Symphony of Psalms
Symphony of Psalms | |
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Choral symphony by Igor Stravinsky | |
Text | Psalms 39, 40, and 150 |
Language | Latin |
Composed | 1930 |
Movements | Three |
Scoring | Orchestra and SATB chorus |
Premiere | |
Date | 13 December 1930 |
Location | Brussels, Belgium |
Conductor | Ernest Ansermet |
Performers | Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles |
The Symphony of Psalms is a
History
According to Stravinsky, the commission for the work came about from "a routine suggestion"[citation needed] from Koussevitzky, who was also Stravinsky's publisher, that he write something "popular"[citation needed] for orchestra without chorus. Stravinsky, however, insisted on the psalm-symphony idea, which he had had in mind for some time. The choice of Psalm 150, however, was in part because of the popularity of that text. The symphony was written in Nice, and Echarvines near Talloires, which was Stravinsky's summer home in those years.[1] The three movements are performed without break, and the texts sung by the chorus are drawn from the Vulgate versions in Latin. Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that it is not "a symphony in which I have included psalms to be sung." On the contrary, "it is the singing of psalms that I am symphonizing."[2]
Although the piece was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere was actually given in
General analysis
Like many of Stravinsky's other works, including
Stravinsky portrays the religious nature of the text through his compositional techniques. He wrote substantial portions of the piece in
Instrumentation
The work is scored for the following instrumentation:
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In the score preface, Stravinsky stated a preference for children's voices for the upper two choral parts.
Notably, the score omits clarinets, violins, and violas.
Movements
First movement
The first movement of the Symphony of Psalms is marked "Tempo
The movement is composed of flowing ostinato sections punctuated with E-minor block chords, in a voicing known as the "Psalms chord", which stop the constant motion.
The first ostinato section in measure 2, which is played in the oboe and bassoon, could be six notes from the octatonic scale starting C♯–D–E–F, etc., but incomplete sets such as this illustrate the controversial nature of the extent of its use.[8] Stravinsky himself regarded this ostinato as "the root idea of the whole symphony", a four-note set consisting of a sequence of "two minor thirds joined by a major third", and stated that it initiated in the trumpet–harp motive at the beginning of the allegro section of the third movement, which was composed first.[7]
If a liturgical character is produced by the use of modal scales even before the chorus's entrance (in measures 12–13, the piano plays an F Dorian scale and in measures 15–16, the piano plays in the E Phrygian mode), it was not a conscious decision:
I was not aware of "Phrygian modes," "Gregorian chants," "Byzantinisms," or anything else of the sort, while composing this music, though, of course, the "influences" said to be denoted by such script-writers' baggage-stickers may very well have been operative.[7]
The presence of the chorus is used to create a church-like atmosphere in this piece as well as to appropriately set the Psalm. It enters with a
There are various ways of analyzing the tonal structure of the first movement. The most popular analysis is to view the movement in E minor, pronounced at the opening chord.
Latin (Vulgate) | English ( Douay-Rheims )
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Exaudi orationem meam, Domine, et deprecationem meam; auribus percipe lacrimas meas. Ne sileas, quoniam advena ego sum apud te, et peregrinus sicut omnes patres mei. |
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear to my tears. Be not silent: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers were. |
Second movement
The second movement is a
and begins in the oboe in measure one:The first entrance of the second theme starts in measure 29 in the soprano, followed by an entrance in the alto in measure 33 a fourth down:
The third and fourth entrances are in the tenor in measure 39 and bass in measure 43. Meanwhile, the first fugue theme can be heard in the bass instruments at the entrance of the soprano at measure 29. A stretto is heard in measure 52 based on the second fugal theme.
At measure 71, the voices sing in
The piece concludes with E♭ as the tonal center.[12] Some analyses interpret the E♭ as being part of an inverted C-minor chord which creates a suitable transition into the third movement in C.[13]
Latin (Vulgate) | English (Douay-Rheims) |
Expectans expectavi Dominum, et intendit mihi. |
With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he was attentive to me. |
Third movement
The third movement of the Symphony of Psalms alternates "Tempo = 48" and "Tempo = 80", and uses nearly the complete text of Psalm 150. Stravinsky wrote:
The allegro in Psalm 150 was inspired by a vision of Elijah's chariot climbing the Heavens; never before had I written anything quite so literal as the triplets for horns and piano to suggest the horses and chariot.[14]
The triplets passage is:
Stravinsky continues by saying:
The final hymn of praise must be thought of as issuing from the skies; agitation is followed by the calm of praise. In setting the words of this final hymn I cared only for the sounds of the syllables and I have indulged to the limit my besetting pleasure of regulating prosody in my own way.[15]
The second part of the slow opening introduction, setting the word "Laudate Dominum", was originally composed to the Old Slavonic words "Gospodi Pomiluy", and Stravinsky regarded this as his personal prayer to the Russian Ecumenical image of the Infant Christ with the scepter and the Globe.[15]
Latin (Vulgate) | English (Douay-Rheims) |
Alleluia. Laudate Dominum in sanctis ejus; laudate eum in firmamento virtutis ejus. |
Alleluia. Praise ye the Lord in his holy places: praise ye him in the firmament of his power. |
Sergei Prokofiev's use of the text in Alexander Nevsky
When writing music for
Notes
- ^ Stravinsky & Craft 1962, 15.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
- ^ Steinberg 2005, 265.
- ^ Hill & Simeone 2005, 30
- ^ Wood 1993.
- ^ Berger 1963, 40.
- ^ a b c Stravinsky & Craft 1962, 16
- ^ Tymoczko 2002, 90–91.
- ^ Cole 1980, 4.
- ^ Kang 2007, 9.
- ^ a b Berger 1963, 32
- ^ Steinberg 2005, 268.
- ^ Kang 2007, 21.
- ^ Stravinsky & Craft 1963, 78.
- ^ a b Stravinsky & Craft 1962, 17.
- ^ Kerr 1994.
Sources
- JSTOR 832252. Reprinted in Perspectives on Schoenberg and Stravinsky, 2nd edition, edited by Benjamin Boretz and Edward T. Cone, 123–154. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.
- Cole, Vincent Lewis (1980). Analyses of 'Symphony of Psalms' (1930, rev. 1948) and 'Requiem Canticles' (1966) by Igor Stravinsky (Ph.D., Music Theory). University of California at Los Angeles.
- ISBN 0-300-10907-5.
- Kang, Jin Myung (2007). An Analysis of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms Focusing on Tonality and Harmony (DMA diss). Columbus: Ohio State University. Retrieved November 21, 2010.
- Kerr, Morag G (October 1994). "Prokofiev and His Cymbals". JSTOR 1003123. Text also available at "Alexander Nevsky and the Symphony of Psalms". 6 May 2003. Archived from the originalon January 9, 2009. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
- ISBN 0-19-512644-0.
- Stravinsky, Igor; JSTOR 832175.
- Stravinsky, Igor; Craft, Robert (1963). Dialogues and a Diary. New York: Doubleday. Reprinted London: Faber, 1968; reissued by Faber in 1982 without the Diary section, as Dialogues.
- .
- White, Eric Walter (1966). Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. LCCN 66-27667.
- Wood, Hugh (1993). Igor Stravinsky – Plays & Conducts. Composers in Person. EMI Classics. D202405. Igor Stravinsky – Plays & Conducts at Discogs
Further reading
- Anon. (n.d.). "Symphony of Psalms". Archived from the original on September 12, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
- South West German Radio Symphony Orchestraand West German Radio Chorus, Hanssler.
- Heinemann, Stephen. 1998. "Pitch-Class Set Multiplication in Theory and Practice." Music Theory Spectrum 20, no. 1 (Spring): 72–96.
- Holloway, Robin. 1974. "Stravinsky's Self-Concealment". Tempo, New Series, 108:2–10.
- Kuster, Andrew. "Symphony of Psalms". Archived from the original on February 4, 2007. Retrieved September 26, 2006.
- Van den Toorn, Pieter. 1983. The Music of Igor Stravinsky. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-02693-5
- Van den Toorn, Pieter, and Dmitri Tymoczko. 2003. "Colloquy: Stravinsky and the Octatonic – The Sounds of Stravinsky." Music Theory Spectrum 25, no. 1:167–202.
- Walsh, Steven. 1967. '"Stravinsky's Choral Music". Tempo, New Series, 81 (Stravinsky's 85th Birthday): 41–51.
External links
- Symphony of Psalms – Analysis, background, and texts, by Victor Huang