One of the blessings (curses?) of being a musician is getting to hear music in your head all of the time. Usually, it is music from a recent rehearsal or practice session. My most recent ear-worm is a phrase from Felix Mendelssohn's choral setting of Psalm 42. The choir I currently play for, Bellevue Chamber Chorus, is singing the first movement (also entitled As pants the hart), accompanied by myself at the piano, in our upcoming concert of sacred music, so we have been studying the piece for several weeks now.
Psalm 42 Wie der Hirsch schreit (As pants the hart) is a cantata for choir, soloists, and orchestra. Schumann commented that the work was the “highest point that he [Mendelssohn] reached as a composer for the church. Indeed the highest point recent church music has reached at all.” Mendelssohn himself described it as “my best sacred piece… the best thing I have composed in this manner”, a work “I hold in greater regard than most of my other compositions.” Indeed, it contains what I love most about Mendelssohn's music: beautiful elongated musical phrases that terrace one independent voice line on top of another until they all come together in chordal harmony at the end of the phrase.
The entire text of the first movement is “As the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts after Thee, oh God.” Each time Mendelssohn sets the words “nach frischem Wasser” (for fresh water), the melody rises, as if the deer is reaching up, or moving towards, the water. Similarly, when he sets the word “schreit” (literally “shouts” or “cries” or longs for, in the phrase “my soul thirsts/shouts after Thee”), he emphasizes it most often by leading the melody upwards. This happens only when my soul cries out, not when the deer cries out! The deer pants for fresh water, but my soul cries, God, to Thee. Of course, the word order is different in German, but you get the idea.
That Mendelssohn would so deliberately paint the text in this way indicates his deep understanding of the text and the way music can work in tandem with words to communicate an idea in a richer way. His artistry enhances the original poetry and affords the singer, and the listener, opportunity for reflection as he has each voice part repeat snippets of phrases over and over until they come together in full chorus. If only modern worship songwriters would take this to heart!
Listen for yourself to a recording of this wonderful piece:
Then, mark your calendar for a chance to hear it live and in person! Bellevue Chamber Chorus will perform it on May 17 and 18, and you can buy tickets and find online streaming information here.
Incidentally, the first movement is also a great exercise in open score reading. You can find a free copy of it here.
Keep up with my writing by subscribing to At Home with Classical Piano on Substack.