• The Program
  
• Conductor’s Notes on tonight’s program
  
• Gustav Mahler
  
• Lyrics
  

 





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The music to be performed this evening was chosen to reflect two foundamental tenets of faith common to adherents of Christianity, judaism, and Islam: a reverence for our common Patriarch Abraham and our belief in the concept of resurrection from the dead. Although our holy texts treat these tenets differently, these are two of the many elements of our religious traditions which connect us as people of the same God.

The brief Sacred Motet "Abraham" of john Harbison (b. 1938), which receives its premier tonight, sets texts from the Book of Genesis:

And when Abraham was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect...
and thou shalt be a father of many nations."

These words, or the basic meaning behind them, are sacred to believers of all three great monotheistic religions.

Harbison, one of America's most important composers, has set this text for two-part choir and two-part brass ensemble in a manner true to the spirit of inter-faith bridge-building, which this evening's historic event represents. The work's musical vocabulary is both simple and contemporary, elegant and straightforward, evocative and spiritual, all at the same time. lt represents a directness of expression, which captures the unity of our common reverence for our shared Patrimony.

Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) cornposed his Symphony 11, sometimes sub-titled "Resurrection", at the direct and sustained inspiration of the dramatic epic "Dziady", by the great Polish poet and playwright, Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855). Mickiewicz is to Polish literary history and to the Polish nation what Shakespeare and Lord Byron are to the

English, Chateaubriand and Victor Hugo to the French, Dante and Ugo Foscolo to the Italians, or Goethe and Friedrich Schiller are to the German speaking world. He is and has been the inspiration for many of the great movements in Polish letters and in Polish nation-building. Dziady or "Todtenfeier" in German, "Celebration of Death" in English, is the most famous work by this most renowned of Polish literary figures.

Mahler Symphony 11 was vritten in 1897. In overarching concept, it traces the journey of the soul from a life of struggle and triumph through a questioning of life's true meaning, to an exultant realization that this life is only a prelude to a life everlasting, the resurrection into God-given life-eternal in heaven.

We will perform this evening the three movements of this symphony (1, 4 and 5) most essential to its spiritual arc. Movement 1 depicts the epic struggles of the life of humankind. Life is titanic challenges, terrible defeats, extraordinary victories, but also, inexorably, death. The music of this "tone poem", as Mahler described it is by turns powerful and gentle, disturbing and comforting, triumphal and prophetic, in short, all that is the life of man on this mortal earth. lt is here presented in vivid musical color and enormous dynamic contrast, from the softest of murmurs to the most thunderous of climatic fortissimos.

Movement 4 recounts the deep yet simple yearning of man's departed soul for reunion with God. The soul encounters an Angel who challenges its will to ascend, tries to test its desire to be resurrected in God. The soul will not be denied. "1 come from Cod", it sings, "1 will go again, whence 1 have come. God will show me the light that will lead me to eternal life". Although the text itself is from the German "Des Knaben Wunderhorn", it is also a direct paraphrase of Mickiewicz in "Dziady".

The 5th and last movement fo the Mahler Symphony 11 is a fullblown, life-affirming musical depiction of the Last Judgment and the entry into paradise. Opening Cataclysm, solemn processionals, the March to judgment, the resounding of the trumpet and horn at the Last judgment, coming here from a distant place unseen. lt is followed immediately by a hushed chorus of souls, summoned from the

very furthest reaches: a chorus truly of all-mankind. Its chant, and the voices of two co-harmonius souls, in long-arched crescendo, can be paraphrased thus: " Arise, my soul, to eternal life. Nothing that you have suffered, nothing that you have endured has been for naught. What has been in this life is on more, but that which is your reward, is infinitely greater. Ready yourselves. We live to be resurrected. Arise, yes my heart arise, to eternal life in God." In the end, we hear one immense choral peroration the climatic musical depiction of our resounding Affirmation, our common belief in the promise of a life everlasting: All of us, Jew, Christian an Muslim in the Paradise of Lord!

The Second Symphony of Mahler is one fo the most enduring works of the symphonic repertoire. lt is scored for an immense orchestra of full strings, 4 flutes + piccolo, 4 oboes + cor anglais, 5 clarinets + e-flat clarinet and bass clarinet, 4 bassoons + contrabassoon, 6 French horns, 5 trumpets, 4 trombones, tuba, two harps, organ and percussion, plus an off-stage band of trumpets and horns. This great Symphony is performed by orchestras throughout the world: from Pittsburgh to London, to Krakow, to Ankara. The world-renowned Pittsburgh, Symphony has, in fact, performed this work on many important occasions, e.g., the fall of the Berlin Wall. Mahler 11 is most appropriate then for this, most august occasion, both because of its central and compelling, unifying spiritual content, and because of the breadth and depth of its enormous musical vision, a vision whose scope befits an evening where all of us fervently pray for better understanding and brotherly love: for reconciliation among the peoples of our common Patriarch Abraham.

Sir GILBERT LEVINE, KCSG

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(1860 - 1911)

The second of twelve children, Gustav was born on 7 July 1860 at Kalischt, in Bohemia, to Bernhard Mahler and Maria Hermann. The family supported itself by running an inn and an attached distillery. Mahler’s childhood was marked by frequent violent disputes between his parents, and by the early death of some of his siblings. At fifteen he was taken to Vienna to study the piano under Julius Epstein, harmony under Robert Fuchs, and counterpoint under Franz Krenn. In 1878 he received the diploma. Two years later he began what was to become his principal activity and source of financial support: conducting. From Bad Hall he moved to Ljubljana, and then to Olomouc. Here in 1882, he gained pubhc notice for his direction of "Carmen", and was consequently called to Kassel as second director.

His reputation as a conductor quickly spread. In 1885 he was invited to the "Deutsche Landestheater" in Prague, where he conducted Wagner and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. In 1886 he succeeded Arthur Nikisch at Leipzig. By 1888 Mahler’s pubhc appeal was such that he was named director of the Opera at Budapest where a much appreciated rendition of "Don Giovanni" eamed him the esteem and support of Brahms. In the Hungarian capital however the first performance of his own First Symphony was badly received. There followed a dark period for Mahler, aggravated by the death of his parents and only slightly relieved by a visit to Italy. Not without much opposition, in 1897, he became director of the Vienna Opera.

The appointment opened a ten year period of intense activity. The repertoire was greatly extended, rigour and perfection of performance were the order of the day, and new attention was given to the technical aspects of production. The last three years of Mahler’s life were filled with appearances: he conducted operas and concerts in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Prague, Munich, Amsterdam and Paris. In April 1911 Mahler returned to Europe a very sick man. In Paris he consulted various renowned physicians, but unsuccessfully. He painfully returned to Vienna, where he died on 18 May and was buried at the Grinzing Cemetery.

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SECONDA SINFONIA

» I Movimento «
allegro maestoso

» IV Movimento «

Primeval Light
Mezzosoprano
O red rose!
Mankind lies in greatest need!
Mankind lies in greatest pain!
Much rather would
I be in Heaven!
Then I came upon a broad path;
then an angel came
and wanted to dismiss me.
Ah no! I would not be
dismissed!
I am from God
and would go back to God!
Dear God will give me a light,
will light me blissful
everlastin life!

» V Movimento «
Resurrection
Corro e Soprano
Rise again, yes rise again you will,
my dust, after brief repose!
Immortal life
will He who called
you grant you.
To bloom again you are sown!
The Lord of the Harvest goes
and gathers the sheaves,
even us who died!

Mezzosoprano
O believe, my heart, believe,
nothing of you will be lost!
What you longed for is yours,
what you loved
and championed is yours!

Soprano
0 believe, you were not born
in vain!
You have not vainly lived
and suffered!

Coro e Mezzosoprano
What was created,
that must pass away!
What passed away, must rise!
Cease to tremble!
Prepare yourself to live!

Soprano, Mezzosoprano e Coro
O suffering, you that pierce
all things,
from you 1 am wrested away!
O death, you that overcome all
things, now you are overcome!
With wings that 1 wrested
for myself,
in the fervent struggle of love,
I shall fly away to the light
which no eye pierced!

Coro
Die I shall, so as to live

Tutti
Rise again, yes rise again you will,
my heart, in a trice!
Your pulsation
will carry you to God!

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