Posted on 11/01/2014 5:01:34 PM PDT by Kathy in Alaska
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And a fine Lord’s Day to you, Kathy. Music coming up.
Good evening, Mac...*HUGS* and a Blessed Lord’s Day to the MacNessa family.
Did you “enjoy” your day off?
Lots of Mom things today with my sister. Can’t get the “new” printer to align. I’ll work on it later.
Mozarts last piece was his Requiem, for which he was commissioned by a nobleman who intended to pass the piece off as his own. He never finished it, and one of his students completed the work. More recently, others have taken Mozarts score and finished it in their own different ways.
Mozart set the Kyrie as a fugue in D minor, which is natural because of the repetitive nature of the Greek words. D minor is also the Viennese key of death thanks to Don Giovanni. But this is Mozart wearing his size 15 triple-E boots, and its one of his very finest works in counterpoint. No composer after Mozart dared to set the Kyrie as a fugue again.
Mozart does something at the end that is astonishing. He ends with a D chord with an open fifth (D-A-D). He leaves out the F or F# which would indicate whether the chord is D Major or D minor. But tonal ambiguity is not what he is attempting. There is no doubt that this is D minor.
That open fifth is often used to illustrate space, and it is usually the space above, such as the sky. But in the last chord of the Kyrie and during the few seconds of its decay, Mozart gives a glimpse of the space below: the abyss. Its hair-raising.
This is John Eliot Gardiner conducting the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir.
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Good evening, Publius, and a Blessed Lord’s Day to you and yours. ((HUGS))
Love some music.....
Are you completely settled into your new digs and surrounding area?
Read: Psalm 46
I remember bobbing for apples when I was a child, a game that required me to have my hands tied behind my back. Trying to grab a floating apple with my teeth without the use of my hands was a frustrating experience. It reminded me of the vital importance of our handswe eat with them, greet with them, and use them to do just about anything that is vital to our existence.
When I read Psalm 46:10, I find it interesting that God says, Be still, and know that I am God. The Hebrew word for still means to cease striving, or, literally, to put our hands at our side. At first glance this seems to be a rather risky piece of advice, since our first instinct in trouble is to keep our hands on the situation and control it to our advantage. God in essence is saying, Hands off! Let Me deal with your problem, and rest assured that the outcome is in My hands.
But knowing when to take our hands off and let God work can make us feel vulnerable. Unless, that is, we believe that God is indeed our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (v.1) and that the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge (v.7). In the midst of trouble, we can rest in Gods care.
Hector Berlioz wrote a Requiem that has been described as bizarre. He wrote for an oversized orchestra, oversized chorus, four separate brass bands placed in four balconies, separate tympani sections, and a tenor suspended from a catwalk. Despite these eccentricities, its an amazing piece of music.
Fearing Mozarts precedent, Berlioz sets the Kyrie as plainchant. But its the Dies irae where he pulls out all the stops. It starts in A minor with the sopranos stating the theme softly, joined by the basses and tenors.
At 2:41, it goes up a semi-tone to B-flat minor, and the tenors take up the march.
At 3:54, it goes up to D minor, and the choir works the theme up as a canon.
Then at 5:11 all hell breaks loose. The key changes to E-flat, and four separate brass bands in the balconies take over a grand fanfare, leading to separate sections of tympani accompanying the chorus in the Tuba mirum. Choristers here are totally dependent on the conductor because they cant hear a thing over all the kettle drums going at once.
At 7:30, the choir gets a break and sings Mors stupebit quietly for the buildup to the second fanfare. For the second episode, the basses and brass bands alternate parts leading up to the kettle drums.
At 11:05, the movement ends quietly with menacing figures on the lower strings. The sense is, Did I just really sing all that?
This is Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
There is a long and honored tradition of singing the Rex tremendae as Sex tremandae in rehearsal. In this video, you can see just how big the forces are for this piece. This is why in any city it will not be performed more often than every 30 or 40 years.
This is Colin Davis conducting the combined orchestras and choruses of the Paris Conservatory and the London Music College.
The Lacrymosa is written in 9/8. Usually this is three groups of three to the bar, but here Berlioz writes it as nine straight beats with the strong beat on six. Its an odd rhythmic effect. He brings in the chorus one fach at a time. (Try saying that German word and not make it sound dirty.)
At 2:13, an interlude turns from A minor to C Major. The basses then take the pulse.
But at 4:36 things return to A minor, and this time the chorus is accompanied by interjections from the tympani section and the brass bands.
At 6:22, the C Major section returns in A Major.
At 8:08, there is a titanic battle of heaven versus hell in A minor as the chorus insistently sings an F (heaven) while the brasses insist equally on E (hell). The chorus sings the Lacrymosa line in unison and then in thirds. Switching decisively to A Major, at 9:23, Berlioz plays his trump card. He staggers the chorus and orchestra a half beat off each other to take advantage of the echo in the church as heaven wins the battle. The chorus ends in unison, and the vision fades into silence.
This is Shaw again.
Remember that tenor suspended from a catwalk? Berlioz uses him to represent an angel in the Sanctus. Having stayed away from fugues thus far remember Mozarts Kyrie? Berlioz writes a fugue for chorus for the Hosanna. The key is D-flat. The second time through the Sanctus, the percussion punctuates respectfully. The second time through the Hosanna, Berlioz extends the fugue into a bravura finish.
This is tenor Leopold Simoneau with Charles Munch conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra & New England Conservatory Chorus.
Beautiful....I like it. Thanks, Publius.
If you ask a music professional about which piece was Giuseppe Verdis greatest work, the answer you get will not be an opera, the Four Sacred Pieces, nor the cute little string quartet he wrote in a hotel in Naples. It will be the Requiem.
For the Dies irae, Verdi obviously has learned his lesson from Berlioz. (This gets used a lot in TV commercials.) Catch the whispering in horror from the chorus. For the Tuba mirum, Verdi uses his brass section like Berlioz. The bass intones the Mors stupebit with a sense of trepidation. The Liber scriptus features a mezzo applying some balm to the situation. Unlike Berlioz, Verdi brings back the Dies irae to cap the Sequence. This is Loren Maazel conducting.
There is a segue into the Quid sum miser and the Rex tremendae. Here the approach is far different from Berlioz. It sounds more like the opera house.
The soloists are Josephine Veasey, Placido Domingo, Ruggiero Raimondi and Martina Arroyo with Leonard Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Here, Verdi opts for simplicity and brevity, as opposed to Berlioz.
The soloists are Renee Fleming, Violetta Urmana, Renè Papè and Jorge Antonio Pita with Antonio Pappano conducting.
And were off to the races! The Sanctus is much livelier and less hushed than Berlioz. With the Agnus Dei, the tone returns to reverence.
The soloists are Leontyne Price and Fiorenza Cassotto with Herbert von Karajan conducting at La Scala.
Shavua Tov.
Wishing all our Jewish troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
a peaceful and prosperous week.
Beautiful, thanks for posting.
Mozart always gets a good reaction here. He was a consummate professional.
Prayers for our troops, veterans, families, allies, friends, and Canteeners
for a safe and peaceful week ahead.
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