Stockhausen

Stimmung Notes on Stimmung and a selection of related works

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Stimmung Contents 3 Introduction 5 Stimmung Stockhausen 11 Vingt Regards sur lenfant Jsus - Messiaen 14 Stabat Mater Penderecki 17 Requiem & Lux Aeterna Ligeti 20 War Requiem - Britten 27 Come Holy Ghost - Harvey 32 Selected Choral Works Tavener 37 Totus Tuus Grecki 39 A Childs Prayer - MacMillan Stockhausen has said of his own work, Whenever I felt happy about having discovered something, the first encounter, not only with the public, with other musicians, with specialists, etc, was that they rejected it. A Catholic priest once said of his experience of a live performance of Stimmung It was the longest prayer I have ever known, and the happiest. Sir Thomas Beecham was once asked if he had ever conducted any Stockhausen. He replied No, but I once trod in some!

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Introduction a 20th century historical overview The 20th Century, more than any other era in artistic history, saw more diverging styles, genres and sub-genres developing side by side. Technological advances made it easier for more people to experience music they would otherwise never have discovered. The invention of the phonograph and subsequent developments shellac disks, LP, tape, CD, mp4 etc lead to new forms and styles emerging. Jazz was popularised due to the recording boom for example but the works of Beethoven, Mozart and Bach also became accessible to a huge audience. Rocknroll relied on radio to publicise it. Jazz and Rock are really forms of folk music and for the first time these folk idioms became as important, or even more important, than so called art music. Art music chose its own path or, rather, paths. The diatonic system (major/minor) had been gradually eroded during the 19th century until Schnberg abandoned it completely. His disciples Berg and Webern, and in turn Boulez, Berio, Babbitt etc, took this new world of dissonance to extremes. In the pursuit of art the enjoyment of an audience was of secondary importance. While the avant-garde looked for ever more complex ways of creating music and ever more challenging sound worlds to present, some composers chose to continue working within a more or less tonal framework. Britten, for example, even at his most dissonant, has a strong sense of home in his music. Minimalist composers often use triadic or at least consonant sounds. Hollywood blockbuster soundtracks could, in the main, have been written by Richard Strauss or Puccini! In the background to all this artistic development is a time of huge political and geographic strife on a scale never seen before. Two major world wars claimed the lives of millions. Contrasting political ideologies had a stranglehold on much of Europe for most of the 20th century. The Nazis in Germany and the Communists in Russia helped to shape the way in which 20th century music developed. An artistic diaspora started in the 1930s with many Jewish musicians emigrating to America and bringing the new music of Europe to the New World. Post war German rebuilding was extended to the arts and Stockhausen was one of the first of this new generation to mature in the post war years. The Communist block of countries were ruled with a rod of iron until the break up of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Music played its part as musical nationalism was an important unifying force in many countries such as Estonia and Latvia which suffered under the communist regime. Arvo Prts music was banned in his native Estonia, for example, as it was considered dangerous by the authorities. The role of religion has changed greatly over the 20th century. While churches and other places of worship thrived at the end of the 19th century a gradual decline in attendance was markedly noticeable as the century developed. Belief in itself has not disappeared but it seems that belief in a Christian God has declined. Spirituality is an important part of many peoples lives but they do not necessarily find that spirituality in a Christian church. The boom in travel in the 1960s introduced many to the philosophical and spiritual ideas of many cultures around the world and these have often proven to be inspirational to artists from Europe who wanted to escape from the perceived sins of their parents and grandparents generations. Stockhausens own belief systems are a perfect example of this as he grew up a Catholic but developed his own belief system based on a universal truth in all religious thought, whether Christian, Jewish, Islam, Hindu or pagan. His music must be seen in the light of his position as a 1st generation post war German coming to terms with the guilt associated with the Holocaust which many young Germans still bear today, in the same way as Tallis and Byrd must be viewed in the light of the reformation and recusancy.

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Other post war composers like Penderecki, Ligeti, Gorecki and Prt display the scars of a draconian political system in the music they write. Others, such as Tavener, have rejected the spirituality of their childhood and looked further afield for fulfilment, in Taveners case the Orthodox Church. Britten, though Christian, also brought non-religious belief into his music, for example his pacifism in the War Requiem. The 20th century was a fascinating, if terrifying, time to live through. The composers we will encounter all bore witness to this sense of unease and upheaval in the music they wrote. Yet, despite the increasing humanism and secularisation of the age, they all found inspiration in the divine and felt that there was a meaning to life beyond the everyday and corporeal.

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Stimmung (1968) Karlheinz Stockhausen Commission for Collegium Vocale of the Rheinische Musikschule, Cologne, Germany 6 voices - SSATTB all with a microphone and individual amplification, sitting in a circle with a light above, wearing light, simple clothing, barefoot. Stockhausen is quite specific about these performing conventions. At the most basic level Stimmung is a mixture of minimalism, aleatoricism, electro-acoustic music and serialism, four developments of the mid 20th century. Minimalist Music Minimalism is music which uses very small amounts of musical material and through repetition, subtle development and phase shifting creates an ever changing texture. Good examples include Steve Reichs Clapping Music and Terry Rileys In C. Stimmung is based on one note - Bb- and one chord - Bb9. The textures change over a long timescale and new ideas are assimilated almost imperceptibly much in the way that minimalist compositions tend to unfold over time with small changes to pitch, colour and rhythm gradually introduced. Aleatoric Music The Latin word alea means dice and aleatoric music is music in which there is some element of chance involved in either the compositional process or the performance. The most famous piece of aleatoric music is John Cages 433 in which a pianist sits at the keyboard without playing and the audience listen to the sounds around them which are totally random and unplanned. In Stimmung the performers are given the choice of which order to perform certain sections with the score being merely a list of possibilities. Due to the aleatoric nature of the piece it is possible for no two performances to be the same. The Singcircle recording, known as the Singcircle version, has a different structure to the Theatre of Voices recording, known as the Copenhagen version. Other ensembles have copied these versions but due to the imprecise timing of the entries of magic names, for example, an aleatoric element is still involved. Electro-acoustic music Electro-acoustic music involved live sounds that are either recorded and modified or modified in some way at the point of performance. For example, the very act of using a microphone and speaker turns acoustic into electro-acoustic music. Most electro-acoustic music involves some sort of effect such as a processor of some sort applied to the sound or the splicing and manipulating of a tape recording of live sound. Electronic music is different in that the original sounds used are synthesised. In Stimmung the use of the microphones and loudspeakers to accentuate the overtones of the voices makes this an example of electro-acoustic music. Other examples include David Fanshawes African Sanctus in which live performers interact with pre-recorded tapes of African tribal singing.

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Serialism Serial music was a development of Arnold Schnberg and the 2nd Viennese School (his pupils Alban Berg and Anton Webern). It involved using a chromatic scale in a set pattern known as a row and manipulations of this row included using a retrograde, inversion and retrograde inversion. Later serialists adopted total serialism, making a series of rhythms, dynamics, articulations and so on as well as pitches. Pierre Boulez was known for total serial music and Stockhausen used it in some of his early pieces. In Stimmung serialism is alluded to rather than used. Each model is tightly structured by Stockhausen and very precise instructions are given to the performers, notwithstanding the aleatoric nature of the piece, thus aligning it with the very structured music of the serialists. The Texts There are three levels of text used in Stimmung: 51 models (or moments) Each model is an overtone melody based on phonetic vowel sounds, many of which are associated with words, for example days of the week in German and English, Hallelujah, Komit, Hippy, Phoenix etc. The words themselves are not important as such but the sound of their vowels is of important. The models are put in an agreed order by the performers or the order can be copied from a previous groups performances (eg the Singcircle or Copenhagen versions).

Magic Names Stockhausen includes the names of many deities from religions around the world including Vishnu (Hindu), Yahweh (Hebrew), Quetzalcoatl (Aztec), Allah (Islam), Osiris (Egyptian) and so on. These names are assimilated into the model and adapted by the performers as the performance goes on. Erotic Poetry Eroticism has played a great part in many religious movements though not mainstream Christianity. Stockhausen adds his own poetry which was written in 1967 for his muse (and eventual wife) Mary Baumeister.

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Stimmung as religious text The text of Stimmung does not follow a narrative. More concern is placed on the sound of the words used rather than their meaning though, as a whole, there is an underlying spirituality which transcends any particular religious train of thought. The naming of various deities from many cultures around the world gives the piece a sort of universal religiosity. Stockhausens own beliefs are exemplified in this. He was brought up a Catholic but developed his own sense of spiritual identity, one which is cosmic in scale and based on the universal ideas in all religious thought rather than arguments over small details of doctrine. The manner of vocal production - overtone singing - is used in the chanting of Tibetan monks amongst others and the sound created is haunting and prayer like. The broad scale and use of repeating and subtly changing patters gives a mesmeric, trance like feel for performer and listener. The use of Stockhausens erotic poetry shocked some audience members at early performances but the poetry is quite beautiful in its own right and the idea of ritual sex as an act of worship is nothing new in many religious systems, as anyone who has read The Da Vinci Code will attest. This is not just related to primitive fertility rites but sophisticated cultures eg Egyptian (Isis reconstituting the dead body of her brother Osiris in order to impregnate herself). Even the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament is a series of erotic poems in the form of a conversation between a woman and her lover. An example of the universal spiritual appeal of Stimmung is that a Catholic priest, who attended a performance of it in the Jeita cave system near Beirut, said of it It was the longest prayer I have ever known, and the happiest. Overtone Singing Stockhausen says that he happened upon overtone singing as a way of composing and performing when working on the commission from Cologne. He needed to work out ideas quietly as his children were very young and his usual compositional methods kept waking them up. He started humming ideas and working with the sonorities of different vocal sounds and decided that he would write a piece using this technique throughout. Stockhausen had been interested in phonetics for many years, even studying it at one point, and so he used his knowledge and interest to further his compositional process. He said that he did not go out of his way to emulate the singing of Tibetan and Mongolian monks but inadvertently he tapped into their mode of religious singing. Overtone singing is most easily achieved by slowly singing the 5 vowel sounds, moving slowly between mouth shapes - ah-ee-eh-oh-oo - without a glottal stop or changing throat shape. By trying to get a nasal quality into the sound eventually you should hear the overtones ringing. Using a bright, big acoustic helps too. Overtones are naturally occurring extra notes which colour the sound of any pitch. There is a series of overtones which are known as partials and these are part of the harmonic series. Musicians have made use of this for years. For example brass instruments make use of the harmonic series to produce their notes. A brass instrument is just a metal tube. The way to get different pitches is by applying different levels of pressure to the mouthpiece in order to get the correct note of the harmonic series. Only on valved (and slide) brass instruments can a full chromatic scale be achieved as each change of fingering (or slide position) gives the potential for a new harmonic series. String players use the harmonic series in order to play harmonics on their instruments and, in rock music, digital effects such as envelopes and filters make use of sweeping up and down overtones to colour the original sound produced by the instrument.

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Reactions to Stimmung The opinion of one Catholic priest has already been noted. One early planned performance for July 1968 had to be postponed as the singers needed more rehearsal time to learn the new (to them) techniques of sound production. The first performance eventually took place on 9th December 1968. At a subsequent performance in July 1969, which was also a live radio broadcast, the audience was up in arms. Several members of the audience started to miaow and mimic the models presented by the singers. Stockhausen took the stage asking for order twice but, after repeated interruptions, the performance was abandoned. Audience members took to the stage, grabbed microphones and began shouting musico-political propaganda. Dutch composer Dutch composer Peter Schat can be heard shouting Whatever you think of this music, the composer has the right to have his music heard! All of this was broadcast live. Influence of Stimmung Stimmung is fairly unique. The overtone singing itself has not influenced too many composers but the use of the close mic-ing of small vocal ensembles has been influential eg the style of singing used by the Swingle Singers. The use of aleatoric techniques can be found in many other vocal pieces from later composers. Jonathan Harveys Come Holy Ghost, while not directly influenced by Stimmung, does use aleatoric technique extensively. Several of Stockhausens pupils have become composers themselves and have used chance elements in their music eg Cornelius Cardew. La Monte Young, another of Stockhausens Darmstadt pupils, is credited as being the first composer of minimalist music, and, while Stimmung is not truly minimalist (and postdates Stockhausens time of being Youngs tutor) some mutual influence can be traced.

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What does stimmung mean? The German word stimmung has many English translations, the most usual of which is tuning. We can interpret the word tuning in two ways: 1 tuning an instrument 2 becoming in tune with or attuned to someone or something on an emotional or spiritual level 1 Tuning an instrument This is the more obvious translation. We have a modern (post WWI) convention in which the pitch to which modern instruments are tuned, concert A, is set at 440hz. The harmonic series or overtone series is something that occurs in nature but A=440hz is a human convention, something that is convenient and allows many musicians around the world to play harmoniously with each other. Pitch has not always been constant. A violinist who specialises in music of the Baroque era may tune their instrument to A=415hz ie a semitone lower. This is also a convention as pitch has not been a constant historically with each town, let alone country, in the 17th century possibly having their own pitch centre. A=415hz is another convention for modern convenience. Musicians in Western society (ie most of Europe, America etc) use A=440hz as their pitch centre to allow them to sound harmonious together. In Stockhausens Stimmung the performers take time to establish the Bb as the central pitch of the piece. As the piece is built on the overtones that occur naturally when Bb is sounded you could say that the whole piece is in fact one long tuning note 2 Becoming attuned to.... This is a little more difficult to understand but is an important point. We may become attuned to something through experience or fairly naturally without necessarily knowing why. This is the reason we feel a natural draw towards certain people or sounds and a natural repulsion to certain people or sounds. For example, if you listen to a gamelan from Malaysia playing it sounds a little like an out of tune band of xylophones and metallophones. The idea of pitch is slightly different in Asian music ie they do not divide their octave the way we do (equal temperament) but follow the Pythagorean method of dividing the octave equally so some sounds are less in tune to our ears than others. However, after some time listening to this music (or throat singing or dissonant music by Webern or any unfamiliar sound world) we become more attuned to it and maybe even start to understand or even enjoy what we hear. In Stimmung we become attuned to Stockhausens new sound world as we listen. The performers become attuned to the new (for them at least) way of producing sounds and working with an aleatoric score. Within the performance each performer reacts to the voices around them and assimilate elements of the models which are introduced into their own parts, thus becoming attuned and in tuned with their colleagues. Other translations of the word stimmung include mood, temper, morale, ambiance and atmosphere. It doesnt take much listening to realise that each of the words has some significance to Stockhausens Stimmung. Significantly, the word stimmung has at its root the word stimme which means voice. The piece is a vocal piece, obviously, and the music we hear is all connected with the voice - the pitches of the Bb9 chord occur naturally as part of the harmonic series and the overtones we hear are based on phonetics ie the way the voice forms vowel sounds according to mouth shape and tongue placement. The term stimme can also be applied

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to a part played by a musician eg the violinist in a string quartet plays a part. Stimmung is made up of a number of parts or moments (models) that can be distributed according to the whim of the performers. The further we delve into the meaning of these words the more we can tease out, just like fractal images.

Three Mandelbrot fractal images. The first is the original image. Zoom in to the dip in the right hand edge of the first image and the second image appears. Zoom into the bulbous bit at the top of the hairs on the second image and the third image appears and so on ad infinitum!

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Vingt Regards sur l enfant Jsus (1944) Olivier Messiaen Messiaen was an intensely spiritual composer whose work - both sacred and secular is imbued with a sense of the beyond, of something outwith normal human experience, of something transcendental. He is perhaps chiefly known for his interest in birdsong. His Catalogue dOiseaux is a cycle of piano pieces in which he notates the songs of various birds as accurately as possible and paints an aural picture of each bird - its song, plumage, habitat etc. One of his best known works is Quartet for the End of Time for violin, clarinet, cello and piano. Messiaen wrote this whilst a prisoner of war in 1940. The quartet consisted of other inmates with Messiaen himself on piano and the first performance was given to other inmates and prison guards. Messiaen was a Catholic and many his major works have titles that reflect Catholic beliefs and rituals eg LAscension (for orchestra), La Nativit du Seigneur (organ), La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jsus-Christ (orchestra with various wind and percussion soli). He said that his compositions depict the marvelous aspects of the faith. Messiaen brought liturgical ideas into the concert hall by writing music which was not for church use but which had an overtly Catholic title and programmatic element. Vingt Regards sur lenfant Jsus is a cycle of 20 piano pieces in which Messiaen contemplates the mysteries of the incarnation of Christ. The whole piece takes around 2 hours to perform so these notes will give a very, very brief introduction to some of Messiaens style and his relevance to the study of Music & Belief. Messiaen was influenced by the rhythms of ancient Greek and Hindu music, particularly the rhythmic tales of Indian music which he copied to some extent, though he often rewrote the rhythms (and certainly didnt systematically study them). He also took inspiration form the canonic techniques of Bach, creating rhythmic, if not melodic, canons by adding a dot to notes. In this quote from the 5th movement, Regard du Fils sur le Fils, we see the top part starting with a crotchet while the middle part starts with a dotted crotchet and continuing thus.

We also see one of the recurring themes used throughout Vingt Regards, the Theme de Dieu or theme of God which recurs several times as a leitmotif in the collection. Messiaen often structured his rhythms by using non-retrogradable (ie palindromic)

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rhythmic patterns which give symmetry to his music. The bottom stave of this example from La parole toute-puissante has groupings of 3, 5, 8, 5 then 3 semiquavers.

Another way in which Messiaen created rhythmic unity was by using augmentation and diminution of rhythms, for example in Regard de la Vierge

Messiaen devised his own melodic and in turn harmonic language by creating the Modes of Limited Transposition. These are a series of scales devised by Messiaen which can only be transposed a certain number of times before all the same pitches occur.

Mode 1, for example, is the whole tone scale, something Messiaen used sparingly.

Mode 3 is one of the ocatonic scales so called as there are 8 notes between the lower and upper tonics of the scale.

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Here are two examples of this scale used in Vingt Regards. In the opening of Regard du silence, the right hand uses the 4thtransposition.

The left hand of Nol uses the 2nd transposition.

Some other points to contemplate.

Eastern music - Messiaen had an interest in the music of ancient Greece and also that of Hindus, particularly the rhythms used eg the talas of Indian music. He also discovered Indonesian gamelan and used percussion extensively as a result

Debussy & Stravinsky - from Debussy Messiaen took an interest in unusual scales eg the whole tone scale, though he rarely used it. From Stravinsky he took the rhythmic vitality of The Rite of Spring

Colour - this is of importance both figuratively and literally. Messiaen claimed to experience synaesthesia ie he experienced sound as colour, a well known psychological effect. This in turn lead Messiaen to write music in which he used instrumental colour (timbre) to create structure and interest (even telling the performers which colour to imagine in Des Canyons aux Etoiles!)

Messiaen was a very influential teacher. Stockhausen was among his pupils Dont get too worried about getting bogged down in Messiaens musical language. You can read his treatise on his musical language if you wish. Ive included him here as he is important as a composer who brought his strong faith into all his works, regardless of whether they for liturgical use or for the concert hall.

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Stabat Mater (1962) Kryzsztov Penderecki Penderecki is a contemporary Polish composer. Born in 1933 he grew up during the Nazi occupation of Poland and matured during the Cold War years when Poland was behind the Iron Curtain and under the control of the Russian Soviet regime. Penderecki is perhaps best known for his avant-garde orchestral work Threnody:the victims of Hiroshima. This piece, for 52 string instruments, is one of striking dissonance, in which the performers are called to use their instruments in unusual ways with newly created notation invented by the composer to realise his intentions. The Stabat Mater is a Mediaeval poem in which Mary, the mother of Jesus, grieves at the foot of His cross. The opening line, Stabat Mater dolorosa juxta crucem lacrimosa roughly translates as The mother stood sadly at the cross crying. In this respect the poem is related to the Passion text and, indeed, Penderecki incorporated his Stabat Mater setting into his later St Luke Passion though it is not a biblical text.

The late Baroque composer Pergolesi composed perhaps the best known setting of the Stabat Mater, a 12 movement piece for soprano, alto, strings and continuo which is related in some ways to Bachs solo sacred cantatas. Despite his avant-garde credentials, Penderecki chose to try to unite the ultra-modern with more traditional approaches to setting a religious text when he set Stabat Mater. He writes for three SATB choirs a cappella, a sort of scoring which has its roots in the late Renaissance, particularly in the music of composers such as the Gabrieli and early

Monteverdi where use is made of the antiphonal effects possible in the basilica of St Mark in Venice. Venetian composers often wrote for multiple choirs as there were several galleries in St Marks that were almost tailor made for polychoral writing (also known as coro spezatti). In the St Matthew Passion Bach also uses polychoral textures in the use of two choirs working in antiphony eg the Wohin? questioning in the opening chorus Kommt ihr Tchter. Like many composers in the 1960s Penderecki took inspiration from plainchant. For example, Brittens Curlew River is based on two plainchant hymns and many of Peter Maxwell Davies works such as the opera Taverner make use of plainchant and isorhythmic structures. The opening phrases of Stabat Mater are based on a plainchant tune but Penderecki quickly adopts more modern ideas.

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The text is divided between voices so that the basses from one choir sing Sta-, the next choir basses sing -bat, the third Ma- and so on. The singing here is similar to some of that in Stimmung in that the words here are of secondary importance and the overlapping vowel sounds from the three bass sections create noticeable overtones. It would be a mistake, however, to claim that one composer

influenced the other this is a personal observation of mine based on listening to and performing this piece. The majority of the melodic and harmonic material is derived from the opening plainchant idea with nearly all entries coming in a tone or semitone higher or lower than the preceding note. This helps with pitching to an extent but the number of clusters called for still makes it very difficult to sing. For example, the tenors in the passage opposite are singing E, F, F#, A, Bb and B all at the same time in the final bar! However, as the altos in all 3 choirs are holding an A (and the basses E and B) it is possible to relate the tenor part to something within the texture. In Threnody Penderecki asks for his string players to use extended performance techniques and invents notation to help performers achieve this. In Stabat Mater he again asks for some less familiar ways of performing vocally. Examples include

falsetto singing sprechgesang rhythmic chanting

The sadness and desolation of the mood in the text is fully realised by Penderecki. The vocalised chanting in canon between choirs is similar, in a respect, to the effect of a crowd chattering and passing a message an between them. The agonisingly high tessitura used by the basses in falsetto has a mournful, sobbing feel to it and the almost constant dissonance is unnerving and unsettling and gives a sense of the horror of witnessing someone being crucified.

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Despite the incredibly dense texture and difficult dissonance, Stabat Mater ends with a glorious D major chord which seems to arrive from nowhere on the words paradisi gloria (glory of paradise). Some important points when comparing with Stimmung:

a specifically Christian text set by a Christian composer juxtaposition of ancient and modern eg plainchant and note clusters whereas

Stockhausen uses an ancient technique and timeless effect (overtone singing and harmonic series) in the context of modern compositional and performing techniques (minimalism, aleatoricism, microphones)

a cappella voices performers required to go out of their comfort zones when performing and to

adopt new techniques wide variety of timbres and techniques utilised monophonic plainchant,

monophonic drone with syllables overlapping between voices, polyphonic textures, note clusters, nearly all melodic ideas based on the opening plainchant melody, use of sprechgesang (quasi recitando) etc

entries closely related to preceding notes, usually a tone or semitone higher or lower creating a sense of unity despite the dissonance

specific words are not painted as such (with the exception of padadisi gloria) but the whole mood and atmosphere of the text is aptly created and sustained by Penderecki

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Requiem (1963-65) Lux Aeterna (1966) Gyrgy Ligeti Like Penderecki, Hungarian composer Ligeti lived through years of terror from first the Nazis and then the Stalinists. The anger, fear and uncertainty of the age are very obvious in his choral music. Ligeti was a Jew. It is therefore interesting to note that two of his most important vocal works take their texts from Christian writings. His Requiem was originally inspired by the Dies Irae poem. The Dies Irae is a 12th century description of the day of judgement that was included in the plainchant Requiem.

The famous melody has been used by many composers in later works to suggest death and final judgement eg Berlioz in Symphonie Fantastique. Please note than Ligeti does not use this tune!!! Ligeti was interested in the imagery of the Dies Irae poem rather than any specific Christian beliefs. The Dies Irae is a terrifying depiction of what awaits humans after death Day of anger, day of wrath! This isnt something to look forward to! Jewish people such as Ligeti had lived through such brutal times it may have seemed almost as if the day of wrath had already occurred. This is echoed in his setting of the text. At times terrifying, at times almost laughably odd, Ligetis writes music that he describes as micropolyphony. He subdivides his choir into 4 groups and uses chromatic clusters that grow out from a unison pitch before moving back, extremes of register (eg at the start with the lowest bass plunging to C# below the bass clef) plus all voice parts doubled by orchestral instruments. This is less a piece of religious music than a tone poem. Lux Aeterna also takes a text from the Christian Requiem mass. Ligeti this time uses 16 voices a cappella but again micropolyphony is used. Lux aeterna means eternal light and this piece once again responds to the text by describing it like a vocal tone poem rather than as a piece of devotional music. Micropolyphony is also present in Lux Aeterna. Here there music is in the form of a strict canon. The pitches of, for example, soprano 1, are not in themselves too difficult to sing despite the numerous accidentals.

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Taken on their own they are quite singable and follow a reasonably comprehendible implied harmony (I-V-I-VI-ii-V-I-VII-bIII-bVI-bVII) However, the canon creates clusters of notes that give a seamless quality to the sound created but also makes it very difficult to pitch individual lines. The rhythmic complexity makes this piece daunting too eg the use of triplets and quintuplets makes any sense of pulse almost impossible to discern. The words seem to be of secondary importance as so rarely can they be clearly heard. The whole text is painted rather than individual words. The micropolyphony creates a wash of sound. There is no sense of pulse or of development but the sounds drift imperceptibly, rather like the way continents drift over millennia. Ligetis use of timbres is another way in which the text is painted. Light itself is composed of a spectrum of different colours that are not readily apparent to the naked eye apart from when specific circumstances occur eg a rainbow or light shining through a prism. The vocal colours, melodic shapes and techniques used are a little like the individual colours that make up light. Each individual sound is not perceptible in itself but, as part of the whole (ie the piece Lux Aeterna) gives us a glimpse of the divine and the eternal. Some important points when comparing with Stimmung:

a specifically Christian text set by a Jewish composer who saw the universitality of the fear of death and what follows that is common to all humans of whatever creed or none

use of a variety of vocal performance techniques vocal clusters, high falsetto for basses, chest voice singing, changing textures at first highlighting female voices & later male voices

slowly evolving form in which sections slowly develop and merge with each other over a broad timescale particularly important when considering the way in which each model is assimilated into the next in Stimmung

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use of an ensemble of solo voices rather than a choir the meaning of the words themselves seem less important than the sound they

make every changing timbre and combinations of voices eg sopranos and basses both

singing middle C at the same time brief touches of recognisable harmony eg when the basses enter falsetto it is, in

essence, part of a B7 chord and there are other moments where tonality is suggested very, very briefly

As Lux Aeterna is for 16 soloists it is particularly important that each individual is able to keep their pitch solidly.

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War Requiem (1962) Benjamin Britten

The War Requiem was written for the re-consecration of Coventry Cathedral, and was first performed there 30 May 1962. Coventry Cathedral had been destroyed during the Battle of Britain in World War II. Britten was commissioned to write a piece for the ceremony marking the completion of a new cathedral, designed by Basil Spence, built along side the ruins of the original millennium-old structure. The War Requiem was not meant to

be a pro-British piece or a glorification of British soldiers, but a public statement of Britten's anti-war convictions. It was a denunciation of the wickedness of war, not of other men. The fact that Britten wrote the piece for three specific soloists -- a German baritone (Dietrich Fischer-Diskau), a Russian soprano (Galina Vishnevskaya), and a British tenor (Peter Pears) -- demonstrated that he had more than the losses of his own country in mind, and symbolized the importance of reconciliation. Unfortunately Vishnevskaya was not available for the first performance, and had to be replaced by Heather Harper. The piece was also meant to be a warning to future generations of the senselessness of taking up arms against fellow men. Text For the text of the War Requiem, Britten interspersed the Latin Mass for the Dead (Requiem mass) with nine poems written by Wilfred Owen, a World War I soldier poet who was killed a week before the Armistice. Orchestration The Requiem is truly a large-scale work, calling for huge musical forces. It is scored for three soloists, a chamber orchestra, a full choir and main orchestra, and a boys (trebles) choir and organ. The performers are divided into three distinct planes, often physically separated. Closest are the tenor and baritone soloists and the chamber orchestra. They portray the victims of war. The soloists sing the Owen poetry and communicate in the most personal manner of the three groups. One level removed is the orchestra and chorus, portraying the mass. The soprano soloist adds color to the voices in the chorus, but their Latin singing is less personal than that of the male soloists. Finally, the boys choir and organ present a sound that is almost inhuman. Britten recommended that a small organ be placed in the wings with the boys; choir, to create a more distant sound. For the first performance, and the recording that we have used, the main orchestra and choir was conducted by Meredith Davies, while the chamber orchestra was conducted by Britten.

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General Overview Requiem Aeternam The Requiem aeternam begins with a slow, dragging Introit that gradually builds with longer phrases and more orchestration to a grand opening. The long introduction signifies the beginning of a truly large scale work. For the first time, the F#-C tritone is heard in the knell of the chimes. This is a unifying interval in the piece which is often heard when the text refers to rest. Ironically, the augmented fourth is rather clashing and gives the feeling of unrest, and is historically associated with evil (diavolus in musica). The tenor soloist is then heard, singing Owen's Anthem for Doomed Youth. The orchestra's accompaniment suggests gunfire and the wailing of shells. Very often in the War Requiem, Britten's music follows the text quite literally -- when instruments are referred to in the poetry, they are heard in the music, and onomatopoeic words are illustrated musically. The Requiem aeternam ends with the Kyrie. Traditionally, the Kyrie was merged with the Introit, but Britten chose to separate them with the Anthem. Rather than dividing the movement, though, the Owen poem serves to unify it, drawing its theme from both the Introit and the Kyrie. This movement will be discussed in more depth later on. Dies Irae The Dies Irae, with its nine sections, is the longest part of the War Requiem and can be thought of as the center of the work, even though it is only the second of six parts. Four poems - Voices, The Next War, Sonnet On Seeing a Piece of Our Artillery Brought Into Action, and Futility - are interspersed with the Latin text, and once again serve more to unify than to separate the Dies Irae. The introduction by the brass is in 4/4 time and depicts the "Tuba mirum spargens sonum" imagery sung a short time later. When the chorus comes in, though, the meter shifts to and asymmetrical 7/4, generating a mood of fear and uncertainty. Contributing to this are blurred shifts between major and minor. The unusual meter used by Britten is a clever way to prevent the trochaic tetrameters of the Latin text from sounding repetitive or boring. He creates the feeling of what Palmer calls a "crippled march" by constantly shifting the musical accent. Offertorium The Offertorium begins with the boys singing 'Domine Jesu Christe'. This is an introduction to Owen's poem, "The Parable of the Old Men and the Young." As the tenor and baritone begin retelling it, the accompaniment shifts from the main orchestra to the smaller chamber orchestra. The poem is an ironic inversion of the familiar story of Abraham and Isaac in which Abraham sacrifices his son despite offers made by an angel sent from heaven to save the boy. The last lines of the poem,

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But the old man would not so, but slew his son, - And half the seed of Europe, one by one underline Owen's bitterness toward the leaders who sent their countries' children off to war. The soloists repeat the last line as the boys, seemingly unaware of them, provide an ethereal backdrop. The Latin Hostias text sung by the boys and the soloists' parable fit together seamlessly - both referring to sacrifice. The musical themes of this section borrow from an earlier work of Britten; his Canticle II, 'Abraham and Isaac', Op. 51, 1952. It is a solo vocal piece that retells the Biblical version of the parable. In this Canticle the voice of God is sung by a duet and there is a similar use of the two male soloists here. Sanctus A short pause from the themes of war and death present in the rest of the Requiem is offered by the fourth section. The Sanctus and Benedictus are "messages of serene joy, even in a mass for the dead, and Britten accepts them as such, however ambiguous the attitude in which he then looks back on them through the Owen poem he appends", Palmer writes. The Sanctus has a hopeful, joyous mood, and even the F#-C tritone loses its oppressiveness. Britten comments on the liturgical text with Owen's poem, "The End", returning to the previous darker mood. The "loud clouds" in the second line of the poem seem to cast a shadow over the jubilance of Sanctus. Agnus Dei The Agnus Dei is the last section of the Latin Missa pro defunctis, and Britten's interpretation of it seems to have a feeling of acceptance. The chorus pleads, Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant them rest. Interspersed is "At a Calvary Near the Ancre", in which Owen berates the patriots who never fight themselves. Like Christ, the soldiers are those who "lay down their life" and their eternal rest is called for. Britten adds the words "Dona nobis pacem" to the end of the Agnus Dei. The tritone is more evident here than any other part of the War Requiem. Libera me The Latin text for the Libera me actually comes from the Burial service, not the Mass for the Dead. The mood is even more ominous than the Dies Irae; it speaks of eternal death, not just death and judgment. The slow, plodding beginning gradually accelerates, becoming louder and more insistent. Finally, the orchestra returns to the 7/4 Dies Irae theme, with terrible interjections of panic from the chorus. There is an apocalyptic climax and collapse, and the orchestra and voices fade away. The tenor enters with one of Owen's most famous poems, "Strange Meeting." In it, he relates a dream-like encounter with a German soldier. The conclusion breaks off -- "Let us sleep now..." and the chorus finishes in the same manner as the Requiem Aeternam with "Requiescant in

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pace. Amen." Requiem Aeternam Requiem aeternam dona eis domine Grant them eternal rest O Lord Et lux perpetua luceat eis And let light perpetual shine upon them Te decet hymnus Deus in Zion Thou shalt have praise in Zion O God Et tibi redetur votim in Jerusalem And homage shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem Exaudi orationem meam Hear my prayer Ad te omnis caro veniet All flesh shall come before Thee What passing bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons No mockeries for them from prayers or bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, -- The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them at all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes. The pallor of girls' brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy upon us Christe eleison Christ have mercy upon us Kyrie eleison Lord have mercy upon us The Requiem opens with the words Requiem aeternam chanted with quiet intensity. The unison orchestral accompaniment using quintuplets seems to limp like a wounded soldier. The sound of tubular bells intoning either F# or C provides a sense of unity between the two texts used in this section, the Requiem text and Owens poem Anthem for Doomed Youth which begins: What passing bells for those who die as cattle? The choice of F# and C for the choir parts are important. This interval is a tritone. Tritones are very unstable harmonically and very difficult to pitch within a melody. According to Medieval music theorists the tritone is the diavolus in musica or devil in music and is to be avoided. Britten, as a pacifist, rejected war as an eternal evil. He went to America in WWII with his partner, Peter Pears, to avoid being prosecuted and persecuted as both a conscientious objector and an openly gay man in an age where all homosexual relationships were illegal. Brittens contemporary, Michael Tippett, who was also a conscientious objector and openly gay man. Tippett was imprisoned for his beliefs. The use of the tritone ironically gives a sense of stability despite being a harmonically ambiguous interval. Though not strictly atonal, this opening is not diatonic but the F#-C

interval is uniform throughout. The vocal writing at the opening suggests murmuring, like a personal prayer or mantra being repeated (eg the Catholic Hail Mary)

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and also has a matter-of-fact lack of emotion to it which suggests to me a sort of zombie-like state of mind or possibly a ghostly army.

Et lux perpetua is louder and is almost a challenge to God rather than a prayer. The tritone interval is again most prominent.

Britten uses the treble choir and organ for Te decet hymnus. Zion is the hill upon which Jerusalem is built. In the Old Testament the name Zion often refers to the Jewish nation around the time of the various travails and captivities in Babylon. In the music of Tallis and Byrd in particular references to Jerusalem and Zion can be aligned to their feelings as recusants ie of being in captivity. In the New Testament book of Revelations Jerusalem and Zion again refer to a golden age but a coming golden age in the future when Christ returns to earth triumphant. The Requiem text refers to this latter meaning.

The voices once gain sing in antiphony. Britten uses a melody made up of 11 notes from the chromatic scale (G natural is missing from a full note row) for each phrase which is answered with an

inverted version. The original phrase starts on C and ends on F# with the inversion starting on F# and ending on C. Britten cleverly makes this 11 note melody very singable by choosing intervals that flow almost diatonically. The use of the enharmonic spelling of Db/C# helps too. Though accompanied by organ triadic chords the orchestral strings also play inverted pedals C/F# according to which version of the 11 note melody is being sung. The use of treble voices and chamber organ, both of which are set at some distance from the rest of the performers if possible, gives an unearthly sound to the music, making it seem like a Heavenly choir singing praises to God despite the awful destruction caused by warfare on earth. The Requiem sung by the main choir drifts in at the end of the boys section and is very similar to the opening with the limping orchestral accompaniment. Brittens writing in the Anthem for Doomed Youth makes full use of the instrumental effects suggested by Owens poetry. The F# (here spelled as Gb) tritone is again heard in the harps rippling arpeggios. The dotted rhythms in the chamber orchestra strings give a sense of urgency.

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The flute and clarinet obbligati play bitonally with similar rhythms, adding to the sense of unease and urgency.

A tenor soloist declaims the text boldly to begin with. Britten uses a huge amount of word painting, for example asking the soloist to sing staccato on stuttering and patter

out. A snare drum also adds to the sound of these guns. The Gb/C tritone is heard again on prayers, a unifying feature referring back to the opening Requiem. A melisma is heard on the word wailing, a very obvious piece of word painting. A horn fanfare accompanies the words and bugles calling. The accompaniment heard at not in the hands of boys is a quote of the te decet hymnus melody sung by the trebles (ie boys) earlier and is another clever way of unifying the different musical elements in the piece. Britten asks the violins to play sul ponticello at the line shine the holy glimmers, again painting these individual words. Finally in the Owen setting, Britten uses augmentation of the te decet melody for the line and each slow dusk a drawing down of blinds. A bass drum, played with snare drum sticks, still plays the gun-like rattling motif from earlier but it seems muffled and distant on this lower sounding percussion instrument.

A long harp glissando suggests a dream scene crossfading back into reality for the Kyrie. The Kyrie is a cappella save for the occasional tolling of F# and C on tubular bells. The tritone is heard in the choir again though here C is enharmonically spelled as B#. The bare starkness of the tritone intervals heard in the choir is unsettling and, once again, is a way of conveying Brittens abhorrence of war and indeed the terror of all who have fought in conflicts. However, the final cadence, with F# minor slipping to F major, with the note A as a unifying pivot, is a moment of beauty and peace at the end of this

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movement.

It reminds me of the awful moment at the end of the film version of All Quiet on the Western Front when the character Paul Bumer reaches out from his trench to catch butterfly. The enemy sees him and shoots him dead. In the War Requiem, the shot fired comes in the form of the Dies Irae, the next movement.

Peter Pears at the final rehearsal before the premiere of the War Requiem

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Come Holy Ghost (1984) Jonathan Harvey Jonathan Harvey is a living composer who grew up within the Anglican church but who has subsequently converted to Buddhism. Harvey has not totally abandoned the beliefs of his childhood, rather he has enriched them by embracing other beliefs. In this way he may be compared with Stockhausen as the latter very much believes in the the matters which unify rather than divide belief systems. Harvey was a pupil of Stockhausens at Darmstadt where Gesange der Jnglige and other electronic works were particularly influential. Harvey has written a number of small scale works for liturgical use within the Christian church, notably I Love the Lord, The Tree and Come Holy Ghost. Avant garde techniques are notable in these works. I Love the Lord., for SSAATTBB plus soli, has minimalist elements as one chord is used like a drone throughout most of the piece. The Tree, for trebles and organ, uses some aspects of serial technique. Come Holy Ghost is a setting of the plainchant hymn Veni Creator Spiritus which is well known as a Pentecost hymn. Pentecost, also known as Whitsun, celebrates the event in Acts of the Apostles when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the apostles, causing them to speak in tongues, a gift of the spirit known as glossolalia. In effect the person demonstrating glossolalia speaks an unintelligible language said to be the language of angels while others have the gift of interpreting what is said. Many hymnals have settings of Come Holy Ghost in which the plainchant melody is harmonised in a traditional way. Harvey takes the original melody and sets it in a way which reflects 20th century compositional practices and which gives great importance to the meaning of the words. The hymn is set for a cappella choir SATB (or TrCtTB in most cathedral/choral foundations) in a variety of subdivisions and with some soloists. Verse 1 Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire and lighten with celestial fire Thou the anointing spirit art who dost thy sev'nfold gifts impart This verse is set very simply. A baritone soloist sings the melody in free time - in the way in which most modern choir directors interpret plainchant. No rhythms are given to the soloist, only pitches and a note of where to breathe. The accompaniment consists of basses, tenors and altos building up a hummed chord based on notes of the melody, something Britten often does eg in Curlew River and Death in Venice. The resulting chord is made up of the notes of the pentatonic scale in Bb - FGBbCD.

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Verse 2 Thy blessed unction from above is comfort, life and fire of love Enable with perpetual light the dullness of our blinded sight Verse 2 has a more complex setting. Strict time signatures changing from 6/8 to 5/8 follow the flow and emphasis of the words but are necessary to allow these more involved accompanimental parts to move at the correct time. Tenor 1 takes on the melody, followed in canon by soprano 2. Alto 1 enters in canon at the 5th above with a soprano solo imitating this an octave higher.

Soprano 1, basses and tenor 2 continue the composite chord accompaniment but the chord has more of a cluster feel to it - low G in bass, Eb and F in baritones. The highest part - soaring to high A - gives a sense of the perpetual light overcoming the darkness of the low clusters in the bass parts.

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Verse 3 part 1 Anoint and cheer our soiled face with the abundance of thy grace The musical complexity builds. A tenor soloist is given the foreground melody but, for the first time, this melody is a variation on the original plainchant - almost improvisatory in nature.

It begins as if it is the canon at the 5th (starting on C) but soon moves further afield with F# cropping up. Time signatures fluctuate. The accompaniment is made up again of composite homophonic chords but here they are formed by the plainchant melody being sung in organum starting on a number of pitches - Bass 2 F, Bass 1 Bb, Tenors G, Altos C. The longer note values also imply the use of the cantus firmus technique. The exception are the sopranos who sing a chromatic line (with a soloist adding comments which seem to echo, rather than imitate, the tenor soloist). The tenor soloists line becomes ever more ecstatic towards the words "...with the abundance of thy grace...", again climaxing with a high A. Dynamics are very varied - crescendo up to sub.p for example. Verse 3 part 2 Keep far our foes give peace at home, where thou art guide no ill may come After the ecstasy of the first part of verse 3, there is more reflective music, emphasising "...peace at home...". The accompanying ATB sing versions of phrases (often just a couple of notes) of the original melody adding in some glissandi. Tenor 2 has the original melody in long note values - as a cantus firmus once again. The sopranos are split into 2 parts and each part into as many parts as there are singers. Here Harvey introduces some aleatoric ideas - allowing each singer to enter with the part when they want to within a short time span. There is a guide note at the op of the score suggesting that "...if a few straggle over into the next bar, no matter"! These aleatoric parts are based, once again, on the plainchant melody (though they do not quote it) and, as in the baritone solo at the start, are not written in strict time. Towards the end of this section all the ATB parts are involved in a long slow glissando - to the lower extremes of their ranges in the case of the basses.

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Verse 4 Teach us to know the Father, Son, and thee of both to be but One That through the ages all along this may be our endless song In this section the choir becomes almost totally aleatoric. A note at the top of the score explains what the singers should do and no amount of analysis can do justice to the sound. Each singer chooses an order of the fragments A, B, C different from the others in the group (ABC, BCA, CBA, BAC, CAB, ACB) and sings the 3 fragments expressively and independently, moving straight from one to the next, and from one group of fragments to the next without waiting. When the choice is only between A, B and B, A be careful to avoid singing together with anyone. Hold the last note of the last fragment till conductors sign. Each fragment is based on the plainchant melody. The example below is the second set of tenor fragments:-

On top of this are three statements of the words (and melody) "Come Holy Ghost" by sopranos. The first statement is the original on F, the second on C a 5th higher and the final one on F in octaves. This aleatoric section is of the greatest symbolic importance - Pentecost is the feast of the Church year celebrating the pouring out of the Holy Spirit when those gathered in Jerusalem at the first Pentecost began speaking in tongues - glossolalia - creating a seemingly confused mass of sound which was, however, understandable and related to the events. Harvey's use of aleatoric writing here is entirely appropriate. Verse 5 (Doxology) Praise to thy eternal merit, Father, Son and Holy Spirit The simplest of settings comes at the very end - organum at the 4th quickly changes to unison as the piece ends very simply.

A B C

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Tonality Despite the aleatoricism and occasional chromaticism this piece remains modal - essentially Ionian mode transposed to Bb. There is strong pentatonicism suggested by the notes of the melody - the "leading note" (A) is not sounded often in the original melody Influence of earlier music The melody is an ancient plainchant hymn that was originally sung in monophonic texture. Many composers have been influenced by plainchant and have borrowed from it eg Berlioz in Symphonie Fantastique, Britten in Curlew River but the use of plainchant as the basis for a polyphonic composition was standard in the Medieval and Renaissance eras eg masses based on plainchant tenors. Harvey uses the older techniques of canon and cantus firmus Words and Music * Word setting reflects the verbal rhythm in the main melody lines, following the spoken stresses of the words as most interpreters of plainchant agree. Lack of rhythmic notation at start and the many changes of time signature are there to allow the flow of word stresses to remain * The whole piece is, in a sense, word painting, giving a fantastic choral interpretation of speaking in tongues or glossolalia. A phrase such as "...with the abundance of thy grace..." are given telling music * The original hymn is strophic and Harvey's setting retains the essence of this as each verse is based on the same melody but with vast amounts of variation * The melody and choral accompaniment are both derived from the original plainchant either directly (as in cantus firmus) or indirectly (the fragments in the 4th verse which are based on typical melodic contours from the plainchant) * Use of "special effects" such as glissando important plus extremes of range for soprano and tenor soloist and choral basses

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Selected Choral Works John Tavener Background

born into a Presbyterian family Presbyterian beliefs very similar to those of Martin Luther, ie the authority of the

Bible, salvation through Jesus, all believers to spread the gospel and administer the church and God is supreme authority in the universe

converted to Eastern Orthodox church in his mid 30s his music since conversion draws heavily on the music of the Eastern Orthodox

church and Byzantine tradition drones homophonic textures microtonal writing to emulate the scales and pitch inflections of Eastern European

folk and sacred music iconography important to Tavener iconography is the study of the interpretation of meanings in images specifically in the Orthodox church great importance paid to ancient icons, often

said to have miraculous properties

The Lamb (1982)

text from a poem by William Blake text fairly simple on the superficial level music similarly very simple on a superficial level -a mixture of unison, 2 part

homophonic and 4 part homophonic writing text has hidden depths and double meanings eg the lamb of the title could be read

literally as a lamb or figuratively as the lamb of God ie Jesus. The image of a lamb has a long tradition in Jewish and Christian beliefs - innocence, sacrifice (the sacrificial lamb offered by Abraham instead of Isaac, the scapegoat, the Passover lamb, agnus dei)

The music similarly has hidden depths - all based on a simple 8 note phrase:

but subtle permutations used eg mirror imaging horizontally (retrograde) and vertically (inversion), use of bitonality resulting from the inversions, aspects of serial technique, use of chromatic scale, 4 part homophonic writing using a mode, everything coming back to a unison.

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Influence of Orthodox music apparent in use of block chords. The dissonant harmonies similar to those created by the use of drones and slightly flattened supertonics in Eastern European music.

No word painting but metaphrase as the hidden depths in the text are reflected

in the musical setting?

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Hymn to the Mother o f God (1985) text from the Liturgy of St. Basil hymn in praise of the mother of God ie the Virgin Mary set for double SATB choir with multi divisions within each choir each individual choir is homophonic throughout but the 2nd choir imitates the 1st

in canon huge amount of dissonance created within essentially a modal work due to the two

choirs singing in canon, however, this dissonance is fleeting and somehow beautiful

evokes the feeling of a very large space and a huge acoustic as the choirs sounds mix in the way that one chord flows into another in a large acoustic

mystical paradise - Eb and C major together is highly dissonant but is beautiful. Metaphrase rather than word painting?

Ternary form musically - text reflected in this though there is a change of text in the 2nd A section. B section in an unrelated key (Ab)

influence of Orthodox music in use of homophonic texture, block chords wide ranges for some voices avant garde techniques - none as such but the canon creates so many dissonances

that it could not come from any other era

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Song for Athene (1993) text a mixture of the Orthodox funeral service and lines from Shakespeares Hamlet written in memory of Athene Hariades, a friend of the composer, but made famous when sung at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales drone on tonic throughout plainchant like opening phrase Alleluia

homophonic texture, S&T in octaves, A providing harmony, A sing same melody as the opening plainchant idea

plainchant then in minor - Ab. This pattern - major then minor - oscillates throughout the piece

new melody top of page 2, wider range, less plainchant-like, more yearning Give rest - Taveners typical use of contrary motion (inversion), leading to some

odd harmonies especially at cadence points

Life a shadow... - augmentation

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Weeping at the grave...Alleluia - magical change from minor to major mode to emphasise the words meaning (metaphrase rather than word painting?)

Come enjoy rewards - glorious moment, inverted pedal as well as the drone, multi divisions of voice parts, parallel homophonic movement - triadic movement

plainchant-like ending wide range for some voice parts influence of Orthodox church in the use of homophonic texture, parallel block

chords, rich texture and drone avant garde techniques - inversion of melody, minimalism (only 2 melodic ideas

used)

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Totus Tuus (1987) Henryk Grecki Grecki, like his Polish contemporary (both born in 1933) Penderecki, lived through a torrid period in the history of Poland ie the Nazi occupation and the Communist years. Greckis early music was influenced by the harsh atonality and serialism of Luigi Nono and Stockhausen but in the 1970s, much to the dismay of the musical establishment, he started to write in a more tonal, reflective manner. Along with Arvo Prt, he has become known for what is referred to as holy minimalism though it is a term neither composer would use. His Third Symphony (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) brought him prominence in the UK when Paul Gambaccini played it on his Classic FM show. Like many Poles Grecki is a Catholic. Polish Catholics rejoiced in 1978 when Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Krakow was made Pope John Paul II. John Pauls years as Pope coincided with a rise of anti-Soviet feeling in Communist satellite states such as Estonia (Prts homland) and Poland. In Poland a workers union, Solidarity, led by Lech Walesa, did much to help bring down the Soviet Union despite the authorities drives to ban them. Walesa, though, described the Pope as one of the most influential figures in helping to instigate the fall of communism via his spiritual leadership. Pope John Paul II made several pilgrimages to Poland. Grecki wrote the motet Totus Tuus in celebration of the third of these events. The text is a prayer by Maria Boguslawska in praise of the Virgin Mary Totus tuus sum, Maria I am totally yours, Mary Mater nostri redemptoris Our redeeming mother Virgo Dei, Virgo pia Virgin of Godm sweet Virgin Mater mundi Salvatoris Mother of the worlds Saviour Totus tuus sum, Maria I am totally yours, Mary Catholics hold the Virgin Mary in particularly high regard and, particularly in the Medieval and the Renaissance eras, many text praising her were set to music eg Ave Maria, Ave Maris Stella (Hail star of the sea) etc. Pope John Paul held Mary in particularly high regard amongst the saints so this is an apt text for Grecki to set for this occasion. The musical language is essentially tonal with a little use of dissonance but block homophonic chords, many of them in 2nd inversion, are used throughout in a way which is reminiscent of Taveners take on the music of the Eastern Orthodox church.

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After the declaimed opening the music becomes quiet, still and contemplative. While the words themselves are not painted individually the setting really demonstrates Greckis and Pope John Pauls devotion to their faith and to the Virgin Mary in particular. The name Maria in the opening statement, which returns later, is written in captitals in the score but the rest of the text is in lower/uppercase according to context. The stillness is carried by the inner pedal in the tenor part.

The tonal centre is Eb major with one beautiful passage where enharmonic shifts move the music swiftly through A major, G# major, Ab major, Db major and E major before finally returning back to Eb. Soprano and alto parts are fairly mid-range though the sopranos are called to go as high as G# or occasions.

The text setting is syllabic with only the very occasional short melisma on Maria. The large amount of repetition used has given rise to the term holy minimalism for pieces such as this. The opening is repeated in its entirety before Grecki adds a coda which repeats the name Maria around 12 times, each time getting gradually quieter the basses sing nothing but a G pedal for 3 and a half pages! On top of this pedal point the other voices repeat some very simple lines which have similarities with Bernsteins treatment of the same name in West Side Story.

A performance note at the front of the score says notes not tied together should have the text syllable repeated on each note. The degree to which this is done will depend on the acoustical setting. In the section above each voice part would sing Ma-ri-ee-a, Ma-ri-ee-ee-ee-a in the last 3 or so bars.

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A Childs Prayer (1996) James MacMillan James MacMillan is a contemporary Scottish composer. All of his work is informed by his faith and Catholic background. MacMillan, in addition to being in demand as a living composer with an international reputation, directs his local parish choir each week and writes liturgical music for them to use in services. He has said that in many respects it is more challenging to write for this amateur choir than for professional singers. Much of what he writes for liturgical purposes is for congregational singing. His Catholic forebears, Tallis and Byrd, wrote music for trained choirs to sing as congregational singing was frowned upon in the Catholic church in the Renaissance era. In the early 1900s a move was made to re-establish the tradition of the congregational use of Gregorian chant in services. In 1962, during the Second Vatican Council, a decision was made to allow greater participation by laity (ie ordinary people) in worship and, following this, in the mid 1960s it was decided that the vernacular could be used for services. Latin was not totally eradicated and indeed is still the official language of the Catholic church, however. This change by the Catholic church has encouraged Catholic composers such as MacMillan to compose music which is fairly simple to learn for an untrained congregation yet engaging enough to be memorable. This brought the Catholic church more in line with the Anglican church where congregational singing of liturgy including mass (eg to a setting such as Martin Shaws joyless (as described by a Church in Wales publication in 2004) Folk Mass . It has also allowed English texts to be used for short. Devotional pieces, rather than Latin though many of MacMillans pieces such as O Bone Jesu are in Latin. A Chi ld s Prayer The text of this piece is a prayer MacMillan remembered from his childhood Welcome Jesu Deep in my soul forever stay, Joy and love my heart are filling On this glad communion day. (alternative final line On this glad and sacred day) MacMillan wrote this piece as a reaction to the terrible Dunblane massacre. A gunman called Thomas Hamilton went into the Primary School at Dunblane, shooting and killing sixteen 5 & 6 year olds plus a teacher and himself. The musical setting uses a SSAATTBB choir with 2 treble soloists.

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MacMillans musical language is both simple and challenging. The choir begin with a three chord ostinato centred around E minor. The chords roughly equate to chords I, VI and IV in this key though there are dissonances throughout. Chord I has an added 4th and 9th, Chord VI an added 4th, 6th and 7th and chord IV an added 2nd and 6th. The individual lines are not in themselves that difficult, and the use of many repetitions help to make it an easier sing. The dissonances should be jarring but are beautiful and other-worldly.

The singers are instructed to close their lips on the mmm sound of Welcome in the same way as Jonathan Harvey asks the accompanimental singers to close their lips and hum at the start of Come Holy Ghost. The treble soloists sing in 2 part harmony above this homophonic accompaniment, deliberately evoking thoughts of angels.

Again, the solo lines are not in themselves difficult to pitch but they add to the dissonance. Most of the notes used are part of the dorian mode transposed to E though the occasional G# suggests a tierce de Picardie. Starting in the lower register, the soloists gradually climb higher and Heaven-ward

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MacMillans Scottish roots can often be heard in his music through use of drones and grace notes. He colours the word Joy with both of these effects. The use of the grace notes does give a brief lift to the sombre mood but there is very little joy in this setting. Each voice enters in turn with joy. The word joy is heard

18 separate times, sometimes with a single voice, sometimes with several voices. 16 children and their teacher were killed by Hamilton in this tragedy with the gunman then committing suicide. I wouldnt want to suggest that this is a deliberate link by MacMillan but it may well be. Following this a single solo voice introduces and love answered by an A7 chord in 3rd inversion. The two soloists soar up to the top of their range with music of breathtaking poignancy and beauty.

The texture texture of the opening, plus the chordal ostinato, briefly returns, the final chord shown above being the same as the opening Welcome. The piece ends with just the two soloists exposed on a unison E.

The setting is syllabic on the whole but here, on the word communion (another word for the part of the mass celebrating the last supper and therefore the betrayal and sacrifice of Jesus) there is one of the very few melismas in this piece.