Devotio Moderna, CENTER OF DEVELOPMENT AND SUPPORT OF NEW MUSIC

VLADIMIR MARTYNOV

REQUIEM and STABAT MATER

REQUIEM

The fact that the text to the Missae Pro Defunctis, which starts with the words "Requiem Aeternam," is presently perceived as an occasion to write sorrowful music is just one of the manifold effects of the global deformation of the sacred domain, caused by the Age of Enlightenment. All of the great musicians of the New Era, including Mozart, ended up being overpowered by it. Notwithstanding this, one must remember that the primary aim of the Missae Pro Defunctis is not to cultivate mournful feelings, which naturally occur at the moment of parting with the deceased, but in a prayer that God would grant the deceased eternal rest and eternal light. However this eternal rest and eternal light is something that is not fathomable to a person, who is immersed in the darkness of the glamourous Enlightenment, filled with vague phantoms. It is indeed a paradoxic occurrence that one of these phantoms - the Dark Person - comes to Mozart and commissions him to write a Requiem - in essence a composition about eternal light. Could one imagine that such a Dark Person would come to any one of the Great Masters of the 15th century. This Dark Person does not come to us as well, but for entirely different reasons. It is because the time of composers has passed and in truth there is none that he could come to. Nevertheless, though the time of composers - and, following this, the time of the Dark Person, who would commission the Requiem - has passed, the canonical text to the Missae Pro Defunctis remains, always available for post-compositional interpretations. One of such kinds of interpretations could present itself as a prayer for the granting of eternal rest by means of a principle of composition, as well as for the Dark Person, who enters into the realm of eternal light.

Vladimir Martynov

REQUIEM

Introitus

Rest eternal grant them, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon them.
A hymn befits Thee, O God, in Zion;
and to Thee shall be paid a vow in Jerusalem.
Hear my prayer,
to Thee all flesh shall come.
Rest eternal grant them, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Kyrie

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Dies irae

A day of wrath; that day,
it will dissolve the world into glowing ashes,
as attested by David together with the Sibyl.
What trembling will there be,
when the Judge shall come
to examine everything in strict justice.
The trumpet's wondrous call sounding abroad
in tombs throughout the world
shall drive everybody forward to the throne.
Death and nature shall stand amazed
when creation rises again
to give answer to its Judge.
A written book will be brought forth
in which everythin is contained
from which the world shall be judged.
So when the Judge is seated,
whatever is hidden will be made known:
nothing shall go unpunished.
What shall I, wretch, say at that time?
What advocate shall I entreat (to plead for me)
when scarcaly the righteous shal be safe from damnation?
King of awesome majesty,
who to grants salvation to those that are to be saved,
save me, o fount of Pity.
Remember, dear Jesus,
that I am the reason for Thy journey (into this world):
do not cast me away on that day.
Seeking me, Thou didst sit down weary,
Thou didst redeem me, suffering the death on the Cross:
let not such toil have been in vain.
Just Judge of vengeance,
grant me the gift of pardon
before the day of reckoning.
I groan like one condemned:
my face blushes for my sins:
spare a supplicant, o God.
Thou who didst absolve Mary (Magdalen),
and heard the robber,
hast given me hope as well.
My prayers are not worthy:
but Thou, of Thy goodness, deal generously (with me),
that I burn not in the everlasting flame.
Give me a place among the sheep,
and separate me from the goats,
setting me on Thy right hand.

When the accursed have been confounded
and sentenced to acrid flames,
call me along with the blessed.

I pray in supplication on my knees.
My heart contrite as the dust,
Safeguard my fate.

That day will be one of weeping
on which shall rise again from the embers
the guilty man, to be judged.
Therefore spare him, O God.
Merciful Lord Jesus,
grant them rest. Amen.

Offertorium

O Lord Jesus Christ, King of Glory, delive
the souls of all the faithful departed from
the pains of hell and from the bottomless pit:
save them from the lion's jaws, that hell may not
engulf them, that they may not fall into darkness, but
let Saint Michael the standard-bearer lead them into
the holy light which Thou of old didst promise Abraham
and to his seed.

Sacrifices and prayers of praise to Thee, O Lord,
we offer: do Thou receive them on behalf of thouse souls
whom this day we commemorate. Allow them, O Lord,
to pass from death unto life.
Thou of old didst promise Abraham
and to his seed.

Sanctus

Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of Sabaoth,
heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei

Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: grant them rest.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world: grant them eternal rest.

Lux aeterna

Let eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, with Thy saints
forever, for Thou art merciful.

Rest eternal grant them, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon them,
with Thy saints forever, for Thou art merciful.
May they rest in peace. Amen.

STABAT MATER
The sequence "Stabat Mater," attributed to Jacopone da Todi (Jacopone da Benedetti) presents itself as a synthetic musical poetical form, in which the melodic structure is inseparably linked with the rhythmical structure of the text. A extremely exalted content of images of the text is combined with an utmostly acute periodicity of the simplest rhythmical formulas, and this is the cause of the secret of the hypnotic charming impact of traditional sequences in general and particularly in the Stabat Mater. However, in the course of time the structural unity of the melody and the text started to dissolve, and the later compositional interpretations of Stabat Mater, created by Palestrina, Vivaldi, Pergolesi and many others shattered this unity by ignoring the initial rhythmical structure and placing the text into a new rhythmical setting, one which is in no way connected with the primary source. As a result the text of the Stabat Mater came to be perceived merely as a set of emotional images, which help arouse the fantasy of the composer, rather than as a canonical form, which dictates its strict structural demands. Nevertheless, the rhythmical organization of of the structure of the text of Stabat Mater does indeed present itself as the dynamic core of this sequence. One must not forget that the ardent exaltation of the both the text and the initial melody of the Stabat Mater was created in an atmosphere of processions of self-flagelators and monastic mortifiers of the flesh, who were present throughout all of Italy at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries. Each participant of a procession of self-flagelators voluntarily inflicted pain on himself by whipping himself while singing chants to the Virgin Mary to the rhythm of the whipping. The self-flagelator's lashing of the whip on his own back and then raising his hand for another lash is what comprises the essence of the rhythmic structure of the Stabat Mater. This structure could manifest itself on various levels: on the level of the strong and weak syllable, on the level of the odd and even strophe, on the level of the juxtaposition of male and female voices, vocal and instrumental sonorities, ascending and descending motion - in all of these cases at the basis of all of these levels, one should perceive the movement of the whip, hitting one's own back and then rising for carrying out another lash. Nevertheless, we hope that this self-flagelation must not continue forever. One must not forget that the veritable complicity with the sufferings of the Mother, who saw the deathly tortures of her Son are transformed into the promise made by the Son Himself to the robber, crucified along with Him: "Verily I say unto thee, today thou wilt be with Me in Paradise." It is in this descent and ascent, passing onto enternity, that the rhythmic enigma of the Stabat Mater is contained.

Vladimir Martynov

STABAT MATER

Stabat mater
At the Cross her station keeping,
stood the mournful Mother, weeping,
close to Jesus at the last.
Through her soul, of joy bereaved,
bowed with anguish, deeply grieved,
now at length the sword hath passed.

O quam tristis
Oh, that blessed one, grief-laden,
blessed Mother, blessed Maiden,
Mother of the all-holy One.
O that silent, ceaseless mourning,
oh those dim eyes, never turning
from that wondrous, suffering Son.

Quis est homo
Who on Christ's dear Mother gazing,
in her trouble so amazing,
born of woman, would not weep?
Who on Christ's dear Mother thinking,
such a cup of sorrow drinking,
would not share her sorrow deep?

Pro peccatis
For His people's sins, in anguish,
there she saw the Victim languish,
bleed in torments, bleed and die.
Saw the Lord's Anointed taken;
saw her Child in death forsaken,
heard His last expiring cry.

Eia, mater
In the Passion of my Maker
be my sinful soul partaker,
may I bear with her my part.
Of His Passion bear the token,
in a spirit bowed and broken
bear His death within my heart.
Thou, who on the Cross art bearing
all the pains I would be sharing
glows my heart with love for Thee.
By Thy glorious Death and Passion,
saving me in wondrous fashion,
saviour, turn my heart to Thee.
At Thy feet in adoration,
wrapt in earnest contemplation
see, beneath Thy Cross I lie.
There, where all our sins Thou bearest
in compassion fullest, rarest,
hanging on the bitter Tree.

Virgo virginum
Thou who art for ever blessed,
Thou who art by all confessed,
now I lift my soul to Thee.
Make me of Thy death the bearer,
in Thy Passion be a sharer,
taking to myself Thy pain.
Let me with Thus stripes be stricken!
Let Thy Cross with hope me quicken,
that I thus Thy love may gain.
All my heart, inflamed and burning,
Saviour, now to Thee is turning;
shield me in the Judgement day.
By Thy Cross may I be guarded,
meritless - yet be rewarded
through Thy grace, O living Way.
While my body here is lying
let my soul be swiftly flying
to Thy glorious Paradise.
Amen.