Vecheri Tvoyeya Tanïya - "Of Thy Mystical Supper"

This week (and next) we come to the second of four movements of Alexander Gretchaninoff's Passion Week we'll be singing during Lent. 

Vecheri Tvoyeya Tanïya ("Of Thy Mystical Supper") is, liturgically speaking, a Communion hymn - part of a prayer said or sung just prior to Communion in the Orthodox Church. And because it's so central to the liturgy, it's been set by just about every Russian composer you can think of - and quite a few you probably can't. I found more than 20 versions on iTunes, and they don't have nearly all of them.

In fact, this isn't the first setting of the piece the St. Barnabas Choir has sung. In 2006 we sang a lovely version by Alexei Lvov (1799-1870). 

A translation of the text we're singing:

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God,
accept me today as a partaker:
for I will not speak of Thy mystery to Thine enemies, 
neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss,
but like the thief I will confess Thee:
"Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom."

What to Listen For

One of the first things you may notice is the low bass sound. It's really low. In fact, the 2nd Bass singers spend a full 40% of the piece not just on low notes, not just in the bass clef, but below the bass clef! They have long, low tones which act as a framework against which the other parts alternatively push and resolve. This is quintessential Russian chorale territory.

And mentioning 2nd basses brings up another aspect of many Russian chorales: All the parts - Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass - are divisi, i.e., divided into 1st and 2nd parts. This 8-part harmony is considerably more complex than our usual 4-part fare - the kind of scoring we're used to in our hymnals, too.

Part of the reason for this is simply the wide span of the music - three octaves and a third. This is a full octave greater span than many of the anthems we sing, and it takes a lot of parts to cover the span.

Another factor in this complexity is the fact this particular movement - and several others in Passion Week - was originally written for two choirs, each divided into eight parts! It took a bit of editing gymnastics to get it to work with a single choir, but we did it - it's all there.

The piece has 4 main sections. The first, which introduces a stunningly beautiful motif sung by the sopranos, carries the text

Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God,
accept me today as a partaker:

It's a passionate plea, with some startling complex harmonies - can you say, 11th chord? - as the section rises to a climax before ending quietly, prayerfully.

The second section begins with the men singing in quiet octaves, almost in a whisper:

for I will not speak of Thy mystery to Thine enemies,

which the women echo in what are again, somewhat complex harmonies over the bass drone.

The section rises to a climax on the words

neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss

before relaxing on the words

but like the thief I will confess Thee.

The third section sets the final phrase

"Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom."

again, starting softly, building to a huge climax, then, once again, relaxing. After the peak, as the music relaxes, the sopranos once again sound their lovely motif from the beginning of the piece.

The last section is something we don't generally sing in Lent - it's an Alleluia. But it's not the kind of Alleluia we'll be singing at Easter. This is quiet, prayerful - an instance of what the Orthodox Church calls, "Solemn joy." And right before the end, as the rest of the sections are holding long chords, the sopranos bring in the initial motif for one last appearance.

We'll offer the piece at the 10:30 service on March 23 and at the 9:00 service on March 30. This is beautiful, passionate, prayerful music. I hope it moves you as much as it has us while preparing it.

"Sṽéte tiẖiy" - "Gladsome Light"

The Senior Choir begins our Russian pilgrimage for Lent with the beautiful Sṽéte tiẖiy (Gladsome Light). We'll offer this piece at the 10:30 service on March 9 and again at the 9:00 service on March 16.

Svete (pronounced SVYEH-teh) is the 4th movement of Alexander Gretchaninoff's 13-part Passion Week. We'll sing it as Gretchaninoff set it, in the original Old Church Slavonic.

The text is an ancient Christian hymn, Phos Hilaron, originally written in New Testament Greek by an anonymous author in the late 3rd or early 4th century. It is one of the earliest known Christian hymns still in use today.

Around the time it was composed, a lamp was kept perpetually burning in the empty tomb of Christ in Jerusalem, its glow a symbol of the living light of Jesus. As Christians gathered to worship the hymn was sung and, in a tradition known as the lighting of the lamps, a candle lit from the lamp was brought forth from the tomb, its bright, solitary flame calling the church to celebrate the Risen Lord.

The original melody, as used by the Greek Orthodox Church on the original text, is pretty taxing on the voice, as it spans almost two octaves (most hymns we sing span just one octave). Gretchaninoff's setting is more singable, with the most demanding voice range rising only an octave and a third.

The hymn is a fixed part of the Orthodox vespers service, sung or recited daily.

And there's a modernized version of it in our ELW hymnal - #561, Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory.

What to listen for
This setting is almost entirely homophonic, meaning the voices move together, in the same rhythm, much like the congregation does when singing a hymn. You might think, in such a case, emphasis would be given to the highest voice, the first sopranos - just like we do when singing hymns. But this isn't quite the case here - frequently, throughout the piece, the sopranos are staying in a very narrow range (sometimes just 1 or 2 notes for a few measures). The musical excitement here is going on in the lower parts - primarily the bass, but also in the inner alto and tenor parts, which are filled with lovely short musical gestures.

Speaking of the basses - listen for them throughout the piece. Russian choral music relies heavily on the deep, low sounds of the bass section. The choral tone overall is somewhat darker than we may be used to, but it's almost hypnotically beautiful.

And Russian basses sing very, very low. In fact, the lowest note in many Russian chorales is a B-flat two octaves below Middle C. If you're a devotee of such things, the frequency of Middle C is about 262 Hz, i.e., 262 cycles of a sine wave per second. This B-flat is about 58 Hz, which is only about an octave and a half above the lowest note most people can hear.

Fortunately, our basses don't have to go quite that low here - though you might catch a few of them singing D-flats (69 Hz) just above that bottom.

Harmonically, the piece starts in E-flat minor (6 flats, for those of you keeping score!) - adding to the dark overall sound. It's a vespers trick, painting the darkness of the waning day with dark harmonies. But all the cadences - progressions leading to points of rest - are in G-flat major, emphasizing the fact this is a hymn of praise.

Listen for the dynamic shifts - changes in volume through the choir. These lead you through the emotional colors of the text. And even though we've stressed the importance of the basses, there's a lovely 2-measure riff for the women alone (in 4 parts, sopranos and altos each split) for the text which translates to Thou are worthy at every moment. It's a wonderfully contrasting moment.

And you might want to listen for the climax of the piece, near the end, on the words temzhe mir tia slavit - Therefore all the world glorifies Thee.

On the other hand, you may just want to sit back, maybe close your eyes, and let this beautiful first choral offering of Lent take you where it will.

Sṽéte tiẖiy sṽiatïya slávï Bezsmértnago,
Ottsá Ñebésnago, Sṽiatágo, Blazhénnago, Iisúse Hristé.
Prishédshe na západ sólntsa,
ṽídefshe sṽet ṽechérñiy,
poyém Ottsá, Sïna i Sṽiatágo Dúẖa, Bóga.
Dostóin yesí vo fsia vremená
pet bíti glásï prepodóbnïmi,
Síñe Bózhïy, zhïvót dayáy,
témzhe mir Tia sláṽit.

Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal One – 

the Heavenly Father, holy and blessed – O Jesus Christ!

Now that we have come to the setting of the sun,

and behold the light of evening,

we praise the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – God. 

Thou art worthy at every moment

to be praised in hymns by reverent voices.

O Son of God, Thou art the Giver of Life; 

therefore all the world glorifies Thee.

Gretchaninoff's "Passion Week"

The choir's music for the five Sundays of Lent preceding Palm Sunday and the music for our Good Friday evening service all share a common composer - in fact, each of the pieces is taken from a larger, multi-movement work.

The large work is Passion Week, by Russian composer Alexander Gretchaninoff (1864-1956).

Had it not been for the stubborn opposition of his uneducated father, who could barely read, Grechaninov may have developed sooner. He began study on the piano at the relatively late age of 14, mainly owing to the urging of a caring sister-in-law. Grechaninov enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory in 1881 over the objections of his father.

He left Moscow in 1890 for further study with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His Concert Overture (1892 - 1893) gave Grechaninov his first success, and his 1894 String Quartet captured a prize at the Belyayev Chamber Music Competition. He supported himself and his wife (whom he married in 1891) during this time as a piano teacher.

In the first decade of the twentieth century, Grechaninov arranged many songs of ethnic origin for children, producing several popular numbers and giving him great prominence among Russian composers. In 1906, he accepted teaching posts at the Moscow Conservatory and Gnessin School of Music. Throughout his career, Grechaninov composed many works in the sacred genre and in recognition of this continuing work, the Tsarist government granted him a yearly stipend of 2,000 rubles. 

After the Bolshevik Revolution, he lost the stipend and ultimately his faith in his homeland, feeling his religious and political convictions were at odds with those of the Communist regime. After several trips abroad, he emigrated to Paris in 1925, where he established a career as a pianist and still managed to devote much time to composition.

In 1929, he made the first of several trips to the United States, a country he felt increasingly drawn toward. In 1939, he emigrated to the United States, ultimately making New York his home (1940). He became a U.S. citizen in 1949, at the age of 85.

Passion Week, composed in 1911, premiered in 1912, then lay dormant for 80 years, finally being revived in the early 1990s by the Russian State Symphonic Cappella. A 2007 recording of the work by the Phoenix Bach Choir and Kansas City Chorale brought it international attention.

Passion Week is made up of 13 choral pieces, each setting a text from an Orthodox liturgy or from scripture. The texts are written (and will be sung) in Old Church Slavonic (roughly akin to the Ecclesiastical Latin in pre-Vatican II Catholic masses) - don't panic; we'll include a translation.

We'll be presenting 4 of the works - 3 during the first 5 weeks of Lent, the fourth on Good Friday.

The texts are fascinating; while they refer to stories and concepts altogether familiar to us, they often use an imagery very different from that to which we're accustomed. The opening line of the work we'll sing the evening of Good Friday is a good example; it refers to Christ as:

     Thou, who clothes Thyself with light as a garment

Nothing objectionable there; it's just a different way of looking at a familiar scene (this one happens to be about taking Christ down from the cross).

I'll have more to say about the individual texts as we proceed through Lent.

But the texts, interesting as they are, pale next to the music. Simply put, this is stunningly gorgeous music. It relies heavily on the bass section, and their deep, sonorous voices help create a solemn tone in each piece. The music is never in a hurry; think of long arcs, think of high, old cathedrals, think of mountain valleys - think of anything majestic and a little bit larger than life.

The function of this music in our worship is a little bit different from our usual anthems. Our standard practice is to present choral works which either reinforce one of the lessons of the day or provide a general element of praise to God.

These pieces are more to carve out a moment in the service when you might commune with God, an extra moment of meditation or prayer, perhaps. I think the best way to listen to these works is to close your eyes and let the music take you where it will. Their majesty and solemnity tell us that God is bigger and more powerful than anything which confronts us.

I hope you will be as moved by the music of Passion Week as are those of us preparing to share it with you.

The Senior Choir Sings the Blues

This week's lectionary relates the story of Jesus meeting a Samaritan woman at a well. The choir is hard at work, preparing an anthem based on this story, helping to reinforce at least part of the message of the morning. Congregants at the 10:30 service will hear the piece.

Now, we've sung a number of masterworks over the last several years, including Renaissance motets and mass movements, excerpts from oratorios by Handel and Mendelssohn, Bach chorales, a portion of the Brahms Requiem, sublime sacred music from Russia and major works of more recent vintage.

This will not be one of them. But I think we'll still have a good time.

The anthem for this Sunday is Jesus Met the Woman at the Well. Readers of a certain age may remember the tune from recordings by Peter, Paul and Mary. Readers of another certain age may remember performances of it by the Pilgrim Travelers, or by Mahalia Jackson, Rev. Gary Davis or Bob Dylan.

It's difficult to ascertain just where the song came from - it's invariably listed as "Traditional" on record labels. It seems to have been a big Gospel hit during the 1940s and 50s, moving more into a folk idiom with the 1964 PP&M release, which seems to be based more on Mahalia Jackson's 1954 recording than on Bob Dylan's performances of the song in 1961 and 1963.

Regardless of the style, one element runs true throughout: this is a blues song. It may not have strict blues musical structure, but it's the blues.

You can tell this from two things.

First, the structure of the lyrics. The first verse is:

   Jesus met the woman at the well,
   Jesus met the woman at the well,
   Jesus met the woman at the well,
   and he told her everything she'd ever done.

This AAAB configuration is common in blues lyrics (as is AAB, which Dylan used). Every verse has the same structure - AAAB, and there's no chorus. Repetition is a hallmark of the blues, and this song nails it.

Secondly, the chord structure suggests the blues. It's not exactly the standard 12-bar blues one might expect, which would look something like this:

   A-A-A-A7
   D-D7-A-A7
   E7-D7-A-A

Jesus Met the Woman uses 16-bar phrases. It looks something like this:

   A-A-A-A7
   D-D-A-A7
   D-D-C#7-F#m
   B-B7-E-E9
 
Even with their differences there's a great similarity between the two progressions, with them being virtually identical in the first 2 phrases of the song.

So, we'll be singing the blues this Sunday. Wear your toe-tapping shoes.