Requiem: "The Lord is My Light" - John Leavitt
Benedictus - Vincenzo Righini
Benedictus - Max Reger
Hymns: #571 Charlestown, #147 Bourbon,
LEVAS #89 My Jesus I Love Thee,
The music this week continues in the vein of the Romantic
period although the choral pieces were not composed during the years between
1820 and 1910. The music does however bear some of the markings of this period
with its lush harmonies, constantly shifting and extreme dynamics and its more
adventurous harmonies.
The two choral anthems this week sit firmly on either side
of the Romantic era. The gradual anthem is taken from John Leavitt’s (b. 1956) Requiem. Rather than follow the
traditional text of the Latin Mass for the Dead, Leavitt has composed a mass
entirely in English which draws its text from psalms and hymns of the church.
The piece is organized around the structure of the Ordinary of the Mass of
Divine Service with this morning’s anthem, The
Lord Is My Light and My Salvation and the movement which precedes it
serving as the “Credo” portion of the mass. This setting of Psalm 27 opens with
a proclamation sung by the bass soloist “I will sing and make music to the Lord”
which is then echoed by all the men of the choir. The choir then declares in
unison their one request: “to dwell in the house of the Lord, gaze upon His
beauty, and seek him in his temple.” Like most of the writing in this work, the
piece is very sectional. The new section opens with an oboe solo played above a
lush but ambiguous circle of fourths progression that leads us back to where we
began. The sopranos and altos begin this section with the text of the title.
The full choir then bandies back and forth the question “Whom shall I fear?” The
full choir sings of the protection and power of God followed by a reprise of
the ladies melody, this time with the men singing in the background. One final
new section enters as the work draws toward a close with the men singing a
prayer for God to hear and be merciful. The women’s voices float above this in
ethereal three part harmony. The opening theme returns to bring the piece to a
close with a simple statement of what we will do and why.
The communion anthem is a lovely setting of the Benedictus by a little known composer of
the Classical period. Vincenzo Righini (1756-1812). Righini started his musical
career as a singer and later became a singing teacher. He filled in as court
composer for Antonio Salieri (a figure known mostly through F. Murray Abraham’s
portrayal in the film Amadeus). In
1793 he was appointed Kapellmeister to the Prussian Court. His compositional
output is small and mostly unknown today being over shadowed by the giants of
the time, Haydn and Mozart. This piece, like most music from the time period is
very straight forward. There are a few harmonic shifts that are a bit
unexpected by for the most part all is within the realm of what one might presume
to find in a piece written during this time period. The thing that I never
stopped to think about is the translation of this oft sung text. It is a “Blessed
is he that comes in the name of the Lord.” This seems so simple, it is
something that we sing every week as part of the Sanctus but I never stopped to
think about what it means. It is a proclamation taken from Matthew 21:9, the story
of Jesus’ triumphal entry. This gentle setting captures a more peaceful image despite
a turbulent middle section.
The postlude is also a Benedictus,
this one by the German composer Max Reger (1873-1916). This movement is also
taken from the Op. 59 Twelve Pieces.
This is one of the composer’s most popular works and called by Bruno Weigl “one
of the most beautiful and inward works of the composer.” The piece is in ABA
form with the opening theme modified slightly to make up the motif for the B
section. In the A section the melody begins in the right hand, is imitated in
the left, which also plays an accompanimental role, and then enters in the
pedal. The B section takes the opening descending diminished fourth and makes
it an ascending perfect fourth. The voices enter in turn just as they did in
the A section but they begin to crescendo into huge chromatic clusters that barrel
forward to the closing A section which is a slightly modified version of the
opening.
In 1890 Reger followed his teacher Riemann to Wiesbaden. Reger
taught piano, organ and composition from 1890-1896 in 1896 he served a one year
term in the infantry. Upon falling ill in 1898 he returned to his family in
Weiden until moving to Munich in 1901. This was a period of great creativity
for Reger and it was during this time that the Op. 59 Twelve Pieces was written. It was in Munich that he began to
receive recognition as a concert artist and composer.
The prelude is the fifth piece in a collection of Twenty Four Pieces in Free Style by the
blind French organist Louis Vierne (1870-1937). This Prélude has many similarities to the Requiem of John Leavitt in terms of the harmonic language. Both
pieces are very clearly in a key but spend much of their time moving around and
away from it. Prélude has is a
lilting but gentle piece in 9/8 and is dedicated to Nadia Boulanger one of his
students that went on to a career as an organist and composer. This collection
of pieces is written to be played on either the organ or the harmonium, a type
of reed organ that was popular in homes and small churches during the late 19th
and early 20th century.
These pieces all share elements of theme and harmonic
language but still manage to cover a variety of traditions geographically and
chronologically. It is so interesting to think about the way that music changes
throughout history but much of it stays the same. The two settings of the
Benedictus couldn’t be more different harmonically but are both in ABA form
with a turbulent middle section. The Vierne and Leavitt were written nearly 100
years apart but they bear incredible similarities harmonically.
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