THE PATRIARCH AND THE PAINTER

Libretto and Direction by David Napthine; Music by Duncan Brown and Greg Pullen
Design and Direction by Ali McCaw; Project Management by Jill Cole
Choreography by Raul Calderon

Two of the Youth Choir

Dressing the Band

The Opening Procession

The Choir Processing from the Throne Room

Eliot Alderman as the Narrator and a Quartet from the Band

Richard Coxon as Zurbaran and Paul Hudson as Jacob

In 2007, working with Bishop Auckland Choral Society, Changeling Productions created The Patriarch and The Painter, an oratorio with theatrical elements.

First performed in the Bishop's Palace, Bishop Auckland in Northern England in March 2007, the oratorio recounts the history of twelve paintings by the 16th century Spanish artist Francisco de Zurbaran which are housed in the palace.

The paintings depict the biblical patriarch, Jacob, and his twelve sons in Spanish peasant costume. They were painted in Seville in the early 17th century for a Catholic mission in South America, but disappeared en route (according to one apocryphal story, stolen by pirates).
Reappearing in London in 1758, they were purchased by the then Bishop of Durham, Bishop Trevor,as part of a movement to counter anti-semitism. He hung them in a specially refurbished room in the Palace, where they they are still on display.

The first performance involved the choral society, the Society's youth choir, a brass band, the Spennymoor Town Band, a professional instrumental ensemble, a player of the tible, Xavi Pinol from the Cobla Marinada in Barcelona, Paul Hudson (bass) as Jacob, Richard Coxon (tenor) as Zurbaran, Elliot Alderman (tenor) as the Narrator, Jonathan Scott (tenor) as Bishop Trevor and a group of dancers who danced the sardana from St. Joseph's Primary School, choreographed by Raul Calderon of Dance City in Newcastle, .

The dramatic journey of the Zurbaran paintings from their inception in Seville to their eventual resting place in Durham was both a physical and an intellectual journey and one which took in many cultures.

We have tried to reflect this in the music and drama for ‘The Painter and the Patriarch’, from the opening and closing processions which are a recreation of the type of Spanish religious procession with which Zurbaran would have been familiar, to the incorporation of the prayers of a Jewish cantor, chosen by our Narrator, Eliot Alderman, who is both an opera singer and cantor.

It is scored for mixed voice choir, beginners adult choir, youth choir (treble voices), instrumental ensemble, brass band and four soloists.

It has a number of easy to sing choruses and songs for both adults and young people, designed to act as a means of encouraging wider participation in choral singing, and while the majority of the music is approachable in style, at some of the more dramatic moments we have also experimented with choral and instrumental techniques which challenge the performers, soloists and choir.

The scoring also uses one particularly Spanish instrument, a Tible. Religious processions in the north of Spain are often accompanied by a type of band called a ‘cobla’. The distinctive sound of the cobla comes from its mix of brass instruments and the ‘tible’, a double reed instrument related to the medieval shawm. In order to recreate the genuine sound of the processions, the brass band becomes a cobla band for the processions (as well as accompanying other choruses in the work). The tible is used in its traditional role in the processions, but plays throughout the piece within the chamber ensemble that accompanies the interior scenes.

Scores of The Patriarch and the Painter and other works from the Changeling team can be purchased through the Publications page.