New Millennium Strings

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)

Symphony of Psalms

Stravinsky was born in Lomonosov, which is a seaside village on the Gulf of Finland. His family lived in St. Petersburg and it was this city that gave him his most vivid childhood memories. His father was a singer at the Mariinsky Theatre, and he encouraged his son's interest in his extensive library of vocal scores. Although he started piano at age nine, Stravinsky did not study music theory and composition until he met Rimsky-Korsakov in 1902. By 1906, he had married his cousin Catherine and they had four children. His life also changed when he met Serge Diaghilev, the founder of the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev was desperate to find a composer for his Paris performances, so he commissioned Stravinsky. He was hired to compose music for a Russian folk tale The Firebird. It took him only six months to write the 45-minute ballet score. Following the first performance of The Firebird at the Paris Opera on June 25, 1910, Stravinsky became an overwhelming success.

In 1930, he composed The Symphony of Psalms. The piece was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky and was intended to honor the Boston Symphony's fiftieth anniversary. Stravinsky wrote in the dedication: "This Symphony, composed to the glory of God, is dedicated to the Boston Symphony Orchestra." In 1926, Stravinsky had rejoined the Orthodox Church; his commitment influenced his decision to compose religious works.

The Boston commission requested that Stravinsky write an orchestral work without soloists. He decided that the composition should employ "great contrapuntal development." He also wanted the choral and instrumental writing to be on equal footing. Initially he began to compose it as a Russian piece, setting Slavonic words to the music. Instead, Stravinsky decided to use three of David's Psalms in the symphony; each was in the Latin version of the Vulgate. The overall sense of the music and text is one of drama and of real life expression. The emotional intent ranges from calm to turbulent. Althought the piece is composed without violins, violas, or clarinets, the singers provide the needed string and reed timbres.

Stravinsky wrote: "It is not a symphony in which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing." As Stravinsky's friend Ernest Ansermet wrote about the piece, it "expresses the religiosity of others -- of the imaginary choir of which the actual singing choir is an analogon."

In the first movement, the voal statement in e minor is based on an undulating minor second, initially given to the altos. It is a simply stated vocal line, but is placed simultaneously with both graceful and punctuated woodwind arpeggios in the accompaniment. Eventually this music is brought to a climax, and it modulates to a major key at the end of the movement. The second movement is a double fugue beginning in the oboes and flutes, and eventually the counterpoint joins the vocal lines. The slow pace of the overall tempo and that of the fugal subject may be somewhat programmatic. The counterpoint is slow to develop as the text states: "I waited patiently for the Lord." The third movement features florid rushing lines in the piano, winds, and brass. This musical idea was inspired by Stravinsky's vision of Elijah's chariot climbing the Heavens.

-- program notes by Laurien Jones

June, 2002