Program Notes for the March 1, 2009
North Shore Choral Society Concert
The All-Night Vigil (Всенощное бдение),
Opus 37, a cappella, was written and premiered in 1915.
It consists of settings of texts taken from the Russian Orthodox
All-night vigil ceremony. It has been praised as Rachmaninoff's finest
achievement and “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian
Orthodox Church.” It was one of Rachmaninoff’s two favorite
compositions along with The Bells, and the composer requested
that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral. The
title of the work is often translated as simply “Vespers,” which
is both literally and conceptually incorrect as applied to the entire
work: only the first six of its fifteen movements set texts from
the Russian Orthodox canonical hour of Vespers. Today’s performance,
however, includes only the second movement, text from Psalm 104, “Bless
the Lord, O my Soul.”
The All-Night Vigil was written in less than two weeks in January
and February 1915, and was first performed in Moscow in March of
that year, partly to benefit the Russian war effort. It was received
warmly by critics and audiences alike, and was so successful that
it was performed five more times within a month. However, the Russian
Revolution of 1917 and the rise of the Soviet Union led to a ban
on performances of all religious music, and on July 22, 1918 the
Synodal Choir, which premiered the work, was replaced by a nonreligious “People's
Choir Academy.” Arguably, no composition represents the end
of an era so clearly as this liturgical work.
– Notes from wikipedia.org
Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, to
Jewish immigrants from Russia. His life and works are sufficiently
well-known that we need only mention the many fields this musical
polymath excelled in: composing over an astonishing range of styles
and idioms, from opera and symphony to Broadway musicals; conducting,
most notably holding the directorship of the New York Philharmonic;
lecturing; writing; producing television shows; and on and on. He
was also the first American-born composer-conductor entirely taught
and trained in America to establish an international reputation.
His all-too early death in 1990 has deprived us of one of the most
energetic and dedicated musicians to have graced our musical world.
His Chichester Psalms was commissioned for the 1963 Three
Choirs Festival, an annual event held in Chichester, England. The
first performance took place in New York in May of that year; the
Chichester performance occurred three months later.
The work, which employs the original Hebrew texts, begins with an
exuberant setting of Psalm 100 (“Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord”). The second movement, which features a boy soprano,
draws on the words of Psalm 23, interrupted abruptly with the lines “Why
do the nations rage?” from Psalm 2. The third movement continues
with a peacefully flowing setting of Psalm 131 which quotes material
from the opening movement, and it closes with a tranquil setting
of the first verse of Psalm 133. Today’s
performance features a reduced instrumentation consisting of organ,
harp and percussion. The NSCS last performed this work in 2004.
– Program Notes © 2004 by Donald Draganski
“Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let
perpetual light shine upon them.” These are the opening words of the
Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, commonly known as the Requiem Mass (from
the Latin requies, rest or repose). This plea for eternal peace is
found in the Second Book of Esdras, a scriptural text widely accepted during
the early centuries of Christianity, but now numbered among the apocryphal
books of the Old Testament. The Requiem Mass has its theological basis in the
Catholic doctrine that the living, by prayers and sacrifices, can come to the-aid
of-souls in Purgatory. This notion is embodied in the central section, the Dies
Irae, which vividly portrays the day of wrath, the last judgment, threatening
the faithful with Purgatory and the pains of Hell — punishments which
are ameliorated only by the intercession of the Saints and by the fervent supplications
of those left behind to pray for the souls of the departed. The other sections
of the Requiem, by contrast, deal with a blissful resurrection and reunion
through the mercy and atonement of Christ. This unsettling juxtaposition of
comfort and terror has resulted in composers choosing to emphasize now one,
now the other. The Requiems of Berlioz and Verdi exploit the potential drama
and excitement of the Hell-fire sections, whereas the Duruflé and Fauré settings
both omit parts of the Dies Irae section, concentrating entirely on
the comforting aspects of the Requiem Mass. (It should be pointed out that,
since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has also downplayed the Dies Irae by
limiting its use as an option on All Souls’ Day and at funeral services — a
loss of theatrical excitement, perhaps, but a net gain in serenity and hope.)
The name Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) is not very familiar
to most concert goers. This was largely due to the composer’s
slow and painstaking methods as well as being his own severest critic,
for barely a dozen titles have seen the light of publication, and
most of these are for solo organ.
Duruflé was appointed organist at the Church of St. Etienne-du-Mont
in Paris in 1930, a position he held until his death. The Requiem,
which was commissioned by the Parisian publisher Auguste Durand,
was dedicated to the memory of the composer’s father. Completed
in 1947, the piece makes extensive use of actual chant tunes from
the Gregorian Mass for the Dead. “In general,” Duruflé writes, “I
have attempted to penetrate to the essence of Gregorian style, and
have tried to reconcile as far as possible the very flexible chant
rhythms within the exigencies of modern notation.”
Duruflé treats the Requiem text in a restrained and intimate
manner. It is scored for a full orchestra, chorus and organ. The
organ plays a particularly important role, for (quoting the composer
once more), “it intervenes not to support the chorus but to
underline certain rhythms, or to soften momentarily the too human
orchestral sonorities. It represents the idea of comfort, of faith,
and of hope.” The NSCS last performed this Requiem in 1988.
– Program
Notes © 1988 by Donald Draganski
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