NNewew VoicesVoices inin ResearchResearch

Magen Solomon, editor [email protected]

Modernism and Byzantine Infl uence in Rautavaara’s Vigilia, Part One

by

Charles W. Kamm

Introduction texts. Larger forms include cycles, cantatas, the Festival in 1971 to compose Einojuhani Rautavaara, born October and choral . Among his best known Vigilia, he faced a number of compositional 9, 1928, is considered the dean of living choral works problems. Chief among these was deciding Finnish composers. His Vigilia is his most are the popu- what musical language to use. While on the extensive choral work, and one of his most lar Lorca Suite surface, Vigilia’s musical language is modern- important. Stylistically, Vigilia well represents (1973); a Mag- ist, the work also owes a debt to the tradi- Rautavaara’s eclectic modernist approach nifi cat (1979); a tions of Byzantine chant. to style. In addition, the work shows the setting of Rilke’s One reason selection of musical language infl uence of Rautavaara’s encounters with fi rst Duino El- in Vigilia was challenging for Rautavaara is his Byzantine chant. egy, Die Erste El- eclectic style. Rautavaara has been described This two-part article will begin by outlin- egie (1993); and as a pluralist and is a self-acknowledged sty- ing Rautavaara’s career. Part One will also Vigilia (1971/72, listic wanderer.2 His earliest works—from include an overview of Vigilia, a brief history revised 1988 Einojuhani Rautavaara the late 1940s and early 1950s—could and stylistic account of the traditional Rus- and 1996). He Photo Maarit Kytöharju/FIMIC best be classifi ed as neo-classical. Works sian Orthodox Vigil Service, a description of is also credited from this time include “Three Symmetrical form in Vigilia, and will explore the modern- with eight , ten , ten Preludes” for piano in 1949; A Requiem for ist musical language of Vigilia. Part Two will operas, and many works for orchestra, Our Time for brass (a primitavistic work after focus on Byzantine infl uence in the context solo voice, solo instruments, and chamber Stravinsky’s Les Noces) in 1954; and the fi rst of modernism, continuing the discussion of ensembles.1 (stylistically similar to Prokofi ev musical language. It will offer conclusions Although Finland is primarily and offi cially and some Shostakovich) in 1956.3 Follow- about why Rautavaara incorporated Byz- a Lutheran country, Vigilia is a setting of the ing studies in Finland with , antine elements into this modernist work. Eastern Orthodox All-Night Vigil in Finnish. Rautavaara studied with Persichetti, Copland Following the tradition of Eastern Orthodox and Sessions in New York and at Tanglewood church music, it is unaccompanied, scored in 1955 and 1956. The second symphony, Einojuhani Rautavaara for mixed choir and fi ve soloists (soprano, Sinfonia intima, from 1957, is decidedly mod- Rautavaara has written many choral alto, tenor, bass, and basso profondo). It ernist, Stravinsky-like in fast movements, and works throughout his career, with over consists of two main parts with multiple chromatic to the point of atonality. In 1957, sixty choral pieces for treble voices, men’s internal movements. In its published form, Rautavaara traveled to Ascona, Switzerland, voices and mixed choir. These works range “Vespers” contains fourteen numbers while to study dodecaphony with . from short settings of folk texts to longer “Matins” has twenty movements. The thirty- Finnish musicologist Kimmo Korhonen claims settings of poetry, biblical texts, or liturgical four movements set a variety, but not all, that Rautavaara’s modernist fourth sympho- of the prayer, Psalm, and hymn texts of the ny, Arabescata, from 1962 “remains the only Orthodox All-Night Vigil, retaining the Greek Serial symphony to be written in Finland.” names of each (katisma, sticheron, ekteniya, In the second half of the 1960s, Rau- Charles W. Kamm is assistant troparion, irmos). tavaara abandoned and began professor of music at Scripps College to compose in a free-tonal style, often and director of choirs for the Joint neo-romantic. This style is seen in the cello Music Program at the Claremont Rautavaara’s Musical Style from 1968 and also in Vigilia. Later Colleges. When Rautavaara accepted the commis- works incorporate post-modernist features sion by the Finnish Orthodox Church and such as collage (in True and False Unicorn

Choral Journal • October 2009 47 NNewew VoicesVoices inin ResearchResearch

for reciters, chorus, orchestra and tape in referencing angels, including his of John the Baptist, and thus the proper ele- 1971), taped elements (birdsong in Cantus concerto, Angel of Dusk (1980), and the sev- ments in Vigilia are those for that feast. The Arcticus, 1972—a concerto for birds and enth symphony, Angel of Light (1994). premiere of “Matins” occurred on the Feast orchestra), synthesized sounds (in the 1982 of the Nativity of the Virgin, September 9, concert for male choir, soloists, and 1972, still, however, incorporating the prop- tape, Runo 42—the Theft of the Sampo), and Vigilia ers from the Feast of the Beheading of John aleatory (again seen in as The setting of the All-Night Vigil was the Baptist. The premieres were sung by the well as in Symphony 5 from 1986). Works commissioned by the Helsinki Festival and Klemetti Institute Chamber Choir, conducted from throughout the 1970s, 80s, 90s and the by the Orthodox Church of Finland for use by Harald Andersén. new century incorporate a variety of com- at the Uspenski Cathedral in Helsinki during In 1988, Rautavaara revised the complete positional techniques and idioms (including the late-summer Helsinki Festival. Although settings of both “Vespers” and “Matins,” par- a return to serial elements), and frequently numbered by the composer as the single ing down the works, which originally lasted successive works differ greatly in style. An Opus 57, it was composed in two parts, over two hours, to create a 45-minute con- important trend in his later works is a pre- “Vespers” and “Matins,” and premiered in cert version titled Vigilia. A later revision in occupation with the mystic and the mythic. two different years, 1971 and 1972.4 The 1996 entailed mainly alterations of tessitura, This is seen in his many works based on the date of the 1971 premiere of “Vespers” including the resetting of many movements mythic , the national epic of Finland was August 28, the Feast of the Beheading a tone lower, in preparation for publication, (such as Runo 42) and in a number of works and the recording by the Finnish Radio

48 Choral Journal • October 2009 Chamber Choir. The 1996 version, lasting 65 larly personal creation due to its juxtaposi- Maxim Berezhovsky in Italy. minutes, was debuted by the Finnish Radio tion of musical modernism and Byzantine In the early nineteenth century, the sway Chamber Choir, conducted by Timo Nuor- infl uences. of Italian music gave way to German roman- anne, in Helsinki on October 14, 1997, and tic infl uence, with chorale-like harmonization released on compact disc by in 1998. I have had access to the score of the Structure and Musical Language 1996 version published by Warner/Chappell of the Traditional Finnish Vigil Service Finland and to two differing photocopies The structure of the Finnish Orthodox of the 1988 revised manuscript, one held Vigil service closely resembles the Russian by the Finnish Music Information Centre Vigil, which has changed little over the past and the other by the Helsinki University three centuries. In both, Vespers and Matins Library. No copy of the unaltered original include a variety of Psalms, hymns, prayers, 1971/72 version has been located. While litanies, Biblical odes, and responsorial ele- Rautavaara has taken care that the original ments.7 Some of these elements are chant- cannot be reconstructed, it is clear from a ed by the priest or by the deacon, some are study of the existing manuscripts that in his sung chorally. Rautavaara’s 1971/72 service 1971/72 version, Rautavaara set nearly every music was a setting of most of the contem- item of Vespers and Matins to music. In the porary text of both Vespers and Matins. later concert versions, revisions focused on Byzantine chant, introduced into Russia cutting many chant-based elements, and by Greek missionaries in the ninth or tenth lowering, by a whole tone, a number of century, was the original musical language of movements that were particularly high in the Orthodox Vigil service. As the Eastern the soprano voices. Church has always required the use of the Rautavaara writes that Vigilia has its ori- vernacular in its liturgy, the Greek chants gins in a childhood visit. were translated into Old Slavonic, the root of modern Slavonic languages. From [A]t the age of ten or so, my parents the eleventh to the sixteenth century, the had taken me to the Orthodox repertoire grew, and Russian chant generally monastery island of Valamo, now on became more intricate, although in times the other side of the Russian border of reform, less so. By the sixteenth century, in Karelia. The exotic world of the Russian chant featured extended ranges, monastery had been a shocking larger melodic leaps (including successive experience for me, simply through the very existence of such a different leaps of sixths, sevenths, and octaves), world—I believe that it created the and more extended melismas. Polyphony foundation for my later conviction in church music was resisted by the Rus- of the existence of different worlds, sian church as a non-orthodox, “Roman” different realities and modes of tradition until the seventeenth century. consciousness. If nothing else, that The earliest examples of polyphony in the experience remained powerfully in Russian church date from the sixteenth the subconscious: the colours, rituals, century, and show the infl uence of a folk icons, bells, the choirs singing, the song tradition of polyphonic singing. Only during of the deacon, even the swishing of the last part of the seventeenth century did the monks’ habits in the darkened church polyphony become prevalent. Styles 5 cloisters… included three- and four-voice homophony as well as polyphony and polychoral writing Rautavaara was captivated by the senso- on the German and Italian models. Settings ry stimuli of the monastery and the alternate of chant for three voices in syllabic block world it created. The interest in orthodoxy is chords are similar to simple chorales and an extension of Rautavaara’s preoccupation were likely fi rst imported from Poland. with the mystic and the mythic. “When I The mid-eighteenth century saw a great had composed an expansive Orthodox infl uence of Italian styles on Russian church Vigilia…I had basically realized some kind of music initiated in part by the presence of 6 personal myth.” Indeed, Vigilia is a particu- Baldassare Galuppi in St. Petersburg and of

Choral Journal • October 2009 49 NNewew VVoicesoices iinn RResearchesearch

of traditional chants employing functional 1917 Revolution and remains so today. The Musical Languages in Rautavaara’s Vigilia chromatic harmony. This movement, often Finnish Orthodox church is no exception When Rautavaara was commissioned referred to as the St. Petersburg School, to this trend. to compose Vigilia, liturgy at the Uspenski was strong throughout the century. By the Cathedral in Helsinki was sung to music 1830s, Glinka, infl uenced by both Ger- from the St. Petersburg School. Beyond the man and French models, advocated modal Formal Unity in Rautavaara’s Vigilia obvious use of the basso profundo and the harmonization of chant melodies without The form of each movement of Vigilia is texture of homophonic choral chanting, the modulation or dissonance. A rival School dictated by the liturgical text.8 Rautavaara musical styles of Vigilia bear little resem- of Moscow evolved mid-century which set the chanting of the deacon for solo blance to those of the Russian Church. In continued the modal harmonic style and in- baritone and the chanting of the priest for Vigilia, Rautavaara eschews the St. Peters- corporated other folk elements. In this style, solo tenor. A quartet of soloists and the burg style—except for the predominantly the cantus fi rmus of chant could be treated chorus are used in various combinations homophonic choral texture—in favor of his more freely, wandering between voices. This for choral sections throughout the work. Of own personal modernist musical style, infl u- style is the basis for Rachmaninov’s All-Night particular note are the three movements for enced by Byzantine elements. As mentioned Vigil. However, it is the simpler chordal St. basso profundo soloist (2, 5, 11). Rautavaara above, Rautavaara is considered a stylistic Petersburg style that became the common writes in Omakuva (“Self-Portrait”) that pluralist. Many aspects of his style are ap- style of Russian church music following the the inspiration was the chanting of the low parent in Vigilia, including the use of Sprech- bass in the coronation scene of the 1945 stimme, various modal and non-diatonic Eisenstein movie Ivan the Terrible that he saw scale collections (octatonic, other synthetic while studying composition in New York in modes), quartal and quintal harmonies, har- the mid 1950s.9 Very low writing extends monic motion by mediant pivots, mirror- beyond the bass solo to a “pedal bass” sec- ing scalar constructions around a pitch, tion of the choir, which sings low Ds and Cs pyramiding tones into a cluster, bitonality, and in eleven movements and even low BB-fl ats cadences with both major and minor thirds. in movement 7. Rautavaara wrote that in composing Since 1995 FOR CHORAL PART STUDY Formal unity is often found in the recur- Vigilia he was attempting to evoke the music rence of musical motives, both melodic and of the older Byzantine world. harmonic, in response to reappearances of particular texts. For example, the doxologi- When I investigated the most ancient cal verses in movements 3, 9, 16, and 20 all musical tradition of the Church, what make use of the same motivic material, al- surprising things there were to be though it is varied in each instance. Similarly, found there in the Byzantine tradition! a motive associated with the text “bless the Wild glissandos, micro-intervals, withwith SSINGERSINGERS ddemonstratingemonstrating tthehe pparts!arts! Lord” is fi rst heard in the setting of Psalm rhythmic vivacity. The harmonically 10310 and then at similar textual references indigent and melodically conventional MASTER CHORAL WORKS in movements 22 and 32. singing which today is the Orthodox such as: Faure Requiem, Formal unity is also achieved through liturgical norm—which parishioners VIvaldi Gloria, Messiah, Mozart the recurrence of harmonic patterns (for accustomed to it from childhood Coronation Mass and more! hold for very holy tradition—that, example, the alternation of chords on a on the contrary, proved to be the mediant pivot in movements 4, 5, 7, and 8) 100s of Octavos and Anthems result of very recent innovation. At or textural techniques (pyramiding is used for Treble, TTBB, SATB Choirs the command of the Czar, the court for the two settings of the Kyrie eleison, as- musicians, the so-called “Petersburg Visit our website at cending in movement 8 and descending in School” carried out in the nineteenth www.partpredominant.com movement 10). Despite the large number of century a reform whereby these movements and the variety of musical styles musicians, educated to roughly the ORDER ONLINE! in Vigilia, it is unifi ed through the return of technique of a Verdi, brought into musical ideas and by its original identity as church singing the endless row of Part Predominant Recordings a piece of service music with a prescribed IV-V-I harmonic passages, which we 2617 39th St NW Gig Harbor WA 98335 textual format. hear in church now. But it was the old Byzantine techniques that I now wished to bring into my own Vigil. Its

50 Choral Journal • October 2009 means were, after all, also the means antine melody, imitated Byzantine chant, and Modernist Musical Language 11 of the avant garde of my own time. adopted some elements, such as grace notes, Before discussing Byzantine infl uence in directly. Beyond these surface elements, more detail in Part Two, let us fi rst examine Clearly Rautavaara saw an affi nity between Vigilia evinces other less obvious infl uences some hallmarks of Rautavaara’s modernism musical elements of Byzantine chant and of Byzantine chant. These include the use of as seen in Vigilia. certain modern compositional tools. While recurring patterns refl ecting the organiza- The second movement of “Vespers,” rooted in Rautavaara’s own musical style, tion of Byzantine chant, the employment Alkupsalmi (Opening Psalm) is a setting of the musical fabric of Vigilia includes ele- of microtones and of the octatonic scale as the opening of Psalm 103 (104 in Protestant ments recognizable from transcriptions of refl ections of non-equal-tempered tuning, traditions). It begins with basso profondo Byzantine chant. Rautavaara quoted a Byz- and the presence of drones. solo, who intones the Psalm (Figure 1). The

Figure 1

Choral Journal • October 2009 51 NNewew VVoicesoices iinn RResearchesearch

Figure 2 choir responds with the refrain “Glory to Thee, O Lord.” The opening chant begins with the outline of a d minor chord, shift- ing to an f minor chord, a pivot of the mediant F in d minor becoming the root of f minor. The choral response exhibits a number of Rautavaara’s traits. It begins with a quintal stack, ascending from an F in the second bass, through C, G, and D up to A in the soprano (m. 2). Beginning in the third measure, the up- per three voices move in parallel motion, another stylistic trait of the com- poser. In measures 5 and 6, Rautavaara creates an accelerando by short- ening rhythmic values, building energy to the cadential word “Herra” (Lord). The cadence (Troparion of the Resurrection) from “Mat- rise from C with a pair of whole steps, a half comes to rest on a d minor 9th chord, an ins,” movement 19 (Figure 2), shows Rau- step, and another whole step (C-D-E-F-G) example of Rautavaara’s use of added note tavaara’s use of mirroring around a pitch. In while the second altos and basses descend ♭ ♭ or extended triadic resting cadential chords. this case, two partial scales are built around from C in the same pattern (C-B -A -G-F). The end of the Ylösnousemustropari the pitch C. The fi rst sopranos and tenors The other voices harmonize this mirroring, including pitches not in those two scales. The cadence (m. 108) is a fi ne example of Rau- tavaara’s frequent use of a cadential chord with a doubly infl ected mediant, in this case a D triad with both major and minor thirds. Another example of mirroring is found at the beginning of the Troparion that begins “Matins” (movement 16, Figure 3). Here the mirroring occurs between the second soprano and fi rst alto voices, and then the fi rst soprano and second alto voices. The pitch collection used in measures 1–6 is the ♭ ♭ octatonic scale: G-A -B -B-C#-D-E-F. The octatonic collection is generally regarded as a tool of modernism, but a connection to Byzantine chant and modes will be explored in Part Two of the article. Beginning in bar seven, the mirroring changes. Now both soprano parts move in parallel fi fths and fourths within an A major scale while the alto parts, also in parallel fi fths and fourths, mirror the sopranos within a C-fl at major

52 Choral Journal • October 2009 Figure 3

Choral Journal • October 2009 53 NNewew VVoicesoices iinn RResearchesearch

Figure 4 scale. Rautavaara’s use of changing meters to accom- modate text setting is also clear in this example. Vigilia was written for the feast of the Behead- ing of John the Baptist. Rautavaara discovered that the “proper texts for that day had unbelievable, na- ively harsh and mystically profound passages.”12 Six movements of the work refer to the biblical story of John, Herod, and Sa- lome (Matthew 14:3–11), prompting a compositional response from Rautavaara not always in keeping with the solemnity and ancient mysticism of a vigil service. The “Vespers” Sticheron of Invocation (movement 5) is the best example. After opening with solo and choral chant, in a section marked molto drammatico, the bass soloist describes the “sinful dancing” of Salome with phrases jor, gyrating around the common pitch G ing downward a diminished fourth, possibly that cover a full two octaves, sliding back (Figure 4). The choir responds by repeating the aural image of a seeping wound (Figure and forth between E minor and E-fl at ma- the word “verta” (blood), the sopranos slid- 5). This music is more appropriate to the

54 Choral Journal • October 2009 Figure 5

concert stage or opera house than to the 2 See Rautavaara’s memoir, Omakuva, and the Werner Söderstom Osakeyhtiö, 1989, 138. 10 Orthodox service. articles “Einojuhani Rautavaara: a portrait of Psalm 104 in Protestant traditions. 11 the artist at a certain moment” by Mikko Einojuhani Rautavaara, “On a Taste for the Infi nite,” Heiniö, and the interview with Rautavaara Contemporary Music Review (12/1995) 10, 12. 12 Conclusion of by Tapani Länsiö, “And how does the avant- Einojuhani Rautavaara, preface to the score of Part One garde feel this morning?” in the Finnish Music Vigilia. Helsinki: Warner/Chappell Music Quarterly. Finland, 1997. Thus far we have been introduced to 3 Biographical information taken from Kimmo the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara Korhonen, Inventing Finnish Music, translated with an overview of his compositional out- by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. Helsinki: Finnish Music put. We have explored the musical language Information Centre, 2003, 132–33. of Rautavaara, and more specifi cally Vigilia, 4 The following information comes from the Web and also traced an historical overview of site of the Finnish Music Information Centre; the Orthodox Vigil service. It has been see note 1. argued that Byzantine infl uence is a major 5 Einojuhani Rautavaara, “Choirs, Myths and stylistic trait, particularly in the use of chant. Finnishness,” Finnish Music Quarterly (1/1997), In Part Two of the article, other Byzantine 4. CHOIR ROBES 6 infl uences will be analyzed—including the Ibid. EXPERT $ 95 use of microtones to approximate alternate 7 A clear English setting of the Vigil service can be TAILORING 35 &UP Byzantine tuning systems, the use of grace found in The Offi ces of the Oriental Church, Finest fabrics including permanent edited by Nicholas Bjerring. New York: AMS press and wash & wear. Superior notes, and the use of drones. quality. Free color catalog and Press, 1969, 1–39. fabric swatches on request. 8 See Frederick Lokken, “The music for GUARANTEED SATISFACTION NOTES unaccompanied mixed chorus of Einojuhani Call Toll Free: 1-800-826-8612 Rautavaara,” DMA doc., Univ. of Washington, 1 The complete oeuvre of Rautavaara is kept up- 1999, for a brief chapter on Vigilia’s musical to-date at the Web site of the Finnish Music styles. 9 www.rcgown.com Information Center: http://www.fi mic.fi . Einojuhani Rautavaara, Omakuva. Porvoo, Finland: P.O. Box 8988-CJ Jacksonville, FL 32211

Choral Journal • October 2009 55