M. BARBO
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UDK 783.29.071.1 DOI: 10.4312/mz.50.2.251-272
Matjaž Barbo
Filozofska fakulteta, Univerza v Ljubljani Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana
Resurrecturis - Musical Triptych in the Form of a Concert Requiem, composed by P. Ramovš, J. Trošt, and S. Vremšak
Resurrecturis - Glasbeni triptih v obliki koncertnega rekvijema skladateljev P. Ramovša, J. Trošta in S. Vremšaka
Prejeto: 6. januar 2013 Sprejeto: 27. marec 2013
Ključne besede: Primož Ramovš, Jože Trošt, Samo Vremšak, rekviem, glasbeni triptih
Izvleček
Triptih skladb P. Ramovša, J. Trošta in S. Vremšaka je zasnovan kot koncertni rekviem, posvečen spominu žrtvam komunističnih pobojev po koncu druge svetovne vojne. Poudarjen religiozni značaj rekviema je vpet v posvetni estetski kontekst, namenjen izvedbi pred občinstvom v koncertni dvorani.
Received: 6th January 2013 Accepted: 27th March 2013
Keywords: Primož Ramovš, Jože Trošt, Samo Vremšak, requiem, musical triptych
Abstract
The triptych of works written by P. Ramovš, J. Trošt, and S. Vremšak was conceived in the form of a concert requiem and dedicated to the memory of victims of the communist massacres after the WW II. The emphasised religious frame of a requiem is integrated into a secular aesthetic context, to be played in a concert hall before a concert audience.
On the June 29, 1995, a triptych of works, written by three Slovenian composers, P. Ramovš, J. Trošt, and S. Vremšak, was first performed. The work was conceived in the form of a concert requiem and dedicated to the memory of those who died as victims of the communist massacres immediately after WW II and are buried in numerous mass graves in Slovenia. Despite the fact that the triptych as a work of art was intended for performance in a concert venue, its aesthetic character is melded directly with a religious function. In addition, one should not forget the political sense of the work and the performance. The massacres after the WW II are namely one of most burning political questions in Slovenia. Their apparent "ideological determination" is still an excuse for continued political and juridical problems.
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The discussed triptych is a sort of musical pendant to the Great Requiem for Killed Slovenes (Velika črna maša za pobite Slovence, 1949), which was written under the pseudonym Jeremija Kalin by the political emigrant Tine Debeljak (1903-1989) while living in Argentina. The Requiem was dedicated to the massacres after the war and all killed in the communist revolution. Its dedication and at the same time its religious character as a sort of a prayer is best described by the introductory verses of the first poem (Deprofundis - Iz globočine): "Lord! I am waiting on the doorstep of your temple, / to read for those Slovenes, bloody killed / ... / Great Requiem."
The first composition of the triptych was written by Primož Ramovš (1921-1999). Ramovš is one of most distinctive representatives of Slovenian modernism after WW II. He arose as a composer under the direct tutelage of Slavko Osterc, who provided a solid compositional foundation. Later on, he followed a lively neoclassicism, touched the innovations of the dodecaphonic system, and finally loosened his musical structure after encountering aleatory music, most particularly that of W. Lutoslawski. His music arises from aleatory improvisation with sharp contrasts, abrupt leaps and, foremost, numerous colourful shades. Although he had written also for soloists and chamber groups, the sound of the symphony orchestra was nearest to his musical sensibility. Perhaps the reason for that was that orchestral sound resembled that of his favourite organs - that is, Ramovš improvised on the organs of three central Ljubljana churches until his death; his daring and musically deep improvisations attracted numerous listeners.
As a modernist, he did not like vocal or any other expression of meaning outside that of the purely musical. Music was for him a paradigm of an extreme expression without any extraneous meaning. He wrote some vocal music, primarily in his earlier years, but nevertheless tried to escape from a pure illustration of the text. A typical example could be his composition for a mixed choir, Diptychon orationis (1951).1 The work has a sacred text but is conceived as an objective musical expression of a cappella music with elements of neo-renaissance polyphony and without any traces of an intimate declaration of an existential expressionistic story.
Exactly the same can be said for his later compositions - his compositional style focuses on objective and pure musical narration. This can be demonstrated also with the list of his works:2 while his first works can be defined in traditional terms and genres,3 he later distanced himself from every limit of traditional genres and focused on the broad area of free modernist exploration.
On the other hand, this does not mean that his works are written in a social vacuum. Quite to the contrary, one can hear a response to concrete contemporary events. One of the most illustrative examples of such is his Simfonija 68 (Symphony 68, 1968). It was written as a creative response to the social fermentation of the "revolutionary" year 1968. Similar things can be said for his orchestral work Per aspera ad astra (1991),
1	The composition was published in: Cerkveni glasbenik, 78, št. 10-12 (1985), music supplement p. 25-32.
2	Zoran Krstulovic, "Seznam del skladatelja Primoža Ramovša", Muzikološkizbornik 35 (1999): 25-86.
3	Ramovš's op. 1 is a characteristic children opera Kako je pridna Micka prišla v nebesa (How did diligent Mici come to Heaven, 1932). Latter on he writes compositions such as Sonata for piano no. 1 (1935), numerous fugues, Concerto for piano and orchestra op. 14 (1936), Symphony for a string orchestra (1937), String trio (1937), Wind quintet (1937), String quartet (1939), Symphony no. 1 (1941), String quartet no. 2 (1942), Symphony no. 2 (1944), Symphony no. 3 (1948), Simfonietta (1951).
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symbolically dedicated with its optimistic character to the Slovenian independence movement, characterized by Ivo Petric as "the author's internal answer to the general enthusiasm at the emergence of the free homeland".4
In a special way this response can also be followed in his Simfonija Pietà, with which the triptych begins. Its context also defines the contents of Ramovš's work. Ramovš wrote in the introduction to his work: "I wish you would open your mind to its language and its contents and thus to experience all this that I want to say."5 This content can be of course understood in terms of Ramovš's characteristic independent musical language: autonomous tonal relations and structures, i.e. in terms of Hanslick's "tônend bewegte Formen". This is represented by the modernistic world of the negation of tonal relations, motive and thematic development and rhythmic and metric structures. Ramovš seeks a sound of sharp harmonies, clusters, fluttering trills, opposing glissandos, noise, blows of tonally undefined percussion, pulsation outside any determinable metrical periods etc. All this is dressed in aleatory fragments with a free improvisational character, giving creative freedom to performers and at the same time achieving a more dense and intense expression.
These fragments generally produce a chromatically fulfilled sound space, as for example in Example 1 (204-205):
4	Ivo Petric, a text to the booklet to the CD: Primož Ramovš (Portreti slovenskih skladateljev/Portraits of Slovenian Composers), Ed.DSS 998015.
5	Matjaž Barbo, "Notes on the Compositions Resurrecturis (Musical Triptych)", in Resurrecturis (Tistim, ki bodo vstali), (Ljubljana: Nova slovenska zaveza: Slovenski spominski odbor, 2000), x.
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Example 1: P. Ramovš, Simfonija Pieta, No. 204ff.
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Example 2: P. Ramovs, Simfonija Pieta, No. 187ff.
Characteristic for Ramovs's style is also a tonal sequence that rises slowly from a gradually fulfilled chromatic space and forms some apparent "modal" units without any specific structural logic. Typical are the sequences after No. 187:
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Nevertheless one can find in the composition even some associations with traditional structural relations. The most obvious is the symmetry, formed by note C at the beginning of the symphony and at its end. Typically it is carried at first by low strings, followed gradually by higher and brighter instruments - a succession that goes in the opposite direction at the end of the work. In this connection the strings seemingly represent the sound of an organ, foremost that of the human and warm organ stop »vox humana«. As an opposition to that Ramovs builds sharp and penetrable cries of woodwinds and brass, which reminds one of a mixture or reed organ stops. Characteristic is theirff unison entry on the tone C-sharp (No. 107), which in its chromatic and dynamic sharpness represents the opposition between the dead and their executioners.
Example 3: P. Ramovš, Simfonija Pieta, No. 107 ff.
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A similar outer-musical association, of which we would have difficulty ridding ourselves, are the blows of percussion instruments (wood-blocks, temple-blocks, and xylophone, No. 152), reminding us of the chattering of bones as written in the book of the prophet Ezekiel and quoted in the motto of the composition by Samo Vremsak: "As soon as I said this, the wind blew among the bodies, and they came back to life! They all stood up, and there were enough to make a large army." (Ezekiel 37:10)
Example 4: P. Ramovš, Simfonija Pietà, No. 152 ff.
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The modal segment at the end of the symphony seems like a foreign object in the context of the other sharp and penetrating sounds. In that moment the composer quotes the Gregorian chant Requiem aeternam dona eis Domini. The beginning of the chant is even very similar to the melody of the prayer Our Father written by France Acko (19041974), a setting most broadly popular in Slovenian churches. The chant can function as still another referential point for the composer's intentions. Symphony Pieta (pity) declares thus not only the pain felt by Antigone regarding the unburied Polynices but an inner prayer of the woman holding the dead body of her son (cf. No. 209 ff.).
Example 5: P. Ramovs, Simfonija Pietà, No. 209ff.
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The chant appears again right at the end of the composition, this time played by an English horn. The choice of instrument could also be Ramovš' reference to the terrible fact that after the war Slovenian refugees in Austria were sent by way of a deception into the hands of Tito's partisans, thus being sent by English soldiers to their death.
One must not overlook the fact that in the composition Ramovš is dealing with events that directly touched him. Namely, as a young man he played in the orchestra of the Slovenian Home Guard Army. He was also imprisoned together with many others who were killed soon afterwards. His father, an esteemed linguist and academician, Fran Ramovš (1890-1952),6 succeeded with great effort to have his son released.
The Requiem of Tine Debeljak was also the starting point for the composition Requiem written by Jože Trošt (1940), which covers the ground between the tragedy of death and religious hope. The contrast is carried by an exchange between soloists and choir. On the one hand, one can follow the expression of personal horror and groan provoked by the national tragedy. The composer chooses significant passages from the Debeljak's Requiem, in which Slovenia is called "a mountain of skulls" and a question arises: "Does the Slovenian land have no graves for us?" As an answer for the unburied the composer employs the words from The Book of Revelation: "'Put this in writing. From now on, the Lord will bless everyone who has faith in him when they die.' The Spirit answered, 'Yes, they will rest from their hard work, and they will be rewarded for what they have done."' (Rev 14:13)
These individual findings, brought forth by soloists, are closed with the prayer: "Let them rest in peace."
The appearances of soloists are fastened in a bitter dissonant setting without a clear tonality centre or structural periodization. This is an individual perception of the tragedy, its contemplation and compassion. One sole time the composer includes a duet as "a voice from heaven" complementing the basic meditation. These passages are full of chromatism, often producing a sort of "passus duriusculus", recitative fragments, rubato singing, sharp cries etc. Rare are the moments of peaceful calm, marked by pure major chords, as for example at the moment when the soloist refers to the souls set by Christ "as stars on the right side" (p. 7).
6 Fran Ramovš was the first chancellor of the University of Ljubljana (1934-35), co-founder and member of Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and its chairman till his death. The importance of Fran Ramovš' work can be clearly underlined by the fact that the date of his first lecture on the newly established University of Ljubljana on 3rd of December was acclaimed as an university celebration day.
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Example 6: J. Trost, Requiem, p. 7.
A similar passage with a peaceful D-flat major chord accompanies the closure of the fragment, where the expectation of eternal peace is declared: "The army of unbur-ied soldiers is waiting to rest in peace" (p. 21).
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¡i
CKitendo
Example 7: J. Trošt, Requiem, p. 21.
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Individual contemplations in the Slovenian language are complemented by choral passages that bring forth fragments from the Latin mass for deceased. The choice of language and musical cast can be compared in function to the chorus in a Greek drama - a commentary on personal fate from an "objective" distance, giving its meaning from the perspective of a higher Justice. These passages are thus intentionally connected to "objective" traditional compositional procedures; they are tied to the legacy of choral polyphony in the frames of a clearly definable tonal or modal musical space. Characteristic of that is the introductory "Requiem aeternam" set in the "Phrygian mode" (p. 1), repeated at the end of composition as a kind of a Leitmotiv (p. 42).
7
Example 8: J. Trost, Requiem, pp. 1 and 42.
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Example 9: J. Trost, Requiem, p. 47.
Nevertheless, Trost tries to avoid unambiguous tonal harmony, he adds nonhar-monic tones, reinterprets the functions of chords, repeatedly uses "empty" fifths, etc. The last mentioned are sometimes even joined to "bitonal" harmonies, as can be seen at the end of the composition (p. 47).
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This music is an expression of a metaphysical nature, of a truth that gives meaning also to tragedy and to an erased memory; it resuscitates even death itself.
The last work of the triptych is the cantata Exercitus grandis nimis valde, composed by Samo Vremšak (1930-2004). In its cast the work connects Ramovš' symphony orchestra with Trošt's more intimate chorus with soloists and organ. At the same time, in its content the cantata rounds out the aforementioned ideas. The music of Vremšak similarly is a representation of modernist language: no clear tonal barriers, full of chromatics, unfilled quints, and modal associations. The composer also uses Sprechgesang, and liberamente loosens the metrical structure. In spite of such, his compositional technique is much less sharp and uncompromising, frequently closed in traditional numbers with clear tonal centres. A typical example of the latter is a "pastoral" passage, which paints the first blooms of spring "Razcvela se jablan bo rožna, / razsipala breskev svoj cvet, / objela bo misel pobožna / vsa srca, vse duše, ves svet. "7 Pastoral painting in woodwinds and strings frames a simple, almost folk melody in D major (pp. 23-25).
7 »Rosy apple tree will flourish, / Peach blossom will strew, / A pious mind will embrace / All hearts, all souls, the whole world.« (Translated by M. B.)
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Example 10: S. Vremšak, Exercitus grandis nimis valde, pp. 23-25.
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The text of the cantata is a compilation of the words of the prophet Ezekiel and verses from Slovenian poets: Alojz Gradnik, Stanko Majcen and France Balantic. The last mentioned has long been regarded in Slovenia as a forbidden author, because he was killed as a member of the Home Guard (domobranci); despite this, his poems are distinctively apolitical. The same is true for the author of the compilation, Zorko Simcic, who lived and worked as a Slovenian emigrant, becoming recognised as one of the best Slovenian contemporary writers only in recent decades.
The mentioned contrasts between modernistic sharp narration and clear tonal passages, represents in a special way the mental disunity of the nation: between joy and sadness, optimism and despair, resistance and fatalism. This could be the reason the composition seems even too simple in some passages, as for example the thirds representing the "miracles that are happening" (p. 51).
Example 11: S. Vremsak, Exercitus grandis nimis valde,p. 51.
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Almost expected is thus the final pompous section, in which horror in the face of death is replaced by a shining cry "Gloria eis!" in a bright orchestral tutti in F major (p. 58).
Example 12: S. Vremšak, Exercitus grandis nimis valde, p. 58.
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The compositions associated in the triptych are very diverse in concept, style, and structure. Nevertheless, it is their common content and not simply their sequential connection that joins them. The succession of the musical triptych Resurrecturis can be compared to the events in Holy Week from Good Friday to the Resurrection. The death on the cross and the lamentation of the mother holding the dead body of her son (Pi-eta) is followed by the consignment of the body to the grave, then the mysterious descent to the front of hell on Holy Saturday (Requiem), and finally in the end the blinding light of the Resurrection (Exercitus grandis nimis valde). A peaceful, clear tone C from the beginning of Ramovs's Pieta is repeated in Vremsak's composition right at the moment in which the prophecy of Ezekiel is followed by the cry of resurrection joy: "Et resurrexit". The circle is rounded by a C major chord in a confirmation of religious hope: "et resurrexerunt, sicut speravimus".
The triptych is thus unified in its content by the elements of religious contemplation, by the quotations of Gregorian chant, Biblical and Liturgical texts (the words of prophet Ezekiel, quotations from the Book of Revelation, and Latin Requiem Mass), as well as by contemporary poetic verses used as commentaries and prayers.
The triptych was performed in the main Slovenian concert hall in Cankarjev dom with some outstanding Slovenian musicians, such as Veronika Fink-Menvielle, Bernarda Fink-Inzko, Marcos Fink, Marko Bajuk, the Slovenian Radio Symphony Orchestra, several choirs, and the conductor Marko Munih. The performance of the composition was meant to be a kind of requiem Mass, i.e., a reconciliation ceremony with the elements of prayer and a structural sequence reminiscent of liturgical form. The outstanding variety of musical elements, compositional concepts, aesthetic approaches and achievements give proof of the primary sacred referential frame with a religious function emphasised - even if performed in an explicit secular context, being played in the concert hall for a concert audience.
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POVZETEK
29. junija 1995 so v Cankarjevem domu v Ljubljani prvič izvedli triptih z naslovom Resurrecturis, sestavljen iz del skladateljev Primoža Ramovša, Jožeta Trošta in Sama Vremšaka. Delo je zasnovano kot koncertni rekviem, posvečen spominu vseh tistih, ki so umrli kot žrtve komunističnih pobojev po koncu 2. svetovne vojne in so pokopani v številnih slovenskih množičnih grobiščih. Triptih uvaja Simfonija Pieta, katere avtor je P. Ramovš, eden najpomembnejših predstavnikov povojnega vala slovenskega modernizma. Značilno je Ramovš kot modernist glasbo obravnaval kot skrajni domet brezvsebinskega izražanja. Vendarle je svoja dela včasih odkrito povezoval s konkretnimi družbenimi dogodki, kot npr. v Simfoniji 68 (1968) ali v simfonični skladbi Per aspera ad astra (1991). Morda še posebej izrazito to velja za Simfonijo Pieta, ki jo nedvomno vsebinsko opredeljuje omenjeni okvir. Seveda se Ramovš ne odreka zanj značilni emancipirani glasbeni govorici modernistično izbrušenega zvoka ostrih sozvočij, clustrov, prhutajočih trilčkov, navzkrižnih glissandov in šumov zunaj metrične pulzacije in v aleatoričnih odsekih improvizacijskega značaja, s katerimi dosega gostejši in intenzivnejši izraz. Vendarle je najti tudi določene asociacije na tradicionalne strukturne odnose. Tako izstopa simetrija, ki jo določa začetni postopoma grajeni ton C, v katerega se ob končni razredčitvi znova ves zvočni prostor znova izteče. Ob koncu skladbe zasledimo tudi citat gregorijanskega napeva Requiem aeter-nam dona eis Domini, ki je hkrati enak začetku v slovenskih cerkvah najbolj razširjenega napeva molitve Oče naš Franceta Ačka. Requiem J. Trošta v razklani dvojnosti med upom in brezupom išče pot v odrešitev. Nasprotje izpelje v menjavi solistov in zbora. Na eni strani smo priče subjektivni grozi, ječanju nad narodovo tragedijo,
odetemu v trpko disonančno okolje v razklanem območju netonalitetne razsrediščenosti brez urejene strukturalne periodizacije. To na drugi strani dopolnjujejo zborovski odlomki, ki prinašajo besedilo latinske maše za umrle. Izbira jezika in zasedbe asociira na funkcijo zbora v antični drami, ki objektivizirajoče komentira osebno usodo ter jo osmišlja z vidika višje pravičnosti. Ti odseki so zato hoteno »objektivizirani«, vpeti so v pretekle formule in se navezujejo na dediščino zborovske polifonije. Izražajo človekovo presežnost - resnico, ki daje pomen tudi umiranju, izbrisanemu spominu in oživlja celo samo smrt.
Vremšakova kantata Exercitus grandis nimis valde povezuje obe prejšnji »sliki« triptiha. Tudi zanjo je značilna modernistično tonalitetno razprta glasbena govorica, polna kromatičnih prehodov, nezapolnjenih sozvočij praznih kvint ali modalnih asociacij. Vendarle je Vremšakov stavek manj oster ter večkrat bolj odkrito ujet v sklenjene strukture z razpoznavnimi tonalnimi središči. Skladbo sklene veličasten vzklik, v katerem grozoto soočenja s smrtjo prekinja idila, ki jo končno povzame bleščeč vzklik »Gloria eis!« - v srhljivem trpetu pred smrtjo in obenem v mogočni pritrditivi vstajenju. Omenjeni triptih se tako po vsebini dotika izvirnega religioznega konteksta rekviema kot liturgične oblike, s tem da je namenjen spominu mrtvih, njihovemu pietetnemu poklonu, spravnemu slovesu z njimi in končno kontemplaciji smrti. Vendarle dopolnjuje osnovno religiozno kontemplacijo poudarjena estetska poglobitev in umetniška forma, ki presega izvirni duhovni kontekst, v kolikor seveda ne razumemo vsakega dejanja v okviru neke umetnostne religije - katere vrhunec predstavlja koncertni dogodek - eksplicitno za liturgično dejanje.
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