In the 17th century, Italian composer Giacomo Carissimi adapted “Jephte,” the bloody story of human sacrifice taken from the biblical Book of Judges, into a baroque oratorio.

On Tuesday, Nov. 16, Whitman College’s Divertimiento Chamber Orchestra will perform “Jephte” as part of their fall concert. For many Whitman students and residents of Walla Walla, seeing this performance might be once-in-a-lifetime.

“It is rarely performed, and it’s a real . . . treasure of the early baroque repertoire,” said senior Jackson Maberry, director and organizer of the production. “If we can give . . . people at Whitman and also in the larger community a chance to hear this music, it may be the only time they’d get to.”

“Unless you’re really into the music community in whatever town you live in, these are pretty obscure events,” said senior McKenna Milici, the soprano who plays the daughter of Jephte. “For a lot of people here at Whitman, this might be their one chance to see this opera.”

The biblical story of “Jephte” revolves around the title character’s war against the Ammonites. In return for God’s help, he promises to sacrifice the first person that greets him when he returns home. Upon his return, his daughter greets him. She learns that she will be sacrificed and goes into the mountains to bewail her virginity and the sons she never had the chance to bear.

“Jephte,” the musical arrangement, is a transitional piece, widely considered to be a watershed of baroque musical thought: one of the first true oratorios.

“It’s the transitional pieces of music from any age that we find are the most revolutionary, the most gripping,” said Maberry. “That’s why [‘Jephte’ has] continued to be gripping, and interesting to people who are . . . really serious students of music and also people who just listen to music casually. It’ll be something different, something that they’re not used to hearing, but . . . close enough to more mainstream classical music as to be accessible and interesting.”

“Jephte” is often mistaken as an opera due to its musical similarities.

“It’s easy to think of it as an opera because it shares so many of the same features, [with] soloists, chorus [and] instruments,” said Maberry.

Instead, “Jephte” is an oratorio. Oratorios are not staged; in other words, there’s no acting. They deal with biblical subjects, use a smaller “continua band” rather than a full orchestra for accompaniment, and highlight vocal parts almost exclusively.

“Jephte” has two main soloists: Jephte and his daughter. The oratorio also contains a narrator and a chorus of 14 singers which function much like the chorus in Greek tragedy, providing repetitive reinforcement for what’s happening on stage.

The music in the “Jephte” pushes genre limits as well. The score splits the vocal music into six distinct parts, whereas most modern choral music uses only four. To adjust for this, singers must have considerable talent and range.

“It’s difficult music to do with fewer people,” said Maberry.

“Jephte” is also sung in Latin. While audience is provided with a translation of the Latin words, singers must overcome a massive language barrier to inform their music emotionally.

“It’s more difficult to put the meaning behind the words because it’s not a language that you know,” said senior Michelle Davenport, who sings soprano in the chorus. “If you’re singing in English a song about hating somebody you can bite the words and put the emotion into it.”

Milici believes that the ornamental and dramatic flair of baroque music helps overcome this barrier.

“Every style of music has . . . its own emotional color that comes along with it,” said Milici. “When [the audience] hears the very last chorus, which is a lament, they’re going to get it . . . the music gives you a lot of cues.”

The members of the chorus can also take cues from each other to back up their music.

“If you’re singing across the choir, you can take . . . emotional and musical cues from everybody,” said Davenport. “It makes the choir more of . . . one whole voice rather than each musician singing separately.”

“The music is highly dynamic,” Maberry said. “Despite the fact that there’s no stage action . . . you’ll definitely be able to hear just in the way the lines flow, the melodic lines, and the way the accompaniment, you know, changes harmonically to increase stress underneath those lines . . . the drama that’s taking place between the characters.”

“Jephte” will open the Divertimento Chamber Orchestra concert and will be performed at 7:30 pm in the Hall of Music. The orchestra will also play Mozart’s 41st symphony: his last: and an overture by Schumann to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth.