January 9, 1963 0 PAULHINDEMITH:A REQUIEM11FORTHOSEWELOVE
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'dn 11 When Lilacs La.st in the Dooryard BloomI d 11 -- a "Requiem I f or those we love 1 11 is a setting of the complete text of Walt Whitman's poem in memory of Abraham Lincoln. It was commissioned by The Collegiate Chorale in the winter of 1945 and completed April 20, 1946. It is Hindemith's first major choral work since 111Jas Unaufhorliche 0 (1931).
The twenty sections of Whitman's text pressed by the composer into eleven musical portioned among four major movements. The mentary -- ·the poet upon the musician, and
(Edition McKay: 1900) numbers, which again setting thus provides the musician upon the
have been comha~.re been apa reciprocal compoet.
I
Whitman's first stanza is a prologue introducing the trinity of the symbols which are the motivating images of his elegy -- lilac, star and bird. In the three subsequent stanzas he qualifies them, assigning to each its own particular atmosphere: "Star" ••• fallen star ••• tearful night ••• harsh surrounding cloud; "Lilac" - with the perfume strong I love ••• in the dooryard. old farmhouse ••• and 11Bird 11 - thought of him I love .•• song of the bleeding throat ••• Death's outlet song of life. Before he approaches the text, the composer has provided a musical prologue in the form of a short orchestral prelude. It is based on a continuous pedal Csharp upon whose minor tonality the entire work is founded. Its initial theme (A-C-F-E) already suggests associated tonalities, and out of this theme grow lines of increasing and decreasing harmonic tension, embracing in their arch the temper and spiritual qualities of all that is to follow. The composer then binds the poet's first three stanzas into one musical structure beginning with a baritone narration-song ( C# minor), "When lilacs last . in the oocvyard bloom' d"; moving through a choral section, contrasting in mood (F minor) but preserving the thematic material, 110 powerful, western fallen star !11; and concluding with a return to the opening song, 11In the dooryard ••• stands the lilac bush". ( It is significant for Hindemith I s larger forms that each section is complete in itself, but at the same time integrated into an organism of the whole, which respect they have in comrr:onwith Bach I s choral works and Mozart's operas. ) Thus, the composer moves to the poet 1 s fourth stanza (his own No. 2) he builds an alto ar!l.oeo-, rounded in itself, but preserving the tonality and musical materials of the beginning ••• "A shy and hidden bird ••• warbling a song. 11 The poet up to this point has set a stage - has painted an atmospheric landscape. He now (in Stanzas 5 through 7) moves to a second general section and pictures a coffin passing through an earthly landscape. first
In a larger line, the composer makes these stanzas the concluding part of his great moverrent, awakening in us the thought of the identity of the two land-
-2scapes. This No. 3 is a slow and solemn choral March, 110ver the breast of the 11 in the original tonality of the baritone narSpring ; whose theme is a variation ration-song. Stanza 6 becomes simply a middle--part, a sort of Fugato-Trio, "Coffin that passes through lanes and streets", culminating in a three-part canon in Stretto-form inspired by the 11Tolling bells I perpetual clang". The last two lines of Stanza 6 serve as a modulation back to C# minor, and the theme of the March returns, this time sung by the baritone and concluding with the Strett-Canon between solo and orchestra. The first movement begins and ends in C# minor.
II With Whitman's Stanzas 8 through 11, the poet becomes an actor in his own drama. The involvement is at the stage of receiving knowledge, the first understanding: "O western orb ••• Now I know What you must have meant." (Stanza 8); 11 0 singer bashful and tender l I hear ••• I understand you." (Stanza 9). There 11 -- questioning: 0 how shall I warble myfollows immediately the poet I s reaction self? ••• 0 what shall I hang on the chamber walls?" And self-answering: "Pictures of growing spring, and farms, and homes", and climaxing in a triumphant carol "Lo ! body and soul l this land !11 of life, This unity is reaffirmed by the composer in his second large movement (Nos. 4 through 7). Just as the first movement had a unifying tonality (C# minor), so the second movement is based mainly on the tonality of A minor, ending with a fugue in the key of the dominant (E minor-major). No. 4 110 Western Orb" is given to the baritone at the beginning and the end.
solo with an echoing
chorus
Restless and almost - fevered melodic Phrases appear over a wind-like orchestral accompaniment, driven up in a step-wise progression by blocked interjections, and finally disappearing, falling back into an open tonal space. The ending tone BA tonality. flat is best understood as a leading tone back to the prevailing The second bird-arioso (No. 5, alto solo) bring~ the word-image of the bird to the near-concreteness of a sound-image, drawn by instrumental color, persistent rhythm and the motive of falling thirds. The question and answer involvement is brought first into a song form, a dialogue between baritone and chorus, so rounded that it allows a literal repetition (Straophenlied). As the flood of answers continues, the composer leads the melodic line through a mounting choral recitative, culminating a double fugue (E minor), 1110 L body and 11 soul l this land ~ The first subject is worked out in the form of a simple fugue 11 Lo ! the most excellent sun" ending in A minor, in which key the second subject, is introduced, and similarly treated. The double fugue, combining subjects one and two ( again E minor) begins significantly on the words " ••• enveloping man and land". A broad coda, "Lo! this land t11 begins on a C minor chord and ends in a brilliant E major climax.
III The poet now deepens the color. He moves from the state of receiving knowledge, with its shock and its ecstasy of tribute, to the state of possessing knowledge. 11 With the knowledge of death ••• and the thought of death ••• and I in the middle • • • as holding the hands of companions. ri, And he rises from the occasion of Lincoln I s
-3death to the consideration come. solo,
of death itself.
The Death Carol is his song of wel-
The composer begins his third moveITent with a three-part baritone recitative, and duet; No. 8).
form in C minor (alto
In the alto solo, once more associated with the symbol of the bird, the ear will be struck by a short but intensive series of pure triads, infrequent in this 11 musical language. "O liquid and free • • • O wondrous singer l you only I hear We note that these pure harmonies occur at points of particular poignancy and expressiveness in the text (for example: 'isong of the bleeding throat", No. 2). ( May this not be compared with the pure colors of Mathias Grunewald's "Isenheimer Altar" which inspired "Mathias der Maler 11?) The middle section, a baritone recitative, centers in the hymn nFor those we love". The form of the chorale is chosen at the moment when the poet speaks of the "knowledge and thought of death. 11 On the fermatas of the orchestral chorale the baritone interjects his melodic phrases. point
The duet is a return of the alto continuing the text.
arioso
to which is added a baritone
counter-
Surely it is true that over the music of the Death Carol (No. 9) hovers a sense of anxiety. There appears to be little in the actual lines to support this feeling unless it be the over-vehemence and ecstacy of the welcome, proposing even "glad serenades • • • dances ••• adornments ••• feastings ••• to thee, 0 Death". The composer finds considerable uncertainty and disquiet in the pr.rases "Dark Mother, always gliding near ••• the night in silencett; and the "glad serenades' '.' become a masque. The second part of the Death Carol, ~~Approach,.. ;,trong Deliveress", is a pas-:sacaglia over a five-measure repeated bass, a motive already suggested in the first part on the words "Praise l Praise t Praise t for the sure-enwinding arms ••• " The tonality of the Death Carol is F minor; and it may be worthwhile to note that we have had the following order of main tonalities: C#J A, C, F, which a.re also the opening tones of the Prelude. The next important tonality has been E (if not in this order), which would then round out the opening theme. IV
Whitman's sections 17 and 18 complete the panorama of death. He visions "armies --- myriads of battle-corpses ••• white skeletons of young men." Then (his final two stanzas), "passing the visionsn, passing also lilac, star and bird, "unloosing the hands of his comrades", as if the intense knowledge of death and the over-reality of the symbols were given only in moments -- he keeps forever their memory. Of Stanza 17 the material reappears in major off-stage bugle by a D tonality which
coTIIJ)oserforms a recitative in F-flat minor, whose musicRl a visionary march (Whitman's Stanza 18) ending in a B-flat call. There is an orchestral ritournel in "f# minor colored at the end is used as a leading-tone back to C#minor.
The Finale, "Passing the Visions'', again some of the associated tonalities,
moves in a slow dotted rhythm, touching and comes to rest on a C# minor chord.
-4A Coda echoes the memory of "lilacs of my soul~ 11
and star
and bird ••• twined with the chant Julius
Herford and Robert Shaw
As mentioned in the beginning of these notes written by .Mr. Herford and :Mr. Shaw this work was commissioned by Mr. Shaw and The Collegiate Chorale when Mr. Shaw was its director (and we -all know its founder). Mr. Shaw and the Collegiate Chorale gave the premier performance on May 5, 1946. I 1m sure most of you have heard Mr. Shaw speak of Mr. Herford,
his very close friend, with whomhe was associated at San Diego State College for many years in their Workshop in Choral Art. This close and happy collaboration contir.ues now in Anchorage, Alaska at the Anchorage Festival of Music. E. B.
ANNOUNCEMENTS : Unhappily there is still some music that is missing. In particular some of the El Pessebre scores. The rental scores of El Pessebre numbered in REDmust be returned to Boosey and Hawkes, and if you haveone of these will you please bring it to next rehearsal. Sunday, January 13, bass rehearsal
at 3:00 p.m.
Monday, January 14, full
at 8:00 p.m.
rehearsal
See you then !