Cantique de Jean Racine (Fauré)

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Gabriel Fauré in the uniform of the Ecole Niedermeyer music school, which he attended when he was composing

Cantique de Jean Racine (Singing by Jean Racine), Op. 11, is a composition for mixed choir and piano or organ by Gabriel Fauré . The text basis is a French adaptation of an Ambrosian hymn by Jean Racine . Fauré completed the setting in 1865 as a student for a composition competition and won first prize. The work points to his later Requiem , with which it is often performed together.

history

As a nine-year-old boy, Fauré attended the École Niedermeyer church music school in Paris from 1854 , where, in addition to piano lessons, music theory and later composition, he received humanistic training. Weekly choir singing by all students was also part of the school's educational concept. Fauré's teacher in the advanced piano class was Camille Saint-Saëns , who motivated him to compose. In 1861 Fauré first took part in a school composition competition. In 1863 he received an award for, among other things, a setting of Psalm 136 , Super flumina Babylonis , for five-part choir and orchestra, but no award because he had not met all the conditions. He composed Cantique de Jean Racine 1864-65 and received a first prize in a competition for it in 1865.

Fauré's singing was first performed on August 4, 1866 in a version with strings and organ for the inauguration of the organ in the Abbey of Saint-Sauveur in Montivilliers . Fauré was the organist. César Franck , to whom the work is dedicated, conducted it, possibly in this version, in an orchestral concert on May 15, 1875. According to the program of the Sociétè, a version for a larger orchestra with wind parts, but without an organ, which Fauré himself may have created himself de concerts du Conservatoire first performed on January 28, 1906. Both orchestral versions were not published.

John Rutter arranged the work with strings and harp.

Text and music

Racine's
adaptation of the Hymnus Consors paterni luminis :

“You, the Word, like the Most High, our only hope,
eternal day of earth and heaven,
we break the silence of the peaceful night:
divine Redeemer, turn your eyes on us.

Pour out on us the fire of your mighty grace
that all hell flees from the sound of your voice.
Chase away the slumber of a lazy soul that
leads it to forget your commandments.

Christ, be weighed
against this believing people who are now gathered to praise you.
Accept the songs which it offers to your eternal glory
and let it be filled anew with your gifts. "

The French text, "Verbe égal au Très-Haut" (word, equal to the highest), comes from Jean Racine and appeared in 1688 in Hymnes traduites du Bréviaire romain . It is a paraphrase of an Ambrosian hymn from the Breviary for Matins , Consors Paterni luminis .

The music is written in D flat major , in 4/4 time , andante . The organ introduction contains three elements, a calm melody that is later taken over by the singing voices, a similarly calm bass, and a middle part in continuous eighth note triplets . The voices start one after the other. From the lowest to the highest, each voice sings a half line of the text, while the lower ones accompany homophonically . The second stanza is separated from the first by an interlude in the manner of the introduction, while the third stanza follows immediately, initially like a recapitulation of the first, but continued differently. The “both permeable and tonally balanced choral movement” follows models from Mendelssohn and Gounod , but shows a personal signature and gives the poem a clear expression. The sweeping melodies and broken accompanying figures still belong to the Romantic style, but unusual, “atonal” tones are deliberately used meaningfully in the harmonic structure.

Cantique de Jean Racine points to the “dignity and perfect simplicity” of the Requiem that Fauré composed in 1887. Both works are often performed and recorded together.

Recordings

Cantique de Jean Racine has been recorded many times, notably together with Fauré's Requiem. Paavo Järvi directed both works, connected with the first recording of Super flumina Babylonis in 2011 with the Orchester de Paris and his choir. A recording in which both works can be heard in their first version was made in 2014 with the Choir of King's College (Cambridge) and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment , conducted by Stephen Cleobury .

Web links

Commons : Cantique de Jean Racine  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Jean-Michel Nectoux: Fauré / His music / His life . Breitkopf,. Archived from the original on September 28, 2015 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed September 29, 2015). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.baerenreiter.com
  2. ^ Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 / Work by Fauré ( English ) britannica.com. Pp. 26-28. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  3. ^ A b Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11 . Archdiocese of Cologne. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ Michael Oliver: Fauré Requiem; Cantique de Jean Racine ( English ) Gramophone. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  5. ↑ Joh 1,1  EU
  6. ^ Breviarum romanum ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii tridentini restitutum Summorum Pontificorum cura recognitum, 1961
  7. ^ Zachary Gates: Paper on Cantique de Jean Racine ( English ) AllMusic. 2011. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  8. ^ A b Blair Sanderson: Stephen Cleobury / Gerald Finley / King's College Choir of Cambridge / Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment / Tom Pickard / Fauré: Requiem; Cantique de Jean Racine; Messe Basse ( English ) AllMusic. 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  9. ↑ Jerry Dubins: Faure: Requiem, Cantique De Jean Racine, Pavane / Järvi, Jaroussky, Goerne ( English ) Naxos . Retrieved September 29, 2015.