In 1839, the young Richard Wagner was the conductor of the Court Theater in Riga, Latvia. In what turned out to be a recurring problem as a result of his extravagant lifestyle, he racked up huge debts. He hatched a plan to escape from his debts by taking his completed opera Rienzi to Paris for its premiere and make his fortune. This plan was initially halted when his passport was taken by the authorities on direction from his many creditors in Riga.
He and his wife illegally crossed the Prussian border, and they found a captain of a ship that would take them to London. The trip should have taken about a week, but due to high winds and rough seas, the trip took over two weeks. His arrival in Paris turned out to be a disaster as well. His opera wasn't performed at the Paris Opera, and he had to rely on hand outs and the meager money he made writing articles for periodicals of the time.
The voyage through the Norwegian reefs made a wonderful impression on my imagination; the legend of the Flying Dutchman, which the sailors verified, took on a distinctive, strange colouring that only my sea adventures could have given it.
It was his hope that the short opera would be accepted by the Paris Opera for performance. His experience of the sea journey, especially when the ship had to take shelter in a Norwegian fjord from the rough seas, that inspired him. He based the libretto on a story written by the German author Heinrich Heine that was based on the story. Heine's story was written as a satire, but Wagner made the story a serious tale of redemption through the love of a woman.
The legend of The Flying Dutchman went through many versions, with the first version in print being in 1790. In brief, the legend said that a ship that was trying to round the African continent couldn't find a pilot to guide it into port, and was thus lost, with it appearing in bad weather. The legend eventually took on the story of a sea captain that swore at the wind and said he would round the Cape even if it took until judgement day. Later writers introduced the theme that the ghost ship would try to offer letters addressed to long dead people to another ship, with the result that if they took the letters disaster followed.
Wagner's entire opera takes around 2 hours to perform, rather economical for a work of his. Some of his later operas can take upwards of 4 hours or more to perform. The Overture to The Flying Dutchman takes about 11 minute to perform, and like many overtures to grand opera, it is a snapshot of the work. The overture begins with the turbulent sea. There is a momentary calmness afterwards, when a motif from the opera is played, after which the music gains in passion once more. all of the motifs and snippets of melody heard in the overture are taken from the opera.
It can be a challenge for all but the staunchest opera lovers to be able to enjoy the entire work, but the overture gives the more casual listener a chance to hear the passion and the beauty that Wagner put into it.
The plays of Shakespeare have inspired other playwrights and composers for many years. Shakespeare wrote a play entitled Coriolanus, which is based on the legendary Roman leader Caius Marcius Coriolanus. Evidently, a story good enough for Shakespeare was good enough for the early 19th century Viennese playwright Heinrich von Collin. His play was entitled Coriolan, and even though the play had good actors cast, the play itself was not very good. It opened in 1802 and closed shortly after that.
It was the play by the Viennese playwright that Beethoven wrote the overture for, not the Shakespeare version of the story. The story on which the overture is based:
The Roman General Coriolanus is banished from Rome after he throws a hissy fit over the citizens renouncing his bid to be elected counsel of Rome. In revenge, he goes over to the side of the enemies of Rome and plans to sack the city. He lays siege to the city and refuses to grant amnesty to his own people. In desperation, his wife and mother go to him and plead with him to spare his family. He settles in favor of his family which makes him a traitor to his allies, the enemies of Rome. In Shakespeare's play, Coriolanus' allies kill him while in the Collin play he commits suicide by falling on his sword.
The overture is written in a very distilled sonata form, with the first theme representing the uncompromising rage of Coriolanus while the second theme represents the pleadings from Coriolanus' mother and wife. The pleadings are consumed by the repetition of the jagged rage of the first theme. The exposition continues to expound the moral dilemma Coriolanus is in, whether to continue to slay all of Rome, including his innocent family, or to spare them. When the main theme is heard at the beginning of the recapitulation, it is now beginning to waver in its resolve. The theme slowly crumbles away, the rage is gone, the heart of Coriolanus quits beating as the music dies with the dull thumps of pizzicato strings.
Beethoven wrote only one opera, Fidelio, and it cost him much in labor and time. He never again wrote for the opera theater, but that doesn't mean his music couldn't be dramatic. This overture shows that while Beethoven may not have been a natural composer for dramatic opera, he could write pure music that could convey drama without the use of any words. It was this kind of overture that lead to the symphonic poems of Liszt and others. It would not be a stretch at all to say that this overture could be called a symphonic poem, and it is a very good example of how Beethoven inspired the composers of the Romantic era.
The following video of Carlos Kleiber conducting the overture shows how orchestral conducting is just as much an art as a science. Kleiber translates the mood of the music through his actions, and the orchestra responds. The end of the work shows how much the audience was swept up by the music, for whether they were hypnotized, stunned or perhaps equal measures of both, the applause does not start until the music had long since stopped. That is the greatest tribute an audience can give a performer, prolonged silence before the applause begins.
Gustav Mahler was best known in his lifetime as a leader of opera houses and as a conductor with a world wide reputation. During the opera and concert season he gave all he had to these endeavors, but during his summer vacation he gave all he had to composing. Mahler's first three symphonies grew progressively larger and longer, so the audience didn't know what to expect at the premiere of the 4th Symphony. What they got was a surprise.
The 4th Symphony is written for smaller forces (at least by Mahler's standards). There are no trombones, no choirs, only one soprano soloist that sings in the 4th movement, and the entire symphony takes just under an hour, the shortest symphony Mahler wrote up to that point. Mahler's 4th can be called his Classical Symphony for its style, forces used and content.
But that doesn't mean the symphony is a trifle. Mahler was a man of incredible emotions that spilled over into his music and the 4th is no exception. The difference is that while there are moments of darkness, for the most part the symphony is in a sunny mood. Mahler began to sketch out the symphony in 1899 but after the summer vacation he put the work in his desk so he could focus on his work as the director of the Vienna Court opera. When he came back to it the next summer, he finished it in only three weeks.
Mahler conducted the premiere of the symphony in 1901 in Munich. It was not a success. The work was roundly booed. The style of the work as well as the thematic material and construction of the symphony gave both sides much to carp about. The anti-Mahler faction thought the composer was trying to pull a fast one by writing music that was different than his earlier works, as if h e were thumbing his nose at them. Some of the pro-Mahler faction that expected another blockbuster work complained about the naiveté of the music, as if he purposefully left his monumental style to write something more accessible for the audience and critics. But it was this roundly criticized work that became the most performed of all Mahler's symphonies.
I. Bedächtig, nicht eilen (Slowly, not rushing) - Mahler opens the symphony with flutes, sleigh bells and clarinets:
This short section acts as a prelude that leads to the first theme, a rising figure heard in the violins that changes to a dotted rhythm. After the first theme plays out, a short transition leads to the second theme heard in the low strings. Another theme appears in the oboe and other woodwinds. The opening motive with sleigh bells signals the development section,which is initially taken up with the first theme. A section for solo violin continues the development section that constantly shifts themes and fragments of themes in and out, and transforms them to different themes. The lightness of orchestration belies the fact that this is very complex music. The music reaches a short climax with a trumpet solo and the sleigh bells return. Motives are played in counterpoint and lead up to another climax with trumpet solo. The recapitulation is not as extensive as the exposition and it leads to a short coda where the first theme gradually increases in tempo and volume until it comes to an end.
II. In gemächlicher Bewegung, ohne Hast (Moving with leisure, no hurry) -A scherzo in the form of a ländler has a violin playing a solo with an altered tuning; Mahler instructs the soloist to tune all of the strings a full tone higher than usual. Mahler originally marked this movement with the words Death strikes up the dance for us; she scrapes her fiddle bizarrely and leads us up to heaven, but he eventually removed all descriptive headings from this movement as well as the others. The music maintains its leisurely dance pace throughout, complete with string portamento. The movement ends with a shimmering cadence for glockenspiel, triangle. harp and woodwinds.
III. Ruhevoll, poco adagio (Peaceful, a little slow) - A languid theme slowly unwinds over a pizzicato accompaniment. A second theme of a more impassioned nature is played by the cor anglaise, with strings adding commentary. A set of variations on the first theme follows, with an interruption by the second theme amid the variations. A fragment of the first theme plays, and in a flash the music switches to E major and grows loud and noble as the theme for the final movement is announced. The music grows quiet and mysterious and ends in a hush. IV. Sehr behaglich (Very pleasantly) -Mahler returns once again to a poem from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of old German poems that he drew inspiration from for many years. He used the text from the poem Das himmlische Leben (Life in Heaven), a song about being in
Heaven and how the Saints slaughter animals and prepare meals there. As depicted in the poem, Heaven's not so heavenly for lams, ox and other animals. Mahler instructs the soprano to sing the song as a child, honestly and without parody. The song is interrupted three times by the motive first heard in the introduction to the first movement complete with sleigh bells, but this time played rapidly at a fast tempo and in a minor key. After the third interruption, the song returns to the gentleness of the opening of the movement. On the last two words of the line and Saint Ursula herself has to laugh, the soloist joins the violins in a glissando. The song continues, the cor anglaise and harp play a opening fragment of the movement and the music ends in a barely audible whisper.
Life In Heaven from Des Knaben Wunderhorn
We enjoy heavenly pleasures
and
therefore avoid earthly ones.
No worldly tumult
is to be heard in heaven
All live in greatest peace.
We lead angelic lives,
yet have a merry time of it besides.
We dance and we spring,
We skip and we sing.
Saint Peter in heaven looks on.
John lets the lambkin out,
and Herod the Butcher lies in wait for it.
We lead a patient,
an innocent, patient,
dear little lamb to its death.
Saint Luke slaughters the ox
without any thought or concern.
Wine doesn't cost a penny
in the heavenly cellars;
The angels bake the bread.
Good greens of every sort
grow
in the heavenly vegetable patch,
good asparagus, string beans,
and whatever we want.
Whole dishfuls are set for us!
Good apples, good pears and good grapes,
and gardeners who allow everything!
If you want roebuck or hare,
on the public streets
they come running right up.
Should a fast day come along,
all the fishes at once come swimming with joy.
There goes Saint Peter running
with his net and his bait
to the heavenly pond.
Saint Martha must be the cook.
There is just no music on earth
that can compare to ours.
Even the eleven thousand virgins
venture to dance,
and Saint Ursula herself has to laugh.
There is just no music on earth
that can compare to ours.
Cecilia and all her relations
make excellent court musicians.
The angelic voices
gladden our senses,
so that all awaken for joy.
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 may be the most famous unfinished work in the symphonic repertoire. The two completed movements of the symphony were completed in 1822, as well as a third movement scherzo in piano score with two pages in full score. There has been theories, rumors and downright guesswork as for the reasons the symphony remained unfinished, with none of them more than conjecture. Because of the depth of feeling and drama of the work it has been called the first Romantic era symphony by some.
The history of the first performance of the work begins shortly after the two movements were completed in 1822. In 1823 Schubert was given an honorary diploma from the Granz Music Society, and in return the composer was going to dedicate a work to the society. Schubert sent the first two movements of the symphony to Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a prominent member of the group. There is no evidence that Schubert had any other contact with Hüttenbrenner or that he completed any of the other movements for the work. Indeed, Hüttenbrenner never let anyone else know he had the manuscript until 1865. Why Hüttenbrenner sat on the manuscript for so many years is not known. He finally showed the work to the conductor Johann von Herbeck, the conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Herbeck premiered the two movements and tacked on a movement from an earlier Schubert symphony as a finale, in 1865 in Vienna. The work was a complete success despite the addition of the finale, and has been an audience favorite ever since.
The six symphonies Schubert composed before the Unfinished don't resemble it in depth or drama, but Schubert could be a quite dramatic composer when he chose to be as can be heard in his lied Der Erlkönigas well as music in other forms. One theory is that the composition of the symphony coincides with Schubert's diagnosis of syphilis. Considering such a diagnosis in those times was a sentence of suffering, perhaps madness, and certain death, may have been a reason for the dark tone of the music. The symphony is scored for pairs of woodwinds, two horns, two trumpets, three trombones, strings and timpani.
Johann von Herbeck
I. Allegro moderato -It may appear strange that the tempo indication of this movement is allegromoderato, for the music that begins the movement doesn't seem to fit. But Schubert's point in the tempo designation is to make sure that there should be at least some speed to the movement, otherwise the music would sound too heavy to the point of plodding. Of course just how moderately fast is subject to a conductor's interpretation. The work opens with the dark cellos and basses playing pianissimo in their lowest ranges. The actual first theme of the movement is carried in the woodwinds while the violins play an agitated accompaniment along with the lower strings. a four-bar transition played by the horns shifts the music from B minor to G major for the second subject that is heard in the cellos over a syncopated accompaniment. A theme group is played after the second theme until a variant of the second theme is played. Transition material leads to the repeat of the exposition. The development section begins with a short transition before the cellos and basses play the opening bars of the symphony again but this time in E minor. The rest of the development concentrates on the first theme and its parts and is punctuated with sforzandi and string tremolos. The syncopated accompaniment of the second theme does show up a few times also. The recapitulation is mostly the usual repetition of themes, only the second theme modulates to D major instead of B major, the parallel major to the home key of B minor. The music does modulate to B major until the first theme in B minor appears and is expanded into the ending of the emphatic final cadence.
II. Andante con moto -Two bars of introduction lead to the E major first theme of the movement, first played by the strings. This theme has a contrasting section of marching staccato strings until it resumes. A second theme is played in C-sharp minor by the clarinet over a gently syncopated accompaniment by the strings. This theme also has a contrasting section of music played fortissimo before the theme begins again. All of this serves as the exposition. There is no development section, as the themes are repeated with modulations to other keys and variants. After this plays out, a new theme appears that is derived from the opening measures of the movement. The transition to the second theme that is played by the violins earlier is repeated and varied along with parts of the other themes, and the movement comes to a peaceful close in E major.
The Third Symphony was first sketched out with the help of a program as Mahler wrote down headings for each of the movements he planned. As he did preliminary work on the symphony he changed the program numerous times before the music was completed. The original program for the symphony called for seven movements with the following titles:
1. Summer marches in. 2. What the flowers in the meadow tell me. 3. What the creatures in the forest tell me. 4. What man tells me. 5. What the angels tell me 6. What love tells me. 7. What the Child tells me.
He worked on the symphony from 1893 to 1896, doing most of the work on it during the summer hiatus of the Hamburg Opera where he was chief conductor. At this time Mahler was passionately influenced by Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of German folk poems. He set many of them to music, and used the songs in his early symphonies, sometimes with words and music and sometimes with only the music. The Third Symphony also includes some of these songs. The 7th movement was to be a setting of another Wunderhorn poem Das himmlische Leben, a poem he had set to music in 1892, but Mahler thought better of it and used the song in the final movement of his 4th Symphony. Mahler dropped the entire program from the symphony before it was published and premiered. He made his feelings about titles and programs known in a letter to a fellow conductor and composer Josef Krug-Waldsee:
Those titles were an attempt on my part to provide non-musicians with something to hold on to and with a signpost for the intellectual, or better, the expressive content of the various movements and for their relationships to each other and to the whole. That it didn’t work (as, in fact, it could never work) and that it led only to misinterpretations of the most horrendous sort became painfully clear all too quickly. It’s the same disaster that had overtaken me on previous and similar occasions, and now I have once and for all given up commenting, analyzing all such expediencies of whatever sort. These titles . . . will surely say something to you after you know the score. You will draw intimations from them about how I imagined the steady intensification of feeling, from the indistinct, unbending, elemental existence (of the forces of nature) to the tender formation of the human heart, which in turn points toward and reaches a region beyond itself (God). Please express that in your own words without quoting those extremely inadequate titles and that way you will have acted in my spirit. I am very grateful that you asked me [about the titles], for it is by no means inconsequential to me and for the future of my work how it is introduced into “public life.”
The Third Symphony is the longest symphony Mahler composed, and is the longest symphony currently in the repertoire. It takes at least 90 minutes to play, with the first movement alone taking over 30 minutes. Couple that with the huge orchestra Mahler uses, the label of megalomaniac was being used by his critics to describe him.
A group of movements was heard in concert as early as 1897 when movements 2,3 and 6 were played in Berlin. The premiere of the entire symphony was in 1902 and was conducted by Mahler. The orchestra calls for quadruple winds, eight horns, four trumpets, four trombones, tuba, two harps, a large percussion section plus two sets of timpani, alto soloist, women's choir, boys choir, and the usual strings. Mahler split the work into two main parts; the first movement constitutes the first part, the other five movements the second part:
PART ONE I. Kräftig. Entschieden (Strong and decisive) - The first movement was written a year after the remaining 5 movements. Eight horns playing in unison announce the beginning of the symphony:
The introductory theme continues and is punctuated by the orchestra. This introduction brings forth the first theme of movement proper, a slow march in the minor that expands for quite some time. It is solemn intone but is full of whoops and calls from the orchestra. A short drum solo acts as an introduction to a second theme in the major that is lighter in texture. This theme is interrupted by cat calls from the clarinets and a third theme (although at this first hearing it is short and more like a motive than a theme) rushes through the orchestra. The first theme returns and contains a prominent part for solo trombone. This theme grows in intensity until it slowly fades into a repeat of the second theme as well as the cat calls from the clarinets and the following third theme,which this time around is expanded into the fourth theme, another march that is in the major and begins subdued in volume but gradually grows and is punctuated by the snare drum. The new march grows in volume and density as it is played full on by the orchestra. The fourth theme runs its course and the music segues to what can be considered the development section in a very loose sonata form. The first march theme is developed and leads to another solo by the trombone, followed by a solo for cor anglais. The second theme makes an appearance and is developed, followed by a reference to the fourth theme march. Snippets of themes weave in and out as the music moves to a variant of the first theme march that expands. Snippets of other themes enter and leave as the music grows in intensity and speed until it dies away. This is interrupted by snare drums that play in the distance and as they fade away the introduction for eight horns reappears with slight variations, which signals the beginning of the recapitulation. The first theme is expanded until a very quiet section brings back the fourth theme march. This theme builds while a variant of the horn introduction is played in the background. This major variant of the horn theme (which was also heard briefly in the development section) comes to the fore as Mahler varies and expands it. Motives of themes are combined as the music builds to a climax. A variant of part of the first theme is heard and the orchestra gallops to a rousing ending in the major. When this symphony is given in concert, there is sometimes a short intermission taken at the end of the first movement.
PART TWO II. Tempo di Menuetto -Mahler writes music in the style of a minuet. More specifically, it is a minuet in the style of Mahler.The middle section has some stormy sections that scurry through the orchestra. But for the most part this movement serves as a few moments for the listener to catch their breath after the rough hewn character of the first movement. The movement ends gently with a violin solo. III. Comodo (Scherzando) (Comfortably, like a scherzo) - This movement makes references to a Wunderhorn song Mahler wrote titled Ablösung im Sommer (Relief In Summer). The text of the song deals with a dead cuckoo and a nightingale. There's been many translations of the text of the poem, but when Mahler set the words he also inserted lines that he wrote himself. As with so many aspects of this huge work, there have been many interpretations of the meaning of the song by itself and in the context of the symphony. Suffice to say that falls in with Mahler's original heading for the movement What The Creatures In The Forest Tell Me (especially the birds evidently). One of the novel features of this movement is the sudden change of the mood as an offstage trumpet plays a theme over a very quiet accompaniment. Mahler instructs the soloist to play the instrument as a posthorn. Sometimes the solo is played on an actual posthorn, but more often it is played on a trumpet or flugelhorn. The offstage trumpet interrupts the scherzo 3 times. In between the 2nd and third interruption, the scherzo gets particularly vigorous and loud, and to encourage the general raucousness Mahler writes the direction in the score Grob! (complete with exclamation point) which translates to roughly or crude. The third trumpet interruption is the longest and more complex, complete with bird song imitations. After an almost inaudible transition, the scherzo starts up but quickly gains power and volume as a tremendous climax thunders through the orchestra. this leads to a fragment of the scherzo returning in a loud, highly punctuated version, and amid another tremendous climax the movement ends. IV. Sehr langsam—Misterioso (Very slowly, mysteriously) -The previous movements have shown Mahler's love and understanding of nature, but with this movement the music depicts the darkness of night. The movement begins with strings alternating gently between notes with harps adding a hushed texture. The entire movement remains quiet, the accompaniment hardly moving harmonically as the alto soloist sings a simple melody to the words of the Midnight Song from Friedrich Nietzsche’s Also sprach Zarathustra. Mahler gets a particularly novel effect for the oboe and cor anglaise by writing a slur over two notes with the direction hinaufziehen, literally meaning to pull or move up. There is general agreement that Mahler intended a glissando with this word:
This is not possible on the modern version of the oboe used by most players. But it was possible on the German made instrument used in the orchestras Mahler directed. Modern scholarship and technique have shown ways this directive can be accomplished, and while it may seem a minor detail, the sliding notes give a particularly earthy quality to the music, something Mahler evidently intended. The above musical example also shows the detail and care Mahler took in notating his scores.
Nietzsche's Also sprach Zarathustra, Midnight Song:
O Man! Take heed!
What says the deep midnight?
"I slept, I slept -,
from a deep dream have I awoken: -
the world is deep,
and deeper than the day has thought.
Deep is its pain -,
joy - deeper still than heartache.
Pain says: Pass away!
But all joy
seeks eternity -,
- seeks deep, deep eternity!"
The movement ends in the same dark, quiet tones in which it began and leads directly to the next movement.
V. Lustig im Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Cheerful in tempo and cheeky in expression) -Another Wunderhorn text is used in the 5th movement, Armer Kinder Bettlerlied (Poor children's Begging song) written for women's choir, boy's choir and soloist. The movement begins with the boy's choir imitating bells.
Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Armer Kinder Bettlerlied
Three angels sang a sweet song,
with blessed joy it rang in heaven.
They shouted too for joy
that Peter was free from sin!
And as Lord Jesus sat at the table
with his twelve disciples and ate the evening meal,
Lord Jesus said: "Why do you stand here?
When I look at you, you are weeping!"
"And should I not weep, kind God?
I have violated the ten commandments!
I wander and weep bitterly!
O come and take pity on me!"
"If you have violated the ten commandments,
then fall on your knees and pray to God!
Love only God for all time!
So will you gain heavenly joy."
The heavenly joy is a blessed city,
the heavenly joy that has no end!
The heavenly joy was granted to Peter
through Jesus, and to all mankind for eternal bliss. VI. Langsam - Ruhevoll - Empfunden (Slowly, tranquil, deeply felt) -In length and complexity, the final movement resembles the first massive movement, but the character and tone of the finale is quite different. It is full of joy and pain as Mahler unwinds some of the most heartfelt music he ever wrote. The music ebbs and flows, echoes things heard before (in this symphony and in the 2nd Symphony). Ending a symphony with an adagio movement was not common. Mahler had done it in the 2nd Symphony, and as in that work the 3rd Symphony adagio is the culmination of the symphony. If this is what Mahler meant when he wrote out headings for the movements of this symphony, that this is what love told him, he takes the listener through his complex and deep emotions with this music. It takes its time as it describes in tones Mahler's depth of compassion and spirituality. The movement seems to suspend time, but the build up reaches an incredible ending the timpani, low strings, bassoon and contra bassoon play the notes D and A, the tonic and the dominant of D major. The trumpets play a noble motive while the rest of the brass and woodwind play chords, all over divided violins and violas that play shimmering tremolos. Mahler has one last request written in the score when the full orchestra reaches the huge final D major chord, Nicht abressien, don't cut it off. Let the final chord ring out to end one of the most stunning symphonies ever written.
When Charles Jennens gave his libretto of Messiah to George Handel in 1741, he would have no idea that almost 300 years later the oratorio would still be performed and continue to be one of the most famous and popular works for chorus and soloists. Jennens came from a wealthy landowning family in England who was also a patron of the arts. He was a writer, Bible scholar, and had such a good knowledge of music that he complained about Handel's setting of the text:
Messiah has disappointed me, being set in great haste, tho’ [Handel] said he would be a year about it, and make it the best of all his Compositions. I shall put no more Sacred Words into his hands, to be thus abus’d... ‘Tis still in his power by retouching the weak parts to make it fit for publick performance; and I have said a great deal to him on the Subject; but he is so lazy and so obstinate, that I much doubt the Effect.
Eventually Handel (known for his stubbornness, which was probably intensified by Jenner's inflated ego) made some of the changes suggested by Jenner after the first English performance of the oratorio in 1743. The premiere of the work was given in Dublin, Ireland during the winter concert season of 1741-1742. The proceeds of the Dublin premiere were given to charity, a practice that continued with every performance of Messiah throughout Handel's lifetime. In England the proceeds were given to The Foundling Hospital in London, and Handel bequeathed a copy of his score to the hospital upon his death.
The 250-plus pages of the score to Messiah were written in 24 days, quite a feat but not out of the ordinary for Handel and other Baroque era composers. Most music that was publicly performed at the time was new music, and the demand was high, so many composers wrote fast and reused their own music as well as the music of others. The scoring of the work was also done according to the practice of the times, with parts for violins, violas and cellos, figured bass, 4-part chorus and soloists. But additional instruments would double some of the parts at performances when they were available, and not every set piece was included in every performance, thus there can never be a definitive performance of Messiah, but recent musical scholarship has allowed for accurate performances within the musical traditions and practices of the time.
Messiah has been performed as a sacred piece as well as a work of the concert hall. Jennens and Handel most likely intended it for an evening's entertainment, as were most oratorios of the time. As a complete performance of Messiah can last two and a half hours, it certainly takes up a full evening. Hopefully the audience attending Messiah acted better than the typical opera audiences of the time that talked, yelled at each other, booed and cheered singers and kept up a general ruckus throughout the opera. Messiah is divided into three main parts:
PART ONE
1) Sinfony
As oratorios were in many ways unstaged operas, the convention of an overture was used. Here Handel calls it a Sinfony, and it is written in the style of a French overture. It begins with a slow section with double dotted notes in a minor key. The second section is a fugue in a slightly faster tempo. 2) Tenor recitative Messiah is different from most oratorios as there are no assigned roles to the soloists, and no characters. The words of the King James Version of the Bible are used throught the work, and the first part begins with the foretelling of the coming of Messiah in the Old Testament, and then celebrates the birth of Messiah in the New Testament.
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God: speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness: prepare ye the way of the Lord,make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
3) Tenor air Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain.
4) Chorus And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
5) Bass recitative
This selection for bass shows Handel's flair for emphasizing the text. He makes use of melisma, the technique of using many notes on one part or syllable of a word. The word shake is literally shaken by the soloist:
Handel makes continual use of tone painting to enhance the text, no doubt one of the many reasons why the oratorio remains so popular.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts; yet once in a little while, and I will shake the heav'ns and the earth, the sea, the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come. The Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, ev'n the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
6) Alto recitative But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth. For he is like a refiner's fire.
7) Chorus And he shall purify the sons of Levi that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of righteousness.
8) Alto recitative Behold, a virgin shall concieve and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel, God with us.
9) Alto air and chorus O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; o thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah; behold your God Arise, shine for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen above thee. 10) Bass recitative For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee, And the gentiles shall come to they light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
11) Bass air The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
12) Chorus For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
13) Pastoral Symphony
A short orchestral interlude that gives the feeling of sheep contentedly grazing, and begins the section of the birth of Messiah
14a) Soprano recitative There were sheperds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 14b) Soprano recitative And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
15) Soprano recitative And the angel said unto them fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
16) Soprano recitative And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying:
17) Chorus Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will towards men.
18) Soprano air Rejoice greatly, o daughter of Zion, shout, o daughter of Jerusalem, behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is the righteous Saviour, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen.
19) Alto recitative Thou shall see the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing.
20) Alto air He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those that are with young.
21) Chorus His yoke is easy and his burden is light.
PART TWO
The second part deals with the life, death and rising from the dead of Messiah. 22) Chorus Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
23) Alto air He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave his back to the smiters and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, he hid not his face from shame and spitting.
24) Chorus Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon him.
25) Chorus And with his striped we are healed.
26) Chorus All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
27) Tenor recitative All they that see him laugh him to scorn; they shoot out their lips, and shake their heads saying:
28) Chorus He trusted in God that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he delight in him.
29) Tenor recitative Thy rebuke hath broken his heart, he is full of heaviness: he looked for some to have pity on him, but there was no man, neither found he any, to comfort him.
30) Tenor air Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto his sorrow. 31) Tenor recitative He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgressions of thy people was he stricken.
32) Tenor air But thou didst not leave his soul in hell nor didst thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.
33) Chorus Lift up your heads, o ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, o ye gates and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.
34) Tenor recitative Unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou art my Son, this day I have begotten thee?
35) Chorus Let all the angels of God worship him.
36) Bass air Thou art gone up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, yea even for thine enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them.
37) Chorus The Lord gave the word, great was the company of the preachers.
38) Soprano air How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.
39) Chorus Their sound is gone out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world.
40) Bass air Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and his Anointed.
41) Chorus Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their yokes from them.
42) Tenor recitative He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn: the Lord shall ave them in derision.
43) Tenor air Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.
44) Chorus
One of the most recognizable pieces of music ever written, the Hallelujah chorus is a supreme example of what Beethoven called Handel's genius as, "He created the greatest effect with the smallest of means."
Hallelujah, for the God omnipotent reigneth. The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
PART THREE
The final part of the oratorio deals with the Christian promise for the believer on the second coming of Christ.
45) Soprano air I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first fruits of them that sleep.
46) Chorus Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam we all die, even so in Christ shall all be made live.
47) Bass recitative Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.
48) Bass air The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must be put in incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
49) Alto recitative Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory.
50) Duet, alto and tenor O death, where is they sting? O grave, where is they victory? The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law.
51) Chorus But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
52) Soprano air If God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us.
53) Chorus Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power be unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen.
Claude Debussy is most well known for his works written for piano solo. But he wrote around 55 songs for voice and piano throughout his career as well. His first published work was in fact a song, Nuit d'étoiles (Starry Night), written to the text of a poem by Théodore de Banville, a French poet and writer of the 19th century.
Debussy wrote the song in 1880 when he was 18 years old. The song is a very good representation of Debussy's early works as well as how nature and literature inspired the young composer. The original poem has 4 stanzas, but Debussy chose to omit the third one. The piano accompaniment imitates the lyre mentioned in the first stanza while the voice tells the story of lost love.
Théodore de Banville
Starry Night Théodore de Banville
Starry night, under your veils,
under your night air and scents,
With a sad sighing lyre,
I dream of dead loves.
The serene melancholy bursts from
deep in my heart,
And I hear the soul of my love
Tremble in the deep woods.
I remember the fountain,
your blue eyes like the sky,
your breath like roses,
and your eyes like the stars.
