King David (Le Roi David)
Arthur Honegger was born in LeHavre, France, in 1892, and died in Paris in 1957, but his parents were Swiss. He became part of the group of “young Turks” known as Les Six, mentored by the dramatist Jean Cocteau. He began composing before his teen years. At 29, he was approached by Rene Morax to supply music for the latter’s Biblical drama, “King David”, a small-scale work to be given in a Swiss village. Because the production was less than two months away, other composers had declined the commission. (Igor Stravinsky had suggested Honegger to Morax.) Honegger met the deadline, and the drama found instant success; two years later Honegger rearranged it for a large orchestra and chorus. Although the original concept was a play with music, Honegger described his telling as a “symphonic psalm”, and in most productions it is unstaged or partially staged.
Honegger’s oratorio utilizes narration to connect 27 brief sections. The story, familiar from the Old Testament (1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles), takes David from his days as a shepherd to the seat of royalty; along the way he incurs the jealousy of King Saul (“Saul has slain his thousands, and ten thousands, David”), and that struggle consumes the first part of the work. Saul repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, tries to capture David, who has fled to the Philistines, his former enemies. (Many of David’s psalms are thought to have been composed during this exile.) A dramatic pinnacle in the first part of this work is the appearance of the Witch of Endor, whom Saul has approached to try to communicate with the spirit of the prophet Samuel. Despite these entreaties, Saul and his sons are lost in battle. David mourns the death of Saul; he had passed up other opportunities to best his rival, but now he is officially King of Judah and seven years later, becomes King of all Israel.
A short central section sees a triumphant David re-entering Jerusalem and dancing before the Ark of the Covenant, which is to be the centerpiece of a new temple; that goal, however, is never achieved. Subsequently, David shows his weaknesses, with his lust after Bathsheba, wife of David’s general, Uriah the Hittite; with the death of the son born of that dalliance; with the schism from an earlier son, Absalom, who attacks Israel, is defeated and dies, His death caused David great grief. Ultimately, David abdicates in favor of Solomon, his surviving son by Bathsheba. Solomon will finally build the temple
Honegger was an eclectic composer; his styles vary immensely, even within this work. Some music is almost chant-style (the first choral movement, for example, invokes a crowd shouting praise to David for his victory over the Philistines), but other movements have their own characteristic flavors. The young Honegger loved German classical tradition (e.g., Beethoven, Schubert, and, especially, Brahms) although late in life he dissociated himself from that lineage. The final movement of this work, which memorializes David’s passing, is illustrative: If one listens carefully, one can hear, underneath the celebratory ornamentation, a melody that Honegger borrowed from J. S. Bach, one of his early heroes (theme from “Wachet Auf”, cantata BWV140, known in English as “Sleepers, Wake”). At Honegger’s funeral, his onetime mentor Cocteau said: “… You managed to gain the respect of a disrespectful era. You combined the science of an architect… with the simplicity of a humble castle stonemason…”
The Last Words of David
Randall Thompson (1899-1984) ranks as one of America’s greatest 20th-century choral composers, along with his onetime student Leonard Bernstein. His 1940 anthem, Alleluia— one of many Thompson works Naperville Chorus has presented was the best-selling choral work in this country in 1968. The New York-born Thompson studied in the US with Ernst Bloch and in Italy with Gian Francesco Malpiero. He taught at Wellesley College, the Eastman School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music, at the University of Virginia, and finally at his alma mater, Harvard. “Last Words of David” was composed in 1949, a year after the composer had returned to Harvard. There is no certainty about David’s “last words”: 1 Chronicles records his abdication for his son Solomon but does not indicate how long thereafter he lived, saying only that he reigned seven years in Hebron and 33 years in Jerusalem, and died “in ripe old age, full of years, wealth, and honor”. The text Thompson used for his anthem is found in 2 Samuel 23: vs. 3-4, as part of a long song (begins 22: vs. 2) which David supposedly sang to celebrate his deliverance from Saul and other enemies. Chapter 23 identifies its portion of that song as “the last words of David”, but there is debate as to when, or if, David said or sang these words, which seem to have been attributed after his passing. If one looks at the book of Psalms, many of those texts are attributed to David, and indeed he may have written or composed a number of them; but stylistic differences strongly indicate that there were numerous authors, and the same is true of the text in 2 Samuel. Nonetheless, the message in Thompson’s anthem, prescribing the character of just rulers and their reward, is timeless.
Exultate Deo
The last psalm in the Book of Psalms is also one of the most commonly set to music: There are tens of settings of all or part of this six-verse song of praise. This version showcases the work of another giant of American classical music, Howard H. Hanson: Born in Wahoo, NE in 1896, to Swedish parents, Hanson attended a local college and later studied at Northwestern University, even serving there briefly as a teaching assistant. In 1921 two of his compositions gained him the Prix de Rome in Music, and with that award he was able to live and study in Italy for three years, becoming acquainted with European composers and music. In 1924 the premiere of his Symphony #1 brought additional attention, and he was hired as Director of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, a position he held for 40 years. He retired from Eastman in 1964 but continued to compose— and to promote other American music— for another 17 years. His setting of Psalm 150 for chorus and orchestra was written one year after his retirement. Hanson’s experience covered many aspects of music— he played trombone and cello, in addition to piano— and, while his music often includes 20th-century innovations, his works generally retain melodic character and expression suitable to their themes.
Sing We Merrily Unto God
Sidney Schofield Campbell (1909-1974) was an English organist and choirmaster. Many of his organ positions were in the Greater London area: His first assignment, in 1927, was at St. Margaret’s Church in Leytonstone, but he also served at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, and at Wolverhampton and Southwark. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists in 1931, and for the last 13 years of his life was Director of Music at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. “Sing We Merrily” was apparently written during that final assignment. Like Exultate Deo, this work is a setting of the opening of Psalm 81, this time utilizing verses 1 through 4; the contrast between these two works in tone and technique is amazing, but of course nearly three centuries, and the exit of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic tradition separate their composers.
Cornerstone
This 2007 piece, in a “gospel” style, brings the setting of Psalm texts up to 21st -century practice. The text is drawn from one Psalm 118 verse— “The stone which the builders rejected / has become the chief cornerstone”— with additional Old Testament text from Isaiah, and added New Testament segments from the Gospel of John and the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Composer Shawn Kirchner, 48, performs as a pianist, and also sings in the Los Angeles Master Chorale. He also has been associated with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists in Chicago.
J. R. Fancher (2019)