Tehillim (Reich)

Tehillim (Reich)
Tehillim is a composition by American composer Steve Reich, written in 1981.
Contents
Title
Instrumentation and the music
Analysis
Sources
External links
Title
The title comes from the Hebrew word for "psalms", and the work is the first to reflect Reich's
Jewish heritage. It is in four parts, marked fast, fast, slow, and fast.
Tehillim is the setting of Psalms 19:2–5 (19:1–4 in Christian translations); Psalm 34:13–15
(34:12–14); Psalm 18:26–27 (18:25–26); and finally Psalm 150:4–6.[1] The four parts of the
work are based on these four texts, respectively.[1] "Literally translated [the word Tehillim]
means 'praises'," writes Steve Reich in his composer's notes, "and it derives from the three letter
Hebrew root ‘hey, lamed, lamed’ (hll) which is also the root of halleluyah."[1]
Instrumentation and the music

In its standard chamber version Tehillim is scored for four women's voices (one high soprano,
two lyric sopranos and one alto), piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, two clarinets, six percussion
(playing 4 small tuned tambourines without jingles, clapping, maracas, marimba, vibraphone
and crotales), two electronic organs, two violins, viola, cello and bass. The voices, winds and
strings are amplified in performance. There is also a version for orchestra using full strings and
winds, with only the voices amplified.[2]
The first and longest movement is based on canons, while the second, performed without pause,
utilizes a theme and variations structure. The third movement, the only slow movement,
features call-and-response, and continues without pause into the finale, which recapitulates in
turn the structures of the first three movements.[3]
A typical performance takes about 30 minutes.
Analysis
Tehillim may strike listeners familiar with Reich's work as something of a departure from his
earlier pieces. In contrast to his entire oeuvre, with the possible exceptions of The Cave (1993)
and Proverb (1995), Tehillim is less "radical" musically.
This difference is, on the one hand, thematic. It was the first major composition by Reich to
reference explicitly his new-found interest in his Jewish heritage, and his Judaism as such.
However, although this is obviously central to the work, and although it would not be until
2004, with You Are (Variations), that Reich would again set Jewish scriptures to music, the real
difference lies in the formal aspects of Tehillim.
Typically, Reich's music is characterised by a steady pulse and the repetition of a comparatively
small amount of melodic material emanating from a clear tonal centre (a style of writing which
is called 'minimalist'). Both aspects are certainly to be identified in Tehillim (the composition in
no way marks a complete aesthetic break for Reich), for example in the quick, unchanging
tempo of the first two parts, which are played one after another without a break, and the close
four-part canons of the first and fourth parts. However, these aspects together constitute only
the broad outlines of the work; how they are presented is markedly different from his early
work.
These differences are a direct consequence of the need felt by the composer to, "set the text in
accordance with its rhythm and meaning".[4]
There is no fixed metre or metric pattern in Tehillim. The rhythm of the music comes directly
from the rhythm of the Hebrew text. Secondly, the musical setting of lengthy 3-4 line texts
results in the composition of extended melodies at that point atypical for Reich. "Though an
entire melody may be repeated either as the subject of a canon or variation, this is actually
closer to what one finds throughout the history of Western music".[4] As such, this second
aspect of extended melody contributes to the appearance of structures not without precedent in
Western musical history.
"The use of extended melodies, imitative counterpoint, functional harmony and full
orchestration may well suggest renewed interest in Classical, or more accurately Baroque, and
earlier Western musical practice. The non-vibrato, non-operatic vocal production will also
remind listeners a singing style derived from outside the tradition of 'Western art music'.
However, the overall sound of Tehillim, and in particular, the intricately interlocking percussion
writing which, together with the text, marks this music as unique by introducing a basic musical
element that one does not find in earlier Western musical practice including the music of this
century. Tehillim may thus be heard as traditional and new at the same time".[4]
None of the writing is informed by the sound or structure (in spite of the composer's recent
study of Hebrew cantillation) of Jewish music generally or any existing tradition for singing the
Biblical text. Indeed, a major factor in Reich's choosing the Psalms was that, "the oral tradition
for Psalm singing in the Western synagogues has been lost. This meant I was free to compose
the melodies for Tehillim without a living oral tradition to imitate or ignore."[4]
Sources
1. Reich, Steve. "Tehillim (1981): Composer's Notes" (https://www.boosey.com/cr/music/Steve-
Reich-Tehillim/6480). Boosey & Hawkes. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
2. Reich, Steve. Writings on Music, 1965–2000. Oxford University Press. pp. 100–105.
3. Kerman, Joseph (1999). Listen, Brief Fifth Edition (https://archive.org/details/listenkerm00ke
rm/page/338). Bedford/St. Martin's. pp. 338 (https://archive.org/details/listenkerm00kerm/pa
ge/338). ISBN 9781572594227.
4. All quotes taken from the liner notes written by the composer, Steve Reich, in February
1982 for the ECM recording by his own ensemble.
External links
Tehillim Illuminated (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjnVN6-Wx08), 31 March 2011,
ASKO|Schönberg Ensemble and Synergy Vocals, directed by Clark Rundell performed
Steve Reichs Tehillim (1981) in Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ, Amsterdam
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This page was last edited on 13 January 2022, at 02:16 (UTC).
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Tehillim is a composition by American composer Steve Reich, written in 1981.

Instrumentation and the music

A typical performance takes about 30 minutes.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tehillim_(Reich)&oldid=1065342187"

This page was last edited on 13 January 2022, at 02:16 (UTC).

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