Peace of mind

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Text fragment from a sermon (Sermon No. 5b) by Master Eckard

Der Seele Ruh is an oratorio by the composer, keyboardist and countertenor Roland Kunz based on the words of the medieval mystic Eckhart von Hochheim , known as "Meister Eckhart". The orchestration comes from the composer and pianist Frank Zabel . The oratorio was created in March and April 2009 as a commission from Bayerischer Rundfunk - Studio Franken for the 750th birthday of Meister Eckhart in 2010.

occupation

The work demands an unusual performance apparatus. In addition to two counter tenors (or alto voices ad libitum ) as vocal soloists plus a traditional four-part choir, it also includes a four-piece band (with keyboard, fretless bass , drums and percussion ) and a large symphony orchestra . This consists of a piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 tenor bass trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion ( crotales , glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone , antique cymbals , cymbals, hanging cymbals, tamtam , Triangle, large drum, small drum, bell tambourine, wind chimes (tubular bells), odaiko , harp and strings).

Libretto and formal structure

The libretto of the Meister Eckhart oratorio consists exclusively of texts by the medieval mystic - partly in Middle High German and Latin original, partly in German translation. The 21 selected texts correspond to the 21 musical numbers of the two-part oratorio

First part
No. title Tact occupation
1 Di sele suchit ruwe 0 - 79 Choir (SATB); orchestra
2 Supplico ergo vobis 80-144 Chorus (TB); Orchestra; tape
3 You should sink all the time 145-204 Countertenor; Choir (SATB); orchestra
4th The heat of the fures di burnit 205-328 Countertenor; Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape
5 God is what he is 329-412 Countertenors; Orchestra; tape
6th I have said 413-471 Countertenors; Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape
7th When the whole world 472-503 Choir (SATB)
8th Nowhere 504-575 Countertenor; tape
9 What are you living? 576-631 Choir (SA); orchestra
10 Let the fire go down 632-794 Countertenors; Choir (SATB); Orchestra; Tape; Odaiko
Second part
11 The wise master Hechart 795-929 Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape
12, part 1 That is why there is seclusion 930-961 Chorus (S); Orchestra; tape
12, part 2 Because love separated from God 962-994 Countertenor; Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape
13 The soul has powers 995-1146 Countertenor; orchestra
14th God is in all things 1147-1177 Choir (SATB)
15th Heaven is pure 1178-1241 Countertenor; Orchestra; tape
16 Et ego dico vobis 1242-1327 Chorus (TB); Orchestra; tape
17th Then listen to the miracle 1328-1428 Countertenors; orchestra
18th Should God speak his word in the soul 1429-1524 Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape
19th Quiet 1525-1572 Countertenors; Choir (SATB); orchestra
20th You should sink all the time 1573-1621 Countertenors; Choir (SATB); orchestra
21st Go into your ground and work there 1622-1744 Choir (SATB); Orchestra; tape

music

When Roland Kunz began to deal with the ideas of Meister Eckhart, it was initially Eckhart's “word worlds” that cast a spell on the composer, for example the resonance-laden formulation: “You should always sink into your being and dissolve into his Hisness. ” The“ word worlds ”became“ sound worlds ”in the compositional implementation. “Eckhart's 'Word Worlds'” , says Roland Kunz, “are music. They are sounds that develop from a stream striving for harmony and tranquility into an occasionally rearing force and rhythm. "

Orchestrated by Frank Zabel, Roland Kunz's composition is rich in color and form. Alternating between tutti choirs, male and female choirs, solos and duets by the countertenors, a melodrama and purely instrumental, symphonic passages, the music strikes a variety of tones - between simplicity (e.g. in the counter tenor duet in parallel thirds to the most economical Woodwind accompaniment of No. 5) and massive, monumental choral and orchestral sounds (for example in the final chorale of No. 21 with the “laisser vibrer” effect of the drums at the end). Furthermore, “modern” band sounds can be heard and find their counterpart in the evocation of medieval music (e.g. in the “empty” quart-octave sounds of the choir “Zerginge das Feuer” of No. 10, caused by a drum attack the Japanese large drum Odaiko and culminates in a quote from the dies irae tone sequence). In addition, there are always folkloric echoes, such as No. 9 evoking Jewish music à la Gustav Mahler with its mixture of dance and march characters. In addition, there are tone-painting parts such as the flames at the beginning of No. 4 “Die heat des fures di burnit” or the “flowing” cantilena to the words “and God flowed from God” in the final part of the first part. The tone painting category also includes the fully composed fadeout at the end of the aria “Nowhere is God as God as in the soul” , realized with the words “because it is his resting place”. Last but not least, Der Seele Ruh is pervaded by a kind of leitmotif. In this respect, the secret “main title” of the oratorio is a motif that is first heard at the beginning of No. 3 in the cor anglais and in the strings and then runs through the entire score in the original or with allusions.

Number symbolism

Despite all the sensuality of sound, there is a well-planned disposition behind the Meister Eckhart Oratorio. The work consists of 21 musical numbers - a number that results from the multiplication of 3 and 7 . In the Christian number symbolism, the "3" stands for God and the "7" for spirit soul and body, that is, for the human. The 21 musical numbers of the oratorio symbolize the union of God and man. This number symbolism is superimposed in the plant of the work by the idea of ​​a heptagram , the figure of the connecting lines in a heptagon or heptagon . In many cases, the heptagram functions as a symbol of perfection, while the heptagon is used in funerary chapels and on graves as a sign of eternal rest. The idea of ​​the heptagram brings another “magic” number into play - the “14”. In addition to 7 points, the heptagram also has 14 points of intersection. Correspondingly, the numbers 3, 7 and 14 mark characteristic “nodes” in the course of the oratorio: “You should all sink into your being” (No. 3) exposes the secret leitmotif of the work. Numbers 7 and 14 of the oratorio are even more characteristic. No. 14 brings the insistent effect of a verbal fugue chanted by the choir, based on the words “God is in all things”. No. 7, however, a simple, pure a cappella choral movement (again without any band or orchestra participation), brings up what is perhaps the central message of the entire oratorio. It is the decisive question about the way in which the soul finds its peace, its rest. Answer: "When the whole world falls away from the soul, then the soul comes to rest".

Performances and recordings

The soul peace was premiered on June 11th 2010 as part of the 59th International Organ Week Nuremberg - Musica Sacra. The vocal soloists were Andreas Scholl and Roland Kunz (countertenor). The orpheus chor münchen sang , rehearsed by Gerd Guglhör . It played Roland Kunz 'band Orlando und die Unbelsten and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester under the direction of Anu Tali . A recording of the world premiere has been released on CD; the cover features a testimonial from the composer Wilfried Hiller (whose son Carl Amadeus was an Odaiko soloist): “A work of the century! A piece of music history has been written today. THE SOUL RUH has the potential to achieve the meaning of Carmina Burana and comes close to the best pieces by Leonard Bernstein . "

Further performances with the same cast took place during the European Weeks in Passau in 2010 and in 2012 in the Dresden Frauenkirche . The oratorio had its first performance in the Saarland region during the 2013 Saar Music Festival in St. Ingbert's Josefskirche . Under the overall direction of Christian von Blohn , the German Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern played with a slightly different line-up , while the choir parts were taken over by the Collegium Vocale Blieskastel .

Press coverage

The performance, staged with colorful, opulent light installations in the St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg, was enthusiastically received by the audience. The local press, however, rated the piece as "sacral pop" and "craftsmanship kitsch". The “palatable” and “softened Wabersound”, the “widescreen sound with its well-worn orchestration effects between docu-drama and cinema-melodrama”, a “limited inventiveness” of the composer and the trivialization of the texts, the textbook author and composer missed the spiritual Experience of God by the medieval mystic.

The Dresden premiere in 2012 was judged similarly: "a conglomerate of baroque canon of forms, brutal all-world pop and catchy banal sound ... Middle Ages and mediocrity, claims of arts and crafts and clerical agit-prop, sense of mission and gay" (Michael Ernst); “Composer Kunz calls his emphatically non-avant-garde method of blending elements of late medieval chorales with a late romantic monumental sound, a pinch of Orff and pleasing songwriter harmonies, 'NewPast' ... It's as tangled as it sounds” (Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh).

The regional press echo on the occasion of a re-performance (May 10, 2013) within the Saar Music Festival 2013 was comparable: “Sacred boredom - Roland-Kunz 'oratorio in St. Ingbert” - “The uncomfortable feeling of having heard everything before came up all the time. Boredom set in, intensified by the lack of dramatic substance in the contemplative texts by the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart. ”“ The music is romantic, sonorous, lovely, tasty, kitschy - only one thing not: contemporary. An epigonal blend of great-grandmother's favorite melodies. Opulently orchestrated (Frank Zabel) clouds of sound on which the musical development of the last 100 years has passed almost without a trace. "(Peter Schröder)

The reporting on Saarland television, on the other hand, showed enthusiastic viewers who celebrated the work with a “standing ovation”, long-lasting applause and enthusiastic comments after the performance.

As a result, concert-goers dealt extensively and sometimes very critically with the discrepancy between audience perception and music criticism in letters to the editor of the Saarbrücker Zeitung and comments in social networks (see Facebook).

literature

  • Roland Kunz / Frank Zabel: Score for “Der Seele Ruh”, oratorio based on the words of the mystic Meister Eckhart for solos, choir, band and orchestra. Self-published, Saarbrücken 2009
  • Klaus Meyer: Booklet for the CD - Live recording of the oratorio “Der Seele Ruh” , Nuremberg 2010

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Roland Kunz / Frank Zabel: Score , 2009
  2. ↑ Saar Music Festival 2013 (ed.): Program for “Der Seele Ruh”, Saarbrücken 2013
  3. ↑ Saar Music Festival 2013: Preview of “Der Seele Ruh” ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 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. . Retrieved May 20, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikfestspielesaar.de
  4. ↑ Collegium Vocale Blieskastel: Homepage of the choir ( Memento of the original from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 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. . Retrieved May 20, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.collegium-vocale-blieskastel.de
  5. ↑ Saar Music Festival 2013 (ed.): Program for “Der Seele Ruh”, Saarbrücken 2013
  6. ↑ Slipped into the banal sacral pop, review of the performance in the Nürnberger Zeitung
  7. ^ ION: Kunsthandwerklichen Edelkitsch, review in the Nürnberger Nachrichten
  8. ↑ “A heavenly swirl.” Dresden Latest News, September 24, 2012.
  9. ^ "Time travel with bass guitar sound clang." Sächsische Zeitung, September 24, 2012.
  10. ↑ http://www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de/sz-berichte/kultur/Sakrale-Langweil-Roland-Kunz-Oratorium-in-St-Ingbert;art2822,4778445
  11. ^ SR television: current report, Sun. May 12, 2013 . Retrieved May 20, 2013
  12. ^ Saarbrücker Zeitung: Letters to the Editor, issues of May 15, 17 and 18, 2013
  13. ↑ Comments on the SZ criticism of the performance of the oratorio “Der Seele Ruh” on May 11, 2013 . Retrieved May 20, 2013