Shofar: an oratorio for soprano, tenor, two bass-baritones, chorus and orchestra.The shofar is the ram's horn ram's horn n. Judaism A shofar. Noun 1. ram's horn - annual of southern United States to Mexico having large whitish or yellowish flowers mottled with purple and a long curving beak of Jewish liturgy, used during the High Holy Day period to evoke the breakdown of the soul's defenses against a consciousness of sin and its ultimate return to God. Robert Stern's music uses the technique of soggetto cavato Soggetto cavato is an innovative technique of Josquin des Prez that was later named by the theorist Zarlino in 1558 in his Le institutioni harmoniche as soggetto cavato dalle parole, or literally, a subject 'carved out of the vowels. ("carved subject") to base the harmonic structure of the piece on the letters of the word shofar: S (e flat), H (b natural), F (f natural), A (a natural). (The letters O and R do not translate.) The four sections of the libretto libretto (ləbrĕt`ō) [Ital.,=little book], the text of an opera or an oratorio. Although a play usually emphasizes an integrated plot, a libretto is most often a loose plot connecting a series of episodes. are based on the four types of shofar blast used in the liturgy: tekiah, a long unbroken blast signifying wholeness; shevarim, a shorter, triple blast signifying brokenness; teruah, a ninefold ninefold Adjective 1. having nine times as many or as much 2. having nine parts Adverb by nine times as much or as many Adj. 1. , rapidly stammering stammering: see stuttering. blast signifying shattering; and tekiah gedolah, a very long blast signifying the return to wholeness. The world premiere Noun 1. world premiere - (music) the first public performance (as of a dramatic or musical work) anywhere in the world performance, public presentation - a dramatic or musical entertainment; "they listened to ten different performances"; "the play ran for 100 of Shofar will be Sunday, November 5, 2006, at 3:00 p.m. at the Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, MA. I Tekiah: Whole The chaos of creation resolves into the order of God's name and the revelation at Sinai Orchestral prelude Men's Chorus, first in disjointed syllables, then in phrases: EHYEH ASHER EHYEH I AM THAT I AM I am that I am (Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh) is one English translation of the response God used in the Bible when Moses asked for his name (Exodus 3:14). [Exod. 3:14] Bayom hahu yihyeh Adonai echad ushmo echad [Zech. 14:9: On that day the Lord will be one and his name one.]
Chorus: Restore to us the Torah as it was:
no more illusion, no more trade in lies,
the heart not turning from a rapt restraint,
the heavy ear not turning from God's voice.
Restore to us the Torah as it was
when the commands at Sinai made us faint. [Jose ben Jose/cm]
Tenor Solo: That there were signs and wonders
the sullen cloud of smoke and thunder
the horn to cry exceeding loud
the God of deliverance and terror
this we always knew
Women's Chorus, But not this: that when the law was given
concurrently: no bird sang or flew
We saw the sound no ox cried out, no creature spoke
we heard the sight no wind blew
of spoken light the seraphs' Holy, holy
fell silent at the glory
the sea swung calm, the mountain stood
the silence spread;
the thunder driven inward
the unvoiced aleph uttered
where it could not be altered
I am the Lord your God. [cm, after Exodus Rabbah
29:9]
Orchestral interlude interlude, development in the late 15th cent. of the English medieval morality play. Played between the acts of a long play, the interlude, treating intellectual rather than moral topics, often contained elements of satire or farce.
Chorus: Awake, awake,
for your light has come; rise, shine,
awake, awake, make a song,
for the Lord's glory is revealed in you.
[Isa. 51:17, 60:1, Judges 5:12]
God: For this commandment com·mand·ment n. 1. A command; an edict. 2. Bible One of the Ten Commandments. commandment Noun a divine command, esp. that I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say: Women's Chorus: Who will go up for us into heaven and fetch it us, that we may hear and do? God: Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say: Men's Chorus: Who will go over the sea for us and fetch it us, that we may hear and do? God: But the word is very nigh nigh adv. nigh·er, nigh·est 1. Near in time, place, or relationship: Evening draws nigh. 2. Nearly; almost: talked for nigh onto two hours. unto you, in your mouth and your heart, that you may do it. Tenor: And all the people answered together, and said: Chorus: All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. [Deut. 30:11-14] Duet: Ani l'dodi v'dodi li [Song of Songs 2:16: I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.] The duet is interrupted. II Shevarim: Broken The making of the golden calf golden calf, in the Bible, an idol erected by the Israelites on several occasions. Aaron made one while Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Jeroboam I made two, and Hosea denounced a calf in Samaria. A bull cult was widespread in Canaan at the time of the Israelite invasion. and the breaking of the tablets; the people's faithlessness Faithlessness See also Adultery, Cuckoldry. Angelica betrays Orlando by eloping with young soldier. [Ital. Lit.: Orlando Furioso] Camilla falls to temptations of husband’s friend. [Span. Lit. to God Tenor: And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, they gathered and came to Aaron and said to him: Up and make us a god to go before us: for this Moses, the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what is become of him. [Exod. 32:1]
Chorus: This unknown God
who sends us unknown food
this insubstantial manna
we cannot store or plant:
This is our father?
This is our comfort?
what comfort can we take from no-one's hand?
We wander without land
and have no altar for a god to stand
and have no worship we can comprehend. [cm]
Tenor: And the people plucked the earrings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he took them from their hands and worked it and made it into a calf of molten metal. And they said: Chorus: This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. [Exod. 32:3-4] Orchestral interlude Tenor: And Moses turned his back and went down from Sinai, the two tablets of witness in his hand. And the tablets were God's work, and the writing was God's writing, graven grav·en v. A past participle of grave3. Adj. 1. graven - cut into a desired shape; "graven images"; "sculptured representations" sculpted, sculptured on the tablets. And when Joshua heard the voice of the people in its clamor, he said to Moses: There is a noise of war in the camp. And Moses said: It is not the sound of victory not of defeat, but the sound of singing. [Exod. 32:15-18] Orchestral interlude And as soon as he came near the host and saw the calf and the dancing, his wrath waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hand, and broke them at the hill foot. And he took the calf they had made and burned it with fire, and stamped it into powder and strewed it on the water, and made the children of Israel The Children of Israel, or B'nei Yisrael (בני ישראל) in Hebrew (also B'nai Yisrael, B'nei Yisroel or Bene Israel) is a Biblical term for the Israelites. drink it. [Exod. 32:19-20]
God: The misery of love
as a father weeps a child he cannot love
I weep your turning
I offered freedom
you received it as constraint
you bring with you the taint
of servitude and scorning
Unlovable people, love me
O be my good child
may these broken tablets break your hearts
your lovelessness breaks mine [cm]
III Teruah: Smashed God's faithlessness to the people
God: As a father rages
unreasoning and wild
I will pursue you
through all the bitter ages
accusing my bad child
That first confirmed suspicion
shall work like poison
and all your days I will declare your shame
To your father Abraham I promised
and it shall be fulfilled
I swear it in my name: [cm]
I will make your seed as the dust of the earth. [Gen. 13:16]
Tenor: They have made them molten images of their silver, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. their own cunning; they appoint men to sacrifice to them, they kiss calves. Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, as the early dew that passes, as the chaff chaff 1. chaffed hay; called also chop. 2. the winnowings from a threshing, consisting of awns, husks, glumes and other relatively indigestible materials. whirled away from the threshing threshing or thrashing, separation of grain from the stalk on which it grows and from the chaff or pod that covers it. The first known method was by striking the reaped ears of grain with a flail. floor, as the smoke out of the chimney. [Hos. 13:2-3] Orchestral interlude
Chorus: We received the Torah on Sinai
and in Lublin we gave it back.
Dead men don't praise God,
the Torah was given to the living. [Jacob Glatstein]
Soprano: Breath, against our will, is praise
a shriek is vital sign--
the mouth that opens on a curse
takes blessing halfway in--
Soprano and Chorus: the air insinuates its gift--
the lungs, compulsive, hoard--
and blood--the traitor in our veins--
rejoices in the Lord--[cm]
the Lord's glory is revealed in you
Men's and Women's Choruses, alternating:
Do not defend the ways of men
to God and not the ways of God
to men for each of them has turned
aside and each has found it hard
to listen when the other was
the one who was in question and
for each the one atonement is:
begin again. [Allen Mandelbaum, Chelmaxioms]
IV Tekiah g'dolah: Whole The renegotiation Tenor: And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And Moses said to the Lord: Moses: Consider that this nation is your people. God: My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest. Moses: If your presence go not with us, do not make us leave this place. God: I will do as you have spoken; for you have found grace in my sight, and I know you by name. Moses: O show me your glory! God: I will make all my good go before you; I will cry my name before you, and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and cover you with my hand as I pass by. And then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen. [Exod. 33:13-23, selections] Sopranos and Tenors: O my dove, who hides in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see your face, let me hear your voice. [Song of Songs 2:14] Tenor: And Moses hewed two tablets of stone The Tablets of Stone or Stone Tablets, also known as the Tablets of Law, (in Hebrew: Luchot HaBrit - "the tablets [of] the covenant") were the two pieces of special stone inscribed with the Ten Commandments when Moses ascended Mount Sinai as recorded in like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Sinai. And the Lord came down in a cloud, and stood with him there. And when the Lord walked before him, he cried: God: Adonai, Adonai, el rachum v'chanun, erech apayim, v'rav chesed v'emet, notzer chesed l'alafim, noseh avon va'feshah, v'chatah v'nakeh. Moses: God merciful mer·ci·ful adj. Full of mercy; compassionate: sought merciful treatment for the captives. See Synonyms at humane. mer and gracious, slow to anger, full of kindness and truth, keeping kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity INIQUITY. Vice; contrary to equity; injustice. 2. Where, in a doubtful matter, the judge is required to pronounce, it is his duty to decide in such a manner as is the least against equity. , error and sin, and restoring innocence. [Exod. 34:4-7]
Chorus: All things turn toward their center
where mercy waits forever
all vows are here unspoken
both yours and ours are broken
You hover at the center
our lover not our master
whose love is everlasting
who hangs the earth on nothing
Each craved a kinder lover
we only have each other
we make the world together
there is no other labor [cm]
Duet (soprano and tenor) with chorus: Ani l'dodi v'dodi li
Program notes In translating the biblical verses I have relied on a mixture of William Tyndale's 1630 translation, the King James Version, the Jewish Publication Society's recent translation, and my own sense of what is singable; I have trimmed syllables where I could do so without altering the meaning.--cm "Restore to us the Torah as it was ..." After Jose ben Jose, ca. 6th century C.E. In Liturgical and Secular Poetry of the Foremost Mediaeval me·di·ae·val adj. Variant of medieval. mediaeval Adjective same as medieval Adj. 1. Poets, ed. Joseph Marcus (New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of : Anglo-Hebrew Publishing Co., 1933, 116). "Ani l'dodi ..." There is a tradition that the Song of Songs was given at the foot of Sinai. Rabbi Akiva said, "Had the Torah not been given to Israel, the Song of Songs would have sufficed for the conduct of the world." "The misery of love ..." After Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg Dr. Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg is a contemporary Torah scholar and author. A native of Glasgow, Scotland,[1] Zornberg is a descendant of well known rabbis from Eastern Europe who settled in Austria. , lecture on the Golden Calf narrative, Smith College, 22 October 1998. "We received the Torah on Sinai ..." From "Dead Men Don't Praise God," in The Complete Poems of Jacob Glatstein, translated from the Yiddish by Ruth Whitman (New York: October House, 1972). Used by permission of Ruth Whitman's estate. "Do not defend the ways of God ..." From Chelmaxioms: The Maxims, Axioms, Maxioms of Chelm by Allen Mandelbaum Allen Mandelbaum (born 1926 in Albany, New York) is an American professor of Italian literature, a poet, and a prolific translator. He is currently W. R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Humanities at Wake Forest University. . Copyright [c] 1977 by Allen Mandelbaum. Used by permission of David R. Godine David R. Godine is the founder and president of David R. Godine, Inc., a small publishing house located in Boston, Massachusetts. The company is independent and its list tends to reflect the individual (sometimes quirky) tastes of its president. , Publisher. Libretto by Catherine Madsen Music by Robert Stern |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion