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- Nicolas Bacri
Symphonie n° 7 , Op. 124 (2014)
(Sinfonia Tripartita)- Le Chant Du Monde (World)
Dedicated to Irina Shostakovich.
- 2(1pic.).2(1ca).2.2/4.2.3.1/timp-3 (ou 4) perc/str.(min. 8.7/6/4/2 — max. 16. 14/12/10/8
- 25 min
Programme Note
With a duration of roughly 25 minutes, my Symphony No 7, Op 124, written mostly between 2011 and 2014, is in three movements, played without interruption. A slow introduction of tragic character acts as a prelude to an Allegro de Sonate, leading to an Adagio, then linking to the very cheerful and rhythmic final Rondo-Scherzoso.
The musical material is based on the technique of sogetto cavato (hidden subject) which consists of translating the letters of a name into musical notes using the German note names, the most famous example being B.A.C.H. (B flat, A, C, B natural). In my Symphony No 7, the motifs D.S.C.H. (D, E flat, C, B) and B.A.C.R.I (B flat, A, C, D, E flat), as well as various transpositions of them, form the starting point of the thematic inspiration.
The two first movements present the two motifs fairly equally, a little like a dialogue. The second movement (developed from my Elegy in Memoriam DSCH for strings from 2003) focuses on the motif D.S.C.H., whereas the third and final movement is somewhat freed from both, until a sketch of a fugue with a counter-subject based on a transposed B.A.C.R.I. motif returns towards the end.
A work which is at once both closely linked to Shostakovich and set at a distance from him, this symphony can be seen as a musical metaphor describing, on one hand, my admiration for a model of musical thought and, on the other, the need for personal assertion in front of this edifying example.
Symphony No 7 begins with a slow Introduction presenting the DSCH motif, followed immediately by a statement of BACRI motif as mentioned above. Following the Introduction, the first theme of the symphony itself appears (b. 21), a kind of dramatic recitative for the violins in dialogue with the winds, Allegro drammatico, over an atonal brass choral. The second theme (b. 64, Molto energico e ritmico) presents itself in the guise of a dance sketch for low strings interrupted by fluent and persistent wind lines over a brass foundation based on the DSCH motif. Themes and motifs return in various guises until the movements conclusion in a resounding brass chorale of the first theme, leading to a tonal resolution in F major. It takes for its second movement my Elegy in Memoriam DSCH adapted here for symphony orchestra. Oscillating semitones act as a temporal marker in this free-form central movement, which only comprises 133 bars, played very slowly. These unremitting semitones and the DSCH motif intertwine with the motifs already heard in the previous movement. The third and final movement, Dances, is a hybrid of a rondo and a scherzo. The verses and choruses reappear each time with instrumental variation and two trios, one of a dreamy character and one sombre and dramatic which interrupt the fast flow of the music.
Symphony No 7 aims to be the solidification of a style that has been manifesting itself in my music for a few years now. It’s a style which hopefully can be identified as using clear forms as a way of intensifying emotion (and certainly not a moderator of it); specifically, in this symphony, it is within a tragic atmosphere, with its raison d’être in melodic expression – without excluding rhythmic invention, which is certainly existent in the work’s gambolling Scherzo.
Shostakovich is a musician who matters for me a great deal: perhaps as much as Beethoven will have mattered for Schumann, Mendelssohn or Brahms, three musicians separated from their ‘model’ by roughly as many years as I am from Shostakovich.
It is a sad reality that I am one of very few French composers who have clearly made known their admiration for this inescapable musician. It is a matter of pride for me that as the programmer responsible for the chamber music department at Radio-France, I was able to bring the first complete performance of Shostakovich’s string quartets to the French public in 1990. I am one of few French composers who has endeavoured to extract him and his music from his ‘realist-socialist’ context and consider him only as an inspired musician, capable of writing fifteen string quartets of such compositional rigour and force of expression comparable to Beethoven - not to mention five symphonies before the age of thirty-two which exhibit devices of form and expression of a variety unheard of in the history of music.
Shostakovich’s music holds a fundamental place in the music history of the post-war years, one quite distinct from the narrative of those of Darmstadt school of thinking. I am only too happy to pay tribute to Shostakovich in a most patent way and highlight his legacy on 20th century composition.
This is the fifth of my works to pay homage to Shostakovitch’s brilliance (the others being Requiem op. 23, Sonata notturna op. 54; Elegy in memoriam DSCH; and Mouvement symphonique). But writing a symphony is a genre particularly perilous above all other works, the success or failure of which has often determined, since Beethoven, the true importance of a composer.
It seemed obvious to me to dedicate this work to Irina Shostakovich, who I had the honour and the pleasure to meet several times in Paris where she lived, and who had often shown her interest in my music.
Nicolas Bacri, February 2016 / August 2018
The musical material is based on the technique of sogetto cavato (hidden subject) which consists of translating the letters of a name into musical notes using the German note names, the most famous example being B.A.C.H. (B flat, A, C, B natural). In my Symphony No 7, the motifs D.S.C.H. (D, E flat, C, B) and B.A.C.R.I (B flat, A, C, D, E flat), as well as various transpositions of them, form the starting point of the thematic inspiration.
The two first movements present the two motifs fairly equally, a little like a dialogue. The second movement (developed from my Elegy in Memoriam DSCH for strings from 2003) focuses on the motif D.S.C.H., whereas the third and final movement is somewhat freed from both, until a sketch of a fugue with a counter-subject based on a transposed B.A.C.R.I. motif returns towards the end.
A work which is at once both closely linked to Shostakovich and set at a distance from him, this symphony can be seen as a musical metaphor describing, on one hand, my admiration for a model of musical thought and, on the other, the need for personal assertion in front of this edifying example.
Symphony No 7 begins with a slow Introduction presenting the DSCH motif, followed immediately by a statement of BACRI motif as mentioned above. Following the Introduction, the first theme of the symphony itself appears (b. 21), a kind of dramatic recitative for the violins in dialogue with the winds, Allegro drammatico, over an atonal brass choral. The second theme (b. 64, Molto energico e ritmico) presents itself in the guise of a dance sketch for low strings interrupted by fluent and persistent wind lines over a brass foundation based on the DSCH motif. Themes and motifs return in various guises until the movements conclusion in a resounding brass chorale of the first theme, leading to a tonal resolution in F major. It takes for its second movement my Elegy in Memoriam DSCH adapted here for symphony orchestra. Oscillating semitones act as a temporal marker in this free-form central movement, which only comprises 133 bars, played very slowly. These unremitting semitones and the DSCH motif intertwine with the motifs already heard in the previous movement. The third and final movement, Dances, is a hybrid of a rondo and a scherzo. The verses and choruses reappear each time with instrumental variation and two trios, one of a dreamy character and one sombre and dramatic which interrupt the fast flow of the music.
Symphony No 7 aims to be the solidification of a style that has been manifesting itself in my music for a few years now. It’s a style which hopefully can be identified as using clear forms as a way of intensifying emotion (and certainly not a moderator of it); specifically, in this symphony, it is within a tragic atmosphere, with its raison d’être in melodic expression – without excluding rhythmic invention, which is certainly existent in the work’s gambolling Scherzo.
Shostakovich is a musician who matters for me a great deal: perhaps as much as Beethoven will have mattered for Schumann, Mendelssohn or Brahms, three musicians separated from their ‘model’ by roughly as many years as I am from Shostakovich.
It is a sad reality that I am one of very few French composers who have clearly made known their admiration for this inescapable musician. It is a matter of pride for me that as the programmer responsible for the chamber music department at Radio-France, I was able to bring the first complete performance of Shostakovich’s string quartets to the French public in 1990. I am one of few French composers who has endeavoured to extract him and his music from his ‘realist-socialist’ context and consider him only as an inspired musician, capable of writing fifteen string quartets of such compositional rigour and force of expression comparable to Beethoven - not to mention five symphonies before the age of thirty-two which exhibit devices of form and expression of a variety unheard of in the history of music.
Shostakovich’s music holds a fundamental place in the music history of the post-war years, one quite distinct from the narrative of those of Darmstadt school of thinking. I am only too happy to pay tribute to Shostakovich in a most patent way and highlight his legacy on 20th century composition.
This is the fifth of my works to pay homage to Shostakovitch’s brilliance (the others being Requiem op. 23, Sonata notturna op. 54; Elegy in memoriam DSCH; and Mouvement symphonique). But writing a symphony is a genre particularly perilous above all other works, the success or failure of which has often determined, since Beethoven, the true importance of a composer.
It seemed obvious to me to dedicate this work to Irina Shostakovich, who I had the honour and the pleasure to meet several times in Paris where she lived, and who had often shown her interest in my music.
Nicolas Bacri, February 2016 / August 2018