Hymn of praise (Mendelssohn)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Lobgesang" op. 52 ( MWV A 18) by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is a symphony cantata for soloists , choir , orchestra and organ from 1840. After Mendelssohn's death the cantata was also published as Symphony No. 2 .

Historical background

Mendelssohn received the commission for the composition from the City Council of Leipzig in 1839 on the occasion of the four hundredth anniversary of the invention of the art of printing by Johannes Gutenberg . Mendelssohn struggled for a long time with the suitable form for the work, thought of an oratorio or a large-scale psalm setting, until he finally found the form that was suitable for him in a mixture of symphony and cantata. Thus, the "praise" in Leipzig in a big gala concert on June 25, 1840 was Thomas Church for the first time sounded. Mendelssohn later added a few more movements to the work . The second version of the work was first heard on December 3, 1840 in Leipzig.

The premiere of “Lobgesang” was a considerable success, and the piece became one of the most frequently performed works by Mendelssohn during his lifetime. For Mendelssohn personally, the work represented the turning point after a creative crisis that lasted a decade and a half, in which he was unable to bring a symphonic work of several movements to a satisfactory conclusion. The composer withdrew from his “Reformations” symphony after unsuccessful performances, and he had postponed work on both his “Italian” and his “Scottish” symphonies because he was no longer convinced of the approaches of his compositions.

In the “hymn of praise” the client specified the combination of a symphonic work with a choir, but it was this impulse that enabled Mendelssohn to solve a typical aesthetic problem of Romanticism and to find a believable form for the interaction of poetry and music . After solving this problem, Mendelssohn was inwardly freer to bring other works into a satisfactory form: he completed his “Scottish” symphony and published it in print as well as The First Walpurgis Night as his second symphony cantata and secular counterpart to the hymn of praise .

In 1842 Mendelssohn had published his “Scottish” Symphony as Symphony No. 3 , but a Symphony No. 2 was not published during his lifetime. The composer presumably intended this number for his earlier “Italian” symphony, which he postponed for revision after its premiere in 1833, but never completed it. The "Italian" was then published posthumously as Symphony No. 4 . In order to close the numbering gap, later, decades after Mendelssohn's death, the hymn of praise in the old Mendelssohn Complete Edition was ranked No. 2 in the series of symphonies, although there is no indication that this corresponded to the composer's intentions. In the new Mendelssohn catalog raisonné (2009), the hymn of praise is no longer listed among the symphonies, but among the vocal works.

The first edition is dedicated to King Friedrich August II of Saxony .

Work description

Access is not in B-major and divided formally into two parts: the first, symphonic part, which accounts for about one third of Duration and three instrumental interengaging without a pause preceding sets consists, following the cantata part consisting of the numbers 2 to 10 of the work. However, the two parts of the work are not unconnected, but are linked through the processing of the musical themes. The powerful opening motif is only really revealed to the listener when it later frames the cantata section on the text “All that breathes, praise the Lord” and thus gives the work its title.

The composer created the text of the work from biblical quotations and the evangelical hymn Nun alle Gott by Martin Rinckart and worked out three main themes: praise of God, God's loyalty to those who wait for his help and consolation, and the rise of the people God's out of darkness to light. Mendelssohn worked hard on the latter topic in particular because he succeeded in connecting the biblical themes to the occasion of the work: The development of the printing press and Gutenberg's first printed Bible are interpreted as a key event that will move Christianity from the dark age of ignorance into a new one Epoch of enlightenment leads. This is emphatically emphasized at the dramatic climax of the work, when the repeated and increasingly pleading question of the solo tenor "Guardian, is the night over soon?" Is answered affirmatively by the soprano and then in a radiant tutti: "The night has passed ! ”Mendelssohn wrote in a letter about this passage:“ To introduce the choir 'The night is gone' I found words in the Bible that are more beautiful than imaginable, and fit as if they were composed for this music… ”Several times Mendelssohn also has passages of the text performed first by the soloists and then repeated by the choir, thus symbolizing the spread of enlightenment among God's people. Mendelssohn follows the oratorio tradition of the 18th century with the form of treatment of the text .

The first version lasts approx. 37 minutes, the second version approx. 55 minutes.

occupation

Work structure and text

1st symphonia

  • Maestoso con moto - Allegro
  • Allegretto un poco agitato
  • Adagio religioso

2nd choir; Soprano and female choir

Allegro moderato maestoso - Animato
All that breathes, praise the Lord!
Hallelujah, praise the Lord! ( Ps 150 Lut )

Allegro di molto
Praise the Lord with strings,
Praise him with your songs! ( Ps 33  Lut )
And all flesh give praise to his holy name. ( Ps 145  Lut )
All that breathes, praise the Lord!

Molto più moderato ma con fuoco
Praise the Lord, my soul,
And what is in me, His holy name!
And don't forget what he did you good. ( Ps 103 Lut )

3rd tenor - recitative and aria

Recitative
Say it, you who have been redeemed by the Lord, who
he has saved from trouble,
from severe tribulation, from shame and ties,
who were caught in the dark,
all whom he has redeemed from trouble.
Say it! Thank him and praise his goodness! ( Ps 107  Lut )

Allegro moderato
He counts our tears in times of need.
He comforts the afflicted with his word. ( Ps 56  Lut )
Say it! Thank him and praise his goodness!

4th choir

A tempo moderato
Say it that you are redeemed
by the Lord from all tribulation.
He counts our tears in time of need.

5th duet soprano I and II, choir

Andante
I waited for the Lord, and he bowed to me
And heard my supplication.
Happy those who put their hope in the Lord!
Good for him who places his hope in him! ( Ps 40  Lut )

6th tenor

Allegro un poco agitato The
ropes of death had embraced us,
And fear of hell had struck us,
We walked in darkness. ( Ps 116  Lut )
But he said: Wake up!
Wake up who are sleeping,
rise from the dead,
I want to enlighten you! ( Eph 5,14  Lut )

Allegro assai agitato
We shouted in the darkness:
Guardian, is the night soon over?

Tempo I, moderato But
the keeper said:
When morning comes,
it will be night after all;
If you already ask,
you will come
again and ask again:
Guardian, is the night over soon? ( Jes 21  Lut )

Soprano
The night has passed!

7th choir

Allegro maestoso e molto vivace
The night has passed,
but the day has come.
So let's
lay off the works of darkness And put on the weapons of light,
And take up the weapons of light. ( Rom 13,12  Lut )

8th choir

Choral: Andante con moto
Now all thank God
with heart, mouth and hands, Who will turn graciously to us
in all need,
Who
does so much good;
From childhood
We kept in his hat,
And good to all.

Un poco più animato
Praise, honor and praise be to God,
To the Father and the Son,
And to his holy spirit
In the highest throne of heaven.
Praise to the Triune God,
who parted night and dark
from light and dawn,
our song thanks him.

9th duet: soprano and tenor

Andante sostenuto assai
Drum I sing with my songs
Eternally your praise, you faithful God!
And thank you for all the good that you have done to me!
And I walk in the night and deep darkness,
And the enemies around
follow me: So I call on the name of the Lord,
And he saves me according to his goodness.
And if I walk in the night, I call on your name,
forever, you faithful God!

10. Final choir

Allegro non troppo O
peoples, bring honor and power to the Lord!
You kings, bring honor and power to the Lord!
Heaven bring honor and power to the Lord!
The earth bring honor and power to the Lord! ( Ps 96 Lut )

Più vivace
All thanks to the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord and glorify his name,
and give praise to his glory. ( 1 Chr 16,8-10  Lut )

Maestoso como I
All that breathes, praise the Lord,
Hallelujah, praise the Lord! ( Ps 150 Lut )

Trivia

The Gewandhausorchester Leipzig played on the occasion of the 85th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. conducted by Riccardo Chailly on April 20, 2012 in the audience hall of the Vatican Mendelssohn's hymn of praise .

Discography (selection )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Structure and overview of the MWV figures