Jóhann Jóhannsson: Drone Mass

Jóhann

Jóhannsson (1969 – 2018)

Drone Mass (2014)

for SSAATTBB Choir, String Quartet, and Electronics

Theatre of Voices Edition – a selection of fine choral works handpicked by Paul Hillier.

For more information on the composer and the full, updated TOVE catalogue, visit the Edition·S website.

www.edition-s.dk | info@edition-s.dk

Jóhann Jóhannsson (1969 – 2018)

Drone Mass (2014)

for SSAATTBB Choir, String Quartet, and Electronics

CUES FOR THE ELECTRONICS

1. One is True No electronics

2 Two is Apocryphal Bar 8 – Start with soprano; cue from conductor.

3. Triptych in Mass Bar 1

3. ii To Fold & Remain Dormant Bar 1

4. The Last Foul Wind I Ever Knew Bar 1 – Start high sound Bar 39 – Start low sound; cue from conductor.

5. Divine Objects (Pt. 1) No electronics

Divine Objects (Pt. 2) Bar 41 – Cue from conductor.

5. ii The Low Drone of Circulating Blood, Diminishes with Time Bar 1

6. Moral Vacuums Bar 71 – Cue from conductor.

6. ii Take the Night Air Bar 1

7. The Mountain View, the Majesty of the Snow-Clad Peaks, from a Place of Contemplation and Reflection Bar 34 – Start with cello; cue from conductor.

Notes

- Interludes 3. ii / 5. ii / 6. ii – always start first before choir/ strings.

- Tracks can be faded out when deemed necessary.

- Ableton files are grouped. Some have 2 tracks (high/low) for separation. Others have 2 tracks to be triggered at different times. Bar number cues noted on tracks.

- Stereo bounces are also available instead of Ableton.

- See appendix for technical requirements and setup notes from the composer.

- Even though this looks like a classical music – think electronic music!

Drone Mass

Programme Note

Jóhann Jóhannsson described his composition Drone Mass as “a contemporary oratorio” and “a distillation of a lot of influences and obsessions”.

The work was commissioned and premiered by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble, aka ACME in 2014.

A composition for eight voices, string quartet and electronics, Drone Mass begins with the strings and voices and but slowly integrates electronics into the musical landscape. Despite the title, Drone Mass is not a mass and not a simply a drone. Drones are a recurring motif throughout the work and the resonant new meaning the word ‘drone’ has acquired in modern times was not lost on the composer.

Jóhannsson’s source material Drone Mass in the so-called “Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians”, part of the Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945. Among other texts, he uses a hymn described as consisting of “a seemingly meaningless series of vowels”.

Given the origins of the Drone Mass texts, it is apt that the 2015 premiere of the work took place in the spectacular seting of the Egyptian Temple of Dendur at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jóhannsson died in Berlin on 9 February, 2018, aged 48.

Pronunciation Guide

A /ɑ/, “father”

E /e/, “ten”

I /i/, “seen”

O /ɒ/, “law”

U /u/, “moon”