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- Theodor Grigoriu
Canti per Europa (1978)
- Editions Musicales Transatlantiques (World)
- 2+pic.2+ca.3+bcl.2+cbn/6431/timp.perc+2glock+mba+vib+xyl/hp.2pf+org/str(10.10.8.8.8)
- Mixed choir
- 40 min
Programme Note
The reasons why Theodor Grigoriu wrote the oratorio for choir and orchestra Canti per Europa are numerous and mostly tragic. The composer evokes only two of them: a visit to the ruins of Dresden (the so-called Northern Florence), the city destroyed in one night by air bombing and a piece of news, from the Cold War period, saying that in Europe the power of the bombs accumulated were 3 million times bigger than that from Hiroshima.
The decision to write was nonetheless taken at the sight of a huge crater full of debris, produced by a bomb; the place on which had lain the former Opera of Dresden. This temple of music had welcomed the premieres of Der Freischutz by Weber, The Flying Dutchman by Wagner, and The Knight of Roses by Richard Strauss!
The antagonism between the forces of edification and destruction (self-destruction) seems to be a characteristic of the entire European history. The dramatic feature of the oratorio Canti per Europa comprises this antagonism, which has been a constant preoccupation of the greatest historians, sociologists, philosophers and last, but not least, writers and other artists. As evidence, the text of the oratorio – the script – is based on the lyrics of several great European poets from various historical ages.
As the idea is quite ample, the composer resorted to a modality of evoking without giving too much detail: the fresco, in which the detail does not disappear, but does not ask for extensive explanations either, letting the listener’s imagination run free. A plastic concept, it was interpreted in a musical sense, in a sound-temporal development, a technique often used by composers.
The four frescos that make up the work are:
Fresco I – The Rape of Europe – two sections, a static one that leads to a central accent and a narrative one: the ancient myth of the abduction of Europe by Zeus disguised as an ox, as it was so inspiringly described by Rimbaud.
Fresco II – The Childhood of Demiurges – is a toccata in which, after building up a great orchestral tension, the choir scan the name of the famous European places in which bloodsheds took place. The musical tumult is interrupted by Rimbaud’s pathetic appeal: “Empires, kings, peoples/ Columns, regiments / Halt!”
Fresco III – The Weeping of the Muses – is a slow part, of the lacrimosa type. Made up of several pictures, it represents Europe and its destroyed vestiges. Mention is made of museums, the splendor of Voronetz, the beautiful Uta from the Naumburg cathedral, Music, Poetry, Botticelli’s charming Primavera.
Fresco IV – Hymn to Apollo – on lyrics from Dante’s Divine Comedy, is built on a motif from a hymn of the ancient temple of Eleusis, and tries to suggest by audio means the golden color of light that the sublime god spread around him. It ends with the last verse of the Divine Comedy: “Love that moves suns and stars.”
The musical technique of the oratorio Canti per Europa uses complex modal structures and bundles of sounds that come from the idea of ison (pedal tone). There are also themes from the great musical experience of Europe.
© Mihaela Marinescu
The decision to write was nonetheless taken at the sight of a huge crater full of debris, produced by a bomb; the place on which had lain the former Opera of Dresden. This temple of music had welcomed the premieres of Der Freischutz by Weber, The Flying Dutchman by Wagner, and The Knight of Roses by Richard Strauss!
The antagonism between the forces of edification and destruction (self-destruction) seems to be a characteristic of the entire European history. The dramatic feature of the oratorio Canti per Europa comprises this antagonism, which has been a constant preoccupation of the greatest historians, sociologists, philosophers and last, but not least, writers and other artists. As evidence, the text of the oratorio – the script – is based on the lyrics of several great European poets from various historical ages.
As the idea is quite ample, the composer resorted to a modality of evoking without giving too much detail: the fresco, in which the detail does not disappear, but does not ask for extensive explanations either, letting the listener’s imagination run free. A plastic concept, it was interpreted in a musical sense, in a sound-temporal development, a technique often used by composers.
The four frescos that make up the work are:
Fresco I – The Rape of Europe – two sections, a static one that leads to a central accent and a narrative one: the ancient myth of the abduction of Europe by Zeus disguised as an ox, as it was so inspiringly described by Rimbaud.
Fresco II – The Childhood of Demiurges – is a toccata in which, after building up a great orchestral tension, the choir scan the name of the famous European places in which bloodsheds took place. The musical tumult is interrupted by Rimbaud’s pathetic appeal: “Empires, kings, peoples/ Columns, regiments / Halt!”
Fresco III – The Weeping of the Muses – is a slow part, of the lacrimosa type. Made up of several pictures, it represents Europe and its destroyed vestiges. Mention is made of museums, the splendor of Voronetz, the beautiful Uta from the Naumburg cathedral, Music, Poetry, Botticelli’s charming Primavera.
Fresco IV – Hymn to Apollo – on lyrics from Dante’s Divine Comedy, is built on a motif from a hymn of the ancient temple of Eleusis, and tries to suggest by audio means the golden color of light that the sublime god spread around him. It ends with the last verse of the Divine Comedy: “Love that moves suns and stars.”
The musical technique of the oratorio Canti per Europa uses complex modal structures and bundles of sounds that come from the idea of ison (pedal tone). There are also themes from the great musical experience of Europe.
© Mihaela Marinescu