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The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
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All Saints and All Souls

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

Sunday, November 2, 2003, 3:30 PM
Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery
2625 Highway 212 SW
Conyers, Georgia

Sunday, November 9, 2003, 4:00 PM
First Presbyterian Church
Corner of 16th and Peachtree Streets
Midtown, Atlanta

[The November 9 performance was broadcast on WABE's "Atlanta Music Scene" on September 6, 2004.]

The DeKalb Choral Guild thanks Allen Organ Studios for providing the organ for our November 2nd concert. The Allen Renaissance Organ you are hearing in today’s performance includes three manuals and 50 digitally sampled pipe ranks.

The Guild is also grateful for the sponsorship of our November 9th concert provided by Dr. and Mrs. Robert B. Smith, III M.D in memory of their parents, Victor and Florence Limehouse and Joseph and Mary Fanning.

Special thanks also to:

• Our Lady of the Holy Spirit Monastery, Fr. Francis Michael, superior, Fr. Matt, Br. Elias and Fr. Gerard, for providing our November 2 concert location.
• First Presbyterian Church, Charles Whittaker, Director of Music, for providing our November 9 concert locations.
• The German Cultural Center Atlanta, Friends of Gœthe and the Gœthe Institut Atlanta for providing our narrators, diction coaching and assistance with publicity.
• The Alliance Française of Atlanta for assistance with publicity.

TOTENTANZ (1934), OP. 12 HUGO DISTLER (1908-1942)
Dialog by Johannes Klöcking from the Totentanz of Lübecker, Germany
Verses by Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)
Tim Jansa, Wolfgang Krueger and Monika Johnston, Narrators
Eckhart Richter as Death

First Verse
Death Speaks
Second Verse
Dialog of Death and the Emperor
Third Verse
Dialog of Death and the Bishop
Fourth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Nobleman
Fifth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Physician
Sixth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Merchant
Seventh Verse
Dialog of Death and the Mercenary
Eighth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Mariner
Ninth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Hermit
Tenth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Peasant
Eleventh Verse
Dialog of Death and the Virgin
Twelfth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Old Man
Thirteenth Verse
Dialog of Death and the Child
Fourteenth Verse

REQUIEM (1947), OP. 9 MAURICE DURUFLÉ (1902-1986)
Brad Cunningham, Special Guest Organist, November 2
Trey Clegg, Special Guest Organist, November 9

Introit
Kyrie
Domine Jesu Christe
Sanctus

Pie Jesu
Mary Gowing, Nov. 2
Polly Nelms-Hickman, Nov. 9
Eckhart Richter, ’cello

Agnus Dei
Lux Æterna
Libera Me
In Paradisum

Program Notes

by Michaelene Gorney

"He lived not even as long as Mozart, and he worked in a far more hostile climate. His brilliance was a side road that never properly joined the mainstream of twentieth-century musical evolution. Music would not sound the same today if it had." So writes John Leinhard of composer Hugo Distler, 1908-1942, who chose to end his life by his own hand and in his own gas oven rather than be conscripted by the Nazis into the German armed forces. With conscientious objection punishable by death, there seemed no other way out for a disillusioned artist whose music, so full of religious intensity and fervor, was considered to be "degenerate."¹ Distler, also an organist and choral conductor, studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, then served as organist at the Jacobikirche in Lübeck from 1931 to 1936. He began teaching at the Lübeck Conservatory and at the School for Church Music in Spandau in 1933, at Württemburg Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart in 1937, and in 1940 at the Staatliche Akedemische Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. In 1942, the year of his death, he had been appointed director of the Berlin State and Cathedral Choir. In addition to compositions for orchestra, piano, organ, and choir, in varying combinations, Distler left several articles on organ playing and church music and a harmony text, as well as two unfinished works, a passion and an oratorio.^2,3

Totentanz, No. 2 from the Geistliche Chormusik (Sacred Choral Music), Op. 12, is subtitled "Motet for All Saints' Sunday," the day of our first performance of this work. Sources cite the influence of Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) and J. S. Bach (1685-1750) on Distler's music, but here it is his love of Gregorian chant that surprises and beckons, with musical references to sacred and secular forms of the 12th to 14th centuries, including the organum and the motet. This centuries-old tradition, rooted in plainsong, and so important to the history of Western music despite its virtual disappearance from contemporary Roman Catholic liturgy, was obviously important to Distler as a religious man. His love of the liturgical art expresses itself often – in the rhythmic independence of parts, parallel fourth and fifths, vocal melismas, medieval cadences, and the occasional relegation of harmony to a place of secondary importance, resulting in brief dissonances as a result of melodic movement. So skilled is Distler that seemingly disparate stylistic elements – the aforementioned chant techniques, the occasional jazz harmony, German Baroque polyphony – become simply the palette of musical colors from which he selects those needed to fulfill his vision of sound. And how might Distler's music sound today had he lived? We may never know, but how fortunate that he left any.

Distler's musical references to the Middle Ages are highly appropriate for the Totentanz, known in English as the Dance of Death, to the French as the Danse Macabre. This allegorical concept, also the subject of mime and morality plays, can be traced back to late 13th century poetry, which addresses the inevitability and impartiality of death. It is only logical to assume that the Black Death in the mid-14th century furthered the development of this theme, with the specter of death so common and so close. The earliest known representation of the Totentanz is a series of illustrated conversations between Death and his subjects (1424-25) formerly in the cemetery of Les Innocents in Paris. The oldest German example, painted by Berndt Notke in 1463, was found at the Marienkirche (St. Mary's Church) in Lübeck, the city in which Distler taught at the Conservatory beginning in 1933; Totentanz was written in 1934. The Lübeck painting consisted of twenty-four figures in couples. Linking each couple was the skeletal figure of a dancing Death, the entire ring led by Death playing a pipe.⁴ This painting was destroyed in 1942 – as was Distler, both casualties of war – but Jacob Von Melle, vicar of the Marienkirche, had the foresight to record the old text in 1701, before it and the original painting were replaced.⁵ Johannes Klöcking's version of the text, used by Distler, attempts to re-create the spirit of the original with words and rhythms akin to medieval Low German.⁶

Totentanz reflects the impartiality of Death in that he deigns to converse with members of all layers of society – in this version, with Dated this 26th day of the Kaiser, the Bishop, the Nobleman, the Doctor, the Merchant, the Mercenary, the Boatman, the Hermit, the Farmer, the Maiden, the Old Man, and the Child. Some translations might alter these titles to better suit the times and the audience, substituting "President" for "Kaiser," for example, or "Manager" for "Nobleman," or "Soldier" for "Mercenary." Framing the spoken dialogues are choral settings of poetry from the Cherubinischen Wandersmann (Cherubinic Pilgrim) by the "baroque mystic"⁷ Angelus Silesius (1624-1677). Born as Johannes Scheffler, this controversial poet and son of a Lutheran nobleman converted to Roman Catholicism at the age of 29 and was henceforth known by his confirmation name. Many of his religious songs can be found in both Catholic and Protestant hymnbooks.⁸

While Silesius' poetry gives hope to the living in the form of aphorisms – lessons or mini-tutorials – for achieving eternal peace, once Death enters the picture, there is no going back: one's fate is sealed, for better or for worse. Distler's comments show him to be inspired by the tension between life (the aphorisms) and mortality (Death's conversations): "warm and lively, powerful, healthy, beautiful and splendid; tomorrow destroyed, perished and dead," he writes.⁹ And what of our own fascination with death? One need only look to the Totentanzen of Saint-Saëns (for orchestra) and Liszt (for piano), to Glazunow's scherzo, "Dance of Death," to Schubert's "Erlkönig" and "Der Tod und das Mädchen," or to today's news, to know that Death commands our attention. As Martin Hagstrøm so aptly observes, "We are no longer threatened by The Black Death – but Death itself hasn't retired, and whether we shall die simultaneously – hand in hand as on the paintings – or one at a time as in the manuscripts – the mortality rate remains the same as in the Middle Ages, namely 100%."¹⁰ Zum Tanz, zum Tanze recht euch ein.

How different from Distler's brief sojourn was the life of Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), who, born only six years earlier, enjoyed professional success, celebrity, and long life. Born in Louviers, France, at 10 he became a chorister and student at Rouen Cathedral, where he studied piano, organ, and theory, and developed his love for Gregorian chant. At the Paris Conservatory, he studied organ with Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne, composition with Paul Dukas. His first position, one that he held his entire life, was at St-Étienne-du-Mont, where he also designed the organ. In 1941, he had the honor of premiering Poulenc's Organ Concerto and in 1942 joined the Paris Conservatory as assistant to organist Marcel Dupré. Like Dupré he became a virtuoso improviser, and remained at the Conservatory until 1969 as a teacher and composer.^11,12 His wife, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier (1921-1999), was also a leading organist and teacher at the Conservatory who shared her husband's position at St-Étienne-du-Mont from 1953. Mme Duruflé performed and recorded with her husband and presented definitive solo performances of his works.¹³

Duruflé's fourteen compositions, without exception, were inspired by plainsong. So important was the Gregorian tradition to both of the Duruflés that they considered the 1962 Vatican II reforms a disaster that undermined the source of their musical inspiration.¹⁴ When commissioned by Durand and Company to write a choral work, Duruflé had been preparing an organ suite based on the Gregorian chants of the Mass for the Dead. This work he expanded for chorus, orchestra and organ, completing the Requiem, Op. 9, in 1947. Two more versions followed, one with organ alone, one with reduced orchestra and organ. Of his original, Duruflé said: "This Requiem is entirely composed on Gregorian themes from the Requiem Mass. Sometimes the text has been respected as a whole, with no intervention from the orchestra, which plays a supporting role or comments on the proceedings, or sometimes I am inspired or completely carried away, as for example in certain developments suggested by the Latin text, notably in the Domine Jesu Christe, the Sanctus, or the Libera Me. Generally, I have above all sought to enter into the particular style of Gregorian melodies and have been compelled to reconcile as far as possible the Gregorian rhythm, as established by the Benedictines of Solesmes, with the requirements of modern barring."¹⁵

Duruflé bequeathed to the organ only an "episodic" part in the 1947 original, one that brought "momentary relief from the too human sounds of the orchestra."¹⁶ In providing a version with organ alone – as a great "equalizer," so-to-speak – Duruflé, not unlike Death in the Totentanz, imparts some semblance of impartiality to death, albeit death of a hopeful and joyous nature. [Had Distler written a Requiem, one can only imagine how different it would have been, similarly grounded in Gregorian chant, but tempered by different life experiences and expectations.] Organist Brad Cunningham notes the use of the organ's warm, rich foundation tones and colors from which vocal harmonies are built and interwoven throughout the work, as well as the Vox Humana with tremblant in the third movement, a stop used effectively by the French for its supposed emulation of the human voice. To Mr. Cunningham, the "luscious tone clusters" of major and minor seconds are the bloodflow, or lifeline, which binds together organ and choir into one living, breathing body. By virtue of the organ, representing to Duruflé "the idea of peace, of faith and of hope," and by virtue of the modulating layers of sound which envelope and frame his beloved chant, we are presented with what Nick Jones describes as "a testament of faith, comfort and tranquility all but unequaled among music written in this troubled century."¹⁷ Aeternam habeas requiem.

Notes:

¹ "The Engines of Our Ingenuity," © 1988-2000 by John H. Lienhard, http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1584.htm; transcript of Lienhard's exploration of Distler's life and music for the Houston radio program "Engines of Our Ingenuity"
² The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Don Michael Randel, ed., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 1996.
³ The Concise Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music, Nicolas Slonimsky, ed., Schirmer Book, New York, New York, 1978.
⁴ Encyclopaedia Britannica 1970, v. 7, p. 42-43
⁵ Lübeck's Dance of Death: For Remembrance and to Honor the Antiquity, Martin Hagstrøm, http://www.dodedans.com.
⁶ Dance of Death by Hugo Distler, 1934, Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel, Germany, reprinted in English by Mark Foster Music Company, Box 4012, Champaign, Illinois, 1970; Preface by Malcolm Johns, ed., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
⁷ Ibid.
⁸ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I, Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor, Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
⁹ Dance of Death by Hugo Distler, 1934, Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel, Germany, reprinted in English by Mark Foster, Music Company, Box 4012, Champaign, Illinois, 1970; Preface by Malcolm Johns, ed., Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
¹⁰ Lübeck's Dance of Death: For Remembrance and to Honor the Antiquity, Martin Hagstrøm, http://www.dodedans.com.
¹¹ The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, Don Michael Randel, ed., The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England, 1996.
¹² The Concise Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music, Nicolas Slonimsky, ed., Schirmer Book, New York, New York, 1978.
¹³ The Musical Times Publications, Ltd., Est. 1844, Winter, 2000, http://www.musicaltimes.co.uk/archive/0004/durufle.html
¹⁴ Ibid.
¹⁵ Duruflé, Requiem, Op. 9, Robert Shaw, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Telarc Digital Stereo CD-80135, 1987, liner notes by Nick Jones
¹⁶ Ibid.
¹⁷ Ibid.