in order to define the poetical and ideological aims at stake. If a different «ethos » and a different musical model are relevant in each of the three prophetic moments, do Handel's choices follow Humphrey’s re-writing of Racine's text ? If the prophecy, made unequivocal by Humphreys, evinces a providentialism which deprives all human matters of their ambiguity, the composer is entirely at the service of a readable, edifying purpose proposing an optimistic and reassuring vision of history — what Racine had precisely not done. All the same, we will ask ourselves whether Handel’s own musical genius hasn’t led him to prefer poetical appearance -or even a dreamlike quality — to justice and ideology.