Schola Hungarica / D'Adam à Abraham

Harmonia mundi "Quintana" QUI 903032
june-july, 1990
Holy Family Parish Church, Zugliget, Budapest



D'ADAM À ABRAHAM



1 - a. "Ligatura" (De Creatione)      [4:03]
b. Responsorium : In principio Deus creavit

2 - a. Lectio : Complevitque Deus     [2:24]
b. Responsorium : Formavit igitur Dominus

3 - a. Lectio : Praecepitque ei dicens      [1 :49]
b. Responsorium : Dixit Dominus Deus : non est bonum

4 - a. "Ligatura" (De Creatione mulieris)     [2:31]
b. Lectio : Immisit ergo Dominus Deus
c. Responsorium : Tulit ergo Dominus

5 - a. Lectio : Sed et serpens erat calidior     [2:30]
b. Responsorium : Dum deambularet Dominus

6 - a. Lectio : Et ait Dominus Deus ad serpentem     [6:34]
b. "Versetto" (De homine expulso)
c. Responsorium : Ecce Adam
d. "Organum et Campanae" (Lamentatio et Consolatio)

7 - a. Lectio : Adam vero cognovit     [3:26]
b. "Versetto" (De Cain)
c. Responsorium : Ubi est Abel

8 - a. Lectio : Videns Deus     [2:16]
b. Responsorium : Dixit Dominus ad Noe

9 - a. Lectio : Et ingressus est Noe     [4:29]
b. Responsorium : Facto diluvio
c. "Versetto" (De Diluvio)
d. Responsorium : Archa ferebatur

10 - "Versetto" (Praeludium)     [0:54]

11 - a. Lectio : Recordatus autem Deus Noe     [1:39]
b. Responsorium : Peractis centum quadraginta diebus

12 - a. Lectio : Requievit arca     [1:43]
b. Responsorium : Volens Noe scire

13 - a. Lectio : Aedificavit autem Noe     [2:25]
b. Responsorium : Ponam arcum meum
c. Lectio : Erant ergo filii Noe

14 - a. "Versetto" (de Abraham)     [3:15]
b. Lectio : Haec sunt autem generationes
c. Responsorium : Locutus est Dominus ad Abram

15 - a. Lectio : Factus est sermo Domini ad Abram     [2:15]
b. Responsorium : Dum staret Abraham

16 - a. Lectio : Erant autem ambo senes     [2:36]
b. Responsorium : Temptavit Deus Abraham

17 - a. "Versetto" (De sacrificio Abrahae)      [3:03]
b. Lectio : Igitur Abraham de nocte

18 - a. "Versetto" (De benedictione Abrahae)      [2:40]
b. Responsorium : Vocavit angelus Domini
c. Lectio : Credidit Abraham Deo
d. "Ligatura"

19 - a. Benedictio : Benedictus es Domine     [6:10]
b. "Choral"


SCHOLA HUNGARICA

Conducted by

DOBSZAY LÁSZLÓ
(2, 4, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18)
SZENDREY JANKA
(1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 19)


Kurtág György, organ
(1a, 4a, 6b, 6d, 7b, 9c, 10, 14a, 17a, 18a, 18d, 19b)


Sung in Latin



SUNG TEXTS

From Adam to Abraham


The events related in the first two books of the Old Testament belong to the archetypes of the consciousness of mankind and for hundreds of years they have inspired and been commented on by philosophers, theologians, poets, sculptors, historians and composers. This record, too, is a kind of commentary composed of three elements : prose, chant and instrumental music.

The prose readings illuminate momentary images from the story and serve as a kind of framework to the Gregorian chant of crucial passages from the text. The organ represents the division into "chapters" and a particular vision of the verbal narrative.

In the Christian liturgy the books of Genesis and Exodus were read in the offices during the months of February and March. From time to time the recitation was interrupted by chanting in order to lend the sustenance of music to the meditation. In the "responsories" for Matins the libretto was drawn from the book of the scriptures that had just been read ; in this way comprehensive musical cycles to every book in the Bible came into existence. The number of the responsories composed to the first two books of the Old Testament rose to seventy in Europe, although they were not all used everywhere.

The Hungarian tradition was particularly generous in its selection and almost the entire series of responsories, furnished with characteristic melodic versions, found a place in the so-called Gran Liturgy*. Approximately half of the series is heard on this recording - the section from Adam to Abraham on this record and the continuation (from Abraham to Moses) on another.

These responsories probably originated in the 8th-9th centuries, before the conclusion of the classical Gregorian era. In style they represent a transition between the classical Gregorian chant and the "new style" of the second millennium. We still hear the traditional opening and concluding formulas, the spirited melodic treatment in all the pieces, the emotional effect of the pathos, the extension of the range. The interpolation of wide intervals or unusual melodic progressions, however, indicates the breakthrough of a new style. The prose sections between the responsories are, on the one hand, reminders of the inserted recited passage, and, on the other, contrasts to the uniformity of the art form.

A third stylistic element in this recording is the sound of the organ. The listener seeking a museum of music history in the recording might be surprised by these interludes. But they should not be regarded as irrelevant intrusions, but as the reflection to ancient stories in the language of the contemporary composer. We made no attempt at restoration of an "old" style, but added the music of our time to the other two "layers". We had the good fortune that Kurtág György, one of the finest composers of the day agreed to provide the instrumental interludes. He is a composer who has a predilection for incorporating the most varied "found objects" into his own compositions, giving all of them a highly individual interpretation. The density of his writing lends itself to the formulation of the extremely brief commentaries, and his thorough and active familiarity with Gregorian chant permits him to make his own personal contribution to the ancient musical material with genuine affinity but without a trace of artificial archaisms. His interludes are, as it were, visions inspired by the biblical texts and the Gregorian chants, sometimes more obviously illustrative, and sometimes based on the strict polyphonic structure of the old chants. The pieces, which had been tentatively written down beforehand, often did not achieve their final form until they were improvised during the recording sessions.

Dobszay László

*The responsories are sung according to the 13th century Gran Breviary (Bibliotheca Strahoviensis, Prague, DE I, 7. Kodex).