Responsories (Reger)

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Reger's autograph of the Christmas responsory

The responsories of Max Reger are 20 short compositions for chorus a cappella sound to the English mainly biblical texts. Reger wrote them in 1911 as answer chants for the Lutheran Church in the United States. They were published in Philadelphia in 1914 as The Responsories .

history

Reger composed the responses to English texts in 1911 for Luther D. Reed , a professor of liturgy who advocated the use of contemporary music in the services of the American Lutheran Church. Reed tried to take up older forms of worship, for example Vespers , which is characterized by response chants. In the summer of 1911, the organist Harry G. Archer traveled to Germany on Reed's order and asked Reger for compositions. Since Reger did not speak English, he asked Archer to provide a precise translation that explained the meaning of individual words and indicated stressed syllables. Reger composed the pieces and let them look through, as evidenced by later changes. The compositions were completed in 1911. Reger deliberately wrote them for amateur choirs. They are mostly homophonic , also in order to make the text easy to understand.

The responsories were printed in 1914 by Luther D. Reed and The Church Music and Liturgical Art Society of Philadelphia , under the title The Responsories . Compared to the manuscript, the print contains some changes in terms of rhythmic details and text distribution. Reger may not have received a copy, in any case no copy was found in his estate. Hermann Grabner (1886–1969) published an Urtext edition in 1961 for the complete edition of Reger's works. It appeared in volume 27 by Max Reger: Complete Works , printed by Breitkopf & Härtel in Wiesbaden . The publisher also published versions in German, in five volumes of four responsories each, and in individual editions.

In 2007 an Urtext edition was published by Carus-Verlag , edited by Andreas Becker. It is based on Reger's handwriting for the English text and contains small changes for the German version.

Text and music

The 20 responsories are set for an unaccompanied choir. They partly follow the church year . Breitkopf & Härtel published versions with German texts.

  1. Advent : Behold, the days come ( The time will come, thus says the Lord )
  2. Christmas The Word made flesh what ( The Word became flesh )
  3. Epiphany : Arise, shine, for thy light is come ( Open up, become light )
  4. Passion time : He was brought as a lamb ( He was led like a lamb to the slaughter )
  5. Easter : Christ being raised from the dead ( Christ, raised from the dead )
  6. Assumption : Go ye into all the world ( Go into all the world )
  7. Pentecost : And there appeared ( And tongues appeared to the apostles )
  8. Trinity : We bless the Father ( We praise the Father and the Son )
  9. Forever, o Lord, Thy Word is settled ( Your word, o Lord, dwell far and wide )
  10. We know no other God ( We know no other God )
  11. Fear God, and keep His commandments ( Fear God and keep His commandments )
  12. Thine, o Lord, is the power ( Your, o Lord, is the power )
  13. Look down, o Lord, from Thy holy place ( Look down, o Lord, from your sanctuary )
  14. Bless the Lord at all times ( Praise the Lord forever )
  15. Make me to go in the path ( Lord, lead me on the path of your commandments )
  16. Burial: Shall we receive good ( Have we received good from God ), text Job 2:10 .
  17. Burial: I know that my Redeemer liveth ( I know that my Redeemer lives ), text Job 19:25 .
  18. Burial: If we believe that Jesus died ( For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again )
  19. Burial: Behold, how the righteous dieth ( O see how the righteous die )
  20. Burial: I will lay me down in peace and sleep ( I want to lie down to sleep in peace )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Alexander Becker: Max Reger / Responsorien / for SATB choir a cappella . Carus-Verlag , 2007, pp. 1-24.
  2. ↑ Luther Dotterer Reed (1873-1972), Dictionary of hymnology
  3. ↑ a b c Responsories / for choir SATB a cappella . Carus publishing house . 2007. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Daniel Fromme: The reception of Job in the music of the 20th century: To the musicalization of suffering ( German ). LIT Verlag, Münster, 2016, ISBN 978-3-64-313264-2 , pp. 112-113.
  5. ↑ 20 Responsories (Reger, Max) : Notes and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
  6. ↑ All works. Max Reger. Among employees of the Max Reger Institute (Elsa Reger Foundation), Bonn ( German ) leo.bw.de. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  7. ↑ a b 20 responsories . Breitkopf & Härtel . 1961. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  8. ↑ Andreas Becker . Max Reger Institute . 2018. Retrieved March 24, 2017.