THE PLAGUE

The cantata The Plague is based on the novel of the same name by Albert Camus, an author with whom Robert Gerhard always showed a great affinity. In the words of the composer, “The Plague is a fable and, as in all fables, animals stand in for humans. This is not a tale of rats, but of humans. It is a tale of our time. However, it cannot be a story with a victorious ending, but rather an eternal defeat.” With music of extraordinary intensity and with the same absolute validity and topicality as the novel by Camus, The Plague is one of the composer’s greatest works, the synthesis of the musical and human journey throughout a whole life by the most internationally-renowned Catalan composer.