Psalm 130
24 min
Recording
- Psalm 130 — Du fond de l’abîmeOralia Domínguez, contralto; Raymond Amade, tenor; J. J. Grunenwald, organ; Chorale Élisabeth Brasseur; Orchestre des Concerts Lamoureux; Igor Markevitch, conductor24:00
In Boulanger’s setting of Psalm 130, dedicated to her father’s memory, tuba and solo cello share a low line. Igor Markevitch conducts, and the contralto Oralia Domínguez sings the long solo at the centre of the work.
Listening notes · joins
- Opening, tuba and solo cello
The organ holds low notes above a soft bass-drum roll and plucked strings. A tuba and a solo cello enter together and fall by a tone. Their line lies deep below the choir, which is silent, and muted horns join it.
- B♭ minor in Lili Boulanger’s music
Christopher Palmer described B♭ minor as, for Lili, “the key of the abyss, of mourning and despair”. She used it for this psalm and for her Musset setting Pour les funérailles d’un soldat. Gerald Larner noted that modal inflections make the harmonies of the introduction more oppressive still.
- Prelude, violins in the high register
The prelude rises to the violins’ high register. First and second violins move upwards through sharps and naturals and briefly play alone. A Poco accel. takes their runs over the top, and the descent broadens at Élargi.
- Rome and Gargenville, 1914–1917
Boulanger began the psalm in Rome in 1914 and completed its orchestration at Gargenville, the family home, in 1917. The last page of the Durand full score is dated Rome–Gargenville 1914–1917.
- Choral entry in octaves
The choir enters pp, all four parts singing the same narrow line in octaves. Boulanger marks it sobre, mais intense (restrained, but intense). Bassoons and cellos climb underneath, and the organ holds the bass.
- First choral entry
Gerald Larner wrote that on its first entry the chorus “merely chants the words”. The vocal line becomes melodic gradually, through a lyrical expansion on the holy names “Iahvé” and “Adonaï”, and moves into sustained supplication.
- Dedication to Ernest Boulanger
Above the title Boulanger wrote “à la mémoire de mon cher Papa” (to the memory of my dear Papa). Ernest Boulanger died in 1900, when she was six. The dedication stands over the psalm’s first low instrumental notes.
- Christopher Palmer and the Markevich recording
Christopher Palmer, then a student, first heard Lili Boulanger on “the classic Markevich record originally issued on the Everest label”, this recording. He wrote to Nadia at once and later said the music “effectively changed my life”. In the summer of 1967 he studied with her at Fontainebleau.
- Climax on “Adonaï”; alto solo
The quicker second section opens like the first, with soft chanting, and builds to a broad climax on the “Adonaï” material. The chorus then stops and the alto soloist enters with a new melody in E♭ minor, at a slower tempo and in a thinner texture.
- Contralto entry with solo cello
The choir stops and Oralia Domínguez begins the question about human sin. A solo cello joins her line. Clarinets repeat their rising figures and harps mark the pulse, while divided violins hold very soft chords above the voice.
- Comité Franco-Américain du Conservatoire
When war broke out Lili was at the Villa Medici in Rome. She wrote to fellow musicians to build a support network for those serving in the war, and with Nadia founded the Comité Franco-Américain du Conservatoire. Nadia won the backing of American artists and diplomats.
- Chorus, “Qui donc pourra tenir?”
The chorus repeats “Qui donc pourra tenir?” (who can stand?) with growing insistency. Gerald Larner wrote that the most emphatic statement comes on a fortissimo augmentation of the trumpet call from the introduction.
- Interlude, solo bassoon
A solo bassoon begins the interlude, marked chanté, calme. Flute, viola and cello follow in turn above semiquavers in the harps and organ. The string sections play muted, while the solo viola and cello play without mutes.
- Third section, alto entry
Gerald Larner called the third section the turning point of the work. The tempo slows. Over rippling arpeggios in harp and organ, a new woodwind melody passes to the alto, who sings “Mais la clémence est en toi”.
- Igor Markevitch, conductor
Igor Markevitch was born in Kiev in 1912. At thirteen he went to Paris to study piano with Alfred Cortot, and in his teens he also studied with Nadia Boulanger and Paul Dukas. At seventeen he composed a work for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.
- Canon for contralto and tenor
Domínguez sings a new phrase very softly, and Raymond Amade’s tenor repeats it a fifth lower. Their lines overlap above rising flute figures and falling organ notes. The marking is Sans lenteur — without dragging.
- Fourth section, alto and tenor
In the fourth section a tenor joins the alto. Gerald Larner wrote that here Lili’s vision “at last” glimpses “the radiance of major harmonies”, after the modal inflections of the earlier sections.
- Performances after her death
Lili never heard her finest scores played. Christopher Palmer lists Du fond de l’abîme among those unperformed in her lifetime and adds that when they were performed, “no changes were needed apart from a few modifications of dynamics”.
- Allegro, tenors and basses
An Allegro follows the choir’s held chords. Tenors and basses begin the promise of redemption while clarinets, bassoons and lower strings play detached figures. The upper strings remove their mutes, more of the orchestra joins, and the tempo increases.
- Return to Lent, figure 23
At figure 23 the tempo changes to Lent. Choir, brass and organ return to broad phrases on God’s name, with the bass moving to a low register beneath them. Instruments drop out one by one in the closing prayer, and after the choir’s release the orchestra plays a final swell.
- Everest LP, side one, 1960
Everest put the whole twenty-four-minute psalm on side one of LPBR 6059. The four shorter works filled side two.
- Final climax and ending
The work reaches a last climax on “Iahvé, Adonaï”, followed by an expression of hope. Gerald Larner wrote that it ends “without the unambiguous consolation Lili was too honest to provide”.
Joins
- Prelude to the choral entry at figure 4
The B♭ minor prelude slows, and the trombones are marked morendo. At figure 4, Tempo lent, the choir enters on repeated notes in octaves. The organ holds a bass note under the voices while bassoons and cellos rise together. The bass drum plays a soft roll under the first words.
- Contralto and solo cello at figure 12
At figure 12 the chorus holds its final vowel and the metre changes to 3/2. The contralto enters over a solo cello, repeated clarinet figures and harp chords. Divided violins hold ppp above her. The organ plays low notes on the slow pulse, and the brass stop.
- Solo bassoon at Modéré
At Modéré the choir releases its last syllable and the brass chords stop. A solo bassoon enters above the organ’s held bass and running notes in the harp. Flute and solo viola follow. The remaining strings put on mutes, and the accompaniment thins.
- Solo entries over flute semiquavers
The choir holds its last chord into the new 3/4 metre. At Sans lenteur, the flutes rise in semiquavers and the organ’s right hand descends over a held pedal. The contralto enters very softly. One bar later the tenor enters and repeats her phrase a fifth lower.
- Held chord, then runs
The choir’s long chord drops to pp subito before figure 22. At Allegro, bass clarinet and bassoon begin detached runs, and violas and cellos join them. Tenors and basses enter with the new words over accented horn notes. The violins remove their mutes as the short figures move up through the strings.
- Allegro to Lent at figure 23
Wind and string runs climb to the end of the Allegro. At figure 23 they stop, and the tempo changes to Lent with broad choral phrases. Brass and organ hold the harmony while the double basses play rapid low figures between held notes. The last pages slow further, marked De plus en plus lent and Molto rit., and return to the low instruments of the opening.