The story from which Carissimi drew this text is one of the many that gives Biblical archaeologists and historians steady work, as it describes the sun going backwards ten degrees. It also inspired two of Carissimi's most inspired dramatic moments.

After a brief, sober simphonia, the two soprano narrators and the bass singing the part of the Lord swiftly set the scene with sober recitative, which leads to Isaiah's announcement to the king of his impending death. Carissimi gave this an otherworldly feel by setting it in a near-monotone over a deep, funereal organ accompaniment, and casting Isaiah as an alto, which in that period, would have given some gender ambiguity. The narrators' music then becomes, for the first time, emotional as it imitates sighs and tears. Ezechias' prayer, which immediately follows, is the central point, both structurally and emotionally. It is very directly written, though like all Carissimi's works, carefully structured, and vividly expresses Ezechias' despair in its arching refrain "Parce mihi, Domine, et miserere." (Spare me, Lord, and have mercy.) It has three sections, each of which is followed by a brief orchestral passage. The first two orchestral "responses" are identical, but the third is faster and almost jubilant, an indication that the situation has changed. The narrators' music is again dispassionate in the recitative that introduces the Lord's announcement that Ezechias will instead live. As Ezechias (rather ungratefully!) asks for a sign that God will in fact do this, and in a majestic passage, over the horns, God responds with the description of the sign he will give, the sun going backwards ten degrees. The narrators describe this in music which, to illustrate further this disruption of the natural order, breaks away from their thirds in which they have sung throughout most of the piece. Ezechias responds in an arioso that contains elements of the majesty that marked God's music, alternating with exultant runs. The oratorio ends with a concerted madrigal-like section for all the voices that displays Carissimi's mastery of counterpoint.

© Anne Feeney, Rovi