BRAHMS: SCHICKSALSLIED and
BERNSTEIN: CHICHESTER PSALMS

By Judith Eckelmeyer

(GRACE WOODS MUSIC SESSION OCTOBER 7, 2024)

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Brahms in 1889

By the time Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) began composing his choral work Schicksalslied (Song of Fate or Destiny) Op. 54 in 1868, he had already accomplished much of his large choral/orchestral output, including Ein Deutsches Requiem in that same year. Always interested in classical antiquity, he had only recently discovered the text of Friedrich Hölderlin’s (1770-1843) poem, which had been included in his epistolary novel Hyperion, or The Hermit in Greece (1797). The novel concerns not antiquity but recent events: Greece’s attempt to overthrow the Turkish rule at the time (a foundation theme of the second section of Byron’s epic poem Childe Harold as well as numerous art works of the early 19th century). But Hyperion’s poem, rather than continuing the Greek/Turkish thread, describes the beauty and bliss of the blessed immortals in their realm of light, contrasted by the condition of mortals, who suffer and struggle in the darkness of despair, turmoil, fear and sorrow. For a couple of years Brahms puzzled how he was to deal with Hölderlin’s ending with the darkness. In 1871 he resolved the issue by returning to the orchestral music of the light-filled opening, in a new key, without text, leaving a kind of non-answer to the problem but suggesting a reconciling peacefulness. 

​Hölderlin’s translated text follows.

You wander above in light on gentle ground, blessed genii (spirits). Glimmering, divine breezes gently brush you, like the fingers of the musician on her holy strings. 
 
Fateless, like the sleeping suckling infant, the celestial ones breathe, purely protected in modest buds, inspired by the Spirit, and their blissful eyes gaze into the silent, eternal clarity.    
 
But to us no place is given to rest. They vanish, they fall, the suffering humans, blindly from one moment to another, like water thrown from cliff to cliff, unendingly down into the Unknown.

Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra) ∙ Collegium Vocale Gent ∙ Philippe Herreweghe, Dirigent ​

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Bernstein in 1977

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) began composing “early and often”, in many styles and many genres. No genre was foreign to him—symphonic, choral, theater, sacred, solo vocal, solo piano, chamber music, and on and on. His remarkable career encompassed solo performances, conducting major symphonic orchestras, teaching and tutoring, preparing and presenting television programs about music, promoting music in international venues, activism for human rights and against war, and leading his orchestras in international tours to numerous countries including Israel and Russia. He was a leading proponent of Gustav Mahler’s music, previously little understood and infrequently performed. His life impacted and influenced generations of American composers and performers. ​

So it is no wonder that his massive reputation led to commissions from many quarters, one of which was Chichester Cathedral, in Sussex, midway across the south coast of England. The Dean of the Cathedral, Walter Hussey, was organizing a festival to be held there in 1965. Bernstein selected the specific psalms, but, for ecumenical purposes, insisted that they be presented in Hebrew, the language of his Jewish heritage in which he had learned them. He organized them in three movements, with a short prefatory passage and a Finale recasting the material from the introduction. The first performance was in New York’s Philharmonic Hall, July 15, 1965, with Bernstein conducting; the performance in Chichester Cathedral took place on July 31 of that year. ​

The work is scored for 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, percussion section of 5 performers, 2 harps, and strings; SATB choir (originally intended to be all male voices); and solo parts for soprano and alto were intended for boys’ voices, but womens’ voices were permissible but not preferable. The male alto solo of the second movement must be sung by a boy or male countertenor, not a woman. 

​The text in English translation follows.

Introduction:
Awake, psaltery and harp:
I will rouse the dawn!

I. Ps. 131
Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands.
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before His presence with singing.
Know that the Lord, He is God.
He made us, and we are his.
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Come unto His gates with thanksgiving,
And into His court with praise.
Be thankful unto Him and bless His name.
the Lord is good, His mercy everlasting
And His truth endureth to all generations.

II. Ps. 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,
He leadeth me beside the still waters,
He restoreth my soul,
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness,
For His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk
Through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
For Thou art with me.
Thy rod and Thy staff
They comfort me.
          
Ps. 2, vs. 1-4
Why do the nations rage,
And the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and against His anointed.
Saying, let us break their bands asunder,
And cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens
Shall laugh, and the Lord
Shall have them in derision!

Ps.    23, continued
Thou preparest a table before me
In the presence of my enemies,
Thou anointest my head with oil,
My cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy
Shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

III. Ps. 131
Lord, Lord,
My heart is not haughty,
Nor mine eyes lofty,
Neither do I exercise myself
In great matters or in things
Too wonderful for me to understand.
Surely I have calmed
And quieted myself,
As a child that is weaned of his mother,
My soul is even as a weaned child.
Let Israel hope in the Lord
From henceforth and forever.

Finale  Ps. 131, vs. 1
Behold how good,
And how pleasant it is,
For brethren to dwell
Together in unity.

Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms - I. Psalm 108 (Verse 2) and 100 (entire) Leonard Bernstein, conductor
​Israel Philharmonic Wiener Jeunesse-Chor

Judith Eckelmeyer ©2024