Symphony of Psalms

The Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky was written in 1930 and was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. This piece is a three-movement choral symphony and was composed during Stravinsky's neoclassical period. The symphony derives its name from the use of "Psalm" texts in the choral parts, which Stravinsky was inspired to include because he had recently rejoined the Russian Orthodox Church following a sixteen year hiatus.Fact|date=August 2008 The three movements are performed without a break, and the texts sung by the chorus are adapted from the Vulgate versions in Latin. Unlike many pieces composed for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky said that “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.”citequote|date=August 2008

Although the piece was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the world premiere was actually given in Brussels by the Société Philharmonique de Bruxelles on December 13, 1930, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet. The American premiere of the piece was given soon afterwards by Koussevitzky with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Harvard Glee Club, and the Radcliffe Choral Society on December 19, 1930.Fact|date=August 2008 The first recording was made by Stravinsky himself with the "Orchestre des Concerts Straram" and the Alexis Vlassay Choir at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on February 17 and February 18, 1931.Hill and Simeone 2005, 30.] "The choir, throaty, full-blooded, darkly, inwardly passionate, sing with liturgical conviction and intensity in a memorable performance." [ Composers in Person: Stravinsky, EMI Classics D 202405, 1993. ]

Orchestration

The work is scored for 5 flutes (5th doubling Piccolo), 4 oboes, English horn, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, piccolo trumpet, 4 trumpets in C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, 2 pianos, harp, cellos, contrabasses, and a four-part chorus (soprano, alto, tenor, bass). For the upper two choral parts the composer specified children's voices if possible.

Notable missing instruments include: clarinet, violins, and violas.

General analysis

Like many of Stravinsky's other works, including "Petrushka" and "Rite of Spring", the "Symphony of Psalms" occasionally employs the octatonic scale (which alternates whole steps and half steps), the longest stretch being eleven bars between rehearsal numbers 4 and 6 in the first movement. [Berger 1963, 40.] Stravinsky stated that the root of the entire symphony is "the sequences of two minor thirds joined by a major third . . . derived from the trumpet-harp motive at the beginning of the "allegro" in Psalm 150". [Stravinsky and Craft 1962, 16.] Because of the religious nature of this work, each movement is devoted to one of the hortatory virtues. The first movement represents love, the second movement represents hope, and the third movement represents faith. Interestingly, this reverses St. Paul's hortatory virtues, which were in the order: faith, hope, love. [The hortatory virtues referred to here do not appear in Symphony of Psalms, but in his Canticum Sacrum.] This is thought to beweasel inline|date=August 2008 because of the strong emphasis Stravinsky wanted to put on faith, since he had recently rejoined the Russian Orthodox Church.

Stravinsky portrays the religious nature of the text through his compositional techniques. He wrote substantial portions of the piece in fugal counterpoint, which was used widely in the church in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Stravinsky's chorus comprises men and children,Fact|date=August 2008 which was the "status quo" for all church choirs throughout the Baroque period, since women weren't allowed to sing in church. He also uses the large chorus to create a ritual atmosphere like that of the Church. The most subtle of the techniques Stravinsky uses to portray the Church is the use of the church modes.

First movement

The first movement of the "Symphony of Psalms" is marked "Tempo