Silent night (1974/1980)
3 variations and an epilogue from afar for speaker and mixed choir a cappella
Speaker, mixed choir a cappella
Duration: 9 minutes
Elisabeth Flickenschildt (Speaker) | St Michaelis Choir | Günter Jena
Heinz Rühmann (speaker) | St. Michaelis-Choir | Günter Jena
Christiane Hörbiger (speaker) | St. Michaelis-Choir | Christoph Schoener
A/B:
Title: Stille Nacht / zu: Stille Nacht (Nachsatz aus der Ferne) - Length: 6 pages / 2 pages - Date: 23.11.74 / 1980 - Storage location:
Schott Music C 52107 / ISMN: 979-0-001-14409-4
Correction of printing errors:
bar 4: bass without ties | bar 5: bass: beat 1: without a | bar 6: soprano 2: beat 4: resolution sign missing
Bertold Hummel | Silent Night | Chamber Choir of the University of Music Würzburg
Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child!
Holy infant, so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Sleep in heavenly peace!
Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!
Jesus, Lord, at thy birth!
Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!
Christ the Saviour is born!
Christ the Saviour is born!
The piece, which was written for the choir of St Michael's Church in Hamburg, integrates a speaker in the first variation. He (or she) recites the first verse over a cluster that develops anew three times from the first song motif. This already fulfils the speaker part. In the second and third verses, the song melody can be heard complete and unchanged, first in the alto, then in parallels between soprano and tenor. But what you hear from the other voices is unheard of in the most beautiful sense! No harmonic sugar-coating, no Christmas kitsch, no musical Goldilocks. Just a completely logical motivic development, from the pp of the second verse through ever further division of the voices into an ff in the third verse, in which the upper and lower choir are led in parallel. And it is precisely this logic that is so captivating, the chords that result from the leading of the individual voices, so astonishingly new and yet as if it could not be otherwise... The third verse ends with the cluster of the first, the"Nachsatz aus der Ferne" brings a whole "verse" only on tone syllables, and leads the listener back "home", to C major. The only downer: even if it says otherwise on the title page, the choir is really divided in all parts, soprano and tenor even threefold at important points, you need basses that still sound on the low g, you need sopranos that can linger in the pp on the high g for a long time without need, you need a really large choir for this.
Stefan Rauh
Hummel's four- to eight-part choral setting of Gruber's world-famous melody "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (written for Günther Jena's Michaelischor in Hamburg) deals with patterns that incorporate two-dimensional carpets of sound (with clusters and gliding tones) into a swaying and undulating sound. Angelic voices resound from everywhere as a substructure and superstructure to the main melody, and subtle dissonant frictions remove the coherence from any seductive sweetness.
The artistic highlight of the concert was undoubtedly "Silent Night - 3 Variations and a Postscript from afar" by the Würzburg composer Bertold Hummel. Kai Christian Moritz recited the well-known text to the floating soundscapes of the choir, which oscillated between absolute harmony and atonal sound clusters and soared upwards in the high Gothic hall. The voices of angels sounded from everywhere as a substructure and superstructure to the main melody, and subtle dissonant frictions removed the coherence from any seductive sweetness. After what only appeared to be the end of the piece - the choir had already withdrawn from the stage in the chancel - the crystal-clear, strictly harmonious epilogue suddenly resounded from the Rieneck chapel into the church, which was as quiet as a mouse.
Preface (Schott Music C 52107)
When the newly appointed church music director Günter Jena launched the extremely successful concert event with music and poetry for Advent in Hamburg's largest and most traditional church, St Michael's, in 1974, he asked Bertold Hummel to compose three variations on the world-famous Christmas carol "Silent Night" for the St Michael's choir.
The idea was to include the narrator, who recited Advent and Christmas poetry between the musical pieces, in this carol motet.
Elisabeth Flickenschildt (1974/1975) and Heinz Rühmann (1978), two of the most famous German actors, were available for the first three performances of this composition in the "Hamburger Michel".
After a performance on Boxing Day 1980 in Würzburg's St Kilian's Cathedral, my father composed a "Nachsatz aus der Ferne" at the request of the Würzburg Cathedral Boys' Choir. In doing so, he met the need for harmony, which was particularly pronounced on this holiday, and resolved the ambiguous final phrase of the third verse into a radiant C major.
Choirs wishing to include this effective piece in their Christmas programme should decide for themselves how to conclude it.
Martin Hummel
Günther Jena formulated the composition commission as follows:
Dear Mr Hummel!
Enclosed is the song. Of course, it should be higher for the choir. Since Mrs Flickenschildt is present, the first verse could also be for speaking voice over choir - but I don't know whether this is favourable, since she is supposed to read Böll's story immediately beforehand. In my opinion, the second and third verses should be rearranged in order to achieve a clearer (dynamic?) increase. The number of voices can also be increased, with 90 - 100 choristers singing.
The whole evening is accompanied by several lighting effects: it begins in the darkened church, then candles are added and at the end of the evening the church should be festively illuminated with Christmas cheer. At the third verse, a spotlight could shine on a golden sun and the risen Christ in the altarpiece, making the church noticeably brighter for the first time. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the Böll story at home, but perhaps you can imagine the mood he captures in a railway station on Christmas Eve: loneliness, abandonment, darkness, desolation.
With warmest regards, Yours
Günter Jena
These texts were read before the motet at the popular concert series Musik und Dichtung zur Adventszeit in Hamburg's Michel:
Heinrich Böll: Weihnacht im Großstadtbahnhof (Elisabeth Flickenschildt, 1974) - followed by Jochen Klepper: Die Nacht ist vorgedrungen
Karl Heinrich Waggerl: Das ist die stillste Zeit im Jahr (Heinz Rühmann, 1978)
Selma Lagerlöff: Die heilige Nacht (Christiane Hörbiger, 2015) - followed by Johannes Kuhn: Glauben sie an Engel?