Dresden Amen
The Dresdner Amen is a four-part liturgical choir acclamation from the 18th century, which was used in the 19th century in important musical works of the Romantic period as a formula that evokes religious associations.
origin
The Dresden Amen was sung in the mass liturgy of the Catholic Court Church in Dresden since the second half of the 18th century . The choir responded like this, on behalf of the community present, with the Amen , but also with “et cum spiritu tuo” and “Deo gratias”. Johann Gottlieb Naumann , who from 1764 held the title of church composer at the Dresden court, is considered a composer .
Quirk
The melody rises in a simple diatonic line by a fifth , starting on the fifth level of the starting chord and ending on the fifth level of the target chord. A modulation is carried out by one level of the circle of fifths upwards. These simple means create a memorable musical gesture of "elevation".
Liturgical reception
The liturgy of the royal electoral court was an attraction for visitors to Dresden of all denominations, and the succinct Amen quickly found its home in the Lutheran churches of the city and the country, whereby its “Catholic” origins were forgotten.
Use in art music
Thus, the Dresden Amen acquired great importance as a musical motif for 19th century music. It was used by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in the first movement of his Reformation symphony , by Gustav Mahler in the final movement of his 1st symphony and by Louis Spohr in the sonata for violin and piano (op. 96). Even Anton Bruckner processed it in various motets , in the finale of his Symphony No. 5 and as the central theme of the third movement of his Symphony No. 9 .
Richard Wagner made particularly intensive use of this musical fragment, which he had got to know as a boy in the church service in Dresden's Kreuzkirche . He quotes it in the prohibition of love , in Tannhäuser and above all in Parsifal , where it sounds as the Grail leitmotif .
Even in the late 20th century, the Dresden Amen had symbolic power: it can be found in the main theme of Klaus Doldinger's music for Wolfgang Petersen's film Das Boot .
literature
- Markus Schwering, Michael Schraner: The Dresden Amen in 19th Century Art Music , Deutsche Welle , July 3, 2005 (script)
Individual evidence
- ^ Matthias Herrmann: The Dresden church music in the 19th and 20th centuries. (= Volume 3 of Music in Dresden ), Laaber, 1998, ISBN 978-3-89-007331-6
- ^ Oskar Wermann (ed.): Melodies for the order of worship (edition for choir and school) . Leipzig 1888
- ↑ Martin Witte: On the program-relatedness of Mendelsohn's symphonies . In: Carl Dahlhaus (Ed.): The Mendelssohn problem . Bosse, Regensburg 1974, p. 121 f.
- ^ William Carragan: Bruckner's Hymnal
- ↑ Liliana-Emilia Dumitriu: The Grail with Wolfram von Eschenbach and Richard Wagner. Metamorphoses of a motif . Books on Demand, Norderstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-93-808839-5 , p. 180