‘The Oratorio: A Documentary with Martin Scorsese’ reveals a milestone music event from 1826

A once-in-a-lifetime, twice-in-two-centuries spectacle is the subject of a new documentary created with the help of famed director Martin Scorsese. The filmmaker lent his assistance to the director, writer, and producer Jonathan Mann in chronicling efforts to recreate a mostly-forgotten operatic performance at New York’s Saint Patricks’ Cathedral in 1826, “the Oratorio“. The Cathedral was a fixture in the lives of Scorsese’s family going back generations. The revival of the lost “Oratorio” performed originally within its walls some two hundred years ago resulted from an improbable confluence of epic events. Mann joined “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes via Zoom to talk about his new documentary, “The Oratorio: A Documentary with Martin Scorsese,” and the remarkable history it traces of a choral musical achievement nearly lost to time. ATL PBA is airing “The Oratorio” Friday, Nov. 5 at 11 p.m.

The wildlife of Lorenzo Da Ponte, who first staged the Oratorio:

“It’s an amazing assemblage of figures, a cast of characters that somewhat defies reason in all those involved. We started with the protagonist, Lorenzo Da Ponte, as a side note, but very quickly realized he was the musical note that held the film together,” said Mann. “Lorenzo Da Ponte, of course, known as Mozart’s great librettist, wrote everything from ‘Marriage of Figaro to Don Giovanni.’ He is a character who… if we were playing one of those games, ‘Who can I have dinner with and go back in time,’ I now fully appreciate he’d be at that table.”