Tuesday we listened to the
Summit Brass recording of
Fanfares Liturgique, by Henri Tomasi. As you heard, it is a very powerful and well-crafted composition. The names of the movements are translated below, and as we discussed, the genre seems to be an "instrumental oratorio" - that is, a sacred brass choir version of a liturgical work. Of course there is no text sung, but the orator could be represented by the trombone solo of the second movement. Note also the return of the triumphant first theme, possibly a motif for the Christ figure, returns in the final movement. I also was reminded in several passages of the works Stravinsky, Respighi, Bach, and Dukas.
This work was originally called "Fanfares Concertantes" and was part of his opera Don Juan de Mañera.
- I. Annonciation (Annunciation is the term describing the moment when the angel Gabriel declared Mary to be the mother of God)
- II. Evangile (Gospel, or the word of God)
- III. Apocalypse (Apocolypse, or revelation?) Four Horsemen who are listed as Pestilence (disease epidemic), War, Famine, Death
- IV. Procession du Vendredi-Saint (Good Friday Procession, a Christian celebration commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus)
For more information about Tomasi, go to the
Tomasi page and for more listening, go to
Tomasi on Naxos.
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