7th Symphony (Butting)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The symphony No. 7 op.67 is a work by the composer Max Butting from 1949.

History of origin

The year 1949 was the most creative of Max Butting's life. At the same time he wrote his oratorio "Das Memorandum", which settled accounts with the National Socialist dictatorship . Shortly before, he had written the somber "Totentanzpassacaglia", but Butting also wrote numerous smaller works of a lighter and more cheerful character. He, who had hardly composed anything apart from his fourth , fifth and sixth symphonies during the Second World War , now felt enough strength to deal with the past musically as well as to play an active part in shaping the future with his music, which is the basis for him seemed given in the socialist ideology of the GDR . The seventh symphony is thus both a work of retrospect and a new beginning. Butting wrote about her in 1954 in his book Music History I Experienced :

“The symphony was the last confrontation with what I had felt through the war. Just as the Third Symphony had been a settlement with the previous period for many years before , the Seventh Symphony became the emotional relief from the pressure of wartime. "

The Seventh Symphony was premiered in Zwickau in the year it was composed. The audience, who were no longer used to the tonal language of the composer, who was hardly played in Nazi Germany, initially aroused astonishment, but its value as the most important East German symphony of the post-war years was soon recognized.

occupation

2 flutes , 2 oboes , English horn , 2 clarinets in Bb, 2 alto saxophones in Eb, tenor saxophone in Bb, bass clarinet in Bb, 2 bassoons , 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in C, 3 trombones , bass trombone , double bass tuba , timpani , percussion ( Tomtom , snare drum , tambourine ), violins I and II, violas , cellos , double basses .

The work

Like many other works by the composer, Butting's Symphony No. 7 also shows a concept that clearly deviates from traditional patterns. It consists of two extensive parts of about the same length - Butting deliberately avoided the term “sentences” - neither of which is bound to a traditional form and which in turn are divided into two subsections. The total playing time of the work is about 30 minutes.

A programmatic note from the composer provides information about the intellectual content of the symphony:

“Liberated and beaten - released from the daily fear of death and still filled with horror and horror - full of hope and trepidation: Who could forget that? Who did not answer, who did not justify themselves? - Those who did it justly came to a deeper insight and to calm down. But new life demanded joy and awakened the will to overcome. "

1st chapter

The first part (“beaten”) begins with a conflict-laden Allegro moderato (mostly 4/4 time). At the beginning there is a theme that sounds the piano in bass clarinet, alto saxophones, horns, bass trombone, tuba and double basses and thus takes on a dark color. Since it is completely shaped by its very distinctive rhythm and it lacks any melodic profile, it seems hard and static. Again and again it breaks into the action and sets turning points. A triplet melody from the cellos, tenor saxophones and bassoons joins it in the fourth bar . Soon there follows a twelve-tone theme in the second violins, evenly held in half notes . Now there is an increase that combines these elements with one another or plays them off against one another. After the second attempt has subsided, it leads to a theme in the first violins that is particularly characterized by anapaestic rhythms and chromatic melodies. His aggressive motor skills now become the driving impulse of an episode primarily formed from this topic, which is partly fugitive . After reaching its climax, the starting rhythm and the triplet theme reappear. The tempo then quickly decreases and there is a transition to the second section of the first part, in which a motif appears which, through its wide interval steps, takes on the character of a warning call.

The second section is mainly kept in slow tempos and is based entirely on the modified thematic material of the first. A dotted motif, which appears first in the first violins, and a variation of the twelve-tone thought in 3/4 time, first in bassoons and horns, are particularly important. Sustained arcs of melody create a reserved, plaintive atmosphere, especially when cor anglais and saxophones emerge. Occasionally the original rhythm reappears. Approximately in the middle of the section he introduces a new conflict-ridden episode in which topics from the first section recur, but which soon run dry again. In the coda , the anapast theme, which had been left out until then, reappears before the first part burns out and fades away with the triplet theme.

Part 2

The second part of the symphony (“liberated”) responds to the confused first part with an active, forward-looking attitude - the prevailing tempo is Allegro - and puts its elements in a more orderly context. First, the Anaesthetic theme is transformed into a bolero rhythm that opens the action in the tambourine. In addition, there is a bass motif over which a melody, likewise derived from the anapast theme, and a little later a broad, vocal theme are layered. Together these elements form a Passacaglia (3/4 time) that is initially strict, then increasingly more freely handled, with a dance-like swing. However, it breaks off abruptly and the reminder motif from the transition to the first part reappears, this time fortissimo in woodwinds and saxophones.

Now the second section is developing. The entire thematic components of the symphony - also in varied forms - are gradually taken up again and brought into new relationships with one another. Above all, the anapast theme, the triplet theme and the transition idea stand out. Several urgent waves of growth set in until the opening rhythm of the first symphony part appears in the orchestral tutti. The last minutes of the work are characterized by a struggle of the active elements against the rhythmic rigidity that beats into it again and again. In the end, the calling transition thought leads to the fortissimo - conclusion on a C major chord sharpened by the second D.

literature

  • Dietrich Brennecke: The life's work of Max Butting , German Publishing House for Music (DVfM), Leipzig 1973.
  • Hansjürgen Schaefer: Art. "Butting"; in: Hansjürgen Schaefer (Ed.). Concert book orchestral music , Volume 1 A – F. Deutscher Verlag für Musik (DVfM), Leipzig 1972, pp. 350–359.