Judith is a play written in 1840 by the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Hebbel.
The play, composed at Hamburg, was Hebbel's first tragedy. The following year it was performed in Hamburg and Berlin, making Hebbel known throughout Germany. The opera Holofernes of Emil von Reznicek was composed on the motifs of the play.
Based on the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, Hebbel's adaptation presents a heroine who oversteps the boundaries of proper womanhood as defined by his 19th-century upbringing. Changing the political plot of the biblical story into a psychological investigation, he invests Judith with a sexuality and beauty that prove fatal to the men around her: she is left a virgin on her wedding night because her beauty (or so she believes) renders her husband Manasses impotent, and in Holofernes's tent, she subconsciously exercises her repressed sexual desire, leading Holofernes to rape her so that she can subsequently behead him. "Holofernes prefigures the misogynist ideology of the fin-de-siecle", and while Judith resists the traditional female role she is given, she cannot transcend its restrictions. [1]
The Book of Judith is a deuterocanonical book, included in the Septuagint and the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian Old Testament of the Bible, but excluded from the Hebrew canon and assigned by Protestants to the apocrypha. It tells of a Jewish widow, Judith, who uses her beauty and charm to destroy an Assyrian general and save Israel from oppression. The surviving Greek manuscripts contain several historical anachronisms, which is why some scholars now consider the book non-historical: a parable, a theological novel, or perhaps the first historical novel.
In the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, Holofernes was an Assyrian invading general dispatched by Nebuchadnezzar to take vengeance on the nation who withheld assistance for his recent war. Holofernes occupied all the countries along the sea coast and destroyed all their gods, so that they would worship Nebuchadnezzar alone. Holofernes was warned against attacking the Jewish people by Achior, the leader of the Ammonites, which angered him and his followers; they rebuked him, insisting that there was no god other than Nebuchadnezzar.
The Old English poem Judith describes the beheading of Assyrian general Holofernes by Israelite Judith of Bethulia. It is found in the same manuscript as the heroic poem Beowulf, the Nowell Codex, dated ca. 975–1025. The Old English poem is one of many retellings of the Holofernes–Judith tale as it was found in the Book of Judith, still present in the Catholic and Orthodox Christian Bibles. Most notably, Ælfric of Eynsham, late 10th-century Anglo-Saxon abbot and writer, composed a homily of the tale.
Artemisia Lomi or Artemisia Gentileschi was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished seventeenth-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional work by the age of fifteen. In an era when women had few opportunities to pursue artistic training or work as professional artists, Gentileschi was the first woman to become a member of the Accademia di Arte del Disegno in Florence and she had an international clientele.
Wir sind Helden was a German pop rock band that was established in 2000 in Hamburg and based in Berlin. The band was composed of lead singer and guitarist Judith Holofernes, drummer Pola Roy, bassist Mark Tavassol and keyboardist/guitarist Jean-Michel Tourette.
Judith Holfelder-Roy, known by her stage name Judith Holofernes, is a German singer, guitarist, songwriter and author.
Christian Friedrich Hebbel was a German poet and dramatist.
Judith, is an opera in five acts, composed by Alexander Serov during 1861–1863. Derived from renditions of the story of Judith from the Old Testament Apocrypha, the Russian libretto, though credited to the composer, has a complicated history. The premiere took place in 1863 in Saint Petersburg. This stage debut, supplemented with his next opera Rogneda, made Serov the most important Russian opera composer of the 1860s.
Judith of Bethulia (1914) is an American film starring Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall, and produced and directed by D. W. Griffith, based on the play of the same name by Thomas Bailey Aldrich. The film was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released.
Christine Enghaus, pseudonym of Johanne Louise Christine Engehausen, was a German actress and wife of the German playwright Friedrich Hebbel.
Judita (Judith) is one of the most important Croatian literary works, an epic poem written by the "father of Croatian literature" Marko Marulić in 1501.
“Guten Tag” is a 2002 song by German band Wir sind Helden. It was first released on an EP of the same title in 2002 and one year later as the first single of their debut album Die Reklamation. It was composed by Jean-Michel Tourette, Judith Holofernes and Pola Roy while the lyrics were written by Holofernes. The title is German for good day.
The account of the beheading of Holofernes by Judith is given in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, and is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because of his desire for her. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith's home, the city of Bethulia. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith; his head is taken away in a basket.
Judith Slaying Holofernes is a painting by the Italian early Baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi, completed in 1612-13 and now at the Museo Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. It is considered one of her iconic works. The canvas shows Judith beheading Holofernes. The subject takes an episode from the apocryphal Book of Judith in the Old Testament, which recounts the assassination of the Assyrian general Holofernes by the Israelite heroine Judith. The painting shows the moment when Judith, helped by her maidservant Abra, beheads the general after he has fallen asleep in a drunken stupor. She painted a second version now in the Uffizi, Florence, somewhere between 1613 and 1621.
Judith is an oratorio composed by Thomas Arne with words by the librettist, Isaac Bickerstaffe. It was first performed on 27 February 1761 at Drury Lane Theatre. It depicts the story of Judith, taken from the Book of Judith of the Old Testament. It was first published in 1761 and republished with edits in 1764. The piece is divided into three acts, with a total of 28 movements including nine choruses, two duets, an overture, and 16 arias.
Judith and the Head of Holofernes is an oil painting by Gustav Klimt, painted in 1901. It depicts the biblical figure Judith holding the head of Holofernes after beheading him. The beheading and its aftermath have been commonly portrayed in art since the Renaissance, and Klimt himself would paint a second work depicting the subject in 1909.
Judith is a solo work created by dancer/choreographer Martha Graham. William Schuman composed the music. Charles Hyman designed the original set, which was replaced almost immediately by one conceived by Isamu Noguchi. He also added jewelry and a headdress. Jean Rosenthal provided the lighting. The piece premiered on January 4, 1950, at the Columbia Auditorium in Louisville, Kentucky.
Judith and Her Maidservant is one of four paintings by the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi that depicts the biblical story of Judith and Holofernes. This particular work, executed in about 1623 to 1625, now hangs in the Detroit Institute of Arts. The narrative is taken from the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, in which Judith seduces and then murders the general Holofernes. This precise moment illustrates the maidservant Abra wrapping the severed head in a bag, moments after the murder, while Judith keeps watch. The other three paintings are now shown in the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, and the Musée de la Castre in Cannes.
Judith is an opera in two acts by Siegfried Matthus with a libretto by the composer based on Friedrich Hebbel's Judith and texts from the Old Testament. The premiere was on 28 September 1985 at the Komische Oper Berlin, directed by Harry Kupfer. It was recorded in a studio production.
Klara Ziegler, also Clara Ziegler, was a German stage actress and writer.