The Voice of Isaac An Oratorio for Chorus, Soloists, and Chamber Orchestra

2003 (rev. 2015) | Commissioned by PALS Children’s Chorus | libretto by Howard Frazin | 30 minutes

An oratorio retelling the story of Abraham and Isaac from Isaac’s perspective

Available from Edition Peters


Frazin’s text is a grim, intense drama of mutual recognition that stops short of the Biblical happy ending, when God stays Abraham’s hand and the patriarch sacrifices the ram caught in the thicket instead.  The music is clear in design and Brittenesque in texture—Abraham is an adult baritone; Isaac’s music is divided between individual children and the entire children’s chorus; and the entire piece is ingeniously scored for an ensemble of 12 instruments.  In the children’s voices, the story took on an almost unbearable poignancy, as the composer intended. — The Boston Globe


Listen


Versions

  • SATB Chorus and Chamber Orchestra
    Narrator, treble solo (Isaac), baritone solo (Abraham), SATB chorus, SSA ensemble, and chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion [Chinese cymbal, medium bass drum, large bass drum, tubular bells, vibraphone, marimba], piano, and strings).*
    Wise Music Classical (Edition Peters)
  • SSA Children’s Chorus and Chamber Orchestra
    Narrator, treble solo (Isaac), baritone solo (Abraham), SSA children’s chorus, and chamber orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, percussion [Chinese cymbal, medium bass drum, large bass drum, tubular bells, vibraphone, marimba], piano, and strings).*
    Edition Peters
  • SATB Solo Voices, String Quartet, and Piano
    SAT voices (Isaac), Baritone solo (Abraham), string quartet, and piano. Commissioned by Words & Music
    Contact to Request Score
  • *Also available in performing edition with solo piano reduction.

Program Note

I am eight, maybe nine years old, kids flicking spitballs at each other in Saturday School at Temple Shalom in Chicago; an adult up in front of class telling us the story of Abraham and Isaac, how God tests Abraham with the sacrifice of Isaac: and I am confused, troubled, worried.

What about Isaac? I wonder in my head, but am too angry to give voice to my thoughts. How can this adult teacher relate this horrible trauma of Isaac’s near death at his own parent’s hands to a room full of young children and so blatantly gloss over the child’s view of the story? Perhaps more disturbing, though, is that I am not really surprised. How often, in all too many families we know (perhaps even our own), are children sacrificed to the narcissistic needs and destructive impulses of their own parents, and how consistently do the adults around them (not just their parents), either for shame or ignorance, look in another direction, a child’s story left untold or consciously denied.

Back in religious school I wished there could have been someone in that classroom to stand up and give voice to Isaac. Instead we fidgeted uncomfortably at our desks and waited embarrassed (at our own silence? or at our teacher’s overly confident voice?) until the bell rang for the end of class.

Last spring while listening to the children of PALS sing I was reminded of the echo of my own young voice from another time when I was a kid, a littler human being: the sound of that voice has never completely left me, even as an adult—its vulnerability, its awkward truthfulness, its wonder at all that is good and bad in the world. And I remembered that day when I had wished someone could have stood up and given voice to Isaac.

It was also last spring when what seemed an endless wave of child abuse allegations broke forth from behind a wall of silence in the Church, while at the same time young adolescents were blowing themselves up in the Middle East—children being sacrificed, quite literally, to an adult god. And I thought perhaps now is a good time to listen to the voices of children, to retell their (our) stories, with the hope of hearing the distant echoes of our own histories and futures.

— Howard Frazin (2003)

Addendum for SATB Version

Originally The Voice of Isaac featured a children’s choir and a collection of child soloists together singing the role of Isaac.  In this new version, Isaac is sung by an adult choir of women’s and men’s voices in combination with a treble choir as well as a treble soloist (that can be sung by either children or adults with similar dramatic effect).  These expanded forces have allowed me to more fully realize the various expressive layers of vulnerability at the heart of Isaac’s story.

— Howard Frazin (2015)


Past Performances

Oratorio Chorale
What Binds Us Together: The Binding of Isaac Story in Music

Unitarian Universalist Church
Brunswick, ME
May 4, 2019 (two performances)

Emily Isaacson, artistic director
Keith Phares, baritone
Christopher Staknys, piano

Oratorio Chorale
What Binds Us Together: The Binding of Isaac Story in Music

Temple Beth El
Portland, ME
May 2, 2019

Emily Isaacson, artistic director
Keith Phares, baritone
Christopher Staknys, piano

Listening In
An Evening of Vocal Music by Howard Frazin

Harvard University
Dunster House Library
Cambridge, MA
April 28, 2019

Keith Phares, baritone
Sarah Pelletier, soprano
Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Charles Blandy, tenor
Linda Osborn, piano

Coro Allegro and Boston City Singers
(Premiere of revised SATB version)

Sanders Theatre
Cambridge, MA
March 13, 2016

David Hodgkins, conductor
David Kravitz, baritone
Samuel Higgins, boy soprano

Temple Emunah Sehihot Program

Temple Emunah
Lexington, MA
September 8, 2012

Sarah Pelletier, soprano
Krista River, mezzo-soprano
Matthew Anderson, tenor
Brian Church, baritone
Linda Osborn, piano

Words & Music: The American Composer II

St. Francis Episcopal Church
Great Falls, VA
May 20, 2012

Words & Music

Boston Arts Academy Concert Choir and Members of Emmanuel Music and Lorelei Ensemble

Roland Hayes School of Music Auditorium
Boston, MA
May 18, 2010

Beth Willer, conductor
Joshua Taylor, baritone

Club Night Concert Series

St. Botolph Club
Boston, MA
April 11, 2006

Libella Quartet
Asako Shibata, piano

Longy Faculty Artist Concert

Pickman Hall
Cambridge, MA
November 9, 2005

Libella Quartet
Anny Cheng, piano

PALS Children’s Chorus (Premiere)

Jordan Hall
Boston, MA
March 1, 2003

Johanna Hill Simpson, conductor
Robert Honeysucker, baritone