Music Finland Core

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A few years ago, Mia Huhta approached me about writing a song cycle for her recital programs, one that could later be expanded for a small orchestra. Very quickly, the project mushroomed beyond our wildest expectations, and I soon found myself committed to a large-scale work for the Helsinki Philharmonic. From the start, though, I had very clear ideas about the kind of music I wanted to write for Mia. Given my penchant for mystical spiritual texts in my vocal music, I determined that I would use poetry of a sacred nature. Additionally, writing an extended piece for solo soprano brought to mind using words by a female writer, as I have often been struck by a certain dissonance in much of the vocal repertoire of a woman's voice singing words written by men. I wanted my soloist and poet to sing with one voice, as it were.These considerations, as well as the light, flexible quality of the lyric soprano voice drew me to "Saint" Hildegard of Bingen, the twelfth-century nun and polymath whose unconventional, virtuosic and ecstatic vocal melodies I have long admired. The title Dulcissima, clara, sonans refers to the type of voice Hildegard believed most pleasing and appropriate to liturgical singing, "the very sweetest, clear and ringing". It occurred to me that despite Hildegard's large body of writing, I had never heard any of it set to music, except her own. I therefore dug into her literary oeuvre, hoping to find the voice I was looking for. Hildegard's mystical writings, so bizarre and apocalyptic, filled with radiant joy, were an immediate inspiration. While I settled quickly on a series of shorter excerpts from her collection Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations), for which Hildegard herself wrote music, I felt the work needed a larger narrative thread to bind it. Intrigued by the crippling visions that were the source of Hildegard's writing – it is now believed, based on her descriptions and paintings of these visions, that she suffered from migraine – the shape of the piece evolved from a song cycle into a dramatic scena in which the soloist experiences just such a visitation, hearing a voice from heaven reveal secrets to her. The text of the moment of revelation is drawn from the first vision of Hildegard's final work, Liber divinorum operum (The Book of Divine Works), in which she is shown the divine nature of Love. Rather than use modern translations, I opted for Hildegard's original, idiosyncratic Latin, as I felt it preserved better the rapt tone of her visions. The music as such, while largely modal, conspicuously melodic, and built around "antique"-sounding intervals like fourths and fifths – the term "symphonia" in medieval Latin was used variously to denote such basic consonances, and even the notion of "music" itself – draws very little on Hildegard's own settings. (I did, however, manage to work in a quotation of a favorite tune of hers, from the responsory Ave Maria, o auctrix vite, which is sounded by the horns at the opening of the seventh section, O ignis Spiritus.) Rather, I aimed to absorb the influence of her melodies, their structure and pacing, for my own vocal lines. The works starts with a joyous outburst, a series of hymns to Wisdom and the fiery Creative Spirit highlighting Hildegard's delight at her closeness to the Divine, later settling into a meditative, prayer-like stillness. Towers of chords loom above as the vision closes in, the orchestra taking on a threatening, noise-like presence, with bursts of light, strange auras and thudding explosions from the percussion, before a blinding radiance overtakes the soloist. Over a hushed drone that skitters ceaselessly around the orchestra, the singer slowly becomes a conduit for the voice of Love, later intoning its words in an otherworldly voice over a sea of overtones, before tumbling into a rush of ideas about the implications of her revelation. The idea of "one voice" grows as her prayers and entreaties, addressed outward in the beginning, become self-directed; through an anthem to caritas (boundless, altruistic love in Christian theology), she becomes a singularity, speaking as one with the Divine presence in the Living Light of her vision. The music closes in a mood of serene fulfillment, even sensual exhaustion.Dulcissima, clara, sonans was co-commissioned by Mia Huhta, Hannu Lintu and the Helsinki Philharmonic, with assistance from the Madetoja Fund, and is warmly dedicated to them. Entirely by chance, this first performance coincides with the year of Hildegard's long-awaited canonization, making her a true Saint of the Church, and it is appropriate that she share the dedication. Thanks are also due to Seppo Heikkinen for his help in the fine editing of Hildegard's texts, and to Verneri Anttila and Eibhlín Ní Ghríofa for their insights, one clinical, the other experiential, into the world as seen through migraine.

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Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin