Biblical scenes for oboe and organ (op. 45, 1972)
I. The rebellion of the people, II The faith of Noah, III The Flood, IV The salvation of the ark, V The rainbow
Oboe, organ
Duration: 17 minutes
Kurt Hausmann / André Luy
N. Simrock Hamburg-London (Boosey & Hawkes) ISMN M-2211-0853-1
1. rebellion of the people (Gen. 6: 5)
The Lord saw that the wickedness of the people was increasing on earth, that all their thoughts and desires were evil and that they were rebelling against his laws.
2. the faith of Noah (Gen. 6: 9, 13, 14, 17, 22, 18, 19)
Noah was a righteous, blameless man among his contemporaries; he walked with God.
Then God said to Noah: "I see that the end of all beings of flesh has come, for through them the earth is full of violence. Now I will destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; fill it with chambers and seal it inside and out with pitch.
For I will bring the flood upon the earth to destroy every creature of flesh under heaven. Noah did as the Lord had instructed him.
But with you I make my covenant. Go into the ark, you, your sons, your wife and your sons' wives.
Take two of each animal into the ark, so that they may live with you; one male and one female.
3 The Flood (Gen. 7: 17, 23, 24, 8: 1, 2)
The flood on earth lasted 40 days. The water swelled and rose more and more until it covered the whole earth. But the ark floated on the water. God destroyed all creatures on the earth.
The water stood for 150 days. Then God remembered Noah and all the creatures that were with him in the ark.
God caused a wind to blow over the earth and the waters subsided; the rain from heaven ceased.
4 The salvation of the ark (Gen. 8: 15, 16, 20)
God said to Noah: "Come out of the ark with your family and all the animals. Let them be fruitful and multiply on the earth.
Then Noah built an altar and offered a burnt offering in thanksgiving for his salvation.
5 The rainbow (Gen. 9: 12, 13, 16)
And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I am making between me and you: I am setting my bow in the clouds; it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures on earth.
In the "Biblical Scenes", the organ and oboe paraphrase texts from Genesis. Five movements that evoke formal associations such as toccata, meditation, fantasy, elegy and contemplation in the sense of late Romantic, especially French organ music. The oboe repeatedly breaks up the form, creates points of calm, caesuras, works alternatively or additively with the organ. Cantabile, even more expressive solo figures are assigned to it, into which the organ then enters, there are two-part pedal lines, motivic work grows out of recitative-like passages, sharp oboe cries clash with the organ's massive mixtures to create dramatic scenes. Hummel's "Biblical Scenes" are an example of meditative, text-associative sacred music that is well worth hearing.
With his"Biblical Scenes", Hummel has enriched the relevant literature with a very varied and distinctive work. The elegant melody and the always sonorous movement convincingly express full-blooded musicianship.
It's all about the deluge, and one seems to discover correspondingly illustrative traits in Hummel's sounds, which nevertheless do not slide into the platitudinous or garrulous. Wittmann's oboe can be heard with exalted leaps, but also speaking in gentle lamentation and meditative calm, while Düchtel allows the whole variety of colours of his organ to be heard in often extreme combinations. And he even knows how to skilfully use the special birdcall stops of the Pope Benedict organ as a sign of life reawakening after the catastrophe.
Bertold Hummel's "Five Biblical Scenes" for oboe and organ, inspired by texts from Genesis, concentrate on uniform basic materials, emphasise the consistency of several compositional structures, and reflect the basic spiritual idea of the corresponding text passages in a concise manner through vividness, meditation, underpainting and mental images. Hummel's principle remains true to itself here too: clear form, no unessential disjointedness, a keen sense of refined sound effects and condensed expression.
Hummel's Biblical Scenes, partly meditative, partly programmatic in conception, alternate between simple and bizarre melodic progressions, whereby whole-tone scales - characteristic of Hummel's compositional style - repeatedly stand out. The oboe parts of all the works are in the medium difficulty range, with Hummel's scenes certainly being the most demanding. A pleasing enrichment of the repertoire for this combination of instruments.
Christian Schneider
A uniform basic material determines the consistency of the various compositional structures. Freely declamatory sections are juxtaposed with sections with strict formal sequences. The headings are to be understood as the basic spiritual idea of the corresponding movements. A kind of verbal programme, as Olivier Messiaen, for example, prefaced a number of his works. In concert, it makes sense to place the texts before the individual movements.
Bertold Hummel