Psalm 129

1. 0:00
   Orchestral introduction, Grave, rude

   Grave, rude: solemn and rough. Woodwinds and horns play accented long chords over pizzicato double basses, and the violins, violas and cellos rest. The orchestra plays for thirty bars before the voice enters.

2. 0:55
   Sarrusophone in the bass

   The score lists a sarrusophone after the bassoons. It is a double-reed instrument made in several sizes, and here it serves as a bass. Boulanger places it beneath the bassoons and the upper horn, and Helen Julia Minors has cited it as an example of her use of orchestral colour.

3. 1:34
   Entry of the baritone

   Pierre Mollet’s baritone enters with the psalm’s words on oppression endured since youth. While the voice holds its notes, descending figures pass from the violins down through the violas and cellos to the double basses.

4. 2:16
   Ploughmen verse, figure 4

   The psalm text at this point says that ploughmen cut furrows into the speaker’s back. Clarinets and bass clarinet move up and down in triplets. Beneath them the bass rises slowly, and the voice sings its complaint in long notes.

5. 2:55
   First performance, Paris, 1921

   In 1921 Henri Büsser conducted the first performance at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, for the Concerts Dandelot. Boulanger had died three years earlier. She had finished the score in Rome in 1916.

6. 3:45
   Georges Migot, La revue musicale, 1924

   Writing in La revue musicale in 1924, Georges Migot heard in the chord progressions “the dull hatred and exasperated anger of an oppressed people”. The psalm opens with the words “Ils m’ont assez opprimé dès ma jeunesse” (they have oppressed me since my youth).

7. 4:44
   Coda, women’s voices

   The coda slows at figure 8, marked Un peu plus lent. Women’s voices enter ppp on “Ah”, high above the continuing prayer, with flute and celesta doubling their line. The strings are muted, and the harp plays beneath dissonant chords.

8. 5:15
   Performance options in the score

   Boulanger’s score allows a baritone soloist with optional women’s voices, a men’s chorus, or a mixed chorus. Here Pierre Mollet sings the baritone part. A printed note asks the conductor to keep the brass below the written dynamics when a soloist sings.

9. 5:50
   Final bars, wordless voices

   The final vocal phrase has no words. Divided strings hold soft chords, and horn, bassoon and harp play short solo figures between them. The dissonances are not resolved as the last notes die away.

Joins

1. 1:34
   Opening chords return beneath the voice

   The opening chords return beneath the first vocal phrase, marked a Tempo, grave et rude. The winds hold their accented harmony and the strings play quick figures. While the baritone holds the end of his phrase, a five-note run passes down through the string sections to the double basses.

2. 2:16
   Clarinets begin their triplets

   At figure 4 the clarinets and bass clarinet begin continuous triplets. Bassoons, horns, harp and low strings rise more slowly beneath them. The baritone also begins with a triplet, then sets the words in longer notes over the clarinets’ running triplets; the vocal part is marked contenu, restrained.

3. 4:44
   Celesta and voices above the bass

   Un peu plus lent slows the coda, and the metre alternates between four crotchets and three minims. The bass descends in long notes beneath a solo harp figure. Women’s voices, flute and celesta take the upper line. The horns and strings are muted.