« We already have that of JSBach, and it would be very presumptuous to compete with it “. Such was the reaction of Heinrich von Herzogenberg to the proposal of his friend Friedrich Spitta who came to visit him in his Swiss home in Heiden during the summer of 1894. Spitta, professor of theology in Strasbourg, had just brought together a set of sacred texts for of an oratorio for the Nativity.
Herzogenberg (left) and Spitta in Heiden in 1897
According to the Lutheran concept, the performance of a sacred work does not correspond to a concert of professionals before an audience. It is a musical event integrated into worship with the participation of the faithful where the story of the Gospel dominates, accompanied by a choir and a few soloists, all based on a score accessible to amateurs and – as pillars of the work – on several chorales and hymns sung together with the audience. Spitta provides an organ and a harmonium as accompaniment, nothing more. After some negotiations during walks around Heiden, the composer managed to wrest from his friend a string quartet, even an oboe for the pastoral scene. With Spitta gone, Herzogenberg set to work and his oratorio was completed in a few weeks, so much so that he sent a telegram to Strasbourg at the end of September: “I’ll arrive tomorrow with the oratorio, find me a choir!” »
The 34 parts of the work will align along the narrative cord entrusted to the reciting tenor (ensured during the creation by Spitta himself), and the concertante part is limited to the prelude and postlude of the organ of the genre Buxtehude, where the full playing of the instrument fills the nave with powerful solemnity and whose fugal motif corresponds to the canticles at the beginning and end:
The first part introduces us to the Old Testament where the prophets announce to the people of Israel the coming of a star “from the tribe of Jacob”, the “germ of a twig from the tribe of Isaiah” and the bursting of a great light above the people huddled in darkness. The narrative sequences (the prophecies) are entrusted first to the bass, then to the tenor, but the essential part of the text lies in the chorales and the canticles. Spitta explored the inexhaustible treasure of German Protestant hymns of the past and Herzogenberg created songs with several voices of homophonic or polyphonic range, it depends.
Like that old Advent song “O Savior, tear open the heavens!” (O savior, open the heavens!) of which Brahms had already composed a motet twenty years previously. Herzogenberg extracts three stanzas where the Cantus Firmus is entrusted to the sopranos, altos and tenors of the choir in turn, garlanded by the polyphony with fugal elements of the other three voices. The text of the song expresses the despair of the Jewish people sinking into darkness, while implicitly signaling the hope of the coming of the Messiah. The Dorian of this Cantus Firmus struggles to impose itself through a polyphony of a dazzling middle finger from the chorus until the end of the era major, as usual in Dorian-based chorales or canticles (see Bach's chorales). The Advent part concludes with the chorale sung in unison by the choir and the faithful “I was in heavy bonds” (I lay tied up)harmonized inside the era major by the organ.
The Annunciation made to Mary and the Nativity constitute the middle part of the oratorio where the bare, linear structure of the recitatives recalls that of the Christmas Oratorio of Heinrich Schütz, but Herzogenberg grants it a digression of a few melismas on the word « Maria » et “Blessed” :
The Virgin had barely signaled her availability towards divine expectations. (“Here is the servant of the Lord, according to your word be it done to me.”) that choir and soloists burst forth into a jubilant ternary song whose momentum invites dancing (“May we all be happy!”) :
This thematic cell in mi major reappears in all the stanzas, either in a homophonic version in the choir (see the example opposite), or fugal through the eight voices, or in dialogue between the four soloists and the choir, and the soloists' part does not hardly distinguishes the voices of the choir, in accordance with the Lutheran precepts defended by Spitta.
After the story of the birth of Jesus, the composer brings in popular song « A rose has sprung » (A rose has sprouted, from a delicate root). Under the Cantus Firmus from the soprano, the other voices introduce their polyphonic speech, the organ intervening with brief interludes, in short a highly solemn version of this canticle.
As in Bach's oratorios where the arias are announced by the playing of a soloist (oboe, flute, etc.), the dialogue between Mary and Joseph, a traditional hymn from the “Resound in praise” from the Middle Ages, is introduced and accompanied here by a cello solo, which underlines the intimate side of the word « Joseph, dear Joseph my, help me rock my little child… » (Joseph, mon cher Joseph, aide-moi à bercer mon petit…) :
As for the message intended for the shepherds in the pastures, our recitative is visibly close to that of Schütz, as is the range of the song of praise “Glory to God” which follows, a swing of quarter notes in a ternary rhythm, strictly fugues for Schütz:
In Herzogenberg this praise is articulated in a polyphony of the choir in four voices, with the bass strongly supported by the pedals of the organ:
The lull suggested in the “Don’t be frightened! » by the clarity of a do major poured into the mi major also brings to mind the Christmas oratorio of Saint-Saëns where the angel-soprano utters his “Don't be afraid” at the rhythm retained in a simple the major flanked by transitions to the parallel minor or dominant. Saint-Saëns' work is characterized by its revealing meditative side already in the prelude, of which the oboe cantilena, a Sicilian, will reappear throughout the oratorio.
To bring the shepherds closer: oboe required! Herzogenberg's pastoral instrument offers us a charming Sicilian whose thematic core constitutes – in slow motion – the children's hymn “Come and let us honor Christ” (Venez, rendons gloire au Christ). And then the blowtorch will introduce and accompany the famous Christmas carol «Come, shepherds…!» (Approchez, les bergers…!). – And now, abandoning the flock, the shepherds set off singing “Let’s go to Bethlehem!” »and this fugal departure brings us once again to Schütz's version:
Schütz seems to emphasize the haste which propels the shepherds heading towards Bethlehem.
Herzogenberg sends them on the way to sing their joyful fugue in do major.
In order to highlight the commotion of the individual shepherd, Spitta quotes the old German hymn from 1600 “As I watch with my sheep” (lorsque I looked after my sheep) and Herzogenberg proposes to embed the text in a dialogue between the melodic element of the oboe and the four soloists according to Bach's models, an ensemble based on a harmonic background of Schubertian tonality. The exaltation resulting from this event culminates in two great hymns where the soloists and the choir will take turns in the « Praise be to the Lord… » (Glory to the Lord…)where a double polyphonic choir dominated by the voice of the Cantus Firmus gives his heart's content to the text of Saint John “Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt…” (thus did God love the world…)all amalgamated with a choir of children singing their « Hallelujah » and amply supported by the instrumental group.
Before the organ postlude the faithful will sing, together with the soloists and the choir « Be welcome, you noble guest » (sois le bienvenu, toi noble host) to the melody of one of the most popular Christmas carols (already announced by the organ prelude): “From high up in the sky komm ich her” (I come down from the heavens) :
The premiere of the oratorio took place in December 1894 in the Saint-Thomas church in Strasbourg with Herzogenberg at the pulpit and Spitta as soloist. Back in Berlin, Herzogenberg sent his New Year's message to Spitta in January: “…and if I think of the moment when my music poured out throughout the Saint-Thomas church, from the altar to the organ, swollen by this unforgettable unison of the faithful, it was then that I lived an hour that no composer, however popular, could boast of. »
The last years of Heinrich von Herzogenberg were marked by increasingly severe rheumatic pain which he tried to alleviate by undergoing thermal treatments. However, he seems to have been able to retain his humor, which is evidenced by his letters sent from a last stay in 1900 on the Italian Riviera, where he was strapped into his wheelchair. On the other hand, the deaths of his colleague Woldemar Bargiel in Berlin (the half-brother of Clara Schumann) and of Johannes Brahms in February and April 1897 respectively saddened him deeply.
Heinrich von Herzogenberg died on October 9, 1900 in his last home in Wiesbaden. The funeral oration will be given by his friend Friedrich Spitta in the city cemetery.
S O U R C E S
WIECHERT Bernd, HERZOGENBERG Heinrich von (1843-1900), Studies on life and workGöttingen, 1997.
KLEINICKE Konrad-Jürgen, The church music work of Heinrich von Herzogenbergarticle without date on the site « Herzogenberg and Heiden »
KLEK Konrad, The creation of the Christmas oratorio “The Birth of Christ” in Heidenarticle without date on the site « Herzogenberg and Heiden »
SCHÜTZ Heinrich, History of the birth of Christ (1600), partition
E N R E G I S T R E M E N T S
– Cantorei of the Reformation Church Berlin-Moabit, dir. Caspar Wein
(Youtube, film de 2021)
– Evangelical Church Community Frohnau, dir. Johannes Dasch (Youtube, film de 2021)
– Among the CDs, to remember in particular the Oekumenischer Hochschulchor Würzburg, the Herzogenberg-Orchester Würzburg, direction: Matthias Beckert at CPO (2006) in a live recording from 2005.
Read also:
Heinrich von Herzogenberg in Switzerland, his Passion according to St-Jean
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