S. Taneyev "John of Damascus"
This work on the premiere performance so touched the hearts and souls of the audience that he was immediately called the Russian Requiem. And indeed, "John of Damascus" - a cantata with lyrical and philosophical content was the first creation of the twenty-eight-year-old Sergei Taneyev, in which the skill and talent of the musician appeared very convincingly. The gifted pupil of the great Tchaikovsky managed to so skillfully embody his ideas and synthesize in this work the severity of the classics and lyricism of romanticism, that in the composer's creativity it became his first peak.
History of creation
In the eighties of the last century, the whole of Moscow was looking forward to the consecration of the magnificent Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the history of which was stretched for seventy long years. Sergei Ivanovich also did not want to stay away from such a grand event, having decided to write a kind of "Orthodox cantata" for the significant holiday. He ordered the poet Jacob Polonsky a text with a generalized philosophical content, based on Orthodox church hymns. Unfortunately, the composer never wrote this work for certain reasons, but it was a precursor to another work that Taneyev dedicated to the memory of his deeply revered teacher Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinshtein who died untimely.
A year after the death of the outstanding musician, Taneyev took part in a memorial concert, where he was one of the performers of the trio written by Tchaikovsky and dedicated to N. Rubinstein - a kind of chamber-instrumental funeral mass called the composer "In memory of the great artist". This work stimulated Sergei Ivanovich in memory of his beloved teacher to create his requiem. However, now for his cantata, the composer decided to take a fragment of the poem by Alexei Tolstoy "John of Damascus". The composition of the work lasted for quite a long time, as a careful study of the musical themes of the cantata took Taneyev much time. The score was completed in early 1884, and the premiere performance of "John of Damascus" was held in the Noble Assembly Hall from the Imperial Russian Musical Society, whose Moscow branch was headed by Rubinstein before his death. The St. Petersburg public heard the Taneyev cantata only three years later.
Interesting Facts
- Before Taneyev wrote the cantata "John Domaskin", he was the author of a sufficient number of various musical compositions. However, the exacting composer only numbered this work as opus No. 1.
- Incredibly demanding to himself, Taneyev, while composing many of his works, treated them as technological tasks, that is, they were, as it were, the next stage on the way to the desired result, therefore he did not consider it necessary to publish many of his creations. Cantata "John of Damascus" - is the first work of the composer, which was published by the publisher.
- Critics often expressed disapproval of Taneyev’s work, accusing him of being clever and even lacking talent. However, "John of Damascus" forced many ill-wishers to take a different look at Sergei Ivanovich's composer's gift. After the premiere success of the work, respectful knowledge and skill of the author began to be celebrated. And the ability to build a polyphonic texture was compared with Bach himself.
- It is highly likely that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, ten years later, used the chant "With the saints rest in peace" in his brilliant "Pathetic symphony" as a cruel symbol of death under the influence of Taneyev's cantata. Quotation sounds quite different, but very reminiscent of "John of Damascus."
- Cantat of Sergey Taneyev "John of Damascus" is deservedly called the "Russian Requiem". A requiem is a funeral mass performed in Catholic worship in memory of the deceased.
- John of Damascus - the righteous of the Christian Orthodox Church, canonized. The legendary poet and theologian, whose canons, being remarkable poetic works, are still used in Orthodox church worship today.
- According to an ancient legend, the fierce iconoclast of the Byzantine emperor Leo Isavr, who flamed up with hatred for John of Damascus, who defended the saints, slandered him in the eyes of the powerful ruler of the Umayyad caliphate: supposedly the righteous offered him help in seizing power in Syria. The angry lord ordered to cut off the holy father's hand on his right hand. Closing and putting a hand to his hand, John began to ask the Mother of God, praying in front of her image for his healing. Waking up the next morning, he felt that the brush had grown in a marvelous way. In gratitude, the theologian imposed on the lower part of the icon the outline of a hand, poured out of silver. This is how the miraculous icon appeared, which became known as the "Three-handed".
Content
When choosing a literary basis for his cantata, Taneyev focused his attention on the poem of Count Alexei Tolstoy "John of Damascus". This essay, though narrating about the life of the holy father, the author of spiritual hymns, is inherently a truly romantic work that distinguishes nobleness and simplicity of presentation. Sergei Ivanovich took from the poem of Tolstoy only one small passage that best fit the composer’s plan, namely, the fifth stanza of the eighth chapter. This part of the work tells about the stay of John in the monastery cloister. The original monk was forbidden to write without permission, and John obeyed this without question. But one day a monk died in a monastery cloister. The brother of the deceased, who also lived in the monastery, asked the monk John to come up with a sweet troparion in his departed. John could not refuse the inconsolable relative of the deceased and fulfilled his request, for which he was punished, although soon he was forgiven.
The content of this part of the poem perfectly suited what was intended by the composer in his cantata - this is a requiem chants, in which the author reflected on what will happen after his life: he was afraid of the new world and hoped for forgiveness for sins. It was the verses from the passage of the poem by Alexei Tolstoy that, according to Taneyev, perfectly suited the sad event about which the composer decided to write this work.
Cantata begins with a small orchestral introduction. In it, Taneyev considered it important to use the sound of the very well-known church chant "With Saints to God", which throughout the entire work plays a very significant role, penetrating into the composition of the cantata in the first and final part. At first, the theme in the form of a mournful choral, reflecting a sacrifice, takes place at the woodwind and strings and instruments. Then, against the background of the sustained sounds of bassoons and French horns, it sounds an octave in the strings, and then wrapped in embossed backs, resembling mournful moans, gradually subsides.
The introduction of the choir's alto voices, which, to the accompaniment of the sounding triple sound of string instruments, sings "I am going to an unknown path," heralds the beginning of the first part of the cantata. This topic of the fugue is significantly different from the choral theme of the introduction: it is more rhythmically free and mobile, its melodic line is replete with wide interval jumps. Following the altos, a soprano enters the field of polyphonic texture, then the bass, followed by the tenor. Further, as in the theme of the choir, and in the instrumental accompaniment, there is an enhanced dynamic development. The sound of the orchestra rises higher, and sometimes duplicating the choral parts, performs not only the accompanying, but also the solo role.
The next topic, playing the role of interlude and beginning with the words “My gaze faded, cooled my chest,” the composer separated from the main theme with a small instrumental fragment of a majestic character. The very theme of the middle section of their intonations of crying emphasizes the tragic mood.
The second part, beginning with the words "But I sleep forever," differs from the first chord texture and light, sublime character. It includes two sections. The first begins without instrumental accompaniment, and in the second section the orchestra enters and everything changes: the pace is quickened and the dynamics become more powerful. Tension is growing, which leads to a powerful climax, coming in the third final part - a stunning monumentality of a fugue. The cantata ends very quietly and calmly.
In the Russian musical culture, the cantata "John of Damascus" is in a special place, since none of the domestic composers except Taneyev paid choral works, namely cantatas, so much attention in his work. This essay by an outstanding maestro was not only a touchstone of his thorough research, but also a work that initiated the development of the secular version of this genre in Russian music.
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