James Memorial Chapel,Union Theological Seminary

Please make certain all your electronic devicesare switched off.

The White Light Festival presentation of The Psalms Experience is supported by The Andrew W.Mellon Foundation.

This program is supported as part of the Dutch Culture USA program by the Consulate General of theNetherlands in New York.

This performance is made possible in part by the Josie Robertson Fund for Lincoln Center.

Saturday, November 11, 2017, at 3:00 pm

The Psalms Experience

CONCERT 10

Pilgrimage of Life

Norwegian Soloists’ ChoirGrete Pedersen, Conductor

Introduction by Esther J. Hamori, Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible,Union Theological Seminary

This program is approximately one hour long and will be performed without intermission.

(Program continued)

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Nespresso is the Official Coffee of Lincoln Center

NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital ofLincoln Center

Artist Catering provided by Zabar’s and Zabars.com

The Psalms Experience was created andfirst produced by Tido Visser, managingdirector of the Netherlands ChamberChoir.

The Netherlands Chamber Choir was supported by the Netherland-America Foundation for thedevelopment of this project.

UPCOMING WHITE LIGHT FESTIVAL EVENTS:

Saturday, November 11, at 5:00 pm in JamesMemorial Chapel, Union Theological SeminaryThe Psalms Experience Concert 11: Celebration of LifeNetherlands Chamber ChoirPeter Dijkstra, conductor

Saturday, November 11, at 8:30 pm in Alice TullyHallThe Psalms Experience Concert 12: Consequences of PowerThe Tallis ScholarsPeter Phillips, conductorWith members of The Choir of Trinity WallStreet, Netherlands Chamber Choir, andNorwegian Soloists’ Choir

Sunday, November 12 at 3:00 pm in David GeffenHallBeethoven’s Missa solemnisSwedish Chamber OrchestraThomas Dausgaard, conductorSwedish Radio ChoirPeter Dijkstra, choral directorMalin Christensson, sopranoKristina Hammarström, mezzo-sopranoMichael Weinius, tenorJosef Wagner, bassBEETHOVEN: Mass in D major (“Missa solemnis”)Pre-concert lecture by Andrew Shenton at 1:45 pmin the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse

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In consideration of the performing artists and members of the audience, those who must leavebefore the end of the performance are asked to do so between pieces. The taking of photographsand the use of recording equipment are not allowed in the building.

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Pilgrimage of Life

FARTEIN VALEN Ich hebe meine Augen (Psalm 121)(1887–1952)(arr. Kjell Mørk Karlsen)

ARVO PÄRT Peace upon you, Jerusalem (Psalm 122)(b. 1935)

GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI Ad te levavi oculos meos (Psalm 123) DA PALESTRINA(c. 1525–1594)

PETER MAXWELL DAVIES Old Scottish Tune (Psalm 124), from Three (1934–2016) Organ Voluntaries(arr. Grete Pedersen)

HEINRICH ISAAC Qui confidunt in Domino (Psalm 125)(c. 1450–1517)

JOHANNES BRAHMS Selig sind die da Leid tragen, from Ein (1833–1897) deutsches Requiem (Psalm 126)

HEINRICH IGNAZ VON BIBER Nisi Dominus (Psalm 127)(1644–1704)

CRISTÓBAL DE MORALES Beati omnes (Psalm 128)(c. 1500–1553)

EVELIN SEPPAR Psalm 129 (U.S. premiere)(b. 1986) INGVAR LIDHOLM De profundis, from A Dream Play (Psalm 130)(b. 1921)

WILLIAM MUNDY Domine, non est exaltatum (Psalm 131)(c. 1529–1591)

GUILLAUME BOUZIGNAC In pace, in idipsum. Si dedero somnum(c. 1587–c. 1643) (Psalm 132)

JEAN RICHAFORT Ecce quam bonum (Psalm 133)(1480–c. 1547)

KARIN REHNQUIST När natten skänker frid (Psalm 134)(b. 1957)

Please hold applause until the end of the performance.

The Book of Psalmsand Its MusicalInterpretationsBy Neil W. Levin

Common to the liturgies, histories, andspirit of Judaism and Christianity, the Bookof Psalms is one of the most widely famil-iar and frequently quoted books of theHebrew Bible. The Psalms are also basic toWestern culture as literature. Their expres-sion in musical notation spans more thanten centuries. Their unnotated musical tra-ditions predate Christianity, extending toJewish antiquity and the Temple eraswhen the Psalter served in effect as theTemple music manual and prayer book.

LITERARY and RELIGIOUS CONTENT.Most current biblical scholarship placesthe Psalms’ composition as well as unifiedcanonization substantially prior to the sec-ond century BCE, by which time their pop-ularity was well established. Their com-mon attribution to King David as a popularpost-biblical tradition notwithstanding, it isimpossible to know the identity of thePsalms’ author(s) or compiler(s). But wecan celebrate their uninterrupted en -durance through their embrace of a broadspectrum of human experience and theirperceived manifestations of a respectableform of popular theology.

Taken together, the Psalms expresshuman thirst for moral, ethical, and spiri-tual grounding as well as the commonsearch for a guiding faith. Viewed from the-ological or even deist perspectives, theyencapsulate human pursuit of the Divineessence. “In the Torah and the Prophets,”wrote biblical scholar Nahum Sarna, “Godreaches out to man. In the Psalms, humanbeings reach out to God. The language ishuman.” Indeed, in their singular blend ofmajestic grandeur, lofty sentiments, andpoignant simplicity, the Psalms addressnearly every human emotion and mood.Judaic origin and Judeo-Christian association

aside, their ageless attraction abides in theuniversality of their appeal and teachings,transcending religious orientation, time,and geography.

MUSICAL RECONSTRUCTION. Frommusicological scholarship and Judaicsources, we understand something aboutpsalmody—the manner of musical Psalmrendition—in the ancient Temple inJerusalem, including probable vocal rangeand predominance of particular tones; syl-labic versus melismatic articulation;embellishment; type of choirs and perfor-mance formats (responsorial, antiphonal,etc.); and instrumental accompaniment.But this knowledge is academic and theo-retical rather than aesthetic or artistic. Itcannot effectuate authentic Temple-erareproductions of Psalms vis-à-vis modali-ties, pitches, melodic progressions, tim-bres, or precise rhythms. Similar limita-tions apply to reasonable suppositions con-cerning early Church psalmody, in whichsome musical practices may have beenborrowed from Hebrew psalmody. Despitevarious irresponsible claims over the yearsto have deciphered imagined encoded sys-tems of musical information, all attemptsto replicate Temple psalmody aurally are atbest naively romantic exercises in fantasy.

Although ancient psalmody has not survivedintact in any synagogue music tradition, onehears presumed echoes in certain Sephardiand Near Eastern repertoires. In some ofthose, however, as in Ashkenazi practiceinherited from Europe or expanded else-where, Psalm renditions have also acquiredartificial meter through superimposed syl-labic patterns or adaptations to seculartunes. Rarely have modern composersemployed perceived psalmodic features.

THE PSALMS IN HEBREW and CHRIST-IAN LITURGIES. The development ofHebrew liturgy relied heavily on thePsalms, which provided an obvious founda-tion. They permeate the traditional prayerbooks of every rite, and they infuse Reform

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worship as well. No other biblical book is sodirectly, richly, or consistently represented.Outside formally designated services, soci-eties of “Psalm reciters” are features ofmany fervently pious communities, such asone in contemporary Jerusalem whose twodistinct subgroups divide between themthe daily recitation of the entire Psalter atthe Western Wall.

The Psalter also offered a wellspring ofliturgical material for the nascent Church.Latin translations are thought to have pre-dominated its earliest services; eventually,usage differed between Eastern andWestern rites. Aside from a few extantfragments, their musical notation survivesonly from the ninth century on.

In the Roman, or Western Church, the con-tinuum of unabridged Psalm singing ismost conspicuous in the Office of Vespers,though not exclusive to it. In the Mass andother liturgies, however, Psalms becameabbreviated or partially quoted. Many poly-phonic settings for Roman Catholic liturgycontinued even past the Renaissance toreflect or incorporate elements ofpsalmody. But in the various Protestantmovements, Psalm composition followedthe course of art music in which those his-torical references were largely abandoned:Bach motets, for example. TheReformation also led to emphasis on Psalmsinging in the vernacular: German, English,etc. To encourage congregational singing,metrical—even superficially rhymed—ver-sions and paraphrases were created, oftenonly approximating the original Hebrewloosely if at all. These were set to hymn-likestrophic tunes with simple chordal accom-paniments. Communal singing in 19th- andearly 20th-century classical Reform Jewishworship exhibited a similar fashion.

PSALMS IN THE WESTERN CLASSICALMUSICAL TRADITION. Original Psalm set-tings proliferated in Europe from the 15thcentury on as sacred music from Western

artistic perspectives, and eventually alsooutside religious contexts altogether. Psalmcomposition in the 17th and 18th centuriesis intertwined with contemporaneous pathsof motet and anthem genres; English andAmerican anthems of that time both displayabundant reliance on Psalm texts. Duringthe 19th century, throughout the modernera, and into the 21st century in both sacredand secular worlds, composers of nearlyevery stripe and orientation have engagedthe Psalms in expressions ranging fromlarge-scale choral and orchestral works toart songs and a cappella choral settings—even in exclusively instrumental inspirationssuch as solo organ sonatas or KrzysztofPenderecki’s electronic Psalmus (1961).There is no stylistic approach or treatment,no technical procedure (including 12-toneserialization), no melodic, contrapuntal, orharmonic language—in short, no aspect ofWestern musical development—fromwhich the Psalms have escaped.

The unrelenting appeal of the Psalms formainstream and avant-garde composersalike in each generation lies not only in theirpoetic religious spirit, but in their transcen-dent humanistic content. They continue toinvite musical engagement both fromJudaic or Judeo-Christian sensibilities andfrom basic Western literary-cultural world-views. And some works communicate onintersecting planes. Thus, the Psalms maybe understood not only as an ecumenicalbridge between two faiths—which is nonew observation—but as artistic mediatorsbetween sacred and secular music in theevolving, expanding Western canon.

Neil W. Levin is artistic director and editor-in-chief of the Milken Archive of JewishMusic, an emeritus professor of Jewishmusic at the Jewish Theological Seminary,and professor-in-residence at the YIVOInstitute for Jewish Research in New York.

—Copyright © Neil W. Levin. Adapted from hisessay accompanying the CD Psalms of Joy andSorrow (Naxos, 2005).

Notes on the ProgramBy James M. Keller

Examine a well-used Bible and you will find that one of its most heavily thumbed sectionsis the Book of Psalms. It is easy to understand why. Whereas much of the Old Testamentis given over to tribal histories, prophetic pronouncements, and declarations of rules forsociety (often with threats of divine retribution against those who don’t toe the line), thePsalms are utterances of the human heart. They are not unique in that regard. Weencounter personalized expression of specific human aspects elsewhere in the OldTestament, particularly in several of the Psalms’ immediate neighbors—desolation in TheBook of Job, sagacity in the Book of Proverbs, cynicism in Ecclesiastes, eroticism in TheSongs of Songs. The Psalms, however, give voice to an exceptional breadth of the humanspirit. In the 150 psalms, man is searching for his condition humaine, his right to exist,his country and culture, guided by his faith and his doubts, bemoaning his fate and danc-ing with joy. The Psalms are about him and belong to him.

Created as songs, these prose poems have appealed greatly to composers through thecenturies, yielding a repertoire of many thousands of compositions. For this project, ateam of Dutch scholars—Tido Visser, managing director of the Netherlands ChamberChoir, musicologist Leo Samama, and theologian Gerard Swüste—divided the corpus ofPsalms into 12 groups by subject and then selected settings that would form musicallybalanced and satisfying programs out of each of those chapters. They established someground rules: The settings would be for a cappella chorus (allowing very occasional organaccompaniments); each psalm might be represented through either its complete or par-tial text; and each composer, whether renowned or obscure, would figure exactly oncethroughout the entire project.

In this tenth program of The Psalms Experience, we hear psalm settings in which thetexts consider “the Pilgrimage of Life.” The Israelites wandered long and far, not just inBiblical times but until very recently. This makes them a symbol for other peoples andindividuals who have wandered the earth, from country to country and from continent tocontinent. “In fact, the pilgrim’s journey serves as a model for the life of every person,”Swüste observes. “The so-called ‘pilgrimage psalms’—Nos. 120–134—together describewhat happens to you on such a path of life. …Each of these psalms is actually a briefmoment of reflection on what someone may expect to encounter during his or her life. Theyare all fairly short psalms which a person can sing at a stop on his journey through life.”

The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir has quite naturally included some Northern Europeanworks in its program, focusing on 20th- and 21st-century works. Norwegian Fartein Valencomposed his extensive setting of Psalm 121 for choir and orchestra in 1909; the versionwith organ accompaniment is an arrangement by Kjell Mørk Karlsen. Arvo Pärt wrote hisPsalm 122 in 2002 for a girls’ choir in his native Estonia. A young Estonian composer,Evelin Seppar, has also created a new setting of Psalm 129. Psalm 130, by the SwedeIngvar Lidholm, was composed in 1983, its Biblical words interlaced with a text takenfrom August Strindberg’s expressionistic drama A Dream Play. If we’re willing to describethe Scottish island of Orkney as belonging to the Nordic countries—the Scots have muchcultural crossover with their Scandinavian neighbors—then Peter Maxwell Davies mayalso join this list. His Old Scottish Tune began as an organ voluntary that he crafted outof a 16th-century setting of Psalm 124 by the Scottish church musician David Peebles;

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Grete Pedersen subsequently reworked his organ composition for choir as a tribute toMaxwell Davies, who died last year. The final piece on the program, “När natten skänkerfrid,” is by Karin Rehnquist, a renowned composer in Scandinavia and professor of com-position at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music.

Balancing these modern works from northern countries are High Renaissance piecesfrom Mediterranean climes: “Ad te levavi oculos meos” (Psalm 123) by Giovanni Pierluigida Palestrina, widely considered the epitome of Renaissance contrapuntal style inRoman sacred music, and “Beati omnes” (Psalm 128) by the Spaniard Cristóbal deMorales, who also spent some time working in Rome and from whose music Palestrinadrew inspiration.

The psalm settings of Heinrich Isaac, Heinrich Ignaz von Biber, and Johannes Brahms(drawn from A German Requiem, a work of enduring consolation) take us to German-speaking lands, and those of Guillaume Bouzignac and Jean Richafort to French-speakingrealms. Just as mankind has roamed from country to country in the pilgrimage of life, thisprogram is in itself a veritable journey.

Adapted from essays by Leo Samama

James M. Keller is program annotator of the New York Philharmonic (The Leni and PeterMay Chair) and of the San Francisco Symphony. He also serves as critic-at-large for TheSanta Fe New Mexican, the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi.

—Copyright © 2017 by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc.

Please turn to page 22 for an article on the enduring resonance of the Psalms.

Meet the Artists

Grete Pedersen is internationallyacclaimed for her stylistically assured andmusically convincing performances ofBaroque, Classical, and contemporarymusic. She is regarded as a pioneer for herwork in bringing Norwegian folk music andtraditional singing into the field of choralmusic. Ms. Pedersen studied conductingwith Kenneth Kiesler, and choral conduct-ing with Terje Kvam and Eric Ericson. Sheis a professor of choral conducting at theNorwegian Academy of Music and is ingreat demand as a guest conductor for pro-fessional choirs throughout Europe.

Ms. Pedersen founded the Oslo ChamberChoir in 1984, which she conducted until2004. She is a frequent guest conductorwith European choirs, including the BBCSingers and Swedish Radio Choir. Musicfor choir and orchestra will form an impor-tant part of her work in the coming years,in close collaboration with EnsembleAllegria and the Norwegian RadioOrchestra, among others.

Norwegian Soloists’ Choir The Norwegian Soloists’� Choir is one ofNorway’s leading ensembles and amongthe foremost chamber choirs in Europe.Equally at home with Classical andRomantic repertoire as well as contempo-rary music, the choir also makes regularexcursions into folk-derived music andnational Romantic works. The NorwegianSoloists’ Choir was founded in 1950 by thecomposer Knut Nystedt, who served as itsconductor for 40 years. In 1990 he wassucceeded by Grete Pedersen, whoremains the choir’s artistic director.

Comprising 26 singers, the choir organizesnumerous concerts on its own and partici-pates in festivals in Norway and abroad. Inrecent years, it has collaborated withensembles such as the Freiburg BaroqueOrchestra, Lautten Compagney, MahlerChamber Orchestra, Norwegian RadioOrchestra, RIAS Kammerchor, Akademiefür Alte Musik Berlin, Accademia Bizantina,Oslo Sinfonietta, TrondheimSolistene, andNorwegian Chamber Orchestra.

The Norwegian Soloists’ Choir was namedperformer of the year in 2012 by theNorwegian Society of Composers, receiv-ing the Gammleng Award in the categoryof art music that same year. In 2015 thechoir was nominated for a classicalSpellemann prize for its recording MeinsLebens Licht: Nystedt-Bach. The ensem-ble’s most recent recording, J. S. Bach:Motets, was released this year.

Esther J. HamoriEsther J. Hamori is an associate professorof Hebrew Bible at Union TheologicalSeminary. She earned her bachelor of artsdegree at Sarah Lawrence College with amajor in violin performance in 1994, herM.Div. at Yale Divinity School in 1997, andher PhD in Hebrew Bible and Ancient NearEastern Literature from the Department ofHebrew and Judaic Studies at New YorkUniversity in 2004. She taught at SarahLawrence College and Cornell Universitybefore joining the Union faculty in 2005.Ms. Hamori’s research is focused onancient concepts of divine-human contactand communication as reflected in Israeliteand other Near Eastern texts. Her latestbook, Women’s Divination in BiblicalLiterature: Prophecy, Necromancy, andOther Arts of Knowledge (Yale UniversityPress, 2015), brings to light the full rangeof women’s divinatory activities as por-trayed in the Hebrew texts. Her courses atUnion include the Book of Job, MonsterHeaven, and the Psalms.

Grete Pedersen

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White Light Festival I could compare my music to white light,which contains all colors. Only a prism candivide the colors and make them appear;this prism could be the spirit of the listener.—Arvo Pärt. Now in its eighth year, theWhite Light Festival is Lincoln Center’sannual exploration of music and art’spower to reveal the many dimensions ofour interior lives. International in scope,the multidisciplinary festival offers a broadspectrum of the world’s leading instru-mentalists, vocalists, ensembles, choreog-raphers, dance companies, and directors,complemented by conversations withartists and scholars and post-performanceWhite Light Lounges.

Lincoln Center for the PerformingArts, Inc.Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

(LCPA) serves three primary roles: presen-ter of artistic programming, national leaderin arts and education and community rela-tions, and manager of the Lincoln Centercampus. A presenter of more than 3,000free and ticketed events, performances,tours, and educational activities annually,LCPA offers 15 programs, series, and festi-vals including American Songbook, GreatPerformers, Lincoln Center Festival,Lincoln Center Out of Doors, MidsummerNight Swing, the Mostly Mozart Festival,and the White Light Festival, as well as theEmmy Award–winning Live From LincolnCenter, which airs nationally on PBS. Asmanager of the Lincoln Center campus,LCPA provides support and services for theLincoln Center complex and the 11 resi-dent organizations. In addition, LCPA led a$1.2 billion campus renovation, completedin October 2012.

Lincoln Center Programming DepartmentJane Moss, Ehrenkranz Artistic DirectorHanako Yamaguchi, Director, Music ProgrammingJon Nakagawa, Director, Contemporary ProgrammingJill Sternheimer, Director, Public ProgrammingLisa Takemoto, Production ManagerCharles Cermele, Producer, Contemporary ProgrammingMauricio Lomelin, Producer, Contemporary ProgrammingAndrew C. Elsesser, Associate Director, ProgrammingLuna Shyr, Senior EditorRegina Grande Rivera, Associate ProducerDaniel Soto, Associate Producer, Public ProgrammingWalker Beard, Production CoordinatorNana Asase, Assistant to the Artistic DirectorOlivia Fortunato, Programming AssistantDorian Mueller, House Program CoordinatorJanet Rucker, Company Manager

For the White Light FestivalKarissa Krenz, Project Manager, The Psalms ExperienceNeil Creedon, Production ManagerJo McInerney Farrow, Stage ManagerSteven Jude Tietjen, Supertitles

Norwegian Soloists’ ChoirGrete Pedersen, Artistic Director

SopranoKarin LundströmIngeborg DalheimDitte Marie BræinMarie KöberleinKaren Heier HovdMari Øyrehagen

AltoAstrid Sandvand DahlenEva B. LandroJorunn L. HusanLive MaartmannTobias NilssonCecilia Tomter

TenorHåvard GravdalMasashi TsujiPaul KirbyØystein StensheimRobert LindEirik Grøtvedt

BassPeder Arnt KløvrudSvein KorshamnArild BakkeOlle HolmgrenJan KuharOskar Olofsen

OrganJames Kennerley

BJØRN BERTHEUSSEN

Norwegian Soloists’ Choir StaffIngvar Ørn Thrastarson, ProducerIngvild Skaatan, Managing Director