Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2013 The seven last words of Christ : a comparison of three French romantic musical settings by Gounod, Franck, and Dubois Vaughn Roste Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Roste, Vaughn, "The es ven last words of Christ : a comparison of three French romantic musical settings by Gounod, Franck, and Dubois" (2013). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3987. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3987 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST: A COMPARISON OF THREE FRENCH ROMANTIC MUSICAL SETTINGS BY GOUNOD, FRANCK, AND DUBOIS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in The School of Music by Vaughn Roste B.A., Augustana University College, 1997 B.B.A, Canadian Lutheran Bible Institute, 1997 M.Mus., University of Alberta, 2003 May 2013 ii DEDICATION Writing a dissertation is a project not completed by one person but by several. I need to thank my family—Mom, Dad, Erica, Ben, Finn, and Anders—for their love and undying support through this convoluted and seemingly never-ending process. I have received encouragement from more friends and those who have already survived the process along the way than I can name, but fellow-LSU grad Dr. Susan Tusing and Dr. John Ratledge have gone beyond the call of duty and deserve special mention. My relationship with Joshua Martynuik means the world to me. Keith Van has been there for me more times than I can count. But if there is one person to whom I owe my sanity more than anyone else through this process, it would be Randy Rieves. “What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend?” First two lines of the third verse of “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” Attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1091–1153), translated by Paul Gerhard (1607–1676) ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................................. iv CHAPTER ONE: THE SEVEN LAST WORDS—AN INTRODUCTION....................................................1 CHAPTER TWO: TEXTUAL SOURCES FOR THE SEVEN LAST WORDS.............................................6 CHAPTER THREE: THE SEVEN LAST WORDS AS A PROBLEMATIC MUSICAL GENRE ..................................43 CHAPTER FOUR: GOUNOD’S LES SEPT PAROLES DE NOTRE SEIGNEUR JESUS-CHRIST SUR LA CROIX .......................51 CHAPTER FIVE: CÉSAR FRANCK’S SEPT PAROLES DU CHRIST SUR LA CROIX .........................82 CHAPTER SIX: THEODORE DUBOIS’ LES SEPT PAROLES DU CHRIST .......................................117 CHAPTER SEVEN: A COMPARISON OF THE SETTINGS BY GOUNOD, FRANCK, AND DUBOIS............................................................................................................168 BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................191 APPENDIX................................................................................................................................................197 VITA..........................................................................................................................................................199 iii ABSTRACT The Seven Last Words of Christ—those sayings uttered by Jesus between his crucifixion and death as recorded in the Gospels—have long been of interest to liturgists and composers alike. Many composers have been inspired by these texts, and this study examines three settings, by Charles Gounod, César Franck, and Theodore Dubois. All were French composers who set this text in Latin during the Romantic era. Not only were these works composed in the same temporal vicinity, within twelve years, but they were also all composed within the same geographic vicinity, Paris. Franck and Dubois even worked together at the same church. The possibilities for influence are therefore quite strong. Chapter One provides an overview of the paper. Chapter Two provides background information on the textual sources for the “The Seven Last Words”—what Christ uttered from the cross. Chapter Three discusses the problematic musical genre of the Seven Last Words, being obviously related to but not directly derived from settings of the Passion, and provides a list of all of the known settings of this text. Chapter Four is dedicated to Gounod’s Les Sept Paroles de Nôtre Seigneur Jesus-Christ sur la Croix (1855). Chapter Five addresses Franck’s Sept Paroles du Christ sur la Croix (1859). Chapter Six is concerned with Dubois’ Les Sept Paroles du Christ (1867). Chapter Seven provides a summary and comparison, noting the similarities between these works on orchestrational, textual, durational, formal, and musical levels. While the Dubois setting is arguably his best known work, the other two languish in relative obscurity. Beyond merely bringing their existence to light, this study aims to identify correspondances between them. The enormous similarities between the Franck and Dubois settings in particular are too strong to be coincidental. Dubois was familiar with Franck’s setting and may even have written his own in intentional emulation of Franck’s earlier work. iv CHAPTER ONE: THE SEVEN LAST WORDS—AN INTRODUCTION The last words of the dying are often recorded. Those who know they are about to die may use one last opportunity to impart wisdom, knowing that their last words are how they will be remembered. Nathan Hale earned his way into American history books before being hanged in 1776 with the words “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”1 Beyond indicating their mental state at the time of their death, people’s last words are often indicative of the personality they had during their lifetime. For example, Marie Antoinette is reported to have apologized to her executioner when she accidentally stepped on his foot as she was about to be guillotined. Or consider the irony of the final words of General John Sedgwick, a Union officer in the American Civil War at the battle of Spotsylvania, who claimed “They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance!” minutes before being killed by sniper fire on May 9, 1864. The last quip of Oscar Wilde was “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.”2 And Groucho Marx swore that “Die, my dear? Why, that's the last thing I'll do!” The last words that people say are considered to be important—and when the person uttering them is viewed by billions to be the Saviour of the World, even more so. If someone’s last words rank among the most important that anyone ever says, and if Jesus was one of the most important figures in history who ever lived, then deductively one concludes that these words could well be considered by many to be among the most important that were ever uttered. Beyond the theological or philosophical importance of the Seven Last Words of Christ, however, this study looks to examine specifically how they are set to music. Even the mere 1. See Henry Steele Commanger and Richard B. Morris, eds., The Spirit of ‘Seventy Six: The Story of the American Revolution as told by Participants (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 476. 2. According to Ellman, this was said to Claire de Pratz, but may not have been his literal last words, merely uttered from his deathbed. Richard Ellman, Oscar Wilde (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988), p. 581. See also Barbara Belford, Oscar Wilde: A Certain Genius (New York: Random House, 2000), 306. 1 selection of these texts by a composer can be indicative of some level of importance. How would the increased reverence with which composers might approach these texts be reflected in the compositions that they produced by this title? The paper is organized with the following structure. The first three chapters serve as a necessary background to the more detailed analysis to follow. This first chapter introduces the topic and provides an overview of the paper. The second chapter provides information on the history of the textual sources for the “The Seven Last Words”—the texts which all settings naturally have in common, namely the words of Christ uttered from the cross. The third chapter serves as a history of the evolution of the musical genre of the Seven Last Words, being obviously related to but not directly derived from other musical settings of the Passion. The Seven Last Words of Christ occupy a rather unique literary, liturgical, and musical position, and while studies have been done on individual works of this title, it is rare to find publications which address more than one composition. A need for this study exists as such as comparative examination of choral settings of “The Seven Last Words” has never been published. These are not marginal works, yet they seem never to have been compared collectively as a unit. The third chapter provides a list of all of the musical settings of this text that I have been able to identify