BMOP's Angels

I'm not sure how much there is to say about Peter Eötvös's Angels in America. The music was excellent, even if in a slightly out-of-date style. There performances were strong. Dramatically, it was a huge stretch to cut 6 hours of play into two and a half hours of opera; if you try to think of it as a play, it will be very disappointing.

The tickets have sold well; the first three performances sold out, and Saturday's tickets are running out. Before the show last night, I remarked that I was impressed so many people in Boston had heard of Peter Eötvös, let alone were willing to go see an opera he wrote. My initial inclination was right, though. There were a number of disappointed people complaining during intermission. (They were at an opera by Peter Eötvös. What did they expect? It's not like Eötvös's music used to be easy listening, and then he had a sudden stylistic shift.) Still, I hope that the dramatic story opened some ears to a kind of music perhaps they hadn't heard previously.

Jewish music on the march

Jewish composers have come a long way since Solomone Rossi.

When I read that Ligeti passed away, my initial reaction was so passes the greatest Jewish composer since the war. As I thought about it more, though, I realized just how much Jewish comopsers owned the 20th century, from Mahler to Golijov, the way German composers owned the previous two.

It's hard to find an important movement of 20th century composition that didn't have Jews at the forefront. The father of them all, of course, is Schoenberg. Later twelve-tone adherents include Babbit and Rochberg. The more mainstream composers include Gershwin, Bernstein, and Copland. For the minimalists and post-, Steve Reich and Philip Glass lead the way. Even the experimentalists have Zorn. Looking at the list of American Jewish composers, and thinking about the non-American ones as well, it almost seems easier to make a list of non-Jewish composers of note.

It makes sense that Jewish composers would come into their own after the 19th century, as the reform movement and secularization took hold in Germany. While there were a handfull of of Jewish composers, including those that weren't actually Jewish (Mendelssohn), it took until the end of the century for the wide-spread influence to take hold.

I can't help but wonder what Wagner would think about Jewish music now that their music is so irrevocably tied to the history of 20th century music. While I don't excuse his anti-Semitism, the most famous Jewish comopsers of his day were inferior (Meyerbeer and Offenbach). I'd like to think that were he still alive, he'd have to concede that Jews wrote music every bit as good as his own.

For Webern, Brief means Long

Bernard Holland had a very odd line in his column last Sunday on juvenalia:

Then there is poor Anton Webern, whose reputation rests for a great many concertgoers on youthful Mahlerian effusions like "Im Sommerwind," a brief, playable piece that serves as a convenient escape for orchestra administrators wanting to appear hip without actually having to risk alienating listeners.

I discovered Im Sommerwind from the newer Webern Box set. I found it to be quite a shock -- somehow, I wanted Webern to be be born fully formed, ready to write his Op. 1 Passacaglia. But that wasn't true, and so we're left with a handful of student pieces.

What's so striking about the orchestral idyll is the aspect that Holland manages to get completely wrong: it is anything but brief. At sixteen minutes, it's actually the longest thing Webern ever wrote. Webern's trademark concision isn't there yet. Instead this piece models itself on Mahlerian and Wagnerian expansiveness.

Probably the best description of it is that there's nothing wrong with it. Its sixteen minutes go by with great proficiency on Webern's part, but it doesn't sound like him at all. It's clearly the work of a raw talent in need of guidance. Fortunately for us Webern met Schoenberg soon after completing the idyll, and before too long wrote the perfect passacaglia.

I wouldn't say there's an inherint problem with programming Im Sommerwind. It's only problematic if it gets chosen as the token Webern piece at the expensive of the masterpieces like his Op. 21 Symphony.

Brundibar, Standing on its Own?

Why let historical fact get in the way of a nice story?

Any discussion of Han Krása's Brundibár immediately becomes a discussion of its 55 performances in the Terezin concentration camp, the role it had in the lives of the children who lived there. It becomes an uplifting story, about how these children used this satiric anti-Hitler opera to defy their terrible surroundings, and how special the final victory song is. Brundibár becomes the Holocaust Opera. It's a nice little story, but it doesn't check out.

For starters, Kans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister collaborated on the opera before the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia. It wasn't written in response to the experience in the concentration camp. It's just a sad quirk of history that it happened to end up with so many performances in the camp. It's no more a Holocaust work of art the way Beethoven's 9th is Nazi music. After all, Hitler attended performances in Berlin of that great symphony. Perhaps more to the point, Brundibár relates to the Holocaust the same was Mendelssohn's Elijah does. Both were written before the war and performed by inmates at Terezin.

If we consider Brundibár on its own, it fits into the tradition of the Children's opera that had currency in Europe at that time. Kurt Weill was writing his didactic operas like Der Jasager, and Orff was working on fairy-tale operas like Der Mond. This is the context in which musical historians need to view Brundibár. (When Krása and Hoffmeister got together in 1938 to discuss the work, I somehow doubt they discussed writing a Holocaust opera and were influenced by other earlier Holocaust operas.)

So, then, how does Brundibár stand up if you remove the weight of history from its shoulders? It has some very nice moments, including the lullabye that proves to be its musical heart. Ultimately, however, it's hard to distinguish it from the rest. In a bizarre sense, it seems that its unfortunate place in history has actually given it a second life, as it continues to be performed to this day.

But more than that, I'm not sure how it holds up as the Holocaust Opera. There's a notion that somehow, by singing the final victory chorus, the children who performed it were defeating the Nazis. It's a very nice sentiment, to be sure. I certainly want to believe that music has that power. But somehow, I doubt it helped the 90% of the children in Terezin who were moved on to Auschwitz to be singing a victory song as they walked into the gas chambers.

The Passions According the Sons, Good and Wicked

When I think about the passion story, it's hard for me not to think about it the way Bach taught me to. The correct version is from the Gospel of Matthew; more than that, it's in Martin Luther's German. In some ways, it seems strange for me to hear certain phrases in any language other than German, such as Peter's denial "Ich kenne des Mensche nicht" or Jesus's cry "Mein Gott, mein Gott! warum hast du mich verlassen?" A large part of this is because I'm not Christian, so I didn't grow up with religious connection to the story. To the extent that I have any involvement in the story, it's as the villain (at least in the versions according to Matthew and John). Yet, I find it had not to be moved by the story as Bach tells it. For added measure, it's interesting to compare so compelling a version of the story to a particularly poor telling (in this case the snuff film directed by Mel Gibson).

If you've ever been to a Passover seder, you've heard about the four sons. The story goes, four times the Torah instructs us to tell our children the Passover story. The rabbis devised the four different sons who ask about the story in different ways. The good son asks what is all this that we do. The wicked son asks what is all this that you do. The wicked son is wicked, the story goes, because he excludes himself from the story. The good son, on the other hand, chooses to participate.

I was thinking about this on Sunday, as I was listening to the Handel and Haydn society perform Bach's Matthew's Passion. There's a lot of theology in the music. One famous moment comes when Jesus says to the disciples, "I say to you that one of you will betray me." They respond, "Lord, is it I?" Eleven times, once for each of the disciples, excluding Judas. In a couple of verses, Judas will ask the same question, and Jesus will respond, "Du sagest" -- "You say so."

However, that isn't how Bach plays it. Bach and Picander insert a chorale. These chorales (think of a hymn) are the voice of the congregation. What do they sing at this moment?

It is I that must atone,
Hand and foot
Bound in hell.
The scourges and bonds,
And your suffering
Has redemmed my soul.

Another type of commentary that is interspersed with the gospel text are meditative arias. The most beautiful of these is "Erbarme dich, mein Gott!" -- Have mercy, my God! (It's not just me saying that. The Grout-Palisca History of Western Music mentions it among the five beautiful passages that may be singled out for special mention.) This aria that is so powerful is immediately after the story of Peter's three-fold denial. It's one thing for Judas to betray Jesus; however, Peter, the rock on which the church is founded, turns his back on his lord as well. Bach chooses to emphasize this moment, just as highlighted the individual's role in that chorale.

Not that Bach lets the Jews off the hook. The choruses that represent the Jews -- "Barabbas!," "Let him be crucified!" and and "Let his blood be on us and our children" -- are plenty zealous and blood-thirsty.

Fundamentally, however, the stance of Bach's passion is that ultimately, Jesus died for all people and all people have individual involvement. The penultimate chorus sums it up well:

Now is the Lord brought to rest
My Jesus, good night.
His toil is over,
Caused by our sins.
My Jesus, good night.
O blessed limbs,
See, how I mourn with penitence
and sorrow,
That my fall should bring you
To such need!
My Jesus, good night.
While life lasts,
For your sufferings a thousand thanks,
Since you have brought me to salvation.
My Jesus, good night.

So Bach and Picander encourage you to be the good child, and ask, "What happened when I betrayed Jesus by sinning, making his death and resurrection necessary?" Mel Gibson's snuff film pushes you to be the wickied child and ask, "What happened when the Jews and the Romans tortured and killed Jesus?" It puts all the blame on others, and in doing so, manages to remove the spirituality from one of the central moments of Christian history. It has no point or purpose; it's just violence.

Of course, he isn't my Jesus. After all, I'm Jewish. So what does it matter what I think?

But shouldn't my thoughts matter most of all? After all, as a neutral observer, I don't bring anything into the experience. If I can be moved, it's absolutely clear who is responsible. Gibson doesn't even try to go after the neutral crowd. He gives barely any hint of who Jesus was and why his death matters to anyone, let alone me. If you want to be moved, you need to do all the work yourself. That's great if you're already Christian, and can get excited about two hours of excruciating violence (and if you don't like Jews, all the better!), but it doesn't actually try to move anyone.

The Full Text of Berio's Sinfonia

Luciano Berio
Sinfonia

[B2] il y avait sang [B1] Il y avait il y avait il y avait unoe fois un indien marié et père de plusieurs fils adultes, à l'exception du dernier né qui s'appelait Assaré. Un jour, un jour que cet indien était à la chasse, les frères, les frères

Quand l'océan s'était formé, les frères d'Asaré avaient tout de suite voulu s'y baigner. Et encore aujourd'hui, vers le fin de la saison des pluies, des pluies on les voit apparaître dans le ciel, dans le ciel, tout propres et removes sons l'apparence des sept étoiles des Pleiades ce mythe nous retiendra longtemps. [B2] aujourd'hui vers le fin de la saison de la saison des pluies des pluies des pluies dans le ciel dans le ciel cans le ciel

[tutti] Pluie douce appel bruyant [repeated several times, broken down into component syllables]

[7 voices] sang [solo] sang eau eau [7]eau [solo] eau sang [7] eau [solo] sang [tutti] sang [7] eau [solo] eau [7] sang [solo] eau céleste [7] eau [solo/7 antiphonally] eau céleste sang eau eau terrestre pluie, pluie, pluie, pluie douce, pluie douce de la saison sèche pluie, pluie orageuse, pluie orageuse de la saison des pluies bois eau, bois bois eau, bois pourri, bois, bois dur roc arbre arbre résorbé sous l'eau un fils privé de mere, un fils privé de nourriture héros honteaux, héros tuant, héros tué, héros furieux, musiques rituelle [7] eau sang céleste eau eau terrestre sang eau terrestre sang eau sang eau terrestre eau sang eau eau eau terrestre eau eau terrestre eau célestebois bois arbre résorbé bois dur bois dur résorbé arbre résorbé bois pourri les héros bois dur le héros héros furieux héros tué [tutti] musiques rituelle

[tutti] tuant tué

II
O KING

O King O Martin Luther King

III
IN RUHIG FLIESSENDER BEWEGUNG

[tutti] oh peripeti [T1] nicht eilen, bitte [S1] oh [A1] no [B1] recht gemä... [S2] quatrième symphonie [A2] duxième symphonie [T2] recht gemä... [S1] deuxième partie [A1] première partie [T1] quatrième partie [B1] troisième partie [T2] gemäche... [B1] In ruhig fliessender Bewegung [T1] sehr gemächlich nicht eilen [B1] keep going [tutti] peripetie [B1] peripetie where? [A1] and now? [B1] nothing more nothing more restful than chamber music [A1] when now? [T1] I, say I

[T1] You are nothing but an academic exercise [B1] no time for chamber music {...} we need to do something [S2] For though the silence here is almost unbroken it is not completely so he emerges as from heavy hangings. Hardly a resurrection [A2] we want that [A1] It seems there are only repeated sounds [T2] what? [A2] who? [T1] I prefer a wake [T2] why? [B1] Something is going to happen. So after a period of immaculate silence there seems to be a violin concerto being played in the other room in three quarters [A2] two violin concertos [S2] in three eights [A1] I am not deaf, of that I am convinced, that is to say half-convinced [T2] Keep going [B2] where now? [T1] With not even a small mountain on the horizon, a man would wonder where his kingdom ended [A1] where? [T1] Keep going [T2] what? [T1] a poem [B2] Keep going [T1] a danced poem, all round, and endless chain, taking turns to talk

[S2] Keep going [T1] This represents at least a thousand words I was not counting on. [A1] three thousand notes [T1] I may well be glad of them {...} But seeing Daphne and Chloé written in red, counting the seconds while nothing has happened but the obsession with the [B1] go on [A2] with the chromatic [S2] and the chromatic again [T2] Where now? [T1] I am in the air, the walls, everything yields, opens, ebbs, flows like the play of waves [S1] Keep going [B2] Yes, I feel the moment has come for us to look back, if we can and take our bearings if we are to go on. [T1] Yes, I feel the moment has come for me to look back. I must not forget this, I have not forgotten it. But I must have said it before, since I say it now. They think I am alive, not in a womb, either... Well, so there is an audience it's a fantastic public performance [B1] and the curtain comes down for the ninth time. [B1] You never noticed you were waiting. You were waiting alone, that is the show. Keep going.

[B1] I shall say my old lessons now, if I can remember it [T2] then I shall have lived they think I am alive, not in a womb, either, even that takes time.

[A1] it is [T2] keep going [A1] is it? [B1] keep going [T1] it is as if we were rooted, that's bonds if you like – the earth would have to quake. it isn't the earth, one doesn't know what it is [A1] But you all know that they will bring me to the surface one day or another and there will be a brief dialogue in the dunes [T1] maybe a kind of competition on the stage, with just eight female dancers and words falling. you don't know where, where now [A1] under the sun [T1] who now? But now I shall say my old lessons if I can remember it. I most not forget this. But I must have said it before, since I say it now.

I am listening. Well, I prefer, that, I must say I prefer that [A2] that what who you [T1] oh you know, oh you, oh I suppose the audience, well well, so there is an audience, it's a public show, you buy your seat and you wait, perhaps it's free, a free show, you take your seat and you wait for it to begin, or perhaps it's compulsory, a compulsory show...

you wait for the compulsory show to begin, it takes time, you hear a voice, perhaps it is a recitation, that is the show, someone reciting, selected passages, old favourites, or someone improvising, you can barely hear him, that's the show, you can't leave, you are afraid to leave, you make the best of it, you try to be reasonable, you came too early, here we'd need latin, it's only the beginning, it hasn't begun, he'll appear any moment, he'll begin any moment [A1] He is only preluding, clearing his throat, alone in his dressing room, or it's the stage-manager giving his instructions, his last recommendations before the curtain rises [tutti] that is the show [T1] that's the show waiting for the show, to the sound of a murmur, you try to be reasonable, perhaps it is not a voice at all, perhaps it's the air, ascending, descending, flowing, eddying, seeking exit, finding none, and the spectators, where are they, you didn't notice, in the anguish of waiting, never noticed you were waiting alone, that is the show, for the fools, in the palace, waiting [B1] the brightest star [T1] waiting alone that is the show [tutti] that is the show [T1] waiting alone in the restless air, for it to begin, while every now and then a familiar passacaglia [T2] (etwas zurükhaltend) [B1] not really [T1] filters through the other noises waiting, for something to begin, for there to be something else but you, for the power to rise, the courage to leave, picking your way through the crossed colors, seeking the cause, losing it again, seeking no longer. We shall overcome the incessant noise, for as Henri says, if this noise would stop there'd be nothing more to say. You try and be reasonable, perhaps you are blind, probably deaf, the show is over, all is over, but where then is the hand, the helping hand, or merely charitable, or the hired hand, it's a long time coming, to take yours and draw you away, that is the show, free, gratis, and for nothing, waiting alone, blind, deaf, you don't know where, you don't know for what, for a hand to come and draw you away, somewhere else, where perhaps it's worse. [S1+2] It's a real pleasure upon my word it is to be unable to drown under such conditions in a lake full of colors far from my walls [T1] where now? [A1] who now? [B1] keep going now [T1] when now? [G1] blood [A1] Just a small murder [T1] keep going [B2] hardly worth it, yet what can you expect [T1] they don't know who they are either [B1] did you hear? [T1] keep going [S2] Did you hear? [T2] stop [B2] stop [A1] do you hear? [T1] keep going [B1] Hören Sie? [T2] Dort! [B2] Heavens! There was a sound! [T1] yes, there! [B1] Ja, dort! [T2] Jesus! Das war ein Ton!

I am here so little, I see it, I feel it round me it enfolds me, it covers me, if only this voice would stop, for a second, [T1+2] it would seem long to me, a second of silence I would listen, [T2] I'd know if it was going to start again or if it was stilled for ever what would I know it with, I'd know. And I'd keep on listening [T1] I'd know if it was going to start again it's late now, and he is still talking incessantly, any old thing, repetition after repetition, talking unceasingly, in yourself, outside yourself

It's late now, he shall never hear again the lowing cattle, the rush of the stream. In a chamber, dimensions unknown, I do not move and never shall again on long road or short. But the fact is I trouble no one. But I did. And after each group disintegration, the name of Majakowsky hangs in the clean air.

And when they ask, why all this, it is not easy to find an answer. [S2] la mer, la mer toujours recommencée [T1] For when we find ourselves, face to face, now, here, and they remind us all this can't stop the wars, can't make the old younger or lower the price of bread [A1] say it again, louder! [T1] it can't stop the wars, can't make the old younger or lower the price of bread, can't erase solitude or dull the tread outside the door, we can only nod, yes, it's true, but no need to remind, to point, for it is all with us, always, except, perhaps at certain moments, here among these rows of balconies, in a crowd or out of it, perhaps waiting to enter, watching. And tomorrow we'll read that ................ [mentions composer and title of a work included in the same program] made tulips grow in my garden and altered the flow of the ocean currents. We must believe it's true. There must be something else. Otherwise it would be quite hopeless. But it is quite hopeless. Unquestioning. But it can't go on. It, say it, not knowing what. It's getting late. Where now? When now? I have a present for you. Keep going, page after page. Keep going, going on, call that going, call that on. But wait. He is barely moving, now, almost still. Should I make my introductions? {This voice introduces to the public the other seven singers.} But now it's done, it's over, we've had our chance. There was even, for a second, hope of resurrection, or almost, Mein junges Leben hat ein End. We must collect our thoughts, for the unexpected is always upon us, in our rooms, in the street, at the door, on a stage. Thank you, Mr. {full name of the conductor}

IV

[tutti] Rose de sang appel bruyant appel doux bruyant Rose de sang

V

[S1] Rose de sang Rose de sang appel bruyant appel bruyant doux appel appel doux [A1/2] Voilà voilà Il y avait, il y avait une fois un jeune, un jeune garcon qui suivit sa mere [T1] rose de sang Rose de sang [T2] Listen, listen, are you going already? Listen, listen, let me see your face once more [B1] nous voilà voilà where now? who now? And now? who now? [B1] Voilà quoi Voilà qui Voilà. Il y avait une fois. [B1,2] Il y avait un fois un indien, un indien marié et père de plusieurs fils adultes

[tutti] bruyant doux appel doux

[B1] Partiel ou proviso ire, ce dernier commentaire n'est pas convaicant, car il laisse de côté d'importants aspects de nos thèmes. [other seven voices repeat the following words and phrases] sang, pluie, bruyant appel, doux bruyant, vie, sang, feu [B1] appel bruyant mais pourtant, mais pourtant les thèmes sont là. Partout, ailleurs mais pourtent voilà [S2] Partiel ou provisoire, ce dernier commentaire n'est pas convaicant. [A1] mais pourtant les thèmes sont là [T1] mais pourtant, mais pourtant, mais pourtant les thèmes sont là, quie affirment la priorité [T2] Listen, let me see your face once more. Listen [B2] where now? Keep going [B1] Partout, ailleurs, les thèmes inversent la valeur de leur termes selon qu'il s'agit de retarded la mort ou d'assurer la resurrection [B2] Avant de terminer d'une façon provisoirement definitive (à Vienne on dit "définitivement provisoire") il faudrait résoudre quelque contradiction

[T2] mais partout les thèmes sont là, qui affirment [A2] les thèmes qui affirment la priorité de la discontinuité universelle des thèmes sur la continuité de [S1, S2, A1] un fils privé de mere [S2] un fils privé de nouriture [T1] il y avait, il y avait, il y avait un fois, un jeune, un jeune garcon qui suivit sa mere en cachette, la surprit et la voila. [T2,B2] sur la continuité de l'organisation interne à chacuns [B1] il y avait une fois un indien marié, père de plusieurs fils adunts à l'exception du dernier né qui s'appelait Asaré. Un jour que cet indien était à la chasse les frères d'Asaré à tour de role violèrent leur mere dans la maison des hommes. [T1] continuez M. {the name of 2^nd Bass} s.v.p. [B2] Persuadé de son infortune le père expédie son fils au "nid des âmes" [B1] Les coupables reçoivent de leur père une rude correction [B2] un: les âmes la grandmère lui recommande d'obtenir l'aide de l'oiseau mouche [B1] un: le crocodile. A sa demand les oiseaux pics le dissimulent sous un tas doux: Il lui échappe grâce aux perdrix qui consentent à le cacher sous la paille [B2] deux: l'animal secuétant cette fois la colombe au vol rapide. [T1] Trois: Asaré se cache sous les épulchures des gousses de yatoba. [B2] Trois: il est aide par la grande sauterelle, dont le vol est plus lent.[A1] Quartre: au beau milieu du fleuve il recontre un crocodile né d'une multitude de lézards qu'il avait lui-même tués pendant le voyage, et que les eaux grossissantes ont entraînés. [B2] Quartre: chasse les lézards qui abondent sur le plateau. Cinq: Du macabre festin il ne reste au fond de l'eau que les ossements décharnés, et les poumons surnagent sous forme de plantes aquatiques don’t les feuilles dit-on ressemblent à poumons. [A2] Cinq: Peu après, on les voit apparaîtres dans le ciel tout propres et rénovés sous l'apparence des sept étoiles des Pléiades. Six: Assaré arrive enfin chez son oncle qui attend le crocodile de pied ferme et l'inonde de son fluide-- [B2] Six: la grandmère ne sait trop comment parer à ce nouveau danger, mais elle remet à son petit fils un baton magique-- [S2] un jeune qui couchait en plein air, tombe amoureux d'une étoile [A2] Assez [B1] Listen [B2] non, pas ça [A2] L'esprit créateur que les homes seraient immortels. [T1] Listen are you going already? let me see your face once more [B2] l'esprit créateur avait décidé Il fallait les informer, et il choisit il choisit le caméléon [S2] et il choisit comme messager [A2] qui est un animal fort lent [S2] l'esprit malin, à l'affût d'un bon fond, alla porter aux homes la nouvelle [T1] la nouvelle qu'ils étaient mortels [B2] qu'ils étaient mortels Cela ne leur plût pas énormément [T2] Listen, are you going? [S2] mais ils finirent par se résigner tant bien que mal [T2] Let me see your face once more [A2] L'esprit créateur n'y pouvait plus rien [B2] Alors, alors, pour consoler les homes, il créa un esprit special. dont le role était de leur apporter de leur apporter...

[Tutti, repeat many times] péripétie, héroes tué

The Early Music Aristocrats

Somebody referred to this new music joke at one of the Sequenza21 discussions, and I've been very fascinated it.

So, here it is, re-fashioned from new music to the HIP crowd:

-I have to tell you about this Beethoven program I read about last week. It was really something.
-What happened?
-It was "Beethoven as he sounded to himself." They opened with the Emperor concerto, on period instruments, including a restored piano from Vienna that Beethoven himself once played on. It was really lovely, with a very interesting sound, at first, but then it started to get a little wierd. There were large speakers, though, which were playing this quiet, low buzzing sound that gradually got louder and louder. Meanwhile, as the piece progressed, ushers walked around from seat to seat with guns. They were only firing blanks, but right at people's ears, several times, until they lost pretty much all of their hearing. People wouldn't have realized that the concerto was over and that the 9th symphony had begun without the choir filing on-stage. By the time the glorious ode to joy wrapped up, everybody in the hall was totally deaf. Have you heard about it?
-Heard about it? I programmed it!

The key to this joke is that every telling is very different, so have at it!