Job: A Masque for Dancing
Job: A Masque for Dancing is a ballet music by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958). The composition, which premiered in concert in 1930, wasinspiredby William Blake's Illustrations of the Book of Job, based on scenes from the Old Testament book of Job .
Origin and premiere
Vaughan Williams began composing the ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing in 1927 . The eight-picture scenario was designed by Geoffrey Keynes and Gwendolen Raverat (a cousin of Vaughan Williams), inspired by a total of 21 Illustrations of the Book of Job by the English poet and painter William Blake , which depict scenes from the Old Testament book of Job . However, Keynes did not succeed in getting Sergei Djaghilew , director of the Ballets Russes , interested in the subject, which was generally poor in action. Vaughan Williams chose the name "Masque" ( "for his musical masquerade ").
The world premiere in concert form took place on October 23, 1930 at the Norwich Festival under the direction of the composer. The staged world premiere took place on July 5, 1931 at the Cambridge Theater in London under the direction of Constant Lambert in the choreography by Ninette de Valois and costumes by Gwendolen Raverat with the Vic-Wells Ballet and Anton Dolin in the role of Satan. For this purpose Lambert created a version for smaller orchestras that was more suitable for stage purposes.
In the following years Adrian Boult - to whom the work, which was printed in 1934, was also dedicated retroactively - campaigned for the concert version of the composition and conducted it alone between 1935 and 1939 in Salzburg, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Chicago and Brussels. Boult recorded Job four times between 1946 and 1970, most recently with the London Symphony Orchestra .
In 1934, the composer Rutland Boughton noted that “ this is the most important music that an Englishman of my generation has ever written. "
Cast and duration of performance
Job's concert version, in which the work is commonly performed, uses a large orchestra that also includes a saxophone, organ, and extensive percussion:
3 flutes (III. Also piccolo , optional), 2 oboes (II. Optional), English horn , 3 clarinets (III. Optional), bass clarinet , alto saxophone (optional), 2 bassoons , contrabassoon (optional), 4 horns , 3 trumpets ( III. Optional), 3 trombones , tuba , 2 harps (II. Optional), organ , timpani , percussion ( snare drum , bass drum , triangle , cymbals , xylophone , glockenspiel , tam-tam ) and strings .
The performance lasts around 40 to 45 minutes.
music
The composition is divided into eight scenes and an epilogue. The following sections result from further subdivisions (German translation in brackets):
- Scene I:
- Introduction
- Pastoral Dance (pastoral dance)
- Satan's Appeal to God
- Saraband of the Sons of God (Sarabande of the Sons of God)
- Scene II: Satan's Dance of Triumph (Satan's Triumph Dance)
- Scene III: Minuet of the Sons of Job and Their Wives (Minuet of the Sons of Job and Their Wives)
- Scene IV:
- Job's Dream
- Dance of Plague, Pestilence, Famine and Battle (Dance of Plague, Plague, Famine and War)
- Scene V: Dance of the Three Messengers
- Scene VI:
- Dance of Job's Comforters
- Job's Curse (Job's Curse)
- A Vision of Satan
- Scene VII:
- Elihu's Dance of Youth and Beauty
- Pavane of the Sons of the Morning
- Scene VIII:
- Galliard of the Sons of the Morning (Gaillard of the Sons of the Morning)
- Altar Dance and Heavenly Pavane (Altar Dance and Heavenly Pavane)
- Scene IX: Epilogue (Epilogue)
After a calm and serene beginning, the mood suddenly changes with the appearance of Satan in front of the throne of God, to whom God, trusting Job's steadfastness, leaves power over Job. Since he remains true to his faith despite all temptations and strokes of fate, Satan is banished from heaven again in the end. Accordingly, the work ends calmly.
Vaughan Williams uses three main themes like a leitmotif : Job is characterized by a pastoral theme (alternating triplets and quarters), Satan by a syncopated theme that suddenly juxtaposes major and minor . A descending phrase in a majestic diatonic symbolizes the sphere of God. In its sometimes somber gesture, the composition already points to the 4th Symphony , composed between 1931 and 1934, the composer's most harmonious orchestral work.
Individual evidence
- ↑ cit. n. Meinhard Saremba: Elgar, Britten & Co. A history of British music in twelve portraits. Zurich / St. Gallen, M&T Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3-7265-6029-7 , p. 171.
literature
- Meinhard Saremba: Elgar, Britten & Co. A history of British music in twelve portraits. Zurich / St. Gallen, M&T Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3-7265-6029-7 , pp. 170-172.
- Simon Heffer: Vaughan Williams . Boston, Northeastern Univ. Press, 2000. ISBN 1-55553-472-4 , p. 72.
- CD supplement Naxos 8.553955 (Vaughan Williams: Job / The Lark Ascending; English Northern Philh., David Lloyd-Jones).