SUPPORT YOUR SYMPHONY

Peter Oundjian conducts Brahms’ German Requiem and Stravinsky's Funeral Song, April 28 & 30 at Benaroya Hall.

IGOR STRAVINSKY
Funeral Song, Op. 5
Born: June 17, 1882, in Oranienbaum, Russia
Died: April 6, 1971, in New York City
Work composed: 1908
World premiere: 1909, Saint Petersburg, Russia

What to Listen For:

• The single melody that slowly unfolds as it passes from horn to English horn, oboe, flute, tuba and other instruments.
• The early musical style of Stravinsky which greatly differs from his neo-classical approach adopted later in life. Funeral Song has a lush harmonic language and romanticism reminiscent of Wagner.

The story surrounding the reemergence of Stravinsky’s Funeral Song is one of remarkable discovery that most musicologists can only dream about. In 2015, the Saint Petersburg Conservatory underwent a massive renovation and tons of musical scores were moved out of a previously inaccessible storage space. In these stacks, Professor Natalia Braginskaya discovered a complete set of orchestral parts to this early work by Stravinsky that had disappeared after its premiere in 1909 and was thought to have been destroyed during the 1917 Revolution. Further research showed that the Conservatory library had received the music in 1932 but removed it in 1951 during the Stalinist “anti-cosmopolitan campaign.” Under the regime, Stravinsky was deemed a “non-person” due to his emigration status and his music was banned throughout Russia. After Stalin’s death, he was finally recognized as a celebrated composer and was given concerts on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 1962. Attending these concerts in his honor, Stravinsky made his first and only visit back to his birth country since leaving in 1914. On December 2, 2016, the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra performed the second “premiere” of this lost gem for the opening of a year-long Stravinsky festival. The eagerly anticipated event brought much excitement to the classical-music world and made headlines around the globe.

Funeral Song was written as a tribute to Stravinsky’s teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, and was performed only once before lying dormant for 108 years. Stravinsky recalled it as being “the best of my works before The Firebird.” The haunting melody that floats above the string tremolos in the introduction clearly resembles the future ballet that would catapult him to fame just two years later. When Stravinsky reminisced about his lost work, he recalled the central idea was “that all the solo instruments of the orchestra filed past the tomb of the master in succession, each laying down its own melody as its wreath against a deep background of tremolo murmurings simulating the vibrations of bass voices singing in chorus.” In fact, Stravinsky used one central melody that is introduced in the horn before being passed to the English horn, oboe, flute, tuba and other instruments. In Funeral Song, Stravinsky honors his mentor’s gift for orchestration and color with his own lush scoring and harmonic language that, though clearly influenced by the late-Romantic composers before him, points to a compositional voice that is utterly his own.

JOHANNES BRAHMS
Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (“A German Requiem”)
Born: May 7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany
Died: April 3, 1897, in Vienna, Austria
Work composed: 1866-68
World premiere: February 18, 1869

What to Listen For:

• The overarching symmetry of form, with the exquisite fourth movement serving as the heart of the piece.
• Brahms’s effective orchestration throughout—the lack of violins in the first movement, the sparing presence of harps, and the brilliant use of timpani and brass.

Johannes Brahms approached the venerable genre of the requiem mass in a unique and deeply personal way. Unlike composers such as Mozart and Berlioz, who were commissioned to write requiems to commemorate specific occasions, Brahms ruminated on the idea of a large-scale requiem for many years, the only impetus being his own desire for musical expression. Departing from the traditional Latin Requiem Mass of the Catholic Church that was used by countless composers before him, Brahms took excerpts from the Lutheran Bible and apocrypha for his musical settings. He was a fiercely private man, and his religious beliefs are not widely known. As a child, he was baptized and raised in the Lutheran church and had a thorough understanding of the Bible. He was also highly interested in the scientific developments of his day and openminded toward other religions and ways of life. In regard to his German Requiem, whose title solely refers to the language used in the work, Brahms wrote that he “would gladly give up the ‘German’ and simply put ‘human.’” There is an intentional avoidance of references to the resurrection of Jesus and fear of a final judgement day. Instead, there are verses from both the Old and New Testaments that focus on offering comfort to the living with affirmations of hope, love, courage and joy. The result is a work of universal appeal that expresses human longing and offers solace to all, regardless of religious backgrounds and beliefs.

Brahms composed his Requiem over many years, adding sections here and there after performances until the seven-movement work was finally premiered in 1869. Though he was not prone to sharing the inner workings of his creativity or direct inspiration for his works, certain circumstances in his life clearly point to his preoccupation with composing a requiem at such a young age. His great friend and mentor Robert Schumann, who had championed the young Brahms and lifted him out of obscurity, died a tragic death in 1856 after an attempted suicide led to his confinement in a mental hospital. Brahms, who had a deep friendship and connection to Clara Schumann, helped to support the family through the crisis, dealing with business matters and acting as a go-between since Clara was not allowed to visit Robert in the hospital. Almost a decade after Schumann’s death, Brahms’s beloved mother passed away. Mourning her death, Brahms turned his attention to completing the Requiem which had lingered unfinished for some time. His efforts soon became an irresistibly moving work of emotional depth and artistry.

The German Requiem is remarkable in stature, especially considering that Brahms completed it at the early age of 33, before he had written his first symphony. This large-scale work is built in a beautifully balanced architecture with the first and last movements reflecting each other in tone and even beginning and ending with the same word: “Blessed.” Continuing the symmetry, the second movement’s funeral march is countered by the sixth movement’s powerful weight and theme of resurrection. The third and fifth movements feature solos from the baritone and soprano, respectively, while the fourth serves as the heart of the work—the centerpiece from which the solemn and dark opening movements transition to a hopeful and comforting conclusion.

The striking absence of the violins in the first movement adds to the overall somber color of the opening. The warmth of the violas and cellos lead to the chorus’s first phrase: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” Brahms’s affinity for vocal music of the Renaissance, which he studied voraciously, is evident here in the many unaccompanied choral passages.

The heavy pulse of the second movement’s march, marked with insistent triplets in the timpani, underlies the chorus’s lamentation of man’s fate: “Behold, all flesh is as the grass.” A lighter interlude provides some escape, urging us to “be patient, dear brothers, until the coming of the Lord,” before the march returns. The movement comes to an end in a defiant chorus of joy.

The third movement baritone solo concludes with an imposing orchestral fugue in the style of J.S. Bach. A long, sustained note in the bass is perhaps a steady reminder of the solidity and comfort of an ever-present faith over the complex musical questioning of the fugue that plays out above it.

The serenity of the fourth movement provides a moment of reflection on the beauty of heaven and eternal life. The slow waltz tempo and the warmth of the woodwinds as the chorus sings, “How lovely is thy dwelling place,” convey an exquisite simplicity. The soprano enters for the first time in the fifth movement with a maternal message of consolation that Brahms surely related to his own mother.

Another grand fugue in praise of God appears in the sixth movement after the words “Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy victory?” The combined force of chorus and orchestra lead to a breathtaking and powerful conclusion filled with drama.

After the excitement of the previous movement, Brahms ends his requiem on a tranquil note. The opening music of the first movement that focused on “those who mourn” is reworked here, turning toward those who have passed: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord...that they may rest from their labors.” The pace and mood throughout is one of quiet meditation, with the music slowly rising in register, reaching toward the promise of eternal peace and a beautiful resting place for those we have lost.

© 2022 Catherine Case