...and lead them to Paradise
This work is my musical dedication to the royal martyrs: Emperor Nicholas II and his family. With my music I sought to fulfill my moral duty to the innocent victims of bloody despotism, to contemplate over life, death, resurrection, sorrows and triumph of the Christian faith. Sacred texts have always been a source of inspiration for me. In this piece I combined the texts of the Eastern Orthodox funeral liturgy with the Solemn Canon to the Royal Martyrs.
The opening episode of the cantata is based on the mournful prayer “Упокой, Господи, души усопших раб Твоих" (Rest in peace, Lord, the souls of your departed servants). The phonetic composition of this phrase in Church Slavonic is as perfect as its spiritual message. The accented progression of deep and heavy vowels and echoing pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants create an image of mournful and solemn funeral bells.
This episode is written as a polyphonic motet, designed for eight independent vocal parts. Such a complex technical choice stems from important spiritual and artistic reasons. Polyphonic writing is a hard task for a composer. It is also hard work for the singers, as well as for the audience. However, faith, prayer, cognition of God, life in Christ, are also hard work for the human soul - work which is perhaps the main purpose and joy of human existence.
Turning to God never remains unanswered. In the opening episode of my cantata, the harmonic motion embraces a circle of minor keys with a dark Phrygian tinge. While the dissonant spectrum gradually increases, the eight-voice counterpoint reaches the climax of emotional tension. In the final cadence, the choir merges into one monolithic and solemn major triad.
Completing the minor harmonic progression in major mode, is a rather traditional device, but in this context it takes on a particular meaning: God heard the plea, the long-awaited peace is found, there is no more pain, nor suffering, nor death, darkness is defeated by the shining light of eternity.
Sacred text form and direct the motion of a composer's thought, enriching it with high meaning, irrigating the musical sound with the opulence of Church Slavonic phonetics. But sometimes the text poses difficult tasks for the composer, requiring a strong effort of the mind and the will.
I had to struggle hard to find a musical solution to one of the key phrases of the text: "Holy God, Holy Strong, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us." According to the church tradition, this phrase must be repeated three times. But musical dramaturgy has its own laws, and in the niche of time that opened to me, I could fit this phrase only twice. The solution to this puzzle turned out to be inscribed in the Heavens.
I was working on the cantata in the small town of Rockport, in New England. One day, sitting by the ocean, I saw three seagulls flying through the fading rays of the setting sun: the first one alone, with the other two following side by side. This visual image quickly transformed into a musical idea: the phrase should be sung first by a soloist alone, while the second and third time – it should be stated by two soloists in canonic imitation. Thus, the text will be pronounced three times, in accordance with liturgical tradition, and the musical continuum will retain the necessary saturation and density.
The mournful and meek chant "Holy God" leads to the final episode of the cantata: "Glory to the Lord Forever and Ever". Here the soul, freed from the flesh, overcomes earthly gravity, ascends above physical dimensions, and merges with cosmos.
Apostle Paul, in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, states that a man has spirit, soul, and body (Thess. 5:23–24). For many years I have been contemplating over this phrase. Now it seems to me that in the dimensions of time the body has a beginning and an end, the soul has a beginning but no end, and the spirit has neither end nor beginning. Similarly, music has body, soul, and spirit. It comes from eternity, takes shape in time and space, and reveals to us the innermost truths of Sound, Word, and Soul.