commentary to opus 94

Friedensbotschaft der Apokalypse for mixed choir and large Orchestra, op. 94 (1991)

: February 7, 2015, Würzburg, Neubaukirche
MonteverdiChor Würzburg / Vogtland Philharmonie / Matthias Beckert

Orchestral requirements: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, 3 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 3 Trombones, Tuba, Percussion (3 players), Harp, Organ, Strings.

Duration: 6 Minutes

Publisher: Bertold Hummel Foundation

The Fragment "Von der Wiederkehr des Herren" (Of the return of the Lord) - Cantata on the Apocalypse of Saint John for soloist, mixed choir and large Orchestra, op. 94

I.
Mixed choir:
Gnade sei mit euch und Friede
von Ihm, der ist und der war und der kommt, und von den sieben Geistern vor seinem Thron und von Jesus Christus; (Grace be with you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne and from Jesus Christ;)
Men's choir:
er ist der treue Zeuge, der Erstgeborene der Toten, der Herrscher über die Könige der Erde. (He is the true witness, the firstborn from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth.)
Women's choir:
Er liebt uns und hat uns von unseren Sünden erlöst durch sein Blut; (He loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood;)
Men's choir:
er hat uns zu Königen gemacht und zu Priestern vor Gott seinem Vater. (He has made us kings and priests to serve his God and Father.)
Mixed choir:
Ihm sei die Ehre und die Macht in alle Ewigkeit, Amen. (To him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.)

The first movement (94 bars) exists as a fair copy with complete instrumentation.

II.
John (Speaker):
"Am Tage des Herrn wurde ich vom Geist ergriffen und hörte hinter mir eine Stimme, laut wie eine Posaune."
"Als ich mich umwandte, sah ich sieben goldene Leuchter, und mitten unter den Leuchtern einen, der aussah wie ein Mensch;
er war bekleidet mit einem Gewand, das bis auf die Füße reichte,
und um die Brust trug er einen Gürtel aus Gold:
("On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet."
"When I turned I saw seven lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man;
he was dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet,
and round his chest was a golden belt.")
Mixed choir:
Siehe er kommt, siehe er ist da!
Sein Haupt und seine Haare sind weiß wie weiße Wolle,
leuchtend weiß wie Schnee,
und seine Augen wie Feuerflammen;
(Look, he is coming, see, he is here!
His head and hair are white like white wool,
shining white like snow,
and his eyes like blazing fire.)

John (Sprecher):
Ich hörte: seine Stimme war wie das Rauschen von Wassermassen
und ich sah: In seiner Rechten hielt er sieben Sterne,
und aus seinem Mund kam ein scharfes, zweischneidiges, Schwert
und sein Gesicht leuchtete wie die machtvoll strahlende Sonne.
Als ich ihn sah, fiel ich wie tot vor seinen Füßen nieder.
Er legte seine rechte Hand auf mich und sagte:
(I heard his voice like the sound of rushing waters
and I saw that he held in his right hand seven stars,
and out of his mouth came a sharp, double-edged sword.
His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead:
Then he placed his right hand on me and said:)
Baritone:
"Fürchte dich nicht! Ich bin der Erste und der Letzte und der Lebendige.
Ich war tot, doch nun lebe ich in alle Ewigkeit, und ich habe die Schlüssel
zum Tod und zur Unterwelt. Teile mit, was du gesehen hast, was ist und was danach geschehen wird."
("Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last and the Living One;
I was dead and, behold, I am alive for ever and ever, and I hold the keys
of death and Hades. Write therefore what you have seen, what is now and what will happen later.")
Mixed choir:
Mitten unter sieben Leuchtern, in unser aller Mitte ist der Herr
In seiner Rechten hält er sieben Sterne und seine Rechte hält uns alle
Herr, erbarme dich!
Kyrie eleison! Miserere Domini!
Lord, have mercy! Seigneur, aie pietié de nous!
Gospodi pomilju! Miserere nobis.
(Amongst the seven lampstands, in the midst of us all is the Lord.
In his right hand he holds seven stars and his right hand holds us all.
Lord, have mercy! [in seven languages])

The second movement (125 bars) is completely composed. There are in many cases only suggestions of an instrumentation.
Motivated by the success of the oratorio "Der Schrein der Märtyrer" ("The Shrine of the Martyrs"), Paul-Werner Scheele, librettist as well as Bishop of Würzburg, approached Bertold Hummel again in the year 1990 and asked him to compose an oratorio for the solemn dedication of the restructured St. Michael's Church of Würzburg. Figures and scenes from the apocalypse created by the sculptor Heinrich Gerhard Bücker (1922-2008), who also shaped the shrine of Kilian, should receive a musical counterpart. True to his well-tried style, Scheele put together a text collage from the Apocalypse of St. John, which he modified several times after discussions with the composer.
Strong doubts about another large-scale oratorio after "The Shrine of the Martyrs", which he soon considered to be his "opus summum", delayed the start of compositional work. In addition, he had devoted himself to the theme Apocalypse so intensively in his perhaps most significant orchestral work, Visionen (Visions), op. 73 in the year 1980 that a vocal variant of the material was for him no longer absolutely necessary. Sharing a warm friendship with Scheele, however, he had the feeling he should not refuse this commission. On the Bishop's 63rd birthday, he presented the fully orchestrated score (94 bars) of the opening chorus. (The pencilled miniature score bears the date 14.2.1991). The title is Die Wiederkehr des Herrn (The Return of the Lord), op. 94. But even the subsequent entry of the prophet John as a speaker and the frequent spoken passages of the Miserere in 7 languages is no longer completely orchestrated and gives reason to suspect that the composer had new ideas regarding the concept of this work. "Ja ich komme bald" ("Yes, I am coming soon") was the title suggested by Scheele for smaller version of the project. The compositional arch should now span 7 sections:
I. The returning Lord amongst the 7 lampstands
II. The 7 Churches
III. The 4 Riders
IV. The 7 Angels and the 7 Trumpets
V. The Woman, the Child and the Dragon
VI. The 3x7 Elders
VII. The Lord who makes all things new

The planned orchestration was now as follows: chamber choir + declaiming choir, speaker, 5 soloists, (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass). The orchestra should consist of 7 musicians: organ, flute, (picc + bassfl.), clarinet (bassclar. + picc.clar.), trombone (tenor, alto and bass trombone), violoncello, harp and percussion. His former student Jürgen Schmitt, who has made a name for himself as a specialist for electronic sound compositions, wrote in an obituary in 2003 that "Hummel had quite concrete plans in mind: the electronic music. We had already planned a visit to the venue in the University Church, for which he had accepted a commission for a work for choir, orchestra and diverse soloists with flexible electronics including the use of spatial "polychoral" (electronic) arrangements. He had hoped to have me as adviser and co-operator for the electronic aspects of his composition. The realisation of this unfortunately never took place."
Evidence of these deliberations is provided by a completely re-worked text by Scheele with the title Cantata "Von der Wiederkehr des Herrn" (nach der Apokalypse des Johannes)["Of the Return of the Lord " (after the Apocalypse of John)], which lay on Hummel's working piano with the remark "final version!" after his death. With its four sections (I. Unsere Zukunft [Our Future], II. Die apokalyptischen Reiter [The Riders of the Apocalypse], III. Die Frau, das Kind und der Drache [The Woman, the Child and the Dragon], IV. Der Herr, der alles neu macht [The Lord who makes all things new]), a genuine cantata form was provided.
The orchestration was sketched by Hummel as follows: flute (alto, bass, picc.), oboe (cor anglais), clarinet (E-flat + bass cl.), bassoon (+ contrab.), trp., trmb, horn in F, harp, string-quintet, perc., organ and electronics (tape replay). A 95-bar miniature score, hastily sketched in pencil, shows that he was thinking in terms of a chamber orchestra which had to play in different spatial positions. As vocal soloists he was thinking about - as he discussed it with me - one soprano and one baritone. He also thought frequently about including modern texts.
Surprisingly, he did actually in 2000 include in the last printed work catalogue edited by himself the title "Von der Wiederkehr des Herrn (Of the Return of the Lord)" (after the Apocalypse of John), op. 94, and, although at that point only about 8 minutes had been composed, fixed the performance length of the work as 50 minutes.

Martin Hummel