The cantata Ioann Damaskin was the first serious composition that drew attention to Taneyev as a talented composer. It was inspired by Aleksey Tolstoy’s eponymous poem which, in twelve chapters, tells the life story of John of Damascus, St John Damascene, who lived in the seventh and eighth centuries. The last of the Greek Fathers, John of Damascus was a writer, poet, and a man of encyclopedic erudition. His most important and best known work, the Fountain of Wisdom, was held in the highest esteem by both the Catholic and Greek Churches. There he collated and epitomized the opinions of the great ecclesiastical writers who preceded him. Taneyev used an excerpt from the eighth chapter of Tolstoy’s poem for his cantata, setting it to a musical theme closely based on the sacred chant So svyatïmi upokoy (Rest with the Holy Ones). The chant existed in various interpretations, and Taneyev took its earliest known version, published in 1772. In keeping with the ancient origins of the melody, he preserved its natural minor by avoiding all chromaticism, and compressed its eighteen bars into eight. The theme derived from So svyatïmi upokoy permeates the entire cantata, thus uniting it thematically. Taneyev masterfully developed this principle of monothematicism in his mature works, and its culmination can be seen in the epic score of his Symphony in C minor, Op. 12. Unfortunately there are no letters or diary entries that relate to the history of composition of Ioann Damaskin, but Taneyev’s sketch-books show the process, which was very similar to that of Beethoven, through which he selected and developed the musical material. Taneyev noted down all proposed themes, wrote a large number of exercises, contrapuntal and thematic combinations based on those themes, and only when most of the possibilities of the musical material had been explored, did he choose a desired melody. Highly critical of his own compositions, Taneyev was known for keeping many of his works locked in the drawer, but Ioann Damaskin was the first to which he gave an opus number. The success of the cantata’s première strengthened the composer’s self-belief and even prompted him cheekily to reproach Tchaikovsky, who often scolded his former student for spending too much time with ‘contrapuntal focuses’. Taneyev wrote that the success of the cantata had proved to him that the ‘contrapuntal method of composition does not make music dry and boring’, that ‘contrapuntal “focuses”, as well as harmonic intricacies, stop being such when one masters them completely, and [they] can fully serve artistic aims’. Taneyev triumphed: ‘In the question of counterpoint I now deem myself a victor, and you defeated’. In his letter of reply Tchaikovsky obediently accepted his defeat and shared the joy of Taneyev’s success. Ioann Damaskin consists of three movements. The Adagio ma non troppo opens with a four-minute introduction, presenting the main musical theme of the extensive fugue that follows. The Andante sostenuto is a short, peaceful, and subdued movement, which ends with a sudden change in dynamics and articulation. The final Allegro is an energetic fugue, where the trumpet plays an important rôle as a signaller of ‘the end of the world’. After a thunderous timpani roll and the powerful exclamation of the brass the music stops, but after a pause the cantata continues with a barely audible conclusion set to the words ‘Accept Thy departed servant /Into Thy heavenly abode’. Taneyev presents an interesting case when it comes to his compositions inspired by texts on religious themes. He openly admitted being an atheist and stated that sacred music failed to move him in any way. Still, in recent years some Russian musicologists have tried to re-brand Taneyev as a deeply religious person, completely ignoring his personal diary entries, where he unequivocally states his lack of religious faith. The composer thought that the Greek outlook on the world was the most effective—not surprising for a man who had never stopped admiring and continued to educate himself in ancient literature, philosophy, and history. Taneyev was also the only Russian composer in the nineteenth century who completed an opera based on a Greek tragedy, Oresteia (1894).
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 10:21:27 +0000
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