DAVID LANG’S the little match girl passion A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE

JOHANN JACOB VAN NIEKERK

Johann Jacob Van Niekerk Assistant Professor of Music Centre College [email protected]

8 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 David Lang’s the little match girl chorus version in 2008, published passion is an unusual piece on many by Red Poppy Music and available levels. Lang (b. 1957) combines the for rent from G. Schirmer Inc. It is story of Christ’s crucifi xion—based most suitable for professional choirs on Bach’s treatment thereof in his and more experienced university and St. Matthew Passion (1727) —with the community groups. story of “The Little Match Girl,” a The passion genre is a genre that fairytale by Hans Christian Ander- extends back more than seven cen- sen that tells the harrowing tale of turies, and Lang reworks this format a little girl who freezes to death on into a vehicle that allows the audience a cold New Year’s Eve in Denmark. to not only witness the slow demise The music for the little match girl pas- of the innocent girl but more impor- sion is equally unusual. Lang’s use of tantly to feel as if they were somehow minimalist cells, expanded over fi fteen part of this injustice. It is this sense of movements, is unlike any other stan- complicity that has largely contrib- dard piece in the choral repertoire. uted to the work’s universal success. The composition, while tricky at fi rst Reactions have been astounding: on sight, eff ortlessly weaves these cells a critical level it has been lauded since into an approachable and relatable its premiere and was awarded the idiom for singers and audiences alike. Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2008; both Amateur, university, and professional critics and audiences have been af- choirs have performed the little match fected by its stark, relentless narrative girl passion all over the United States and otherworldly music. Reporting since its world premiere in 2007. It on these performances tend toward was originally written for four soloists, utter praise and astonishment at the but the composer created an SATB impact of such an ambitious work of art. Critics have lauded the piece for its originality, innovation, and “raw emotionality.”1 American choral composer Joshua Shank accurately states: “[W]hat is interesting to note is that, despite the somewhat robotic way in which Lang sets the text… the reception of this work is almost universally spoken about in viscerally emotional terms… [T]he work has obviously made a tremendous impact on its audience.”2 In music reviews, Jayson Green calls it “breathtakingly spare…icily gorgeous…a haunting and evocative hall of echoes”3; Molly

CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 9 DAVID LANG’S the little match girl passion

Sheridan claims that “even reading just the poetry of the forms a metaphysical commentary on their role in the pro- libretto…is chilling”4; while Reed Johnson mentions the tagonist’s demise. The format of the passion furthermore work’s “sublime austerity.”5 Los Angeles Master Chorale encourages and facilitates retrospection and a call-to- Conductor Grant Gershon confi rms: “When I listen to action to learn from these events and apply it in daily life. the recording, it’s impossible to get through the piece Lang is not the fi rst composer to contextualize the pas- without weeping.”6 The emotional impact of the piece sion genre in this way. Recent projects have highlighted was largely responsible for its Pulitzer win, as confi rmed the adaptability of the passion genre, such as the comPAS- by juror Tim Page: “I don’t think I’ve ever been so moved SION project by Conspirare (2014), with passions by John by a new, and largely unheralded, composition as I was Muehleisen, Robert Kyr, and the Balliett brothers; and by David Lang’s the little match girl passion, which is unlike Helmuth Rilling’s Passion Project 2000 (2000), a commission any music I know.”7 that tasked Tan Dun, Sofi a Gubaidulina, Ernst Rihm, The composition is a welcome addition to the choral and Osvaldo Golijov to compose passions refl ecting on repertoire that is bound to move those who perform and currently relevant social issues. listen to its unique sound and grapple with its unusual Lang’s composition consists of recitative-like move- protagonist and narrative. With a vast array of recent ments that advance the plot and chorale-like movements and upcoming performances by ensembles such as the that engage audiences into the narrative while providing Latvian Radio Choir, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Vir- a moment to refl ect on its events. The combination of ginia Chorale, The Crossing, PSU Choirs, and Seattle these two kinds of movements tells the story “while si- Pro Musica, this increasingly popular piece may well multaneously commenting upon it.”10 It has the eff ect of become a standard in the choral canon for years to come. “placing us in the middle of the action, and it gives the This conductor's guide, designed to assist the conductor’s narrative a powerful inevitability.”11 Although Lang places preparation, investigates the little match girl passion’s textual the emphasis on the death of a fragile little girl instead of content, musical content, and contextualization of the the expected fi gure of Christ, the girl’s own experienced passion genre and includes suggestions by the composer suff ering and rejection resonates strongly with the mar- related to interpretation, rehearsal, and performance. tyred messianic fi gure of Christ. In an interview with the composer, he refl ected on his choice of the passion: “The reason the story works is because I was looking for some- Context thing that would allow me to be an observer of what the Lang’s work received its world premiere in 2007 at passion is traditionally, so I was looking for something that Carnegie Hall by the vocal quartet Theatre of Voices, would highlight what to me seemed to be the paradox of conducted by Paul Hillier. The National Chamber Choir the passion, which is that you are supposed to notice the of Ireland, again conducted by Hillier, premiered the suff ering of Jesus. But you know, we live in New York— choral version one year later. David Lang had won several people are suff ering all over the place—we live in a world awards previously, but in the words of The New Yorker, it where if we actually noticed everyone’s suff ering it would was “with his winning of the Pulitzer Prize …[that] Lang, be impossible to live.”12 once a post-minimalist enfant terrible…solidifi ed his stand- ing as an American master.”8 Lang was drawn to the passion genre because it allowed Analysis for interpolation from texts outside of the narrative. The As is to be expected, the main reason for the piece’s texts serve as “guideposts for our own responses to the emotional impact on audiences lies in the use of “The story,”9 elevating the audience from spectator to partici- Little Match Girl” narrative. Lang concurs: “My loyalty pant. The passion genre thus represents multiple layers lies completely with the text… and if I have a choice of performer, participant, and meaning. Traditionally, the between telling the story better and making a beautiful passion narrative, that of the inevitable death of Christ, sound, I’m always going to choose telling the story bet- places the audience in the middle of its development and ter.”13 It follows that closer inspection of the text could

10 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE elucidate some of the reasons for this reaction and the The chorale movements contrast the recitatives and are piece’s international popularity. Furthermore, Lang more lyrical in nature. The fi rst and last movements are features a secular, disenfranchised protagonist, instantly unifi ed through the use of the “Daughters of Zion” im- relating the work to a wide audience while referencing agery and the use of a similar musical motif. the concepts familiar to Christian audiences and those familiar with other works in the passion genre. The even- numbered movements feature Andersen’s prose, while Movement I free translations of Picander’s poetry are employed in the The fi rst movement of Lang’s passion setting is a play odd-numbered movements. on the very fi rst line of text in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, The little match girl passion is scored for SATB chorus “Come ye daughters of Zion.” with soloists playing percussion instruments, including a brake drum, sleigh bells, crotales, glockenspiel, bass drum, Come, daughter and tubular bells. The piece is approximately thirty-fi ve Help me, daughter minutes long. Some choirs have opted to have an SATB Help me cry quartet sing the recitative-like movements, with the entire Look, daughter choir joining in on the chorale movements. Lang achieves Where, daughter coherency throughout the piece through the intentional What, daughter use of tonal centers and consistency in tempo (quarter Who, daughter note = 72), form (alternating recitative and chorale Why, daughter movements), and unifying musical motives and harmonic Guiltless daughter relations. Patient daughter Lang was adamant that he wanted to create a continu- Patient daughter ous piece from start to end. He was inspired by fellow Gone minimalist composer Arvo Pärt’s Passio, a continuous seventy-fi ve-minute passion setting: “Now THAT is a Whereas the Picander text asks the daughters of Zion courageous composer, one who says that I don’t want you to behold the central fi gure—Jesus, also called bridegroom dropping in; I don’t want you thinking which parts are or lamb—Lang’s adaptation omits those references. your favorite. The point is not to make a series of move- Bach’s cori spezzati call-and-response passages (“see, who?” ments that could be extracted, or a series of movements —the bridegroom; “see, how?” —as a lamb) turn into that had their individual values, but to make something “look,” “where,” “what,” “who,” and “why” followed by that goes from start to fi nish without stop.”14 This relent- the single word “daughter.” At fi rst glance, these utter- less forward motion combined with the dark subject ances are without object, as it is not specifi ed what the matter of its narrative might well explain the helplessness daughter should look at or ponder about, turning her into audiences and critics experience when listening to the little both the subject and the object and compelling the listener match girl passion: “helpless at metaphorically watching this to look at and ponder the “daughter,” the “guiltless one,” little girl freeze to death…and not being able to do a thing the “patient” one, one who will soon be “gone.” about it.”15 The fi rst movement introduces one of the unifying The form of the little match girl passion centers on alter- fi gures used throughout the piece: the so-called “shivering nating chorale-like and recitative-like movements. Recita- motif ” that portrays the sense of urgency and desperation tive movements see the alto as storyteller (Evangelist in that characterizes the passion from start to end. (Figure 1) the traditional passion) with other voice groups singing As could be expected from a minimalist composer, some of the text, often interrupted mid-word in repeated Lang uses a simple germinal cell consisting of four notes rhythmic patterns. The recitatives are divided into two as the basis for his melodic writing. (Figure 2) The ger- types: real-world recitatives consisting of six pitches and minal cell is fi rst stated in the opening measures, albeit in imagined-world recitatives with an added seventh pitch. lower transposition by a whole step. (Figure 3)

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Movement II with bare head and naked feet, roamed through In the second movement, the germinal cell (this time the streets. It is true she had on a pair of slippers in F minor) is adapted to include a fourth and fi fth when she left home, but they were not of much pitch—most notably in the recurring motif set to the text use. They were very large, so large, indeed, that “so the little girl went on”—another device that is used they had belonged to her mother, and the poor throughout to propel and unify the piece. This germinal little creature had lost them in running across cell is used in diff erent modulations and permutations the street to avoid two carriages that were rolling throughout the piece, most notably in the soprano line along at a terrible rate. One of the slippers she but also in augmentation in the male voices. (Figure 4) could not fi nd, and a boy seized upon the other This second movement, the fi rst recitative, describes and ran away with it, saying that he could use it the utter poverty of the little match girl, a fi gure of rela- as a cradle, when he had children of his own. So tive social insignifi cance in relation to her surroundings. the little girl went on with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. It was terribly cold and nearly dark on the last evening of the old year, and the snow was falling The word little is repeated, reinforcing the concept fast. In the cold and darkness, a poor little girl, of timidity and insignifi cance in her “title”—the little

12 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE match girl. The recitatives from this movement onward tener’s own “heart” or sense of conscience and morality, a depict the narrative in a very non-emotional, subjective concept that develops throughout the piece. This concept way, reminiscent of the neutral spitting out of news on a derives from the function of the chorale in the traditional telegraph machine. The second movement introduces the passion as an opportunity for refl ection on humankind’s concept of injustice that prevails through the piece and own complicit part in the events and serving as a kind of that will ultimately lead to the protagonist’s death. The “time warp” into the present time to draw the audience fi rst event describing this injustice is the theft of her left into the narrative as active participants. shoe. The repeated words “so the little girl went on” draw the audience further along in the narrative. Movement IV The fourth movement, the second recitative, continues Movement III the depiction of the cycle of poverty and injustice that has The third movement features a play on words from defi ned the girl’s life to this point. Bach’s chorale Herzliebster Jesu, literally translated “heart- dearest Jesus,” becoming “Dearest heart.” In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and had a bundle of them in her hands. Dearest heart No one had bought anything of her the whole Dearest heart day, nor had any one given her even a penny. What did you do that was so wrong? Shivering with cold and hunger, she crept along; What was so wrong? poor little child, she looked the picture of misery. Dearest heart The snowfl akes fell on her long, fair hair, which Dearest heart hung in curls on her shoulders, but she regarded Why is your sentence so hard? them not.

The repetition of the word dearest establishes aff ection Her earnest attempts at making a living remain un- and empathy toward the protagonist. Lang further plays rewarded, and she is largely ignored. The falling snow with the succeeding text from the chorale, turning “what signifi es a dramatic shift: the audience experiences the have you done wrong” (already in the informal “du” case dramatic irony of knowing that the girl will perish (as in- in the original German) into “what have you done that was dicated by the word gone at the end of the fi rst movement so wrong?” implying the unspoken sentiment “that you and the fact that protagonists in the passion narrative deserved to die for it?” The text is ambiguous in terms inevitably die at the end); the vehicle for her forthcoming of whom it is addressed to; “heart” could either be an death is introduced in the form of falling snowfl akes. endearing term for the little girl or a reference to the lis-

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Movement V there was a savory smell of roast goose, for it The fi fth movement’s chorale, “Penance and remorse,” was new year’s eve—yes, she remembered that. implicitly states the listener’s own role and guilt over the In a corner, between two houses, one of which events in the narrative, as evidenced by the use of the projected beyond the other, she sank down and pronoun “my.” huddled herself together. She had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off Penance and remorse the cold; and she dared not go home, for she had Tear my sinful heart in two sold no matches, and could not take home even My teardrops a penny of money. Her father would certainly May they fall like rain down upon your poor face beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home May they fall down like rain as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, My teardrops through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw Here, daughter, here I am and rags. I should be bound as you were bound All that I deserve is Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold. What you have endured Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold.

Penance and remorse The recitative focuses on the diff erences in prosperity Tear my sinful heart in two and opportunity between the freezing, hard-working girl My penance and the seemingly eff ortless, love-fi lled lives of those with My remorse enough money for such relative luxuries as heat and food. My penance She fi nds herself in a predicament, as she cannot return home without the fear of punishment for not having The imagery of falling snow from the previous move- sold enough matches. It is clear that the nature of this ment is extended, and as the snow starts falling on the punishment is severe enough that the little girl prefers the little girl, the observer’s tears start falling, linking the two pain and discomfort of the cold outside. Dramatic irony settings together. The second stanza is a play on Chris- returns in the words “her little hands were almost frozen tian ideology, also evident in Bach’s setting, wherein the with the cold.” The audience knows they will soon be observer, moved by compassion and remorse, wishes to completely frozen, yet she does not. take the place of martyred one. The vulnerability of the girl also resonates with the Catholic intention in the Stabat Mater, in which the speaker wishes to take the place of the Movement VII weeping mother of the crucifi ed Jesus. Lang expresses this The discomfort of watching the little girl’s demise is in simple yet eff ective words: “All that I deserve is what you highlighted by the uncomfortable silence of the seventh have endured.” Any remaining question as to the guilt of movement titled “Patience.” While it feels reminiscent the observer is eradicated in the fi nal lines: “my penance, of John Cage’s 4”33’ with its ultimate statement on the my remorse, my penance.” nature of silence, the two repeated utterances of the word patience brings the worlds of the little girl and the audi- ence together. In a sense the audience is told to be patient Movement VI in waiting for the little girl to die—an uncomfortable and The theme of injustice returns in the sixth movement. incongruous feeling as the audience members are made aware of their desire to hasten through this uncomfort- Lights were shining from every window, and able process.

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Movement VIII most emotional and moving moment of the passion. The A fl icker of hope is presented in the eighth movement, movement’s excruciatingly sad text is emphasized by the the fi rst of the three “imagined world recitatives.” In these musical setting of the repeated lulling “God have mercy” recitatives, the girl sees fantastical visions and is eventually motif with the anguished “see my tears” countermelody, introduced to the afterlife. all the while continuing the metaphorical imagery of the never-ending falling of snow and tears. Ah! Perhaps a burning match might be some good, if she could draw it from the bundle and Have mercy, my God. strike it against the wall, just to warm her fi ngers. Look here, my God. She drew one out—“scratch!” how it sputtered See my tears fall. See my tears fall. as it burnt! It gave a warm, bright light, like a Have mercy, my God. Have mercy. little candle, as she held her hand over it. It was My eyes are crying. really a wonderful light. It seemed to the little My heart is crying, my God. girl that she was sitting by a large iron stove, See my tears fall. with polished brass feet and a brass ornament. See my tears fall, my God. How the fi re burned! And seemed so beautifully warm that the child stretched out her feet as The concept of begging for mercy is familiar to choral if to warm them, when, lo! The fl ame of the audiences, e.g., the Kyrie Eleison movement in the liturgical match went out, the stove vanished, and she had mass. “Have mercy, My God” focuses on the observer’s only the remains of the half-burnt match in her own admission of guilt and participation, with the word hand. She rubbed another match on the wall. It “my” repeated throughout for emphasis. burst into fl ame, and where its light fell upon the wall it became as transparent as a veil and she could see into the room. The table was covered Movement X with a snowy white tablecloth, on which stood The return in the tenth movement to the lighter, more a splendid dinner service, and a steaming roast whimsical imagination of the girl is a welcome one. The goose, stuff ed with apples and dried plums. And second imagined world recitative contains imagery of what was still more wonderful, the goose jumped aesthetically pleasing things such as toys, expectations, down from the dish and across the fl oor, with a and the illusion of hope, in stark contrast to the sadness knife and fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then of the preceding movement. the match went out, and there remained nothing but the thick, damp, cold wall before her. She lighted another match, and then she found herself sitting under a beautiful Christmas tree. In the fi rst of these, the desire for comfort is combined It was larger and more beautifully decorated with a humorous depiction only conceivable by the imagi- than the one which she had seen through the nation of a child. The observer sees a glimpse inside the glass door at the rich merchant’s. Thousands of imagination and memory world of the protagonist for the tapers were burning upon the green branches, fi rst time and experiences empathy for a little girl who is and colored pictures, like those she had seen in using her imagination to dream up better alternatives than the show-windows, looked down upon it all. The what reality is off ering her. little one stretched out her hand towards them, and the match went out. The Christmas lights rose higher and higher, till they looked to her Movement IX like the stars in the sky. Then she saw a star fall, The ninth movement could arguably be seen as the leaving behind it a bright streak of fi re. “Some

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one is dying,” thought the little girl, for her old The imagery of the sixth hour from the traditional passion grandmother, the only one who had ever loved narrative signals the inevitable impending death, and the her, and who was now dead, had told her that soprano’s vulnerable cry of “Eli, eli,” the Hebrew word when a star falls, a soul was going up to God. for “God,” immediately evokes the completed thought from Jesus’s last words on the cross: “Why have you Her deceased grandmother arrives at the end of forsaken me?” In this moment the girl is forsaken by the the movement, and the girl unknowingly experiences a world, those who were meant to love and protect her; she premonition of her own death, yet another instance of is about to transcend into the afterlife, and the audience dramatic irony: she understands that the shooting star is powerless to prevent it. signals someone’s death but does not realize it is referring to her own. An interesting musical relationship exists between the Movement XII tenth and eleventh movements. As the narrative starts its The twelfth movement sees the girl’s fi nal return to relentless acceleration to an unhappy end, musical mo- her imagined world, and she fi nally meets death and tives from the two respective movements are combined transcends into the light. to create a larger fi ve-note pattern—Ab-Bb-C in move- ment ten, expanding to D and Eb in movement eleven. She again rubbed a match on the wall, and the (Figures 5 and 6) light shone round her; in the brightness stood her old grandmother, clear and shining, yet mild and loving in her appearance. “Grandmother,” Movement XI cried the little one, “O take me with you; I know The eleventh movement is connected to the seventh, you will go away when the match burns out; you as it also features spoken text: “In the sixth hour there will vanish like the warm stove, the roast goose, was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And and the large, glorious Christmas-tree.” And at the ninth hour she cried out: Eli, eli.” As the soprano she made haste to light the whole bundle of sings “Eli, eli,” the spoken text immediately creates the matches, for she wished to keep her grandmother expectation of something dramatic and diff erent to follow. there. And the matches glowed with a light

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that was brighter than the noon-day, and her her grandmother, on new-year’s day. grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and This feels similar to the way news is divulged after they both fl ew upwards in brightness and joy far the fact in tragic works for the stage, such as the closing above the earth, where there was neither cold monologue from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God. The narrative also comments on humankind’s inability at large to recognize the full extent of the value of the pro- In her fi nal moments, she obtains apotheosis, becom- tagonist’s experiences and her contribution to the world. ing godlike with the imagery of surrounding haloes and ascends to be “with God.” Movement XV While the fourteenth movement shows that the people Movement XIII in the little girl’s world might not fully understand the The thirteenth movement expresses the sense of loss value of what has happened, the observer responds with and death with the innovative use of juxtaposing ideas. clear, shell-shocked sadness in the fi fteenth movement. The imagery of the daughters of Zion returns (similar to When it is time for me to go Bach) and brings the composition “full circle.” Don’t go from me When it is time for me to leave We sit and cry Don’t leave me And call to you When it is time for me to die Rest soft, daughter, rest soft Stay with me Where is your grave, daughter? When I am most scared Where is your tomb? Stay with me Where is your resting place? Rest soft, daughter, rest soft In this movement, the observer is lamenting the pro- Rest soft tagonist’s death and expressing the helpless vulnerability Rest soft experienced thereafter. Rest soft Rest soft Rest soft Movement XIV You closed your eyes. The passion returns to the real world in the fourteenth I closed my eyes. movement, a recitative that announces the girl’s death in Rest soft a very informal way. Picander’s original text “here we sit with tears” be- In the dawn of morning there lay the poor little comes “we sit and cry.” The phrase “rest soft” is repeated one, with pale cheeks and smiling mouth, leaning and serves as a universal phrase, devoid of religious against the wall; she had been frozen to death on or social connotation. Similarly, the little girl does not the last evening of the year; and the new-year’s have a fi nal resting place: she could be anywhere, even, sun rose and shone upon a little corpse! The metaphorically, in the listener’s own world. The universal- child still sat, in the stiff ness of death, holding the ized connection between the little girl and the listener is matches in her hand, one bundle of which was achieved in the phrase “you closed your eyes… I closed burnt. “She tried to warm herself,” said some. my eyes,” which could either imply that the listener re- No one imagined what beautiful things she had fused to see the events and chose ignorance instead or seen, nor into what glory she had entered with that the listener is fi nally able to fully empathize with her

CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 17 DAVID LANG’S the little match girl passion

and experience her pain with her—all diff erences have At the conclusion of this investigation of the little match been eliminated and assimilation has been achieved. On girl, another genial aspect of the piece’s macrostructure a musical level the “full circle” is achieved in two diff er- becomes apparent. While the fi rst movement sets off in ent ways. First, the germinal cell is presented once more the tonal area of E, the piece actually centers on a tonal in its most basic form, tying the fi rst and last movements center of F, which expands through an ascending aeolian together as a whole. (Figure 7) scale by an octave over the course of the successive move- Lang comments: “It seemed that at the end we are ments. Two possible contours for tonal development can back to observing her, she’s dead and her purifi cation thus be suggested. (Figure 10) is over, so that’s why I went back to the beginning, the The second contour, with a “false start” on E before same way Bach did.”16 The musical units of the two last settling on F in the second movement, was unintentional movements are also combined to create another expanded on the composer’s part: “I’m sure I tried to start it in the fi ve-note unit—similar to that in the tenth and eleventh ‘right’ key, and ended up transposing it to keep it in a movements—with F-G-Ab-Bb in movement fourteen better range, depending on what it was I needed.”17 The continuing into Bb and C in movement fi fteen. (Figures scale continues its upward expansion to Db (movement 8 and 9) six), Eb (movement eight), and fi nally, after straining More than a mere musical unifying device, the sense throughout the tenth movement to resolve to a high F, of connection between the last two movements on a mu- resolves in movement eleven. The tension built by this sical level signifi es a much deeper connection between ascending scale is fi nally released in a rapidly descend- the modern audience and the onlookers’ ambivalence in ing F minor scale in movement fi fteen, m. 25. The fi nal the fourteenth movement. This amplifi es Lang’s ultimate moments of the passion consist of the fading of the vo- statement: that we are the same as these spectators staring cal parts, with the original germinal cell played by the at the little girl and also complicit in allowing and accept- percussionists: “Just the skeletons of their voices…a kind ing indiff erence to the plight of those classes of people of ghostly abstracted community…which I found a really she represents. beautiful idea.”18

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Conclusion enhanced by the use of dramatic irony and metaphorical By investigating the text of the little match girl passion, it imagery, eff ectively linking the listener’s world to that of becomes apparent why audiences have been moved to the protagonist. such an extent by the narrative. First, the tale of the little Musically, the little match girl passion is an organic mar- match girl and the depiction of her vulnerability—and riage of several components, all of which serve to provide the sneak peeks into her mind and its deepest wishes for a unique and harrowing investigation of one relatively a better life—build empathy and connection between insignifi cant and overlooked fi gure’s apotheosis and the listener and the protagonist. Secondly, the interpola- passing from this world. The timbre of the piece is cold tion of refl ecting chorales—where the words have been and austere and unforgiving with short, interrupted, and manipulated to imply the listener’s own participation and deconstructed motives accompanied by sparse instrumen- guilt—truly bring home this message and highlight the tation—“cold and bleak” by the composer’s own admis- sadness and injustice of the events. Finally, the forward sion.19 The expansion upward of an octave from F to F propulsion of the narrative to its inevitable, sad climax is musically depicts this journey and transfi guration while

CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 56 Number 2 19 DAVID LANG’S the little match girl passion

building dramatic tension before a fi nal resolution back NOTES to the lower F. The use of tempo and of these tonal cen- ters to achieve coherency is largely successful, and Lang 1 Lawrence Schenbeck, “Innovative new American sacred works: creates a linear narrative that is relentless in its forward David Lang, the little match girl passion; Phil Kline, John progression. His use of the germinal cell in the recitative the Revelator; Kile Smith, Vespers,” Choral Journal 50, no. 7 movements further serves to create this coherency and (February 2010): 76. 2 suggest a sense of timelessness. Joshua Shank, “David Lang’s the little match girl passion: Reportage In the chorales, Lang’s adaptation of Picander’s texts and Emotionality” (paper presented at Contemporary Styles and Techniques Class, University of Texas, 2012). eff ectively draws the listener into the narrative while 3 Jayson Green, “David Lang—Little Match Girl Passion,” Pitchfork stripping away the religiously specifi c terminology of the (January 15, 2010). Accessed October 28, 2014. http:// Christian faith. If Brahms strove to deliver a “Human pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13775-the-little-match-girl- Requiem,” Lang strives to deliver a “Human Passion” passion/ like so many others before him. The response from audi- 4 Molly Sheridan, “Sounds Heard: David Lang—The Little Match ences and critics the world over would suggest that he has Girl Passion,” New Music Box (June 8, 2009). Accessed October succeeded in this task. 28, 2014. http://www.newmusicbox.org/articles/Sounds- Lang’s work most importantly confronts audiences Heard-David-Lang-the-little-match-girl-passion/ with diffi cult themes in a compelling way that renders 5 Reed Johnson, “David Lang’s Divine Pursuit: ‘The Little Match them impossible to look away. In the current societal and Girl Passion,’” Los Angeles Times (January 16, 2011). Accessed political climate with its renewed emphasis on issues of October 28, 2014. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/16/ entertainment/la-ca-little-match-girl-20110116/ inequality, inclusivity, and social justice, the little match girl 6 passion stands apart as a choral composition that eff ectively Ibid. 7 Tom Huizenga, “David Lang wins Music Pulitzer,” NPR Music addresses these issues in a thoughtful way. It might further (April 7, 2008). Accessed October 28, 2014. http://www.npr. inspire conductors to seek other ways to engage singers org/2011/01/24/89442735/david-lang-wins-music-pulitzer/ and audiences with these important themes, be it through 8 David Lang Music. Offi cial website. Accessed October 28, 2014. intentional pairing decisions with Lang’s composition or http://davidlangmusic.com/about/bio/. other unrelated programming choices. Furthermore, the 9 David Lang, “program note: the little match girl passion (for little match girl passion has a proven track record of moving chorus),” (2008). Accessed October 28, 2014. http:// those who encounter it—across various demograph- davidlangmusic.com/music/little-match-girl-passion-for- ics—with its unique message. The increasing amount of chorus/ performances of the little match girl passion, nearly a decade 10 Ibid. 11 after its premiere, might be an indication of its potential David Lang, CD liner notes, the little match girl passion, Harmonia for prosperity and inclusion in the hallowed choral canon Mundi, HMU 807496, 2009. 12 in future years. In the meantime, it should certainly be David Lang, interview with the author, SoHo, New York City, NY, recognized and celebrated as one of the twenty-fi rst cen- March 18, 2014. 13 Ibid. tury’s foremost choral works. 14 Ibid. 15 Joshua Shank, “David Lang’s the little match girl passion: Reportage and Emotionality,” 5. 16 David Lang, “program note.” 17 Ibid. 18 David Lang, CD liner note. 19 Ibid.

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