ATLANTA Subscription Concerts SYMPHONY Thursday, Friday evenings 8:30 ORCHESTRA Sunday afternoon 3:00 ROBERT SHAW music director March 19, 20 and 22, 1970 and conductor ROBERT SF1AW, conducting Assisting Artists: BETHANY BEARDSLEE, soprano ANDRZEJ HIOLSKI, baritone ARA BERBERIAN, bass PETER HARROWER, narrator THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY SINGERS AND CHAMBER CHOIR Joseph Flummerfelt, director THE ATLANTA BOY CHOIR Fletcher Wolfe, director KRZYSZTOF PASSIO ET MORS DOMINI NOSTRI IESU CHRISTI PENDERECKI SECUNDAM LUCAM (The Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St Luke) There will be an intermission between Parts I and / /i f 1T 0_ -£T / /(7) C o The use of recording devices and cameras during concerts is strictly prohibited. PROGRAM NOTES BY JOHN SCHNEIDER Music Department, irgia State University The Passion According to St. Luke movement of specific masses of Krzysztof Penderecki (1933- ) sound. Just as our comprehension Since his graduation with distinc­ of traditional music is rooted in the tion some twelve years ago in ad­ perception of melody and harmony, vanced musical study in his native so must our acceptance of this new Poland, Krzysztof Penderecki (pro­ kind of music be based on recog­ nounced pen-der-ETS-kee) has be­ nizing these clusters of sound and come one of the most noted figures the way they move in relation to in contemporary' music. Public at­ each other. Such a sound block may tention first came in T959 when also move by seeming to "evapo­ he anonymously entered three dif­ rate" into itself, or, contrarily, to ferent compositions in a competi­ mushroom from smallness into big­ tion sponsored by the Youth Circle ness by whittling away or adding to of the Association of Polish Com­ the outside notes of a given sound posers, and won all three first prizes. block. More awards have since followed, Penderecki's Passion According including a mark of recommenda­ to St. Luke has been called "one of tion and distinction in 1961 from the most important contributions to UNESCO for his Threnody to the sacred music of our time." Commis­ Victims of Hiroshima, scored for sioned by the West German Radio fifty two string instruments. to mark the seven hundredth anni­ The impact of Penderecki's writ­ versary of Munster Cathedral, it was ing stems from his concern for and finished in 1965, after two years acute perception of the texture and in the writing. The first performance nature of sound. Contemporary took place in the famed cathedral composers are constantly seeking on March 30, 1966. to expand the spectrum of instru­ Both Passion music and Passion ments as we know them, and drama were much in vogue in the through the production of sound sixteenth, seventeenth and eight­ by artificial (usually electronic) eenth centuries. Composers of the means. Penderecki's path of explor­ pre-Baroque era were strongly at­ ation has so far been non-electro­ tracted to the subject, and music nic. Rather has he delved into new archives abound with examples of expressive possibilities of musical the Passions according to St. Mat­ instruments and of the human thew, St. Luke and St. John, in par­ voice. With string instruments, for ticular. The style and techniques of example, a wailing kind of sound this special kind of sacred music may be called for by having the en­ is a study unto itself, which inevit­ tire group of instruments effect what ably leads one to realize that the might be called a mass slide move­ summit of the art was reached in ment at varying relative pitches. the Passion According to St. Mat­ To give this new-sounding music thew of Johann Sebastian Bach. The its due, it is imperative that the lis­ few examples since that time are tener consciously put aside his ac­ clearly modeled after the supreme customed expectancy of clearly de­ work of Bach. fined melodies and harmonies. The Despite its austerely modern impact of the music is derived not sound, so is Penderecki's Passion. from these, but rather from the As a clear tribute to the great Luth- eran composer, almost the entire as Jesus is led to Calvary. The sing­ melodic structure of the present ers are sometimes required to taper work is rooted in the oft-quoted off a phrase with the highest, or German representation of the name lowest, note they are capable of BACH (in our terminology, B flat, producing, without regard for spe­ A, C, B natural). Even of this, the cific pitch. At other times, they must mere half-tone fall of either the shout, or even laugh. For certain first or second pair of notes in that words, the syllables are divided be­ representation is frequently heard tween various choral sections, giv­ throughout the oratorio, conveying ing an almost three-dimensional ef­ an aura of sadness all by itself. In fect of the space and distance occu­ Penderecki's music, that minimum pied by a babbling crowd. The re­ interval seems to suggest the slight sult is much like that of poi nti 11 ism droop of Christ's head as he hangs in painting, in which the individual on the cross. Conversely, the same dots emerge in mass to form recog­ half-tone relationship is sometimes nizable shapes. inverted, especially in the solo Two places near the end of the voices, connoting an ever-recurring oratorio are startling in their simple note of hope in its subtle upward surprise. One is on the word gloria, motion. In fact, the interval of the at the end of the section which be­ half-tone is predominant through­ gins Stabat Mater. The other comes out; many of the melodic progres­ with the very last notes of the mu­ sions as well as the accompanying sic. In both instances, Penderecki harmonies are fashioned from this deftly turns aside from the highly juxtaposing of notes as closely to­ uncommon sounds and groups the gether as possible. This, together entire gamut of performing sources with the generally slow tempi, tends onto the most fundamental major * to heighten the unhurried aspect chord. The effect is stunning, like of the sorrowful mood. TIME maga­ a shaft of blinding light from heav­ zine, commenting on the roaring en itself. success the work has had in its The main chorus is divided into European performances, said that three separate choruses, each with "Penderecki slices to the heart of its complement of sopranos, altos, the Passion, revealing through the tenors and basses. In addition, there is a boys' choir of sopranos and al­ intolerance shown to one man the tos. The text is drawn from the Cos- tragedy of all men." pel, from the Psalms, and from por­ Much of the rare individuality of tions of the Roman Catholic liturgy. the piece stems from the unconven­ Penderecki stipulates that the work tional use of both instruments and must be performed in Latin. The voices to achieve powerful, drama­ Gospel texts are narrated by a tic effects. The score is full of un- speaker, the Evangelist; the solo unusual markings instructing players singing voices assume the other to rub the back of the bow on a roles in the drama (the baritone hard surface, for instance, or to sings the words of Jesus); the chor­ uses represent the multitude, both draw across the short expanse of in active participation in the scenes string between the bridge and the of condemnation, and as commen­ tail piece. The chorus members tator for other episodes. The diffi­ whisper certain words, or prolong cult baritone role is written at one the sound at the end of a word to point all the way up to a high B flat. produce a mocking, hissing sound, The huge orchestra score calls for: four flutes (including two pic­ will tend to increase his enjoyment colos and one alto flute), bass clar­ of it. The first is not to grudge be­ inet, two alto saxophones, three cause the music sounds like noth­ bassoons, one contrabassoon, six ing one has heard before, or be­ French horns, four trumpets, four cause it seems to be "out of tune." trombones and tuba; a large per­ Penderecki uses quarter tones in cussion section comprising four both instruments and voices, which tympani, bass drum, six torn toms, at times produce sounds that might two bongos, military drum, whip, easily be called "anguished." But rattle, four wood blocks, a gui'ro (a this very anguish of the unorthodox gourd which,is scraped), claves, four sound can, if we as listeners permit cymbals (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), it, become meaningfully related to one medium and one bass tarn tarn, the anguish of the subject as a one Chinese and one Javanese gong, whole. The second decision relates chimes, harp, and vibraphone; key­ to that: not allowing the preoccu­ board instruments consisting of pi­ pation with some of the startling ano, harmonium, and organ; a full details of the score to obscure the complement of strings. overall effect of the work, which is Two deliberate and conscious de­ the anguish of the Lord's Passion. cisions on the part of the listener The text in Latin and English fol­ hearing this music for the first time lows: PART I t O Crux, ave, spes unica, Hail, O Cross, the only hope, Hoc Passionis tempore In this time of Passion Piis adauge gratiam, Heighten the grace of religious Reisque dele crimina. souls, And do away with that which Te, forts salutis, Trinitas, is criminal. To thee, Trinity, source Collaudet omnis spiritus. of salvation, May every soul sing thy praises. f ft egressus ibat secundum consue- And going out, He went according tudinem in montem Olivarum.