The personages are Jesus, Mary and two narrators. The composition,
which by some is pronounced the finest of modern oratorios, is a
curious mixture of old and new ways of musical treatment. While Gounod,
evidently influenced by Wagner, made use of ‘leading motives,’ he
also used the narrator in the same manner as did Bach and in like
manner treats the chorale. After a short instrumental introduction,
descriptive of chaos, and the narrator’s recitative concerning the
fall of man, the Redemption theme is heard and it appears wherever the
atonement is thought of. This beautiful leading motive is heard nine
times during the course of the work and is most effectively introduced
in the first chorus, ‘The earth is my possession.’ Its most touching
use is where Jesus tells the dying malefactor, ‘To-day shalt thou be
with Me in Paradise,’ and its most impressively triumphant appearance
is in the orchestral part at the close of the splendid chorus, ‘Unfold,
ye portals everlasting.’
The first part treats of the condemnation of Jesus, the crucifixion,
Mary at the foot of the cross and Jesus’ conversation with the two
thieves. It contains some finely written solos and choruses, and
the two instrumental numbers--‘The March to Calvary’ and the number
descriptive of the darkness that fell over the earth as Jesus uttered
his last words. The second part includes the events in the period
between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Among the beautiful
numbers in this part are the trio of Holy Women (two sopranos and a
contralto) ‘The Lord, He is risen again,’ and the lovely chorus with
soprano obbligato, ‘From Thy love as a Father.’ Possibly the strongest
chorus in the whole work is ‘Unfold, ye portals everlasting,’ which
is so often sung as a separate chorus number. The third part with
its beautiful orchestral introduction has for its first chorus the
melodious ‘Lovely appear over the mountains,’ followed by one of the
most exquisite portions of the whole work, the soprano solo, ‘Over
the barren wastes.’ After a repetition of the preceding chorus, there
follow the impressive events of the day of Pentecost, the Apostles at
prayer (for orchestra alone), the descent of the Spirit and the singing
of the Beatitudes. The close is a repetition of the majestic apostles’
hymn in unison, with the whole chorus, orchestra and organ massed in a
magnificent structure with grandiose effect.
_Mors et Vita_ is the second of his contemplated ‘sacred trilogy,’ of
which ‘The Redemption’ was the first. The Latin text is compiled from
the Catholic liturgy and from the Vulgate, and the work is dedicated
to Pope Leo XIII. The first performance took place at the Birmingham
Festival, August 26, 1885, under the direction of Richter, and the
first performance in Paris, in May, 1886. Gounod writes in the preface:
‘It will perhaps be asked why, in the title, I have placed death before
life. It is because in the order of eternal things death precedes life,
although in the order of temporal things life precedes death.’ He also
refers to his use of ‘leading motives,’ which are also employed in
‘The Redemption.’ There are four of these, the first of which, a theme
made up of four tones (a sequence of three major seconds), is supposed
to express ‘the terror inspired by the sense of the inflexibility of
Justice and, in consequence, by that of the anguish of punishment. Its
sternness gives expression both to the sentences of Divine Justice and
the sufferings of the condemned, and is found in combination throughout
the whole work with melodic forms which express sentiments altogether
different, as in the _Sanctus_ and the _Pie Jesu_ of the _Requiem_
which forms the first part.’ The second, the motive of sorrow and
tears, is, by the alteration of one tone, changed into a motive of joy.
Of the fourth, Gounod writes: ‘By means of a threefold superposition,
it results in the interval of an augmented fifth and announces the
awakening of the dead at the terrifying call of the angelic trumpets,
of which St. Paul speaks in one of his epistles to the Corinthians.’
A short Prologue leads to the first part, _Mors_ (Death), which is a
_Requiem_ expanded by interpolated texts of a reflective character.
The second part, called _Judicium_ (Last Judgment), contains six
subdivisions, as follows: The Sleep of the Dead, The Trumpets at the
Last Judgment, The Resurrection of the Dead, The Judge, The Judgment of
the Elect, The Judgment of the Rejected. The third part, _Vita_ (Life),
using the text of St. John’s vision in the Apocalypse, describes the
joys of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, closing with an exultant _Hosanna
in excelsis_.
Among the finest choruses of the oratorio are the _Quid sum miser_
(‘Ah! What shall we then be pleading’) and the _Lacrymosa dies illa_
(‘Day of weeping, day of mourning’) from the _Dies iræ_. Probably the
greatest aria of the work is the soprano solo, _Beati qui lavant_ (‘The
righteous shall enter into Glory Eternal’).
The theme which Gounod has chosen presents opportunities for orchestral
effects which such a master of orchestration as he was would naturally
seize upon, and several of the numbers are for orchestra alone--The
Epilogue to the first part, in which the various leading motives are
developed, The Judge, and The Heavenly Jerusalem.
FOOTNOTES:
[80] These oratorios were, in addition to the one named, ‘Deborah,’
‘Rachel,’ ‘Ruth and Naomi,’ ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ and the three ‘Coronation
Oratorios’ written for the three days’ coronation ceremonies of
Napoleon in 1804 (in reality three masses expanded so as to include the
special ceremonies).