Illarion's St. Matthew Passion illustration. Kiss of Judas
Cold ashes covered their tracks,
But the boys stand and wait for an answer -
All those who, having appeared on earth,
Didn't live to see his thirteenth summer.
Their endless formation is gloomy and quiet,
The ranks are like mourning ribbons.
So why don't you take a look at them
Premiers, generals, presidents?..
I rarely read books about war because they are difficult for me to read. Especially when they are not talking about adults, but about innocent children. Before us is the story of Steffi, a girl from Vienna, guilty only of being Jewish.
She once had happy life: beautiful house and loving parents, there was a servant, so neither mother, nor Steffi, nor her sister Nellie had to cook and clean the apartment, there was a school and best friend. But then everything changed: the Nazis came to Vienna and divided everyone into first- and second-class people. Wanting to protect their children from harm, the parents sent Steffi and Nellie to Sweden, which kindly agreed to shelter Jewish children. Adults no longer had enough strength and courage...
And now this girl will have to learn to live again. After all, on the island that became her new home, there are completely different people, traditions and customs. The climate is different here and the food is completely different. Here someone else’s aunt has to replace mom, everyone speaks an incomprehensible language and for some reason they don’t believe that in a civilized country they can wake you up in the middle of the night, kick you out onto the street and take you in an unknown direction just because you are a Jew. In the book, the war remains only a background, but this made me even more creepy. After all, everyone knows well what remains behind the scenes...
I was lucky with my school. It paid a lot of attention not only to studies, but also moral education. It seems that for the 55th anniversary of the victory, the school was preparing a program “Let the world begin with me”, most of which was dedicated to the Second World War. One of the most memorable scenes was the part called "Children of War". It consisted of memories of teachers and other school employees about their wartime childhood. How could I, then still a snotty schoolgirl, know what those people whom I saw almost every day and did not distinguish from the rest in any way experienced?
One teacher primary classes I went to 1st grade in 1941. Just imagine for a moment what school was like for these first graders! Symbol peaceful life and hope for the future, I think, no less. And the director of our school... Just yesterday she was walking with her parents around the flourishing city, and in the morning she accompanied her dad to battle and ran away with her mother from the war to the accompaniment of bombings and the howl of shells. There was another teacher French, who ended up in a concentration camp as a two-year-old baby...
Please don't scold me for taking a break from the book. I'm just trying to say that all these stories have something in common. After all, the worst thing about any war is that it takes away what is most precious from people. People are deprived of their usual lives, lose their health, loved ones own lives. And in addition to all this, children lose something even more important, they lose their childhood...
I believe that books like this should definitely be read as a child. It’s better if their parents read them with their children. After all, there are things that can only be learned in childhood. Otherwise, time will be lost, and the child will no longer have the chance to become a real person.
We part with Steffi when a lot of things are going well in her life. But it's only 1940. What about ahead? There are still 5 long years of war ahead...
Everything was...
And this year as an inheritance
It brings me memory without changing it at all,
All the wounds and pains of a wartime childhood...
I curse the war with my wounded childhood!
Biography
Annika Thor was born in 1950 into a Jewish family in Gothenburg. She worked as a librarian and cultural secretary, in currently is freelance writer in the direction of cinema, media mass media and children's culture.
Annika also writes scripts for films and plays, often for children and youth. She lives with her family in Stockholm.
Annika Thor is one of Sweden's most important children's and young adult writers. Her books are sold in many countries and have even been filmed and reworked for radio theater. Thor has received many awards and honors for literary activity, both in Sweden and abroad.
Annika Thor made her debut as a writer in 1996 with the book “Island in the Sea,” which unvarnished the life of two little Jewish refugees who arrived in the Gothenburg skerries from Vienna in the forties. The book was nominated for the August Prize as the most best book for children and youth in 1996, which was quite unusual for a debut work. The jury's opinion read: "With tolerance and subdued sadness, Annika Thor portrayed the dramatic daily experiences of two girls during their first year in Sweden. Touchingly, but without unnecessary sentimentality and objectively, the fate of the sisters in the shadow of war is depicted."
Annika Thor about herself:
“Not long ago I met some of my old school friends with whom I was in preschool in public school. One of them kept his book “My Classmates,” the kind where they ask their comrades to answer questions about their favorite color, movie actor, etc. One of the questions was usually: What do you want to be when you grow up? And as an answer, I carefully wrote in block letters: Writer.
Eventually I became a writer, but it took many years. As a child, I was always busy either reading other people's stories or writing my own. On the way home from school, my mind was not in Gothenburg on a wet, rainy day in the 1960s, but in a completely different time and place. I acted out long and complicated dramas with paper cutout dolls or my Ginger "Gingerdockor" dolls (precursors to Barbie). And I wrote: poems, stories, plays.
But in adolescence self-criticism struck. What were my works worth in comparison with world literature? Nothing, of course. Why write then? There's no need at all. Instead, I eventually trained to be a librarian. I wanted to do books. One way or another.
Through winding paths, I gradually returned to writing, first as a journalist. The desire to tell stories woke up again, and from the mid-80s until now I have been writing scripts for some films for children and adults. But I could write a book real book...? So one day in January 1993, while I was researching facts for an article, I happened upon a summary of how 500 Jewish refugee children were brought to Sweden just before the Second World War.
This was the story I wanted to tell. But how? For many reasons, she was not suitable for the film. This must be a book.
“Island in the Sea” is a story about twelve-year-old Steffi from Vienna, who, together with her younger sister Nellie was brought to Sweden to escape Nazi persecution of Jews. The book was published in the spring of 1996. Then I already managed to write a sequel, “Pond of White Water Lilies.” When Steffi turned thirteen, she continued her studies in Gothenburg and was caught first great love. “Depth of the Sea” and “Open Sea” are the third and fourth parts in the series about Steffi and Nellie. All four books were made into a television series, which was shown on Swedish television in the fall of 2003."
The premiere of the second version of the oratorio “Matthew Passion” by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev took place in Moscow. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, author of a series of articles on music I.S., shared his impressions of the oratorio with Pravmir. Bach abbot Peter (Meshcherinov).
"Passion according to Matthew" by Metropolitan Hilarion. Photo: mospat.ru
First of all, it was very significant for me to be in my alma mater, in the hall in which I spent my entire youth - I worked in the orchestra during my studies Great Hall conservatory.
True, the way the hall was renovated upset me - but that’s a different conversation.
I was already familiar with the work of Bishop Hilarion in a video recording (in the first edition); I listened to it “live” for the first time.
I liked it very much.
The second edition, in which the author himself reads the Gospel, is more condensed, more concentrated than the first; and, in my opinion, this is good for a concert - and the expanded version is better listened to at home, where there are more conveniences for individual listening. The Bishop somewhat expanded the “canonical framework” of the Passion; according to tradition, the gospel text ends with how the Lord’s tomb is sealed and a guard is assigned to it; Here, Bishop Hilarion brought the narrative to the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, to the Resurrection. For a non-liturgical, concert work, this is, of course, more logical.
I really liked the way Vladyka read the Gospel text and how well the Gospel was set to music.
In some fragments of “The Passion” the audience simply froze; I especially remember from such moments the choral fragment “We will sing to you” - simply wonderful music.
I would like better diction from the choir - but here, perhaps, the acoustics are to blame, which, in my opinion (or rather, “hearing”) still changed after the renovation, not for the better.
I was very impressed by the sermon with which the author preceded the performance; a rare example of a Christ-centered pastoral word in our time.
– Johann Bach and Metropolitan Hilarion – is this a repetition, development, continuation?
- Yes, of course, when we (in musical context) we pronounce the word “Passion”, it is impossible not to remember the greatest “singer of the Lord’s Passion” in the history of music - Johann Sebastian Bach. I know that ow. Hilarion is an expert and lover of Bach’s work, and he himself said that one of the most important sources of inspiration for him was Bach’s work (I don’t remember the exact quote).
"Passion according to Matthew" by Metropolitan Hilarion. Photo: mospat.ru
"Passion" ow. Hilarion is not a “repetition” of Bach; I must say that the Lord’s music has its own style, its own sound, it is not an eclectic imitation.
But what place (in my opinion) does this work occupy in today’s cultural life- it is very interesting.
On the one hand, the “ceiling” musical culture for so many people today are musicals and soundtracks - so if we call ours musical era“the time of the musical”, that would be quite accurate (I don’t want to talk about “pop”, of course).
On the other hand, academic music itself today still for the most part continues the line of, I would say, excessive “elitism”; Basically this music is atonal and intended more for the intellect than for direct perception. And here a work appears, which, on the one hand, was written in the best academic traditions, and on the other hand, it is accessible to people, accessible in the very in the best sense this word, without any “reduction” (I remember how Haydn especially cared about the accessibility of his music, although he could write the most complex, learned work).
It also seems very important to me good combination in "Passion" vl. Hilarion Western tradition- this is what you asked about the “continuation” of Bach - and Orthodox liturgical creativity: passionate chants fit very well into the Western form of the “Passion”. This is a wonderful example of expressed musical means Christian universalism, the unity of common Christian culture - something that, in my opinion, we really lack today.
I'm not even talking about the missionary significance of the Passion. For me personally, it is very gratifying that Vl. Hilarion showed that not only the rock environment or youth subculture– mission space; it can also be high culture.
– Classical music and spiritual life - how are they connected for you?
I am a musician by training (and perhaps even more than by training); For me, music is very important, like some kind of spiritual bread. My favorite composers are Bach and Haydn. But being both a monk and a priest, I am aware that spiritual life goes on as usual. Music can contribute to it on the terms, so to speak, general development personality, refinement of the soul, education of taste.
The creative gift is, of course, a gift from God, and great composers undoubtedly reflected heavenly harmony in their works. Music came out of the worship service, having originally been its accompaniment. But I would not mix the sphere of aesthetics and spiritual life itself, for example, prayer.
– Is it possible to talk about the modern era of classical music?
The modern era, in my opinion, is a kind of “inter-epoch” (that’s how the neologism came about). Hard to say. Here the composer and philosopher Vladimir Martynov talks about “the end of the time of composers.” Usually about cultural eras they speak in a historical context, and it is very difficult for him to evaluate the time in which a person directly lives “globally.” Then, the era in music was composed primarily of great composers (which does not detract from the importance of the environment in which they were formed). And it is, of course, impossible to put obstacles in the way for God to bestow His gifts on whomever He wants.
– Have you tried to write music yourself?
IN student years I tried it, of course. But I realized that this is not my calling.
Thank you for this interview!
Word from Metropolitan Hilarion before the start of the oratorio
“Today we will hear the gospel story about the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the last days of His earthly life, the Lord was left alone in the face of suffering and death. He drank to the bottom the cup that was prepared for Him, and experienced the worst thing that can befall a person - loneliness and abandonment. He was alone in Gethsemane, for His disciples fell asleep soundly; He was alone at the trial of the high priests, at the interrogation of Herod and at the trial of Pilate, for His disciples fled in fear. He was alone when he went to Calvary; a random passer-by, and not a beloved disciple, helped carry the Cross. He was alone on the Cross, alone dying, abandoned by everyone.
On the Cross, Jesus cried out to His Father: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27; 46). This cry contained the pain of all humanity and every person - the pain of everyone who feels that he is alone and who seems to be abandoned by God. For it is scary to be abandoned by your loved ones and friends, but even more terrible when it seems to you that God has abandoned you, that an insurmountable wall stands between God and you and He doesn’t seem to hear, doesn’t see, doesn’t notice...
If you suffer from loneliness, remember how lonely the Savior was in last hours Your earthly life. If your loved ones and disciples have turned away from you, if you have been subjected to undeserved slander, if they bear false witness against you and declare you guilty of death, remember that the Lord Himself went through this.
If the one who lived with you under the same roof, took communion from the same Chalice, ate your bread, in whom you trusted with all the power of love, with whom you shared your thoughts and feelings, from whom you hid nothing and for whom you spared nothing - if this person betrayed you, remember that the Lord also experienced this.
If your cross has fallen on you with such weight that you are unable to carry it, if your loved ones do not want to share it with you, be grateful to that, perhaps, random passer-by who will help you carry at least some part of it ways.
If a wave of God-forsakenness has covered you completely and it seems to you that there is no God or that He has turned away and does not hear you, then do not despair, for Christ also went through this terrible and bitter experience.
If they condemn you and insult you, slap you in the face and spit on you, nail you to a cross and give you bitter bile instead of water, pray for those who crucify you, for they do not know what they are doing.
Listening to the story of the Evangelist Matthew about the suffering, death on the cross and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, let us thank the Lord for the fact that He became lonely so that we would not be lonely, was abandoned so that we would not be abandoned, went through insults and reproaches, slander and humiliation, suffering and death, so that in every suffering we feel that we are not alone, but that the Savior Himself is with us until the end of the age.”
Passion according to Matthew by Metropolitan Hilarion. Photo: mospat.ru
"Matthew Passion"(2006) - a monumental work for soloists, choir and orchestra by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev). Fragments of the Gospel alternate with musical numbers- recitatives, choruses, and arias, the text of which is borrowed mainly from the Orthodox service of Holy Week. Prayerful empathy for the suffering Savior and spiritual understanding of the death of the God-man on the cross—this is the inner content of the music, reflecting the Orthodox reading of the story of the suffering of Jesus Christ.
"THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW"
(premiere of the oratorio by Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)
At the center of the plot - last chapters The Gospels of Matthew, which tell about last days earthly life of Jesus Christ: from the Last Supper to death on the Cross.
"THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW"
(second version)
The peculiarity of the second version is the reading of the Gospel not in the manner characteristic of reading the Gospel in the temple, but a combination of reading with music, when the word is superimposed on musical themes works.
The text of the Gospel is read by Metropolitan Hilarion.
Big Symphony Orchestra them. P.I. Tchaikovsky, Moscow synodal choir Conductor - Alexey Puzakov.
And although the title of the work coincides with famous composition Bach, but musical language other. The emotional element of human suffering, which the Catholic tradition emphasizes, is not the main thing here - the spiritual understanding of the death on the cross of the God-Man and His Resurrection predominates, which is characteristic of the Orthodox view.
"THE PASSION ACCORDING TO MATTHEW"
Movie. (music by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeev)
About the author.
Vladyka Hilarion is a very gifted person: a true scientist, a talented composer and a great administrator, he amazes with both his knowledge and his ability to direct all his will to solve the pressing problems facing the Russian Empire. Orthodox Church. His books dedicated to the life and work of the great saints of the Church: St. Gregory the Theologian, St. Isaac the Syrian and Simeon the New Theologian, research in the field of imyaslav disputes can rightfully be considered one of the best of its kind.
Here is what Metropolitan Hilarion himself writes about his work:
“In my composition, I relied on the musical vision of Bach’s era: that is why I called my composition “St. Matthew Passion” - so that there would be no questions about who I was focusing on. But this is “neither a quotation nor a recomposition, nor a parody nor a deconstruction.” Let me add that this is not stylization. Bach's music is a reference point for me, a standard, and therefore individual Bach intonations are naturally woven into the musical fabric of my composition. But I filled the old form of the “Passion,” dating back to the pre-Bach era (remember Schutz’s wonderful “Passions”) with new content.
The originality of this work lies, firstly, in its Christocentricity. In the Russian secular musical tradition, until the last quarter of the 20th century, there were no works dedicated to life, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ. The gospel was not perceived by our secular composers as a worthy subject for musical creativity. Russian operas and oratorios were written on historical or romantic subjects; the religious element in them was not central. In my essay I relied on gospel story and on liturgical texts, which, again, are only in in rare cases used in our secular music. The structure of my essay is reminiscent of the structure of the Consequence of the Passion of Christ, performed on the eve of Good Friday. This service is sometimes called the Service of the Twelve Gospels because the Gospel passages are interspersed with troparia, stichera and canons containing theological commentary on the Gospel text. My music is the same commentary on the gospel story of the Passion of Christ.
Secondly, the St. Matthew Passion is the first musical composition, written for the concert stage, but based on the traditions of Russian church music. IN XIX-XX centuries there was a divide between music for liturgical use and secular, concert music. The first sounded almost exclusively in churches, the second - in concert halls and theaters. I wanted to create some kind of synthesis of these two traditions, to overcome the artificial divide between them. I wanted people who do not go to church regularly to experience the same feelings that Orthodox believers experience when they attend Holy Week services. For me, “St. Matthew Passion” is not only a musical project, but also a missionary project. I wanted people to flock to church after hearing this music.
Thirdly, as a libretto I used liturgical texts that I myself chose, sometimes adapting them or shortening them so that they fit more easily into the music. My task was to paint a series of musical frescoes, which together would form an integral iconographic composition dedicated to the Passion of Christ. If icons and frescoes are speculation in colors, then I wanted to create speculation in music, that is, music that would be filled with church, theological content.”
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev) Oratorio “St. Matthew Passion”
for soloists, mixed choir and symphony orchestra
Libretto
1. The Council of the High Priests, the betrayal of Judas.
CHORUS: Sacred lament, come, let us sing to Christ. Hallelujah.
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:1-5): When Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples: you know that in two days the Passover will be, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified. Then the chief priests and scribes and the elders of the people gathered together in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and decided in council to take Jesus by cunning and kill him; but they said: just not on a holiday, so that there would be no disturbance among the people.
CHORUS: Lord, my God! I will sing your funeral hymn. Hallelujah.
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:14-16): Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: What will you give me, and I will deliver Him to you? They offered him thirty pieces of silver; and from that time on he sought an opportunity to betray Him.
CHORUS: Your Mother is crying and sobbing. Hallelujah.
2. Last Supper
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:17-19): On the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said to Him, “Where do you tell us to prepare the Passover for You?” He said: go to the city to so-and-so and tell him: The Teacher says: My time is near; I will keep the Passover with you with my disciples. The disciples did as Jesus commanded them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, He lay down with the twelve disciples; and while they were eating, he said, “Truly I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”
CHORUS: At Your supper, O Christ God, You said to Your disciple: only one of you will betray Me. (At Your supper, O Christ God, You said to Your disciples: one of you will betray Me.)
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:22-25): They were greatly saddened, and began to say to Him, every one of them: Is it not I, Lord? He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand into the dish with Me, this one will betray Me; However, the Son of Man comes, as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed: it would have been better for this man not to have been born. At this, Judas, who betrayed Him, said: Isn’t it me, Rabbi? Jesus says to him: You said.
CHORUS: Grievingly, each one of them began to say to Him: Isn’t it the same, Lord? Judas asked: isn’t it, Rabbi? Verb Jesus: You are advertising, Judas. (Getting very sad, they began to say to Him, each of them: “Isn’t it I, Lord?” Judas asked: “Isn’t it me, Rabbi?” Jesus answered: “You said, Judas.”)
3. Jesus at the Last Supper
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:26-29): And while they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it... and giving it to the disciples, He said, Take, eat: this is My Body. And, taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said: drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I tell you that from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine with you in the kingdom of My Father. And having sung, they went to the Mount of Olives.
4. Prediction of Peter's denial
CHORUS: Wanderings, Lady, and immortal meals in a high place, high minds, faithful ones, come let us enjoy, having ascended the Word, having learned from the word, Whom we magnify. (Hospitality of the Lord and an immortal meal in a high place, faithful ones, come, let us enjoy, with lofty thoughts having cognized the highest Word from the Word Himself, Which we magnify.)
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:31-35): Then Jesus says to them: You will all be offended because of Me this night, for it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered; After My resurrection I will go before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if everyone is offended because of You, I will never be offended.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.” Peter said to Him: Even though I had to die with You, I will not deny You. All the disciples said the same thing.
5. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane
Mezzo-Soprano: I see Your palace, my Savior, decorated, and I don’t have clothes, but I go into it. (I see Your prepared chamber, my Savior, but I have no clothes to enter into it.)
EVANGELIST (Matt. 26:36): Then Jesus comes with them to a place called Gethsema
