Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 Silent film with original choral/orchestral score

LENOX, MA. — The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present DREYER’S PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC 1928 SILENT FILM at Trinity Church on Saturday, May 12 at 7:30pm. Silent film organist Peter Krasinki will be a special guest on the program with a live chorus and orchestra playing the original music by Victor Alix and Leo Pouget. A 6:45 pre-concert lecture will explore the extraordinary history of the film and the score.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (French: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc) is a 1928 silent French film based on the actual record of the trial of Joan of Arc. The film was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and stars Renee Jeanne Falconetti as Joan. It is widely regarded as a landmark of cinema. Dreyer’s direction and Falconetti’s performance is one of the finest in cinema history. The film summarizes the time that Joan of Arc was a captive of England depicting her trial and execution.
The original version was lost for decades after a fire destroyed the master negative and only variations of Dreyer’s second version were available. In 1981, an employee of the Dikemark Hospital mental institution in Oslo found several film canisters in a janitor’s closet that were labeled as being The Passion of Joan of Arc. The canisters were sent to the Norwegian Film Institute where they were first stored for three years until finally being examined. It was then discovered that they were Dreyer’s original cut prior to government or church censorship.
In the 1920s film music was normally played live in the theatre. Only the reduced full score, string and vocal parts have survived, found in the U.S. Library of Congress. For this performance, the wind parts have been recreated and added. In 1994, composer Richard Einhorn wrote an oratorio based on the film entitled “Voices of Light”, but this original 1928 score has rarely been performed.
Organist Peter Krasinksi is broadly recognized as a motivating consultant for the pipe organ community who imaginative and energetic performances elevate and inform audiences. Along with regular concert appearances he specializes in the art of silent film accompaniment worldwide. He currently serves as Organist at First Church of Christ in providence RI and is a faculty member at St. Paul’s Choir School, Cambridge MA.
Concert tickets are $30 adults, $20 seniors and free for children 12 and under. To purchase tickets or request information visit www.cantilenachoir.org. Phone: 518-791-0185 or email .
The Cantilena Chamber Choir, now in its fourteenth season, is the recipient of a Peers grant award from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the only Berkshire choir so honored. It is also a two-time winner of the prestigious Choral Arts New England’s Alfred Nash Patterson Award for unique programming. Andrea Goodman, the founder and director of the choir, also serves as the Music Director for the annual summer Saratoga Choral Festival in Saratoga Springs, New York.