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Surmounting oppression in the choral music of Petr Eben: an analysis of the Missa adventus et quadragesimae

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Surmounting oppression in the choral music of Petr Eben: an analysis of the Missa adventus et quadragesimae

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SURMOUNTING OPPRESSION IN THE CHORAL MUSIC OF PETR EBEN:

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MISSA ADVENTUS ET QUADRAGESIMAE

by

CHRISTOPHER D. HAYGOOD

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC DEPARTMENT OF
CHORAL AND SACRED MUSIC
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
(CHORAL MUSIC)

August 2013

Copyright 2013 Christopher D. Haygood

ii

DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to my parents, Billy and Martha Haygood, for their
unending prayers and support, for always encouraging me to keep pressing toward the
goal, and for raising me to know Who gives us strength when we are weary. Additionally,
it is dedicated to my sisters, Cecilia and Kathy, who in turn have always shown me great
care and love. By my family, I am blessed.

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A special offering of thanks to:

Nick Strimple for your insight, encouragement, and guidance throughout this process and
my doctoral studies.

Jo-Michael Scheibe for mentoring, inspiring, and challenging me throughout my doctoral
studies.

Cristian Grases for your positive and energetic friendship.

Mary Mattei Scheibe for your logical and genuine advice.

Erin Winchester for your friendship and the infinitesimal number of days and nights you
spent cheering me on to keep working toward my goal. You are the best!

Coreen Duffy for encouraging me throughout our time together at UM and USC and your
friendship. Here’s to all our future endeavors!

Jonathan Henson for your patience and constant reminders to “just get it done”.

Natasa Karaca for coming to my rescue with the musical examples.

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication ........................................................................................................................................ ii

Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................................... iii

List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... v

List of Examples ............................................................................................................................. vi

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... viii

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Chapter One: The Foundations ......................................................................................................... 4
Moments of Historical Significance ............................................................................................ 4
The Legacy of Music in the Czech Lands ................................................................................... 7
Biographical Information ........................................................................................................... 13

Chapter Two: Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae
Kyrie ........................................................................................................................................... 16

Chapter Three: Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae
Credo .......................................................................................................................................... 33

Chapter Four: Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae
Sanctus ....................................................................................................................................... 47
Benedictus .................................................................................................................................. 51
Agnus Dei ................................................................................................................................... 54
Offertorium ................................................................................................................................ 57
Pange Lingua ............................................................................................................................. 59
Pater Noster ............................................................................................................................... 62

Chapter Five: Implications and Summarization ............................................................................. 67

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................... 75

Appendix A ..................................................................................................................................... 78

Appendix B ..................................................................................................................................... 90

Appendix C ..................................................................................................................................... 99

Appendix D ................................................................................................................................... 100

Appendix E ................................................................................................................................... 102

v

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Kyrie ............................................................................................................. 28

Table 3.1 Credo ............................................................................................................. 44

Table 4.1 Sanctus .......................................................................................................... 51

Table 4.2 Benedictus ..................................................................................................... 53

Table 4.3 Agnus Dei ..................................................................................................... 56

Table 4.4 Pange Lingua ................................................................................................ 61

Table 4.5 Pater Noster ................................................................................................... 66

vi

LIST OF EXAMPLES

Example 2.1 Kyrie, m. 3-8 ............................................................................................ 18

Example 2.2 Praška Te Deum 1989, m. 157-160 ......................................................... 19

Example 2.3 Arie Ruth, m. 3-5 after 7 .......................................................................... 21

Example 2.4 O Haupt voll Blut und Werden ................................................................ 23

Example 2.5 Kyrie, m. 18-26 ........................................................................................ 24

Example 2.6 Kyrie, m. 28-30 ........................................................................................ 26

Example 2.7 Kyrie, m. 45-46 ........................................................................................ 28

Example 3.1 Credo, m. 3-7 ........................................................................................... 34

Example 3.2 Credo, m. 25-26 ....................................................................................... 34

Example 3.3 Credo, m. 15-21, pedal ............................................................................ 35

Example 3.4 Credo, m. 86-89 ....................................................................................... 37

Example 3.5 Credo, m. 101-106 ................................................................................... 38

Example 3.6 Credo, m. 48-51 ....................................................................................... 40

Example 3.7 Christ ist erstanden .................................................................................. 41

Example 3.8 Credo, m. 159-164 ................................................................................... 42

Example 3.9 Credo, m. 189-196 ................................................................................... 43

Example 4.1 Sanctus, m. 1-8 ........................................................................................ 48

Example 4.2 Sanctus, m. 26-30 .................................................................................... 49

Example 4.3 Benedictus, m. 3-8 ................................................................................... 52

Example 4.4 Agnus Dei, m. 38-44 ................................................................................ 55

Example 4.5 Pange Lingua, m. 20-22 ........................................................................... 59

vii

Example 4.6 Cantico delle Creature, m. 4 .................................................................... 61

Example 4.7 Pater Noster, m. 22-23 ............................................................................. 63

Example 4.8 Pater Noster, m. 30-33 ............................................................................. 63

Example 4.9 Pater Noster, m. 34-36 ............................................................................. 64

Example 4.10 Pater Noster, m. 61-67 ............................................................................. 65

viii

ABSTRACT

Several scholarly publications exist on the organ, staged, and instrumental music of Petr
Eben (1929-2007); however, very little research exists analyzing his choral music. A
unique product of a musical family, internment in Buchwald, religious oppression under
the Czech Socialist government, and liberation by the Velvet Revolution of 1989 infuse
Eben’s work with the juxtaposition of anxiety and hope, a voice both traditional and
modern, and a unique ideology of the utility of music. This document seeks to explore
the theme of oppression and liberation through an analysis of the Missa Adventus et
Quadragesimae (1952), uncovering cryptic allusions to both Catholic and Protestant
traditions, defining devices unique to Eben’s music, exploring harmonic language often
constructed around or resulting in the augmented fourth, his implementation of micro-
motives, and observing the accrual and release of an almost nervous rhythmic energy.

Chapters are devoted both to a historical foundation of Czech music and culture, of which
Eben is both a product and contributor as well as a movement by movement analysis of
the Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae and its context in Eben’s oeuvre. Unique to this
document is the inclusion of interviews with both Petr Eben’s son David and his friend
Nick Strimple. Addtionally, correspondence between Eben and Strimple is included in
the appendices of the document as well.

Eben’s unique story unfolds as a man who remained true to his faith and conviction and
likewise true to his voice in composition. His music stands as a legacy of his life, of those

ix

who suffered in the concentration camps, and of the formerly oppressed peoples of the
region now delineated as the Czech and Slovak republics. Eben’s music ascends to its
rightful place amongst the great Czech composers of previous centuries.

1

Introduction
Petr Eben (1929-2007) was a prolific Czech composer who left a legacy of repertoire
including chamber music, instrumental solos, organ concerti, cantatas, oratorios, five
masses, Lieder and an opera. His contributions to the choral repertory range from
compositions for unison men, women’s chorus, children’s chorus, to divided SATB
chorus utilizing both accompanied and unaccompanied forces. His texts span the gamut
of sacred and secular origin, all set with provocative thought and careful attention. This
extreme sensitivity to text, unique harmonic language, and a pervading sense of urgency
drew the author to Eben’s music. The author was first introduced to Eben’s music while
singing with the USC Chamber Singers under the direction of Jo-Michael Scheibe. The
author found the preparation of “De circuitu aeterno” from Verba Sapientiae (1991-92)
delightfully challenging, filled with a symbiotic layering of text, rhythmic drive, and
harmonic colors. Later, singing at Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church under the direction
of Nick Strimple, the author heard Eben’s Arie Ruth and became captivated by its
mysterious organ introduction and the determined chromaticism of the vocal line. The
experience was so moving that the author determined he must learn more about this
composer who so judiciously and intensely crafted his message through the medium of
music. Further discovery led to an awareness of how Petr Eben’s life experiences
provided him with a unique perspective both of oppression and liberation, which
materializes in a very earnest and sometimes raw compositional style. It is characterized
by the juxtaposition of archaic formal styles with progressive harmonic language bathed
in nervous rhythmic energy.

2

While Eben’s style evolves through the course of his output, two works are particularly
relevant to this theme of nervous energy. Paired, they form bookends to the era of the
Communist regime (1948-1989) and its liberation from the Communist party through the
course of the Velvet Revolution in 1989. These are the Missa Adventus et
Quadragesimae for male chorus and organ (1951) and Pražské Te Deum (1989) for
SATB chorus and brass ensemble or organ. A comparison of these two compositions, and
supplementary examples, in light of historical significance and contrasting circumstances
yields insight and application to Eben’s other works in terms of political reaction and his
compositional voice. While several publications exist focusing on his organ music, there
is minimal research published on Eben’s choral music
1
creating an urgent need for further
exploration into the works of this highly expressive composer. Thus, the purpose of this
study is to gain broader insight into the manifestation of Eben’s religious and political
views in his musical language, the messages buried in harmonic context, and derived
suggestions for performance.

The procedures for this study incorporate writings on the political situation in what is
now the Czech Republic, documentation from previous studies of Eben’s thoughts, an
interview with Eben’s son David, an interview with Eben’s friend Nick Strimple, and the
inclusion of correspondence between Eben and Strimple. In addition, the document
includes commentary by the author in preparation of the Missa in Adventus et

1
One dissertation on the choral music of Petr Eben precedes this author’s work. It is Constancy
and Changes in Petr Eben’s Choral Works: An Overview by Hyungmin Cho in 2007.

3

Quadragesimae in hope that conductors will recognize its accessibility for developing
choirs and its virtue as a highly programmable component for advanced choruses. Its
style and historical significance mark this Mass as approachable regardless of creed and
well worthy of performance.

It should be noted that the author sincerely wishes to provide Mr. Eben and his music the
respectful analysis deserved. Eben’s life is one filled with obstacles others would find
insurmountable, yet he remained constant in his faith, devoted to his family and
countrymen, and sincere to his musical message. His music lives as a legacy of triumph.

4

Chapter One: The Foundations
Moments of Historical Importance
The land now known as the Czech Republic boasts a colorful history of music and
culture, architecture and progress, empires and trade. Completely landlocked, the major
cities closest to the Czech borders include: in the north, Dresden and Warsaw; to the
west, Nuremberg; to the south, Munich, Vienna, and Bratislava; and to the east, Kraków.
Primary river transport occurred on the Vltava and Elbe,
1
making trade routes limited.
Nonetheless, geographical positioning of the Czech lands subjected her people to
numerous conflicts, some internal and most external.

In the fourteenth century, Jews in Bohemia and Moravia weathered the same injustices as
their kinsmen in Western Europe. These unjust causes included blame for the Black
Death, jealousy of economic stature, and differing religious practices. The anti-Semitic
undercurrent increased or decreased largely as a result of completely non-related
financial issues affecting the Bohemian and Moravian nobility. Charles IV sanctioned
assaults on the Jewish people by allowing the Jewish section of Prague to be ravaged: his
son Wenceslas IV made a superficial effort to protect the Jewish inhabitants of Prague by
constructing walls (which did not protect them from later pogroms) while simultaneously
permitting nobles to profit from the coffers of the Jewish merchants they attacked.
2

1
The Vltava flows from Germany down through Prague and Eben’s hometown of České
Krumlov. It merges with the Elbe at Mělník.

2
Pánek, Jarolsav, A History of the Czech Lands (Prague: Karolinum, 2011), 134.

5

Similarly, religious turmoil spared not the Christian Church in the late fourteenth through
fifteenth centuries. Jan Hus (1371-1415) a Bohemian theologian and continental figure
often mistakenly interchanged with Luther as the hand initiating reform in the Roman
Church, professed grievances with the Church in Rome and Papal authority he found in
contradiction with Holy Scripture. Anti-Pope John XXIII waged war on Pope Gregory
XII
3
and called upon all of Christendom to pick up arms in exchange for remission of sin
and additional blessings in heaven.
4
Hus, resolute in his belief and already under threat of
excommunication for his views on church authority and communion, refused to recant his
treatise stating that God, not the Pope, had authority to forgive sin and that funding war
by selling indulgences opposed the message of peace in Scripture. As a result, the false
Pope excommunicated Hus, summoned him to the Council of Constance in 1414 for a
mock trial of trumped charges, and sentenced him to the stake for execution in July 1415.

Czechs mourned Hus’s unjust martyrdom and he remains a symbol for stalwart faith, but
this act precipitated a long and divisive period of Czech religious and political intrigue.
With the development of the Protestant Church, the various political alliances that sprung
up in support or in protest, and the insatiable urge of extending power for the Habsburgs,
Bohemia (and specifically Prague) became the seat of war and unrest. In 1618, Protestant

3
John XXIII (1370-1419) was one of three elected Popes during the Western Schism and later
deemed an anti-Pope by the Church. Pope Gregory XII (1326-1417) is recognized as the true
Pope during the schism.

4
Spinka, Matthew, John Hus: A Biography (New Jersey: Princeton, 1968), 134-135.

6

Czech nobles instigated the Bohemian Rebellion based both on the rejection of Ferdinand
II as King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor and the confiscation of Protestant
church lands.
5
Shortly after, the Thirty Years War, traced directly to the Bohemian
Revolution, ravaged Europe as the last major religiously instigated conflict in Europe.
Despite the centuries of Catholic and Protestant wars, Czechs regard Hus highly as one
who stood firmly in his convictions. The Moravian Church developed from Hus’s
followers, which would influence the Lutheran Church as Luther would later profess
Hus’s wrongful condemnation, and also influenced the Methodist Church by way of an
encounter with John Wesley. While Petr Eben was a devout Roman Catholic, Hus’s
influence nonetheless parallels what Eben would endure as a Bohemian devoted to his
faith and willing to remain constant in the face of persecution and threat of death. It is an
attribute Eben must have identified with being Czech.
6

The Napoleonic Wars and World War I devastated Europe, but neither had the same
renewed religious affiliation that World War II and its aftermath incurred. For most
modern minds, political conflict and oppression in the Czech lands calls forth the
atrocities suffered just prior and during World War II by Czech Jews as well as the
castigation of free-thinking and devoutly religious individuals during the period of the
Nazi agenda. Auschwitz, Dachau, and Buchenwald are names that cause the humane to

5
Mahoney, William, The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Santa Barbara:
Greenwood, 2011), 77-78.

6
Nick Strimple, in an interview with the author, discusses the importance of Petr’s self-identity
as Czech. See Appendix A.

7

shudder, and for Petr Eben they bear the heavy weight of personal experience.
Unfortunately, the years following the war were few prior to the installation of a Stalinist
form of Communism, replaced briefly by the Prague Spring of 1968 that lessened the
oppressive hand of the government but quelled in August of the same year by the
Warsaw Pact (Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, East Germany, and Bulgaria).
7
Each of
these twentieth century political wars bore repercussions for various nationalities and
religious creeds. Each forced Petr Eben to endure his own crucible and test his fortitude
of faith.

The Legacy of Music in the Czech Lands
Influential composers from the Czech and Slovak regions comprise a long list of
individuals generating works during both peacetime and war. The early baroque produced
a Bohemian composer and violinist in Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Biber composed a
substantial amount of sacred works, including masses, vespers, a requiem and Stabat
mater capitalizing on a technique of basso ostinato
8
.
9
Admired by his contemporaries,
J.S. Bach and Georg Teleman, Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) emerged as the most
important Czech composer of the baroque. According to Janice Stockgit, Zelenka’s style

7
Mahoney, 216.

8

This compositional device is characterized by a bass pattern that repeats with variants of
melody composed above it.

9
Elias Dann and Jiří Sehnal. "Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von." Grove Music Online. Oxford
Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 20, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/03037.

8

incorporated a “concern for the rich expression of text”
10
with some of his finest
expressions of faith found in his late sacred works.
11

Jan Václav Antonín Stamitz (1717-1757), perhaps the most noted Bohemian composer
bridging into the early classical period, claimed fame through his symphonies composed
while employed at the Mannheim Court (the period in which the ‘Mannheim Steamroller’
term was coined). In addition, however, he composed sacred music including a Mass in
D, several litanies, cantatas, and a motet.
12
Displaying characteristics linking him to both
the Italian and Mannheim compositional styles, Jan Křitel Neruda (1707-1780), though
born in Bohemia, served his life as a musician in Dresden; his two sacred works are
lost.
13
Christoph Gluck (1714-1787), another highly successful Czech expatriate
primarily remembered for his numerous operas, composed a handful of sacred choral
works though few remain extant.
14
Antonín Rejcha (1770-1836) and Johann Nepomuk

10

This same concern is present in all of Eben’s sacred choral music, as well as an awareness of
the influence of chant in some of his instrumental works, such as Symphonia gregoriana.

11
Janice B. Stockigt. “Zelenka, Jan Dismas.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press, accessed February 19, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/30907.

12
Eugene K. Wolf, et al. "Stamitz." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed February 19, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/40302pg1.

13
Zdeňka Pilková. "Neruda, Johann Baptist Georg." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music
Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 20, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/19741.

14
Bruce Alan Brown and Julian Rushton. "Gluck, Christoph Willibald Ritter von." Grove
Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed February 20, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/11301pg14.

9

Hummel (1778-1837) both lived during the Napoleonic campaigns. Rejcha, most well
known for his tenure as a professor at the Paris Conservatory and a teacher of Liszt,
Berlioz, and Gounod, additionally composed choral music during his time in Vienna,
including a Requiem (1806) described as a reaction to Napoleon’s attack on Vienna.
15

Hummel, a Slovak student of Mozart, showed great musical prowess as a child and would
also endure the attacks on Vienna while he served as Franz Josef Haydn’s assistant,
taking over responsibilities at Esterháza after Haydn’s passing.
16
Hummel contributed
several mass settings, motets, a Te Deum and composed numerous operas and cantatas.
17

Almost two centuries after Zelenka, Bedřich Smetena, (1824-1884) (also well-versed in
the ramifications of political revolution)
18
appears as one of the two next major Czech
stars of composition. Though he attributed his interest in Moravian folk music to Pavel
Křížkovský (1820-1885)
19
, Smetena’s love of native folksongs propelled him into a
nationalistic style shared to a degree by Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904) and Leoš Janáček
(1854-1928). Smetena’s Třr jezdci (composed for male voices) bodes as his most

15
Strimple, Nick, Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Amadeus, 2008), 126.

16
Joel Sachs. "Hummel, Johann Nepomuk." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.
Oxford University Press, accessed February 20, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/13548.

17
Ibid.

18
Strimple, Nick, Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century, 126.

19
Ibid.

10

nationalistic choral contribution and involves the story of Jan Hus.
20
Antonín Dvořak, the
second star to ascend after Zelenka, rose to the stature of an icon for Czechs during the
Second World War and was later denounced as exhibiting “fraudulent nationalism” by
the communist party
21
(ironically proving a strong indication of sincere nationalism).
Cited by Dvořak scholar Nick Strimple, captives in the concentration camp of Terezín
utilized the head motive of Dvořak’s Requiem as a secret message of comfort and
strength.
22
The third part of Dvořak’s Svatá Ludmila bleeds nationalism both in story and
charismatic orchestration, as does his earlier cantata Hymus: Dédicové Bílé Hory, Op.
30.
23
Leoš Janáček would assume the mantle of proprietor of Moravian folk song,
particularly in relationship to speech rhythms as a primary tool of composition. He too
would compose works for male chorus, sharing this interest with Křížkovský, Smetena,
and later Eben.
24
Janáček’s Mša glagolskaja (Glagolitic Mass), emotionally dramatic
though not inspired by conventional faith, would directly influence Eben’s organ works
25
.
Eben acknowledged the Bohemian born Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) as an influential

20
Ibid. 128.

21
Ibid. 131.

22
Ibid.

23
Eben, in turn, will use embedded messages of faith to provide hope to his countrymen and
fellow believers.

24
Strimple, Nick, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century, 98.

25
Fishell, Janette, The Organ Music of Petr Eben (D. Mus. Diss., Northwestern University,
1988), 11.

11

source. As a man of Jewish ancestry,
26
Mahler’s music found itself outside the accepted
repertoire of Germany and Austria before and during WWII. Mahler’s approach to the
symphony took Beethoven Symphony No. 9 as a model and elevated the chorus to an
equal, fully integrated, and necessary texture to create a finely woven tapestry of
monumental forces both in Symphony No. 2 and Symphony No. 8. Eben continues this
partnership in the Pražské Te Deum 1989 and Masses where the combined forces
expound upon layers of symbolic and literal meaning. These composers (Smetena,
Dvořak, Janáček, and Mahler) that align themselves parallel to the Romantic period vary
in their temperament of Romantic harmonic language; nonetheless, each shared an
influence on Eben’s music as a self-proclaimed neo-Romantic.

Though Eben claimed little affiliation with the neo-classic music of Bohuslav Martinů
(1890-1959) and the lesser-known Pavel Bořkovec (1894-1972), each composer
contributed elements traceable to Eben’s work. Martinů’s stretched tonalities, short
melodic lines, text derived structure and tendency toward French color (present in his
Field Mass 1939)
27
all occur in Eben’s output. Though regarded as an important Czech
composer in the early twentieth century, Bořkovec boasts a rather limited oeuvre. An
interest in emotional intensity and concise formal structure links to Eben’s repertoire as

26
A heritage Mahler shares with Eben.

27
Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century, 102.

12

does Bořkovec’s repertoire for male chorus.
28
Additionally, Bořkovec served as a soldier
in WWI and much later taught composition at the Prague Academy of Musical Arts.
29

The final composer Jan Hanuš (1915-2004) contributed to the legacy of Czech composers
alongside Eben as a contemporary and friend.
30
Hanuš produced Masses, a requiem, and
the oratorio Ecce homo described by Strimple as combining elements both old and new
into “one of the most significant works of the century”.
31
Like Eben, Hanuš placed great
importance on the issues of faith and morality. As a result, he produced works such as
The Earth is Speaking, Opus 8 (1940), Opus spiritual pro juventale, Opus 65 (1969-77),
and in 1989 renounced all his accumulated accolades in protest of unjust student
prosecution by the Communist government.
32

28
Alena Burešová. "Bořkovec, Pavel." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed February 20, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/03604.

29
Ibid.

30
Nick Strimple, in an interview with the author, November 10, 2012, transcript see Appendix
A.

31
Strimple, Choral Music in the Twentieth Century,(Pomton Plains: Amadeus, 2002), 104.

32
Harald Müller. "Hanuš, Jan." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford
University Press, accessed March 2, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.libproxy.usc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/12353.

13

Biographical Information
A composer, teacher, writer, performer, and man of immense faith -- Petr Eben was born
on January 22, 1929 to a Jewish father and Roman Catholic mother. They initially resided
in the town of Žamberk in eastern Bohemia and moved when Eben was a young boy to
Český Krumlov.
33
A border town dating to the early medieval period, Český Krumlov
was the seat of economic and cultural development for the aristocratic Rožmberks, and,
thanks to recent renovations, is returning to its fourteenth century glory.
34
Its architecture
and “Old World” allure stayed with Eben and manifests in his music. Eben was, for a
time, able to lose himself in the endless possibilities offered in organ improvisation at the
largest church there. For a summer, as Europe escalated further into World War II, Eben
and his brother spent time in the serenity of a Cistercian Convent where he was
additionally immersed in the ancient liturgical practice of the Daily Offices and
Gregorian chant.
35
Unfortunately, Eben, ripped from the sanctity of Český Krumlov,
found himself in the dark and inhumane Buchenwald at the age of 15. He speaks to both
to the terrors of daily life as well as his unyielding faith:
The circumstances surrounding this event created a situation when I was
several times, at the very sensitive age of fifteen, confronted with death.
Thus, I had to form my opinion on life and death and it was faith that
helped me to survive and which showed the way.
36

33
David Eben, in an interview with the author, January 2, 2013, Prague. See transcript
Appendix B.

34
Polívka, 136.

35
Discussed in interview with David Eben and the author. See transcript Appendix B.

36
Petr Eben quoted in Fishell, 22.

14

Buchenwald held within its gates the critical junction in Eben’s early years between the
veil of life and death forging a sense of wisdom and faith:
This time in Buchenwald brought the most important minute of my life.
Once we had to go to a delousing; we had to take off our clothes and we
were led into a room with twenty showers. But we did not know what
would come out of them. And so we stood with my brother, holding
hands, waiting. In this moment, I had to realize if my life has some sense
or if it is just bad luck that I was born in that time, in this family, in this
country; end even more: I had suddenly to understand if death would be
just a wall and nothing behind it, or if life would continue. During this
minute, I felt very clearly that in case of something other than water would
come out of the showers, it would be an entrance to a new life. That was
such a strong perception, that I have it in my mind all the time of my life.
37

Though liberated from internment in Buchenwald, Eben faced an extended period of
oppression under Soviet and Czech Communist Party control of the Czech lands. Able to
continue studies, he entered the Prague Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts where he
studied with composer Pavel Bořkovec
38
from 1948-1954.
39
Eben obtained the post of
Reader of Musicology at Charles University in 1955 and remained on the faculty until
1990. Eben’s peaceful though stalwart objection to the policies of the party prevented
him from an academic title worthy of his intellect and productivity until after the Velvet
Revolution. Some of his early music, Sunday Music for example, utilizes various Kyries

37
Eben quoted in Landgren, 18.

38
Bořkovec is discussed earlier in Chapter One.

39
Adrienne Simpson and Katerina Cervenková. "Eben, Petr." Grove Music Online. Oxford
Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 28, 2013,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/08491.

15

in cryptic protest and earnest testament of faith.
40
Similarly, he was active in the Lyra
Pragensis, a group of artists critical of the Communist Party, where he improvised organ
music in conjunction with selected texts.
41
The events of the Velvet Revolution, though
tense with apprehension,
42
left Eben, his wife Šarka, their sons Christopher, Marc,
David,
43
and the Czech people finally free from religious and political oppression. In the
obituary he wrote in honor of Eben, Graham Melville-Mason recalls those events and
Eben’s reaction:
At the time of the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 Petr was staying
with us in London. The day after the great event he went shopping and
returned with a pair of shoes, saying that he wished to be wearing new
shoes when he stood again on the soil of a new Czechoslovakia. In our
visitor’s book of that occasion he wrote ‘Full of hope (once again in my
life!)’.
44

With such an humble yet profound gesture, it stands as no wonder that Eben’s
international reputation, numerous international awards, commissions, and notoriety is
supplemented by an inquisitive musical populace to the mind, heart, and talents of such
an individual. Christened by many as the next composer in the direct line of Smetena and
Dvořak, awareness, appreciation, and performance of Petr Eben’s music continues to
expand.

40
Landgren, Johannes, Music, Moment, Message: Interpretive Improvistaional and Ideological
Aspects of Petr Eben’s Organ Works (Götenborg: Göteborg University, 1997), 20.

41
Ibid.

42
American scholar, Nick Strimple, describes the atmosphere preceding the Velvet Revolution
in an interview with the author. See Appendix A.

43
The family and their respective occupations are listed in Fishell, 18.

44
In an obituary accessed from The Independent,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/petr-eben-398044.html

16

Chapter Two: Missa Adventus et Quadregesimae

Kyrie

Introduction

Composed in 1952 during his final years at the Prague Academy of Music, Missa
Adventus et Quadragesimae stands as an intriguing composition for several reasons.
First, positioned early in Eben’s oeuvre, incorrect dismissal as merely an exercise in
composition occurs. Second, incorporating the text of the Ordinary of the Roman Liturgy,
it voices a message from the Church, an institution labeled by the Communist
government as an “enemy of the state”. Third, by virtue of the specific penitential
seasons denoted by the title, the absence of the Gloria parallels the affected political
climate that overshadowed the Czech lands at the time of composition. Finally, it displays
many facets of Eben’s compositional style that remain present throughout his
compositional output. For Eben, this work represents the first of two choral compositions
reflecting the imposed circumstance of the Czech people:
We had – as a nation – not many reasons in the past 40 years, To sing a
Te Deum. What I have written in the fifties, was a Missa Adventus et
Quadragesimae in a strict ascetic style and in D – minor, what expressed
one mood and atmosphere: The Fight of our citizens for their faith and
freedom, the fight of the Church for her existence.
1

Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae was first performed in St. Jakob-Kirche in 1955.
2

Written initially for unison male chorus and organ, a note headlining the score published

1
Excerpted from a letter from Petr Eben to Nick Strimple. This was additionally fashioned for
the preface to the Pražské Te Deum 1989. Find the full letter in Eben’s hand in Appendix C.

2
Vondrovicová, Kateřina, Leben und Werk (Mainz: Schott, 2000), 239.

17

by Lawson-Gould in 1979 indicates the possibility for performance by any configuration
of unison voices. While this allowance creates increased accessibility for unison SATB,
women’s, or even children’s chorus, Eben’s later study at Solesmes and strong sense of
color indicate a preference for male timbre in performance.

Kyrie
The Kyrie eleison prayer chants date to the tenth century and, though sometimes
functioning in other ways, generally is most recognized conventionally as the first service
division of the Ordo Romanus and the only one in Greek rather than Latin. Further
tradition dictates each of the tripartite Kyrie (Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie
eleison) be stated three times. A student of the chant practice prescribed by the Solesmes
Monks
3
, Eben’s treatment of the Kyrie text contours Roman liturgical pronunciation, an
uncharacteristic trait for his Czech heritage. His common practice in this movement
accommodates text stress through melodic rise, primarily step-wise motion, and limited
melodic hexachord (see Example 2.1).

3
Fishell, 19.

18

EXAMPLE 2.1. Kyrie, m. 3-8.

Each melodic trait immersed in the ancient construction of chant, the harmonic
framework reveals the technique of imitation in the fashion of Palestrina yet with a
modern and more economical twist. The harmonically quartal cadence and frequent
engagement of the augmented fourth or diminished fifth provides a similar stratum to the
organum of the early church. A further discussion of the significance of the tritone, as it
is frequently abbreviated, appears later in this chapter.

Eben composed the Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae (heretofore referred to as Missa
Adventus) in D minor though, as harmonic ambiguity develops as a compositional tool,
the opening melodic statements of the Kyrie provide an impression more accurately

19

described as D Dorian, with raised sixth scale degree supported by a D pedal in the organ.
However, the final phrase of the first Kyrie iteration cadences on an Eb major chord
making a case for A Aeolian as it functions dually as dominant of D minor and generates
the relationship of a tritone. This intervallic relationship occurs throughout not only the
Kyrie but also the entire Mass and is indicative of Eben’s entire creative output. The same
relationship occurs abundantly in the Pražské Te Deum 1989 (1990) and was specifically
addressed as a question regarding its negotiability by performers prior to its publication.
4

Notice the frequency of the tritone, its prominence on strong ictūs, and presence in voice
and organ (see Example 2.2).

4
Nick Strimple, in an interview with the author. See transcript Appendix A.

20

EXAMPLE 2.2. Pražké Te Deum 1989, m. 157-160.

In Example 2.3, from Arie Ruth
5
(1970), the presence of the tritone occurs with such
regularity, that it assumes the mantle of normalcy. In the Biblical story of Ruth, one finds
a committed heart following another without question and unto death. This parallels
Eben’s struggle in following his God throughout a life of oppression and frustration,
making the occurrence of the tritone interval more poignant (see Example 2.3). Eben’s
affinity for the interval may result from the constancy of instability inherent in the
interval. Additionally, the interval finds its way into most of Eben’s work, including the
Missa cum populo (1981-1982), which written as a Mass to be sung with integrated
congregational participation.

5
Song of Ruth

21

EXAMPLE 2.3. Arie Ruth, m.3-5 after Rehearsal Number 7.

Isolating the opening intonation, one finds the reminiscence of Gregorian structure so
striking that it seems a likely candidate for quotation. While arguably an originally
constructed tune, its contour is derived from the German chorale (originally a Gregorian
chant) embedded in the harmonic language of the organ found in the Christe or B section.
It stands as further evidence of Eben’s most assured nod of reverence to the chant
traditions of the Church. Its impact over Eben pervades his sacred output and also guided
him to Solesmes for study:
I must say, that Gregorian chant touched an innermost string of musicality
and spirituality. Passively, I did meet it as a child, when I went with my
parents to the church. Actively, at the age of ten, when I began to play the
organ during the mass, the Gregorian chant then remained the chief
inspiration for my creative work. In the time of the Second World War,
several times I visited the monastery Schlierbach; the monks invited me,
not only to play the organ, but also to participate in their meals. They did
not know that they offered me the beautiful experience to listen to their
singing of the chorale. In the end of the fifties, I had the incredible

22

opportunity to be invited by a priest to Solesmes, although the official
invitation was from the Paris Conservatory. The time I spent there was
unforgettable for me and a great inspiration for many of my works. There
are three features of Gregorian chant which are so attractive for me: Firstly
the simple, and at the same time, the monumental unison, which in the
present time is contrasting with the complicated language of modern
music; secondly the lability of the harmony, which allows various
possibilities, how to accompany the melody in my own style; and thirdly
the rhythmic freedom, which is liberated from the iron dictate of the
regular parts of the bar, which for centuries (from the time of the figured
bass) dominated the rhythmical structure of the musical language. Just
these qualities allow the possibility of the quotations, without disturbing
the effect.
6

Thus, within a few moments, Eben reveals his pervading theme of faith and hope in the
Missa Adventus activating each of the three ‘features’: his novel construction of chant,
organ and voice moving through an organically created rhythm, and addition of modern
harmonic language that constructed the chant in an archaically infused shroud of
penitence and austerity.

Caught in a precarious situation between religious conviction and government
oppression, Eben’s strength of character and sharp musical wit sets the familiar tune
associated with the Lutheran “Passion Chorale” as a contra factum. Originally a poem by
Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) and secular tune written by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-
1612), this melody is most notably synonymous with O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
7

from Matthaus- Passion, BWV 244 by J. S. Bach. Consider the entire hymn associated

6
Petr Eben quoted in interview with Landgren, Music, Moment, Message, 23.

7
Translated as “O Head full of Blood and Wounds” but poetically titled “O Sacred Head Now
Wounded”.

23

with this chorale and Eben’s usage becomes even more poignant (see Appendix C). By
placing the first statement at the close of the Christe section, Eben not only acknowledges
his belief in the principal act of the Christian faith but also provides a symbol of hope to
his fellow Czechs who share in persecution under Communist oppression. In later verses
of the hymn (italicized in Appendix C) the speaker implores the strength of Christ’s
sacrifice likewise be his strength in anguish and fear. Given the uniqueness of his
situation, Eben must have found encouragement in these words. Relaying this
information is a layer of Eben’s process. The compositional process, for Eben, has
intention -- the intention of relaying a message to the listener, and for this reason he
aligns himself more with the compositional practices of a modern romantic than the neo-
classic style of his teacher Bořkovec, whose process he viewed more as problem solving.
8

Additionally, what at a glance appears as a cadential extension of the Christe section is in
fact the completion of Eben’s musical and theological thought by incorporating the
remaining tones of the first phrase of the “Passion Chorale” (see Examples 2.4-2.5).

EXAMPLE 2.4. O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.

8
Eben in quoted in Fishell, 24.

24

The quotation begins and ends in the top voice of the organ’s chord structure and is
momentarily adapted as a contra factum to the text “Christe eleison”.

EXAMPLE 2.5. Kyrie, m. 18-26.

The opening intonation of “Kyrie” functions as a head motive would to provide
continuity throughout an entire Mass setting. Here it functions within the finite tripartite
structure of the Kyrie movement and is woven throughout as an element of unification
(see Table 2.1). One of many compositional techniques rooted in archaic practice, this
device is indicative of Eben’s predilection of Renaissance compositional devices, tracing
its influence to his childhood surroundings in Český Krumlov:
(Český Krumlov) is a wonderful town. I think I was very much influenced
by the partly gothic, partly renaissance architecture of the town. I really
liked it very much. If you went there, especially in winter when all was
covered with snow, you could have the feeling that you really were
suddenly 300-400 years behind this time. In some way it was very
romantic. There I also became interested in medieval music.
9

9
Petr Eben quoted in Landgren, Johannes, Music, Moment, Message: Interpretive,
Improvisational, and Ideological Aspects of Petr Eben’s Organ Works (PhD diss., Göteborg
University, 1997), 29-30.

25

In contrast, Eben harmonically fashions this singular melodic motive with the harmonics
of twentieth century clay. Mentioned as traceable to many of his later works, Eben
frequently employs the interval of an augmented fourth or diminished fifth. Initially, this
might seem an odd juxtaposition of medieval and modern; nevertheless, its usage is
completely apropos both in representation of the weighted penitence of the liturgical
season and temporal message of the composition. Supplementary, this provides a fresh
and genuine voice in context of Eben’s trials. In an interview with Nick Strimple,
Strimple likened Eben’s conceptual use of the tritone to Shiru L’adonai of Aharon Harlap
where its message does not negate the spirit of praise; rather, it casts it in light of the
struggles of the past.
10
Its reoccurrence in the Kyrie provides the commentary of both
Eben’s past and perhaps the conflicts present at the time of composition. Most commonly
in the Kyrie the interval occurs written either as B and F, Bb and E, G and C# or their
respective enharmonics. All three sometimes appear as a sequence in conjunction with
eleison, or “have mercy,” and as the harmonic material supporting the opening Kyrie
motive (see Example 2.6).

10
See Appendix A. Interview with Nick Strimple and the author.

26

EXAMPLE 2.6. Kyrie, m. 28-30 with pickup.

In combining the imitation of the opening motive with the following eleison, the listener
develops an implied understanding of the urgency in Eben’s plea for mercy. Furthermore,
the organ’s critical position reveals itself in the examples providing evidence that its
musical commentary is paramount to Eben’s musical message. It was, after all, Eben’s
favorite mode of voice:
Just imagine: I never had to practice at the organ! When I came to touch
with the instrument then it was always just pure joy. Therefore, maybe that
kept the organ the dearest instrument (to me), full of festivity.
11

While sometimes functioning in conjunction with the melodic line of the chorus in Missa
Adventus, the organ also bears sole responsibility for the reiteration of the “a” theme
throughout the movement, independently finishes the hidden chorale reference, and
shades the harmonic color. Unlike many of Eben’s later works with organ,
12
registrations
remain at the discretion of the performer. However, in the 1993 recording of the Missa

11
Eben quoted in Fishell, 22.

12
Consider both the Organ Concerto No.2 (1982) and Pražské Te Deum 1989.

27

Adventus, under Eben’s supervision, one may deduce a preference for flutes, a la
Messiean, with more sonorous stops reserved for organ passages of specific importance.
13

The opening descending chromatic pedal points foretell of a bass motive utilized
consistently in Eben’s music. First heard as descending from D-Db-C, later, in measure
thirty-seven, movement from C-B-Bb-A frames the descending tritones created in the
left-hand of the organ (see Table 2.1). Closing the Kyrie the organ provides cadential
harmony moving, in D minor, through VI – iv(+9) – ii(dim) – I, placing the Picardy
Third prominently as the highest note of the triad. Here Eben again gestures to the old-
fashioned plagal “Amen” cadence, yet modifies it by initially adding the ninth before
resolving to ii diminished. Also, at first glance he comes close to reference of a Landini
cadence moving down to V and opens to I. However, the resolution found here is atypical
of the under-third because Eben integrates these two cadential types by opening the sixth
scale degree to tonic, moves by passing tone, and arrives on the Picardy Third (see
Example 2.7).

13
The Passion Chorale quotation is an example.

28

EXAMPLE 2.7. Kyrie, m. 45-46.

TABLE 2.1. Detailed Analysis of Kyrie

Kyrie

Measure 1 2 3 4 5 6

Tonal A Aeolian Db Passing C Pedal
Center over D Pedal: D minor

Meter 2/2

Text Ky - rie e- lei-son Ky- rie e- lei-son Ky- rie e-

Form A with “a” theme in unison “a” thematic material in
voice and organ voices with countermelody in organ

Tempo Moderato ♩=92

Forces Organ and unison voices

Diacritical mp con affecione mf
Marks

Tritone F-B Eb-A F-B moving to Absent
Presence A-Eb

29

Christe

Measure 7 8 9 10 11 12

Tonal Eb pedal Sense of bitonality Db Major/D minor
Center with quartal harmony

Meter 2/2

Text lei- son. Chri-ste e- lei-son

Form A B “a”theme
in organ second manual

Tempo Moderato ♩=92 poco piú mosso ♩=116

Forces “a” thematic material in solo organ voice chant
Voices with countermelody in organ organ ostinato pattern

Diacritical f mp, marcato p marcato
Marks

Tritone Absent Augmented 4ths resulting from pedal Gb/Ab
Presence against D/E in top organ voice

Measure 13 14 15 16 17 18

Tonal Sense of bitonality Db Major/D minor A minor
Center

Meter 2/2

Text Chri- ste e lei-son, Chri-

Form B

Tempo poco a poco stingendo Largamente

Forces organ “a”theme voices enter organ *voices and organ
over organ ostinato share O Haupt
voll Blut und Wunden

Diacritical p mf f
Marks

Tritone Augmented 4ths resulting from pedal Db/Gb/Ab Absent
Presence against D/E in top organ voice

30

Measure 19 20 21 22 23 24

Tonal
Center A minor Bb F7 A minor
VI/V V obscured
Meter 2/2

Text -ste e- lei- son.

Form B B extended by chorale tune

Tempo Largamente

Forces *voices and organ *organ completes opening phrase of chorale tune
share O Haupt
voll Blut und Wunden

Diacritical f mf
Marks

Tritone Absent F-B/Dd-G C-F# Absent
Presence

Kyrie

Measure 25 26 27 28 29 30

Tonal A minor Bb Major D minor obscured by cadence on
Center V VI i descending quartal chords
tritones based on tritones

Meter 2/2

Text Ky- ri- e e- lei-son,

Form B A’

Tempo Largemente

Forces organ voices on chant organ resumes “a” theme

Diacritical p f f
Marks

Tritone B-F/Bb-E/G-C# A-Eb/Gb-C
Presence

31

Measure 31 32 33 34 35 36

Tonal
Center D minor obscured by bitonal cadence on D minor
tritone and Db Major and
f7 G minor chords

Meter 2/2

Text Ky- ri- e e- lei-son, Ky- ri- e

Form A’

Tempo

Forces organ resumes “a” theme “a” theme
modified as ostinato
*organ modifies chorale
tune but maintains contour

Diacritical p f p f
Marks

Tritone B-F B-F
Presence

Measure 37 38 39 40 41 42

Tonal D minor VI IV7
Center

Meter 2/2

Text e- lei- son, e- lei-

Form A’ Cadential Extension

Tempo Largamente

Forces “a” theme
modified as ostinato
*organ modifies chorale
tune but maintains contour

Diacritical f ff
Marks

Tritone Bb-E/A-Eb Ab-D Absent
Presence

32

Measure 43 44 45 46

Tonal (iii7) ii7 VI iv I
Center

Meter 2/2

Text son, e- le- i- son.

Form Cadential Extension

Tempo Largamente

Forces organ and voices

Diacritical ff ritardando pesante, ritardano
Marks molto

Tritone Absent
Presence

33

Chapter Three: Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae

Credo

As a Mass for celebration during the two penitential seasons of the liturgical calendar,
Missa Adventus omits the Gloria. Thus, the next movement in Eben’s Mass is Credo. A
statement of belief traced to the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., the Credo bears the
longest burden of text for composers to set. As such, for many years composers chose to
either telescope the text or merely provide very simple and rhythmically efficient ways to
negotiate the movement quickly. Others, however, ingest the text of the Credo as a
personal investment of belief, and thus they exhibit extraordinarily attentive care in
emphasizing moments they find dogmatically crucial to the expression of that belief; for
example, the Symbolum Nicenum of the Bach Messe in h-moll. Eben falls into the latter
category, taking attentive and comprehensive care to musically explicate the text.

In the Kyrie, Eben exhibits his prowess in the melodic construction of chant line
mirroring its naturally occurring stress through a Roman tongue. The Credo, however,
shows Eben placing high points of contour to either emphasize the single word or layer
an affect that embodies a symbol for the prescribed text. The opening word, Credo, is set
twice in half-step descent and is separated from the completion of thought by rests,
resulting in an emphatic profession, “I believe,” and thus sets the tone for the entire
movement. Similarly, Eben sets Deum, Dominum, and Jesum with the same motive,
announcing a resolute belief with each reiteration (see Example 3.1).

34

EXAMPLE 3.1. Credo, m. 3 -7.

Further, he completes the motive by adding a minor third up and down in the manner of
genuflection to the mention of Jesus Christ (see Example 3.2).

EXAMPLE 3.2. Credo, m. 25-26.

Supporting the melodic chant line, the movement in the organ illustrates Eben’s ability to
recall his childhood experiences of inventing sounds and pitch class combinations, which
informs his compositional voice. Here displayed, the imitation of improvisation transpires
through wandering harmonic motion that sounds like a fantasia of the rhythmic figure

35

found in the opening Credo section of Haydn’s Missa in angustiis. The rapid note
alteration, circling around the augmented fourth relationship between C and F# major,
foreshadows the type of tonal relationship shared by several collective sections of the
Credo. Additionally, the organ pedal functions moments later to also assert the
augmented fourth relationship, this time between Bb and E (see Example 3.3).

EXAMPLE 3.3. Credo, m. 15-21.

The rather hectic tempo of the A section, half note at 126, coupled with relentless
accidentals resulting in tonal shifts approximately every four measures, does not readily
accommodate any true, stable sense of tonal center, but provides Eben with a rather
indignant voice, as if he is shaking his hands in the face of the tyrannical government.
This energy does not quell until Eben transitions into the next major segment of Credo
text.

The extensive and sectional nature of the Credo text heavily inspires Eben’s structural
division. Thus, while Eben is not making complete separate movements of Credo text as
the 18
th
century Viennese cantata mass would prescribe, he is using the same principal
technique of division through major cadence points, meter and tempo variation, and new
tonal arrivals. The B section, Deum de Deo and following text, begins in a bimodal

36

combination of Eb Lydian descending scale over a strong Eb major, and while the
harmonic home becomes slightly ambiguous, in Eben’s stylistically distinctive harmonic
language, he returns to a strong V7-I cadence in Eb major punctuating facta sunt. Eben
voiced his predilection with bitonality as genuine to his voice:
I have the impression that I always went quite steadily on my way, in a
persistent faithfulness enriched by more sophisticated harmonic elements.
I found for me the use of bitonal and bimetric techniques but I think that in
my evolution I never “turned somersaults” because my first principle was
always to be absolutely sincere and true to myself …
1

The same device closes the next textual phrase before the junction of both a meter and
tempo variation and in contrast to the A section, the slowed harmonic rhythm and
strongly related key centers captures the theme of light and peace in this division of the
text.

Classical models, such as Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, inform the Et incarnatus portion in
triple meter. It allows for a sense of symmetry and a pastoral element in the presentation
of the line. Eben sets the phrase in the same fashion, and by placing the meter in 3/2
intensifies the pastoral element through the quarter-note division. The text stress may
seem a bit odd to ears accustomed to Roman usage, but he uses the ictus of each bar to
denote the syllable he wishes to stress as central to the overarching message – incarnatus,
Spiritu, Maria – incarnate of the Spirit and Mary. Moving through an ascending
progression – Bb, C, F to B – Eben creates quite an ethereal effect through the
shimmering triads finally coming to rest on Eb major, but with the addition of the voices

1
Eben quoted in Fishell, 24.

37

he creates a triad plus a sixth.
2
Further depicting the descent of spirit to earth, Eben alters
the contour of the melodic phrase and returns to duple meter at Et homo factus est. The
harmonic movement is punctuated by two bitonal quartal chords, Db and F major, before
it finally rests on an Eb major chord concluding this section of text, et sepultus est, with
the same tonal security found at two previous cadence points – facta sunt and de coelis
(see Table 3.1). The implication for Eben is that these are non-negotiable precepts of
faith. Further, the nature of sorrow associated with the entombment of Christ is
reverenced through a harmonic progression from a borrowed half-diminished chord built
on the supertonic, functioning as a subdominant, resolving to tonic, which creates the feel
of a plagal or “Amen” cadence (see Example 3.4).

EXAMPLE 3.4. Credo, m.86-89.

For the exultant Et resurrexit, Eben returns to the Deum de Deo or B thematic material.
The framework remains identical barring the initial use of the “Deum” theme as a four-

2
We will see the development of this chord, major triad plus a sixth, later in the Credo.

38

measure organ ostinato
3
introduction. In both sections, the score allows for a soloist
though in the 1992 Supraphon recording Petr Eben Religious Works completed under
Eben’s supervision, the men as a unified voice operate as the soloist.
4
The written tutti
displays yet another moment of Eben’s colorful text painting as the right hand of the
organ ascends rapidly for the ascent of Christ into heaven before encountering three
elongated chords for “is seated at the right hand of the Father.”

EXAMPLE 3.5 Credo, m. 101-106.

The cadence of the B section arrives on a quartal – quintal intervallic combination that
includes both a diminished fifth between B and F as well as open intervals between A and
E, and D and A. While elements of tonal centers of B, A, and D exist, the inclusion of the
B pedal provides an immediate dominant pivot into E major and introduces the C section;

3
The ostinato technique becomes widely used in Eben’s mature works. In Sonntagsmusik of
1957, the third movement is titled Moto ostinato.

4
Religious Works: Petr Eben, with Petr Eben, Lubomir Mátl and the Czech Philharmonic
Chorus, Supraphon Records, 11 1438-2 231, 1992, compact disc.

39

however, Eben constructs the melodic line from the E major triad plus a sixth, creating an
almost jazzy backdrop for the triumphant and glorious return of the divine judge (Et
interum…). Then the direct ascending tertian modulation to G major (harmonic tertian
movement traces it’s lineage to Haydn’s last six masses) projects the cujus regni non erit
finis into a near frenzy allowing Eben to start the drive back toward the verve of the A
section. Its recapitulation, however, is only momentary. Eben rides the “frenetic”
5
spirit
into points of theological punctuation, referencing moments of divinity earlier in the
Credo as well as forging new ones for the personage of the Spiritum Sanctum.

Eben’s ability to embed theological and political commentary in melodic and harmonic
framework is perhaps the single most fascinating attribute of the Credo. Consider the
treble organ ostinato pattern of Deum de Deo; when compared with the first half-phrase
of O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (see Example 2.4) one sees the curious similarity.
Heard first in the Christe section of the Kyrie, it appears again as a melodic segment
referencing both sub Pontio Pilato and sepultus est and serves as harmonic foundation for
et ascendit. This creates a multilayered reference to Christ. By using the same chant,
Eben comments on the full divinity of Christ as God and the sacrifice of blood referenced
in both chorale and Passion text of the Credo as key elements in the theology of
resurrection and ascension (see Example 3.6).

5
See interview with Nick Strimple, Appendix A.

40

EXAMPLE 3.6. Credo, m. 48-51.

To make such a bold statement of Christian belief under an iron-fisted government is
astounding, and it dramatically places Eben outside the context of conformity and
outlines his strength of character. Johannes Landgren addresses this same principle in
Eben’s ideology:
[Music] must, in Eben’s view, serve not only the audience, but, more
importantly, God. This is a reciprocal relationship in Eben’s view, for
artistic creation – a witnessing of the role of the Holy Spirit in the
invention of the thematic material for the Lyre Pragensis improvisations –
would not be possible without the spiritual element. In his music, then,
Eben seeks to communicate not only to his audience but to God as well.
6

Theological symbolism reveals itself in another poignant quotation – Christ ist erstanden.
This German hymn, or leisen, traces its lineage to the Easter sequence Victimae paschali
laudes from the eleventh century. Both would have been exceedingly familiar to Eben
(see Example 3.7).

6
Landgren, 74.

41

EXAMPLE 3.7. Christ ist erstanden.

Referencing the resurrected and ascended Christ, Eben first sets the chant, adds what
develops as the four-note Patris answer, which includes the augmented fourth
relationship F-B, all constructed over the organ pedal cadence of O Haupt voll Blut und
Wunden in the preceding example (see Example 3.5). Maximizing the economy of means
and symbolism, Eben extracts the four-note Patris motive, transposes it into E major then
G major, and thus it becomes his formula for the ostinato organ figure throughout section
C (see Table 3.1). Through elongation of the triad figure occurring in measures 101-103,
Eben prepares the same harmonic information in measures 153-158 alluding to the
adoration and glorification of Christ. He then arrives at qui locutus est per prophetas
chanted once again using the Christ ist erstanden chant (see Example 3.8).

42

EXAMPLE 3.8. Credo, m.159-164.

Nearing the close of the Credo, Eben inserts a bold quotation both as a political and
religious comment. Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem
7
includes two intriguing
elements. The initial portion of the text quotes the harmonic and melodic material from
the Rachmaninoff Prelude in G Minor, Op. 23. No.5, specifically from the un poco meno
mosso section. Composing this under a period of heavy political influence from Soviet
Russia, Eben’s quotation is no mere coincidence. On the one hand, it is viable to assert
Eben implies divine forgiveness to Communist ideals condemning the doctrines of the
Christian Church. Likewise, it is equally viable that it is Eben’s personal message
forgiving his oppressors. A positive consequence of forgiveness is a state of peace, and
Eben exhibited himself as a man with an aura of serenity:
He was just a good-hearted man. He was optimistic. He was even after the
Nazis and communists repeatedly persecuted him. They didn’t want to
squelch him because his royalties, in part, went to the union, but most of
the money he didn’t get. But still he was a man at peace on the outside.
8

7
Translated: I confess one baptism for the remission (forgiveness) of sin.

8
Nick Strimple, in an interview with the author. See Appendix A

43

Eben continues an uncompromising gesture of his beliefs by rounding the third Christ ist
erstanden contra factum in the closing statement of the Credo -- Et exspecto
resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi saeculi. The Christian numerological
significance of the integer three is its symbolic comparison to the Trinity and three days
between Christ’s death and resurrection. The incorporation of numerology into music
dates to the Franco-Flemish through Bach. Here also, the Christological significance of
the three personages of the Trinity, excluding the Arian doctrine, equivocate as one + one
+ one equating to a singular entity. The third statement boasts Christ ist erstanden
appearing here gloriously unencumbered by any harmonic ambiguity. Heard both in the
voices and organ in unison octaves for the statement of belief in resurrection of the dead,
Eben unabashedly points to hope in what is to come both spiritually and in the secular
world. Each statement is punctuated by the perfect intervals of fourths and fifths built on
E major. It closes the movement in the resilience and strength Eben’s faith and life
proclaimed (see Example 3.9).

EXAMPLE 3.9. Credo, m.189-196.

44

This stalwart mantle of faith resonates in the summative words of David Eben as he
speaks of his father’s legacy:
I think this is the tenor of his life and his work, this connection with the
Church and his absolute stability in his faith. I think also the basis was
given in the effects of the war, afterward it was still not easy, so this built
incredible stability in his position.
9

TABLE 3.1. Detailed Analysis of Credo

Measure 1-2 3-7 8-13 14-20 21-22 23-29

Tonal ambiguous chant in C chant trans. B tritone progression (repetition of A ...)
Center organ searching Bb -E

Meter 2/2

Text Credo in unum… Patrem Visibilium … Et in unum…
Omnipotentem…

Form A introduction a b c A’ introduction a

Tempo Allegro risoluto
Minim =126

Diacritical f poco f mf poco f
Marks

Chorale/ reminiscent of Haydn “Credo” from Missa in angustiis melodic genuflection
Other

9
David Eben, in an interview with the author. See Appendix B.

45

Measure 30-33 34-41 42-47 48-54 55-63 64-73

Tonal cadence
Center loosely based on Ab bimodal Eb major Eb major
Eb Lydian cadence
Meter 2/2

Text Et ex Patre… Deum de Deo… Genitum, non Qui propter…
factum

Form A b c Cadential Ext. B a b b

Tempo Allegro risoluto Moderato Poco piu mosso
Minim = 126 Minim = 63 Minim = 84

Diacritical poco f mf mp p mp p
Marks

Chorale/ O Haupt voll
Other Blut organ ostinato

Measure 74-76 77-80 81-83 84-89 90-106 107-120

Tonal V-I Db7 C minor borrowed ii Eb Major E Major
Center in Eb cadence to Eb with Eb Lydian triad plus
sixth
Meter 3/2 2/2

Text Et incarnatus… Et homo… Crucifixus… sub Pontio… Et resurrexit… Et ascendit…

Form C a b c B’ D

Tempo a tempo poco pesante a tempo
Minim = 72

Diacritical p f mf f p f piu f
Marks

Chorale/ Bach/Haydn use of O Haupt Deum de Deo Patris
Other model voll Blut motive motive, O Haupt germinal
pedal motive with motive
Christ ist erstanden

46

Measure 121-132 133-134 135-140 141-145 146-151 152-158

Tonal G Major ambiguous chant in C chant trans. Bb pedal O Haupt
Center triad plus organ searching B moving to Eb progression
sixth

Meter 2/2

Text cujus regni… Et in Spiritum… qui ex Patre… Qui cum Patre… et
conglorificatur…

Form D A’ Intro a b B’

Tempo a tempo tempo primo sempre
poco a poco string.

Diacritical ff f mf f
Marks

Chorale/ Patris rhythmic
Other germinal augmentation and
cadential ext. of B’

Measure 159-164 165-174 175-183 184-188 189-196

Tonal O Haupt G minor A minor cadence through
Center progression F# cadence Eb-A tritone
relationship via VI-i
Meter 2/2 2/4

Text qui locutus… Et unam Confiteor Et exspecto… Et vitam
sanctam unum resurrectionem venturi
Catholicam… bastisma… mortuorum. Saeculi. Amen.

Form B’ B’ coda

Tempo stringendo Andante

Diacritical piu f f mp f ff
Marks

Chorale/ rhythmic melodic Christ ist erstanden X 2
Other augmentation and genuflection
cadential ext. of B’
Christ ist erstanden

47

Chapter Four: Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae

Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and Propers

Sanctus

The Sanctus appears in Hebrew liturgical practices dating to the second century and the
seventh century for the Roman Church.
1
Also referred to as the Trisagion (Thrice Holy),
its scriptural origin comes from the cries of the Seraphim in Isaiah:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high
and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in
attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their
faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And
one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the
whole earth is full of his glory.’
2

This image manifests in Eben’s composition of a hushed, descending two-note motive
either imitating the gentle rustle of the Seraphs wings or, additionally, perhaps the motive
references a humble plea for mercy before God, much like the Sanctus of Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis.
3
There is a convincing sense of meekness emoted in the opening eight
measures of Eben’s Sanctus. It is incensed with an air of mysticism as each of the
opening Sanctus statements becomes increasingly more melodically exotic -- originating
first as a major second, then a minor second, and lastly an augmented second. The prick

1
Jeffers, Ron, Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume I: Sacred Latin Texts,
(Corvallis: Earthsongs, 1989), 55.

2
Isaiah 6:1-3 (The New Oxford Annotated Bible).

3
See Nick Strimple’s discussion of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis in Choral Music in the
Nineteenth Century, 26-31.

48

of the accented upper neighbor at the cadence conjures hints at a metamorphosis in the
image of God (see Example 4.1).

EXAMPLE 4.1. Sanctus, m.1-8.

Contrasted with this subtle opening is the gravely awed cry Sanctus Dominus Deus
Sabaoth. Eben compounds dynamic intensity, increased melodic contour, and a jolting
arrival in B minor (the origin of the phrase is well rooted in C minor with added
augmented fourth) to illustrate the omnipotence and immensity of God. It is an image that
he carries into the coda of the A section in the organ before decisively arriving in the
relative D major, as if bowing humbly before God’s throne. This arrival in D major
suggests yet another layer in Eben’s view of God – one of a triumphant victor of peace.
Peace then, in the presence of his divine provider, emerges as a theme that unmistakably
carried him throughout his life and was a message central to his music.

49

In Baroque and Classical tradition, Pleni sunt coeli is customarily set in an allegro triple
meter contrasting the austerity of the opening Sanctus. It is appropriate that of all the
Mass movements, Eben chooses this section of the Sanctus to make a musical allusion to
Czech folk tunes and hymns. The opening three-note pleni motive, as well as the left-
hand organ motive for osanna, are quotations of the Baroque version of the Svatý Václav
(St. Wenceslas) chorale. As is characteristic of Eben’s crafty manipulation of melodies,
he raises the third scale degree initially, though the osanna quotation remains true (see
Example 4.2).

EXAMPLE 4.2. Sanctus, m.26-30.

In Eben’s Dvĕ invokace pro trombone a varharny (1988)
4
, Eben replicates this exact
motive in the opening of the first invocation and again with the initial entrance of the
trombone.

4
Two Invocations to the Wenceslas Chorale

50

When considering Eben’s program notes to Dvĕ invokace, written for a festival at St.
Wenceslas Church in Prague’s New Town, it provides a context for both examples in a
temporal and theological context:
The historical character of this chorale has also inspired me to express the
dramatic and tragic moments in our history and our celebration in the
long-awaited victory of our freedom.
5

Also voiced in his letter regarding the Missa Adventus and Pražské Te Deum 1989 (see
Appendix D), Eben addresses the intertwined concepts of liberties of political and
religious freedom. Written some thirty-seven years prior to the realization of freedom in
the Czech lands, through the code of the Svatý Václav chorale and Osanna text, Eben
celebrates both the historical highlights of Czech heritage and faith in its return. The
closing of the movement, however, finds itself back in the reality of his present by
shading the final Osanna in the ascetic harmonic frame of the opening of the Sanctus
contrasted by the hopeful advent of an F major triad at the conclusion (see Table 4.1).

5
Petr Eben, Two Invocations to the Wenceslas Chorale, accessed online
www.ump.co.uk/programme%20notes/pe-two.htm

51

TABLE 4.1. Detailed Analysis of Sanctus

Measure 1-4 4-8 9-12 13-17 18-25 26-33 33-44
Tonal D minor to Bb major to C minor to D major G bimodal to G# minor oscillating
Center C major G minor B minor G# minor quartal harmony
to F major
Meter 4/4 3/4
Text Sanctus Sanctus Dominus… Pleni sunt coeli… Osanna…
Form A B Coda
Tempo Andante misteriouso ♩=66 Allegro Andantino ♩=100
Dotted Minim = 60

Diacritical pp p mf –f ff mf f-p pp
Marks

Quotes/ transformation organ Svatý Václav return to
Other of 2
nd
alone chorale A harmonic structure

Benedictus
A modulation down by a major third from the F major conclusion of the Sanctus opens
the Benedictus in Db major and oscillates, by augmented second, to E major. The
Benedictus glances back to the Deum de Deo theme heard in the Credo, by building an
ostinato of triads in the organ based on the same intervallic relationships. Kateřina
Vondrovicocvá labels this movement a passacaglia in her blurb about the Missa adventus
in Leben und Werk, but I respectfully disagree. While it does contain a motive heard
earlier in the work, it lacks possession of the developed character and consistency present
in the Pražské Te Deum passacaglia. Here, Eben slightly alters the ostinato after
modulating to E major by placing the triads in first inversion (see Example 4.3). The
effect is quite a stark divergence from the harmonic language heard in the Sanctus. The

52

bright saturation of sonority in the Benedictus reminisces to the sounds associated more
with the French Impressionists
6
or a composer who later became Eben’s friend –
Messiaen.
7

EXAMPLE 4.3. Benedictus, m.3-8.

Unlike the classical Viennese models compared earlier, the concluding Osanna does not
bear the same material as what is heard in the Sanctus. On the contrary, this Osanna
maintains an unapologetic, and somewhat boisterous, character of praise and adds a
secondary ostinato pedal point built on la-re-sol-do (movable do) that is transposed by
the augmented second tonal relationship of the piece. The presence of the Deo de Deum
ostinato appears prominently as the top voice in the final pesante cadential pattern,

6
Janet Fishell draws a similar comparison in her discussion of Eben’s style in her dissertation
The Organ Music of Petr Eben (1988), 26.

7
See Interview with David Eben, Appendix B.

53

gliding through A major – G minor – E major, and with Eben’s charming logic the
progression comes to completion with the return to Db major (see Table 4.2).

TABLE 4.2. Detailed Analysis of Benedictus

Measure 1-2 3-6 7 8-11 12

Tonal Db major E major Db major
Center

Meter 4/2

Text Benedictus… Benedictus…

Form A A’

Tempo Adagietto solenne Poco più mosso
Minum=44 Minim= 52

Diacritical pp p p mf f
Marks

Other Deum ostinato ostinato in first inversion la-re-sol-do
Pedal add ed

Measure 13-16 17-18 19-22

Tonal Db major E major Db major
Center

Meter 4/2

Text Osanna… osanna… osanna!

Form A’

Tempo Poco più mosso pesante
Minim= 52

Diacritical f ff
Marks

Other la-re-sol-do
Pedal transposed
By augmented 2
nd

54

Agnus Dei
The Agnus Dei opens in D minor in the organ with occasional reoccurrence of the
diminished fifth. The vocal chant, with the inclusion of fi in the home key, provides the
outline of E Mixolydian, creating a bit of an aural puzzle, but the ultimate cadence is to E
minor. Diatonic and primarily major triads occur at major phrase intersections; however,
a sense of restless tonality permeates Eben’s music. In an interview with the author,
Eben’s son David refers to his father’s compositional style revealed in multifaceted ways,
yet always with intention of communicating his spirituality:
Messiaen is the meditation type but my father is more dynamic, or still a
bit nervous or this kind of character – rarely really reserved but more
tonical style of music. But for both Messiaen and my father, I think the
spiritual side is communicated very well.
8

In Agnus Dei, Eben’s dynamism is captured in the divided supplications for mercy in the
opening thirteen bars while additionally moving through cadences in both C major and
C# minor in a mere nineteen measures. While the movement is rather brief, Eben
achieves three different shades of urgency with the opening statements followed by a
dona nobis section that captures the essence of the entire Missa Adventus. The chant
structure does not consistently follow Roman or Czech text stress. Eben adjusts stress
through numerous meter changes where the beat groupings are mirrored by rhythmic
figures in the organ. Aesthetically, the movement seems a logical modern cry for mercy,
jostling the “Agnus” and “miserere” motives until a conclusive C# minor arrival. The
leading tone arrival positions Eben for a return to the home key of D minor for the dona
nobis pacem section. The dona theme appears first in the organ, followed by the voices,

8
David Eben in an interview with the author. See Appendix B.

55

and undergoes a sense of layering and development in what could be labeled neo-classic.
However, Eben’s conclusion is anything but neo-classic from a sterile, formulaic
perspective. The final plea for peace begins as an unaccompanied piano that explodes
into fortissimo on the word pacem. The harmonic progression underneath colors the
conclusion of the work in a romantic sense – it serves the overall message of the Mass.
Referencing the Credo micro-motive derived from O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, the
final organ interlude induces the same motive and translates it melodically. The Agnus
bears a message and cry for peace, both politically and spiritually, and concludes in D
minor, with no fluffy Picardy Third. Eben’s comment comes from a hope for peace
immersed in the reality of strife. The penultimate chord utilizes the tritone and ninth then
resolves to a minor triad (see Table 4.3). The cadential usage of the tritone resolving to a
minor or major triad is found throughout this work and those that will follow and reminds
the audience of hope within the context of what was and what is (see Example 4.4).

EXAMPLE 4.4. Agnus Dei, m. 38-44.

56

Considering Eben’s mantra for the function of music
9
, this, paired with it’s offering to
God, must have been at the forefront of his mind throughout this composition.

TABLE 4.3. Detailed Analysis of Agnus Dei

Measure 1-6 7-13 14-19 20-25 26-29

Tonal D minor/ B major moving moving D minor
Center E Mixolydian – to C major to C# minor plus fi
E minor

Meter ¢ 5/4 4/4 5/4 6/4 4/4 5/4 4/4 4/4

Text Agnust Dei… Agnus Dei… Agnus Dei… dona nobis dona pacem
pacem

Form A (3 subphrases) B (4 subphrases)

Tempo Allegro rubato ♩ =120 Tranquillo ♩=104

Diacritical mp-pp f f mf f
Marks

Other inclusion of fi inclusion of fi
Creates augmented fourth
Measure 30-32 … 33-37 38-44

Tonal D minor D minor
Center plus fi

Meter 4/4

Text dona nobis pacem!

Form B

Tempo Tranquillo ♩=104 largamente ♩=88

Diacritical mf f p - ff
Marks

Other Organ interlude micro-motive dona nobis
O Haupt voll Blut chromatically unaccompanied;
Micro-motive in transformed penultimate chord
Pedal possesses augmented fourth

9
A full discussion of Eben’s view of the function of music is provided in Johannes Landgren’s
Music, Moment, Message: Interpretive, Improvisational, and Ideological Aspects of Petr Eben’s
Organ Works, (Göteborg Press: Göteborg, 1997), 73-81.

57

Supplemental Propers
Offertorium
The Offertorium falls under the category of Propers for liturgical use. Unlike the
divisions of the Ordo Romanus, the texts for these Mass movements fall under Proprium
de Tempore
10
. The Offertorium also functions as a means for the elements to be brought
forth by the people to begin the Communion, a portion of the Mass only celebrated by
baptized Christians in the early church after the catechumens were released. In the
liturgical perspective of the Missa Adventus, Eben’s Offertorium shows elements of
restraint and humility countered by a fairly brisk tempo that possesses a manner of praise.
The opening constructed plainchant forms a melodic fragment woven between voices and
organ and unifies each verse of text. Formally, it is strophic, with the repeat modulating
from E minor to F minor using C major as an intermediary pivot. Set in triple meter, the
underlying organ progression suggests a passacaglia. Eben employs the same device at
the conclusion of the Pražské Te Deum 1989 to denote the importance of the text.
11

Knowing Eben’s keen sense of form, the Offertorium functions economically to serve
both the suppliant spirit of the people and Eben’s personal petition. Psalm 51, a prayer
for forgiveness and praise, finds the psalmist submitting that God might find his contrite
heart worthy to praise in the absence of the temple, which likewise left no means for

10
Translated Propers for the time (season).

11
See a written explanation in Appendix C in a letter from Petr Eben to Nick Strimple.

58

sacrifice.
12
The significance of including this text comparable to Psalm 51:17 as the
Offertorium indicates a personal plea from Eben that God might find his work, present
and future, pleasing and acceptable.
13
This is echoed in Eben’s commentary to Laudes
(1964):
Our century is full of ingratitude – ingratitude to people around us, to the
world and above all to the Creator himself. Everyone hears demands,
complaints, discontent and rebelliousness, but nowhere is there a trace of
gratitude. So perhaps the most pressing concern of art must be to praise,
because otherwise “the very stones will cry out.”
14

Eben specifies the mood of Offertorium as In spiritu humilitatis,
15
and his harmonic
language and muted dynamic level, reaching forte only for brief references to God,
reflect this meek spirit as well. The chant line moves syllabically, freely, and often finds
support or repetition in the organ. Tonal centers are not obscured but rather rooted, and
though they flow through the occasional favored stacked fourths and fifths, each verse
cadences seamlessly and is uncharacteristically tranquil for Eben. He oscillates between
the same scaffolding of quartal-quintal harmony in the last eight bars casting a serene
color over the final petition for mercy. Brief the movement may be, yet it is laden with
Eben’s artistic outlook on the function of music to praise as well as to find contentment,
regardless of circumstance.

12
Coogan, Michael, ed., The New Oxford Annotated Bible, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2001), 819-820.

13
Psalm 50:17, “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.” New Oxford Annotated Bible.

14
Eben commentary quoted in Landgren, Johannes, 74.

15
In humble spirit.

59

Pange Lingua
The Pange lingua hymn was written in the thirteenth century by St. Thomas Aquinas for
the feast of Corpus Christi and is also sung during the Elevation of the Host. Eben chose
to set the text strophically and only includes the first verse in the published edition
though the presence of a repeat sign indicates an assumption that performance would
include the additional stanzas of the hymn. Considering the exploration of this document
as Eben’s vehicle to faithfully compose and be a voice for the Church during a time of
oppression, it is most fitting that the first verse speaks to the “King of all nations”
16
as a
sacrifice for the world. Referenced through the same genuflective melodic contour as
seen in Example 3.2 of the Credo, likewise the equivalent gesture occurs at references to
Christ as fructus ventris and in the final Amen (see Example 4.5).

EXAMPLE 4.5. Pange Lingua, m.20-22.

16
Translation from Jeffers Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume I:
Sacred Latin Texts, 184.

60

A kindred movement to many in Missa Adventus, the presence of resultant tritones is
prevalent. In Eben’s desire to juxtapose ancient with modern, Pange lingua utilizes a
newly composed chant in G minor in counterpoint with a series of descending tritones in
the right-hand of the organ. The outcome of the harmonic language favors a reminiscence
of jazz and foreshadows his voice in Cantico delle Creature (1989) more than other
movements of the Mass. The cadence is perhaps the most blatant example with its
movement from a C7 ♭9 to G major (see Table 4.4), and coupled with the precipitant
tritones, reverberates with remarkably similar construction to the end of the opening
phrase of Cantico (compare Examples 4.5 and 4.6). Eben voiced his appreciation of jazz
elements from an early age:
Fishell: Jazz is an identifiable element in your music. When and where did
you come into contact with it?

Eben: If you are open to all kinds of music you simply must come into
contact with it. Already as a boy I appreciated some of it (even if I myself
did not play it.
17

17
Fishell, 24.

61

EXAMPLE 4.6. Cantico delle Creature, m.4.

TABLE 4.4. Detailed Analysis of Pange Lingua
Measure 1-6 7-12 13-19 20-22

Tonal G minor
Center

Meter ¢

Text Pange lingua… sanguinis… fructus ventris… Amen.

Form strophic cadential extension

Tempo Allegro scorrendo
Minum=100

Diacritical p pp –p p
Marks

Other Presence of augmented fourth melodic C7 ♭9 to G major
Genuflection

62

Pater Noster
Form in Pater noster
18
is largely derived from sectional divisions of text. The recurrence
of the B section reinforces the allusion to the original statement of Pater noster and aids
to remind the listener with its second appearance that “our Father” remains as the
grammatical subject. Supplementary, the inference is that only he grants forgiveness. The
movement illustrates Eben’s skill in taking a germinal motive and configuring an entire
composition similar to the music of Poulenc. In this selection the interval of a third, both
major and minor, functions as both a micro-motive for melodic and harmonic devices.
Heard first in the organ as a descending major third followed by an ascending minor
third, this motive appears in various lines of the Pater noster melody as well. Add Eben’s
practice of quartal and quintal harmony, including the diminished fifth, and the result is a
composition exhibiting the angularity found throughout Eben’s oeuvre. He employs a
similar device in the Zauberspruch den Liebsten zu beschwören (1963) in an ascent and
descent of a minor third anchored to quartal supports (see Table 4.5). In Pater noster,
there exists a certain amount of restlessness, which one might find a little unusual for the
text of the Lord’s Prayer, but it speaks to the anxiousness for divine intervention on earth
that Eben may have felt during the years of composition. This is most apparent in the
development of the micro-motive based on the interval of a third in reference to Adveniat
regnum tuum
19
(see Example 4.7).

18
The scriptural basis for Pater noster may be found in Luke 11:2-4.

19
Translated Thy kingdom come.

63

EXAMPLE 4.7. Pater Noster, m. 22-23.

The rhythmic diminution and contrary motion of the micro-motive occuring at sicut in
coelo et in terra,
20
expands dynamically and texturally to cadence in C major with the
added augmented fourth (See Example 4.8).

EXAMPLE 4.8. Pater Noster, m. 30-33.

This sense of unrest continues into Panem nostrum and displays a technique Eben uses in
later compositions, De circuitu aeterno (1991) for example, where one line of texture is

20
Translated upon earth as it is in heaven.

64

in constant motion while the others move more lyrically all the while maintaining the
blade of Eben’s chromaticism (see Example 4.9).

EXAMPLE 4.9. Pater Noster, m.34-36.

Eben’s sense of drama captures the crux of a malo
21
through alteration of descending
half-step pedal points under a series of resulting major and minor sevenths followed by
octave restatement of the opening motive. It casts a grim present reality just before Eben
makes his final religious, and by extension political, statement in the concluding
measures where he melodically quotes the Gloria incipit from the Feast of the Apostles to
the text sed libera nos a malo
22
(see Example 4.10).

21
Translated from evil.

22
Translated
but deliver from evil.

65

EXAMPLE 4.10. Pater Noster, m.61-67.

It is a fitting addition to Eben’s earlier statements in the Credo that here he openly
counters the oppressive hand of the government and malicious attitudes of humankind
with the commentary of praise and faith sought under divine care. David Eben remarked
that his father was never political,
23
and while Eben clearly never directly sought to
promote a political agenda, the conflict between the Church and State was a tangible
reality. Thus, as a consequence of his earnest beliefs evident in his sacred compositions,
his spiritual and political views become inseparably intertwined.

23
See interview with David Eben and the author, Appendix B.

66

TABLE 4.5. Detailed Analysis of Pater Noster

Measure 1-13 14-20 21-29 30-33

Tonal C pedal movement around G, G#, Gb Gb minor – E minor cadence to
Center C major plus fi

Meter 4/4 3/2, 4/2, 2/2 3/2

Text Pater noster, qui es in coelis… Adveniat regnum tuum… sicut in
Coelo et terra
Form A B C

Tempo Allegro Moderato Stringendo Poco
Minum=69 Pesante

Diacritical mp-ff-mf mp p f-ff
Marks

Other tritone frequency; increased quartal micro-motive
Micro-motive of M/m3 harmony becomes ostinato

Measure 34-38 39-46 … 47-57 58-66

Tonal wandering movement around G, G#, Gb wandering Cadence to C7
Center

Meter 3/2 2/2 3/2, 2/2

Text Panem nostrum…

Form C B C

Tempo Allegro Moderato Solenemente
Minum=69

Diacritical pp mp-mf mp-mf-f ff

Other micro-motive increased quartal walking bassline Octave
Becomes harmony statement of
Micro-motive; Gloria
Chant cantra factum

67

Chapter Five: Implications and Summation

Performing Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae should not be a daunting task to
conductors or audiences. It should, however, be approached not as a typical Mass
composition but as a very unique picture into the struggles of a man and entire cross-
section of people through years of difficulty. It should be placed in proper context for
performer, audience, and conductor alike, taking care to explain the layers of cryptic
symbolism either through verbal or written explanation. Unlike most all of his later
compositions, Eben does not specify organ registrations for the work, yet in listening to
Religious Music with Eben at the console, one may deduce his preference for understated
yet integrated registrations. As is displayed in his own playing, one should avoid over
emphasizing the hidden quotations except where he has left them harmonically naked,
thus making judicious, bold statements. From his years as a nine-year-old boy playing the
organ at St. Vitus, colorful soundscapes and their careful manipulation are a source of
inspiration and communication, thereby further influencing careful selection. There is no
emphatic record of his preference of voices, though his recording and initial score are for
male chorus. Universally, all genres of choruses should perform the work though male
choruses may wish to pay particular attention.

The American score published by Lawson-Gould in 1979 includes English text by Jane
May. Eben was devout in his Christology and Roman Catholicism. If one chose, for some
reason, to sing the English text or use the provided translation, moments of textual

68

divergence from the accepted translation of the Nicene Creed, specifically in regard to the
alteration of One holy catholic and apostolic Church and other poetic rearrangements,
will make one rethink that choice. Substitution of more traditional translations, the Jeffers
for example, will prove more theologically accurate to Eben’s Catholicism. Additionally,
the date of composition in the preface to the Lawson edition is incorrect by twenty-two
years. There are additionally the occasional omissions of accidentals in either organ or
vocal line, making minor errata a concern as well. As for pronunciation of Latin, many
choruses nobly strive to recreate vowel and consonant combinations for works with the
same dialectic context of the composer. Eben’s recording uses Germanic-Latin
pronunciations. In consideration of Eben’s view that music must reach the listener, it is
the author’s view that while the drama inherent to Germanic Latin may be preferred,
vowel color and consonant choice may be left to the comfort of the region in which it is
performed. However, text stress is an element that effects vertical structure through
emphasis, and while the desire to reset the Latin to follow traditional Roman stress may
seem logical, it would deconstruct a layer of Eben’s work that is earnest to his voice.
Read the meter and deduce the stress of rhythm.

In reviewing interviews with Petr Eben and various world scholars, the question of his
internment in Buchenwald seemed always to rise but never quite received an extensive
verbal response. Only those who experienced such outrageous mental, physical, and
emotional cruelty to mankind may truly understand the gravity of the “raised hand of

69

silence”.
1
Acknowledged by Eben, Suita Balladica (1955) is his memorial to those who
died in the death camps and likely his own specific psychological moment to wrestle with
those events through his music, though his entire output draws its influence:
I wrote the Elegy ten years after my drastic experiences in the Second
World War. It was necessary to wait some time till I could again face
these past events, and I wrote the dirge for all the dead people whose lives
ended so tragically.
2

The choice of cello and organ sets a somber tone by fitting both in mellowness of color
and as instrumental participants representative of Eben and his brother. It does not
contain the rigid angularity filled with piercing dissonances one might expect. On the
contrary, it is purely diatonic and opens with very slow harmonic motion in the keyboard
while the cello weaves a weighted melancholy motive on which the entire movement is
crafted. Hauntingly simple, its message laments the weight of evident loss and pain.
Composed a few years after Missa Adventus, it also is in D minor, and the listener soon
realizes this is no coincidence. The key, for Eben and for many composers who preceded
him, has an uncompromising connotation of burden and angst in the harmonic colors
produced – color a concern integral to Eben’s method. While not remotely bitonal, he
does show his early experiments with bimetrics in the Poco piú mosso where duple
against triple commence a battle with one another, first through syncopation, later though
simultaneous eighths and triplets. It is here that the feverish energy one expects from
Eben reveals itself in what develops into a near spinning frenzy. The motive cannot find
harmonic rest, shifts to and from cello to keyboard, rhythmically diminishes, and

1
Nick Strimple in an interview with the author. See Appendix A.

2
Eben quoted in Landgren, 18.

70

dynamically increases as if in an attempt to escape, until final acceptance sweeps over
and returns the A section
3
. In the penultimate chord, the subtle prick of the diminished
fifth is heard before the final D minor chord. What is the relevance between the two
compositions? Beyond the similarities in compositional style, common key, and unique
color of the tritone -- gravitas and context link the two. Both works provide a depiction of
Eben’s musical voice as he works through excruciating emotional trauma, the message of
memorial, and war. Both are related by the same war, one as a horror endured and the
other a result of the partitioning of Europe after the Second World War. They make a
powerful pair in programming, and the addition of the Pražské Te Deum 1989 counters
the spirit of oppression by allowing the same composer’s voice to speak with joyful
liberation.

Missa cum populo (1981-82) chronologically links these two sacred works through
harmonic language, compositional devices, and motivic similarity. As with Missa
Adventus, the Kyrie of Missa cum populo opens in D minor sharing a strikingly similar
motivic construction based on the same pitch collection found in the opening measures of
Missa Adventus. Presence of the augmented fourth relationship resonates early in the
vacillation between a D minor and Ab major triad. The opening motive provides
continuity throughout the movement in a medium not commonly found in Mass
composition – the congregation, or as noted, the people. Eben penned interpolated chants

3
This functions as a typology for the similar expansion of energy in Concerto No. 2 for Organ
and Orchestra, 1960-61.

71

in order for the people to be truly interactive in the Mass, hence its title. Quite a change
from the cryptic messages of praise found in Missa Adventus, it foreshadows the boldness
present in the latter Pražské Te Deum 1989. The presence of congregational participation
throughout the work is quite inventive but does not stray from Eben’s love of Gregorian
chant. The Gloria utilizes the Gregorian incipit, found also in the concluding measures of
Pater Noster (Example 4.10) through congregational repetition present throughout two-
thirds of the movement. Composed for brass and organ, Eben supports all congregational
melodies by means of the brass colla parte. The Credo shows Eben reaching further
beyond conventional Mass settings by combining primal and medieval affects through
syncopated spoken chant, a tom-tom, and a gong producing an exuberant profession of
the Credo text. This exuberance expands in the Hosanna, whose bacchanalian triplet
rhythms prefigure those heard later in the jubilant Te Deum.

The celebratory nature of its text, historical context, and special occasion of the first
performance of the Pražské Te Deum 1989,
4
all meld to dispel the shackles that once may
have impeded Eben from publicly expressing freedom of thought and belief. It boasts a
contagious energy commencing with opening triplet motive derivative of the folk music
of Eastern Moravia
5
and as if he cannot contain the jubilation over Czech liberation, the
Te Deum Gregorian plainchant is heard in its pure form at the octave in alto and bass. The
motivic answer in soprano and tenor accommodates for the augmented fourth; however,

4
Performed at St. Niklas-Kirche in honor of Pope John Paul II’s visit to Prague in 1990.

5
Janette Fishell discusses idiomatic constructs of Bohemian, Moravian, and Slovakian folk
music in The Organ Music of Petr Eben, 1988.

72

throughout the work the tinge of the tritone is awash in the triumphant harmonic and
rhythmic language of the work. The augmented fourth is elemental in Eben’s voice, yet
here it transforms into a statement celebrating what was, no longer is. The performance
demands of the work far outweigh those of Missa Adventus. Vocally, the lines require
agility to negotiate the intervallic augmented fourth leaps, and it is for mixed voices;
however, duets occur frequently, much in the fashion of Franco-Flemish motets, reducing
burden of a fully mixed SATB texture. Additionally, a prioritized amount of melodic
information is based on the Gregorian chant and its initial answer. Eben uses this to
rework into points of imitation thereby further reducing divided choral demands.

Curiously, the work was composed for percussion, brass OR organ with a footnote
indicating the organ substitution should occur only in the absence of brass. When asked
by Nick Strimple whether the piece could be performed with both, Eben apparently did
not mind the idea, though he had not previously considered it.
6
With the intricacies of
rhythm and tendency of older organs to produce a delay, the unity of effect while
potentially monumental, might prove challenging for performance.

Beyond the general forces required, incorporation of Moravian folk rhythm, and presence
of the augmented fourth, the work shares other elements with Missa Adventus.
Structurally both are sectionalized by text though connected by the thread of tone and
affect. At critical junctures of text, each reverts to full unison octaves of all forces to

6
See Strimple interview, Appendix A.

73

punctuate importance. Similarly, both utilize rhythmic augmentation of chant quotations.
As seen throughout Missa Adventus, the presence of micro-motives generates continuity
within movements and the compositional whole. Likewise, the Con gioia sections of the
Te Deum import the chant in rhythmic diminution
7
while answered by new, contrasting
melodic information. Micro-motives recur in much of Eben’s music, for example, the
reoccurrence of the initial minor second in From Life to Life which functions to punctuate
the entire piece, and the opening bar of De Circuitu aerterno morphs into a macro-motive
as the motor for the entire work including the piú largo. Harmonically, the presence of
quartal harmony, inclusive of the augmented fourth, appears in both Missa Adventus and
the Pražské Te Deum both seen earlier in Example 2.2 as well as instrumental interludes
stationed throughout the work. Each Sanctus shares the element of mysticism through
subtle harmonic construct, a tritone relationship in Te Deum, and meek dynamic level.

There are of course stylistic differences between the two works spanning nearly forty
years. Stalwartly grounded diatonicism appears more prevalently in the later composition,
as does continued use of Renaissance techniques such as voice part duets. Meter changes
occur with a dramatically higher frequency and are distributed more for accommodation
of the rhythmic web and expansive energy than is heard in Missa Adventus. While still
primarily syllabic, the Pražské Te Deum allows for moments of isolated syncopated
melismas in the folk character; laudamus, for example. The final bars of the Te Deum

7
Hyungmin Cho refers to these moments as plainchant fragments and speaks to their function
in the harmonic framework in Constancy and Changes in Petr Eben’s Sacred Choral Music,
1990, 86-87.

74

ramp up so much rhythmic energy that the final chord seems almost abrupt. Curiously,
Eben adds the sixth to the final chord, which to American audiences at least, rings true
like the first tenor in a barber shop quartet who just cannot stop himself from adding that
final drop of panache.

Compositionally, the Pražské Te Deum 1989 not only provides us with an informed
snapshot of Eben’s unrestricted musical voice but also the maturity of the composer as
well. The Te Deum is the culmination of a musical voice Eben carried throughout his life.
The voice began in the days before the war broke out when he played in consort with his
brother and father. The fear of days in Buchenwald informed it; the restrictions of
government shaped it, and the years of oppression developed it. But, it was his spiritual
peace that breathed in it life. Missa Adventus et Quadragesimae – not a mere
compositional exercise but a testament to the musical and spiritual integrity of its creator.
Petr Eben more than deserves his place amidst the great Czech composers. Just as
Smetana, Dvořák, Janáček before him, Eben marries Bohemian melody and rhythm to
canonized musical traditions in a manner that not only produces a new language of music
but also captures the fortitude and spirit of the Czech people. He composed music that
communicates with both its nationalistic audience and those around the world, and left a
legacy of not only tremendous repertoire but of a life true to his country, his music, and
his God.

75

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Cho, Hyungmin. Constancy and Change in Petr Eben’s Choral Works: An Overview.
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Coogan, Michael, ed. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. Oxford: Oxford University
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Dann, Elias and Jiří Sehnal. "Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von." Grove Music Online.
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Eben, Petr. Two Invocations to the Wenceslas Chorale, accessed online,
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Fishell, Janette. The Organ Music of Petr Eben. D. Mus. Diss., Northwestern University,
1988.

Jeffers, Ron. Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume I: Sacred Latin
Texts. Corvallis: Earthsongs, 1989.

Jeffers, Ron. Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume II: Sacred
German Texts. Corvallis: Earthsongs, 2011.

Landgren, Johannes. Music, Moment, Message: Interpretive, Improvisational and
Ideological Aspects of Petr Eben’s Organ Works. Göteborg: Göteborg Universty Press,
1997.

The Independent. Obituary. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/petr-eben-
398044.html

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Mahoney, William. The History of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Santa Barbara:
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Religious Works: Petr Eben. Lubomir Mátl, Petr Eben, Czech Philharmonic Chorus.
Supraphon Records, 11 1438-2 231, 1992, compact disc.

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Simpson, Adrienne and Katerina Cervenková. "Eben, Petr." Grove Music Online. Oxford
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Strimple, Nick. Choral Music in the Nineteenth Century. New York: Amadeus, 2008.

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2pg1.

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APPENDIX A

Interview with Nick Strimple
This interview was conducted in Beverly Hills, CA on November 10. 2012

Haygood: Will you first, for context, describe your first meeting with Petr and how the
friendship developed?

Strimple: The first meeting was in Prague in the office of the Hire Library (rental library)
of Music Materials, which was a division of the Czech Music Information Center, a
division of the Czech Music Fund, or we would say Foundation, which was the
organization that really ran everything along with the Czech Composers Union. They
were the Communist umbrella organizations that ran everything. So, I was there around
1984 or 1985 many times doing research. They actually let me use a desk in the hire
library when I would visit because I was doing a lot of research on music there that I was
performing here. I had already performed The Lover’s Magic Spell and knew an
orchestral piece called Vox clamantis, so while I was there I wanted to meet with him.
They were also pushing me to do the Missa cum populo, and I very much wanted to,
though I was never able to perform it because of a screw up by the US Postal service,
which is still kind of an irritant when I think about it, because the music never arrived.
The post office left an “unable to deliver” notice at the church in Beverly Hills (BHPC).
The post office claimed it would be attempted again, but it never arrived. I went to the
post office to complain because the music never arrived. They claimed they didn’t have

79

it, but I saw the boxes under a table where it had apparently been sitting for weeks. We
had to send it back because the performance date had already passed.
But in any case, I met him in the office of the hire library and we had a very nice chat.
And from then on, we met every time I went to Prague, either for coffee or lunch, and
would visit and talk about music. He would show me things he was working on, though
he never showed me some things, his children’s choir pieces for instance, because I think
he didn’t think that was what I was looking for. But, I ended up with scores of all his
major works, except the very last one for the dedication of the new organs in Salzburg
Cathedral and Jeremiah the church opera, though he sent me a video of the first
performance, and we had the opportunity to talk about it while he was composing.

Haygood: Previously, when you and I have talked about his internment in Buchenwald
that seemed to be a taboo subject.

Strimple: He would never talk about it. When I would bring it up, his right hand went up
in a stop sign, his eyes welled up in tears, he would be silent a minute and then he would
just change the subject. I did, one time, ask him about music in Buchenwald, and he told
me they did do little concerts in the barracks, and he wrote cabaret songs. The next time I
saw him was at his apartment in Prague, I asked if I could have copies of those songs and
he told me yes. But the next visit, he told me he couldn’t find them, that they probably
had been thrown away because he didn’t have a very high opinion of them because they
were written for a very particular purpose in his youth, and he didn’t think people would

80

have any use for them. I always had the suspicion that he just didn’t want to give them
out, or deal with them. So that’s all the information I ever got. He would not talk about
the experience. His ballad suite for cello and piano is supposed to be his kind of dealing
with it, and one of the movements is supposed to be a memorial to those in the camp, but
my own feeling is that all of his music written afterwards, especially when he was a little
older, I think every piece he wrote is a memorial, or an attempt by Petr to cleanse his
spirit, because the man himself was very serene. He was just a good-hearted man. He was
optimistic. He was even after the Nazis and communists repeatedly persecuted him.
They didn’t want to squelch him because his royalties, in part, went to the union, but
most of the money he didn’t get. But still he was a man at peace on the outside. Inside, I
think he was seething because there is this constant nervous energy in his music that is
not in the man when you sit and talk to him. So, I feel like every piece he wrote after had
something to do with his experience in the camp. Take Ubi caritas for instance, which is
almost a casting against type in setting that text, you know, until it gets to “Christi
amour” it cadences on a major chord, and then there is all this constant motion and all
this angry angular writing, even in using the Gregorian chant.

I know a lot of holocaust survivors, and they are all haunted in some way by the
experience. I think that consciously he was just so thankful to have survived and also he
was not a man that carried a lot of hate around. When the United States first published the
Missa Adventus, the American Guild of Organists and others tried to get him to defect
and come to America or the West because they knew he was not a Communist. He was

81

pretty rampant anti-Communist. The Americans wanted him to immigrate, but he would
never do it, because he was Czech. He loved his country and he just wasn’t going to do it
… because he was Czech. He managed to maintain good working relationships with his
colleagues at the Composers Union, even those who were communists.

All of this was just under the surface. Outside he was the perfect gentleman but
underneath he was seething with raw nerves, and that absolutely comes out in his music.
When Paul Salomunovich was at USC conducting the Chamber Singers, I introduced him
to Petr’s music. He loved it immediately, but he couldn’t make Ubi Caritas work very
well because he is immersed in the Solesmes Monks’ version of Gregorian chant. With
the Chamber Singers, they couldn’t make sense of it because the Czech approach to chant
is somewhat different because the Czech language emphasizes the first syllable of every
word, and so they tend to sing Latin that way too. Petr set Latin like that, and in the Ubi
Caritas nothing works in the way you perform chant in the Solesmes tradition, and if you
try to make it work that way the piece has this gloss on it that kills the piece. So Paul
asked me to come in and talk to the Chamber Singers, and really all it took for them to
understand the piece was for them to know he had been in Buchenwald as a teenager
digging mass graves and rolling bodies because that was his primary job. And then the
piece made sense, and it worked.

I think that Petr was such a good man that even the members of the Party still appreciated
him. I don’t know exactly when, but in the 70s the Communists were coming down on

82

Petr for something. He actually never told me about this, but Jan Hanuš’s daughter
recounted the story. They were very good friends, and Hanuš also became a very close
friend of mine too and actually dedicated one of his pieces to the Choral Society of
Southern California and me. Jan was the head of the publishing house there that was
second in size to Supraphon, and he was also the editor in chief of the Dvořák Complete
Edition. So, they were coming down on Petr for something, and Jan stood up in a meeting
and took Petr’s side. The next day Jan was without employment. This happened to a lot
of people there but this tells you how highly respected Eben was in the community. Jan
would not have been the head without being a Party member, but we never talked about
it. Certainly, that experience changed his (Jan’s) mind about the Party. But, people loved
and respected Petr because of his gentleness and his humanity.

Haygood: It seems to be a consistent compositional trait of Petr’s to use this angular
harmonic language that usually resolves on a major chord. Can you talk about how that
fits into his voice, and if the two of you talked about his compositional approach?

Strimple: Right. This absolutely relentless kinetic energy is extenuated in his choral
music because every syllable usually gets a note, there are not very many melismatic
passages; but more syllabic things that are spit out quickly, almost frantic. So I think that
is definitely a noticeable part of his style. There is a lot of chromaticism, but you still get
these major chords that come out of nowhere that don’t seem to be the product of the
chromaticism. The only time he discussed compositional technique was in early January

83

of 1990 when he was writing the Prague Te Deum. And I know it is called the Prague Te
Deum 1989, but that is a reference to the Revolution. I was there in November, and
everything was already very tense. I was back in Prague on the fourth of January, and we
had lunch on the fifth or sixth, and he was telling me he was writing a Te Deum, and that
he had not been in the mind to write anything of a happy nature in a long time. So he
said, I have this idea of rotating back and forth from an Ab major chord to a D major
chord, and do you think American Choirs will have trouble with that”. And I said I did
not think they will but it depends on how it is voiced because we sing things using
tritones. He said, “Good, I’m glad to know it”. And that, of course, is the Sanctus where
it goes back and forth between Ab and D major.

Our visits were also about the possibility of performing his works and him showing me
his new works.

Haygood: The tritone is an element used often in his music. Do you think it is because of
angst that he used it so often?

Strimple: Yes. Could be. You know the piece Shiru L’adonai of Harlap’s. When I first
became familiar with that piece the Zimryah Chorale was learning the piece with the
composer present. The choir didn’t like it (the tritone) at all, especially in a song of
praise. But while we were in Israel, there was a bus stop we walked by every morning
where some Israeli soldiers were posted. A week after we returned, a bomb went off at

84

the bus stop right at the time we would have been walking by, and it killed all the soldiers
there. When we returned, the singers wrote me saying they now understood the piece
because Israel was having to praise in a state of siege, and I think that is what Harlap was
trying to say by using the augmented fourth, and an extension is Petr’s usage. Its not
angst or anxiety of what could happen, but rather what had happened. That memory
would just not go away. It just permeates his music.

Haygood: What can you tell me about your experience in Prague since the political
climate sets the backdrop for the Te Deum?

Strimple: There were two things going on in Prague. One was this joyous anticipation
because the Canonization of Agnes of Prague, also known as the Mother of the Poor, had
just taken place. She was the sister of Charles IV. She was very devout and took holy
orders, so Charles built a convent for her order and helped her financially with the poor,
and the Czechs wanted her to receive sainthood for a long time. So there was a big
concert planned by Hanuš on November 12 to celebrate. On the other hand, things were
rapidly falling apart in the Eastern bloc. The soviets had finally allowed Russians to
travel to satellite countries, which they had never been allowed to do. And in early
November, the East Germans were going to Prague for vacation, abandoning their
vehicles, climbing over the West German Embassy compound wall and immediately
becoming West German citizens. Usually they’d go to Nuremberg. I got there around 4
th

of November and the whole place looked like a parking lot with these Trabants. They

85

were abandoned everywhere. I remember going to a meeting at the Music Information
Center. The associate director met me outside before I got to the building. She told me
unfortunately the director could not meet, but they had everything prepared for me. She
took me through the back door. The workers were nervously excited. They put me in a
closet. They had an audio system for me with scores and recordings. There was a requiem
in a major key by Zelenka they wanted me to hear. They kept bringing me coffee and
checking on me, but I was literally closed up in a closet. I found out later when I was in
there in January that they were having the last meeting of the communist controlled
union. It was an emergency meeting because the Czech Philharmonic had just returned
from a tour in Western Europe. While on tour, they had published in a paper demands
that the Czech government make reforms. Every member of the orchestra had signed it.
They were giving a big concert that night, November 8, because on the western calendar
that was the date of the Bolshevik revolution. The government’s reaction was … we
don’t need the Czech Phil, so they just shut it down. So the officials in the Composers
Union were having an emergency meeting trying to determine a way to save the Czech
Phil. It would not have done for an American to have walked into that office. That
wouldn’t have been good, so that’s why the associate director had taken me in the back
door and into a closet. Hahaha. But anyway, they succeeded and the philharmonic gave a
concert that evening.

That evening I was walking around with friends and I noticed a group of guys walking
around waving a soviet flag. They were stopped by police. Then everyone stopped. They

86

all kind of laughed, and the police let them go on because it all seemed good-natured.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Then the guys, who were really drunk, watched the
police walk off, and then the guys with the flag threw it down and proceeded to urinate
on it. So that shows you the kind of tension already present in Prague, and then the
revolution started on the 17
th
. There were half a million people filling Wenceslas square
everyday singing “We shall overcome”. They sent me a copy, and there are about twenty
or thirty verses in Czech. The revolutions started because students were given a permit
for peaceable demonstration. Then the police changed the route, led them into an area
where the students were trapped, and attacked them. That was a big deal that the police
attacked this peaceful demonstration, so that’s why it (the Revolution) started. The
government finally gave up by Christmas. The older generation, Eben’s generation,
remembered the Prague Spring of 1968 when the Czech government was loosening
constraints, and the Russians became fearful and invaded. They enlisted the aid of the
Polish army to take over. So Eben and his generation remembered that. Many of the guys
of his generation had lost their jobs at that time. Then they also remembered the
Communist takeover in 1948, so it was a big, big relief and release of all kinds of tension.
When you go to Prague, you’ll see up on the castle hill to the east, there is an enormous
public statue. There used to be an enormous sign that said “With the Soviet Union
Forever”. When I got back to Prague on the 4
th
of January that was gone already. Citizens
were helping take it down and keeping a piece just like the Berlin Wall. They had a
contest for something to put there instead, and the winning design was a giant
metronome.

87

Haygood: What’s the symbolism?

Stimple: Well you know, we may be over here, but everything goes back. What goes
around comes around. Now back about Agnes of Prague, the legend that had sprung up
was that they would get their freedom when she got her sainthood. She was canonized on
November 12
th
and the revolution started on the 17
th
. So I think all these things certainly
had an effect on Eben when he was writing the Te Deum.

Haygood: When the Te Deum opens, the harmonic language is a little austere for a Te
Deum. Why, do you think?

Strimple: Well, its nervous jubilation. And if I recall, it ends with an added sixth or
seventh, it is not a pure triad, which is a little unusual for him. He uses the Gregorian
theme, but he uses it over and over as a passacaglia tune. The nervous energy is just
constant. The interesting thing, and I asked him about this, its for brass OR organ. I
conducted the American premiere of the organ version, and I asked him if he’d ever
considered it performed by both? He said, “Do you mean both playing at the same time”.
I said yes, and he said, “I’ve never thought about it, but why not”. His Missa cum populo
is written for both, but the organ accompanies the choir and the brass the congregation.
That piece was performed on the first anniversary of the Revolution. President Bush, the
first one, was there, and there was a big celebration at St. Vitus. The students at Charles

88

University were unable to go the big celebration, and they were ticked off about it, so
they organized their own Mass at the Salvador church at the foot of the Charles Bridge. It
is very important. Lots of dignitaries and Dvořák had their funerals there. Petr invited me
to it, and there were going to be some dignitaries there too. It was a very interesting
experience. The mass works pretty well with the brass down in front playing with the
congregation though there is no way for the congregation to get their pitch.

Haygood: The opening Kyrie of the Missa Adventus sounds like the chant is close to
number nine in the Liber, Associated with the Blessed Virgin, but I cant find any of his
writings that indicate that.

Strimple: No he never indicated that to me. It could be based on something other than the
Kyrie like a trope. The second organ concerto is a reaction to the Prague Spring. It and
the first organ concerto are not even from the same planet. The second is purposefully
ugly, angular music. There are no major chords, and is very difficult to listen to because
it was relentless in its brutality.

Petr once told me my performance of his Lover’s Magic Spell was his favorite, and that
meant a lot to me. When we performed in Prague at the Jewish Music Festival and did the
Lover’s Magic Spell again, Petr and his wife were in the first row, and I felt really good
about that. The next year I went to hear the premiere of a work by Hanuš that was written
after WWII and squelched by the Communists, and they seated me on the second row,

89

right beside the Ebens. Their friendship and that of Hanuš meant a lot to me and had a big
influence on me as well.

90

APPENDIX B

Interview with David Eben
This interview was conducted on January 2, 2013 at Charles University,
Prague, Czech Republic

Haygood: If you wouldn’t mind, can you provide any general information on your
father’s early life?

Eben: Well his birthplace is actually not Česky Krumlov but Žamberk, which is in east
Bohemia where his father was working. He was inspector for German schools, but before
he was one year old they moved to Česky Krumlov. And this marked him quite deeply I
think, because it is a medieval town. They played together as a family. I think he played
cello, his brother violin, and his father piano. He also started early to learn the piano. Of
course when the war came, many of the men went to the war, so he was the youngest
organist in the main church in Česky Krumlov. I think he was 11. This was also a time of
concern because his father was Jewish and so his father went to the concentration camp
quite early. He of course couldn’t study anymore then, so the church was a sort of refuge
for him where he could go and just improvise on the organ, so this was an important point
for him.

Also, in this time, before the situation was getting worse, he was in the summer time at a
Cistercian convent with his brother. So he was following the services with Gregorian
chant and Gregorian chant marked him also, so it was a very important source of
inspiration in his work, and in the Prague Te Deum, it is quite clear.

91

Then, he was also forced to go to the concentration camp with his brother, and it was a
difficult time of course. And when he fortunately came back, he had to finish high school,
and then he started to study piano and composition at the Prague Academy of Music. So
he started to make his studies in Prague and of course the situation became difficult with
the Communists. He thought now things would be ok and he would be able to fully live
his artistic evolution, but this was not the case obviously. He was, in a certain way, apart
from the (communist) Revolution, against the main current. He was very deeply rooted in
his faith and in his spiritual life. And so, his first piece to finish his studies was
Symphonia Gregoriana, the organ concerto, but he was not allowed to name it
Symphonia Gregoriana, but rather Organ Concerto No. 1 as this was the official way. Of
course, he was not alone, there were others who did not follow, but in his very clear way
of staying on this position, and writing religious music, he was an exception, I think. He
finished his studies and started his work. And one of the important branches is organ
music, but choirs also. He also wrote Apologia Sokratus,

Haygood: So Gregorian chant and the church were two very strong influences on him as
a composer. Were there any composers that influenced his work?

Eben: I think he was quite subscribed in the late Romantic music works of Mahler and
also Brahms. But also the music of Bartok was for him quite important. I know that he
liked him very much. In the organ music, one of the surprises was Jehan Alain and he

92

heard his music later but found it quite familiar. He met Olivier Messiaen several times,
and they shared a concert together in Prague. I think they liked each other even if the
language between them was difficult. Messiaen is the meditation type but my father is
more dynamic, or still a bit nervous or this kind of character – rarely really reserved but
more tonical style of music. But for both Messiaen and my father, I think the spiritual
side is communicated very well.

Haygood: Did he ever speak very much about the time in the concentration camp? I’m
sure it had to be very difficult.

Eben: Yes, of course. Well, yes, he spoke but his father didn’t speak about the
concentration camp at all. I think its better to look at the monograph where he devotes
time exactly in his words. And I think it is better to read it in his own words, so that I do
not paraphrase it badly in English.

Haygood: Did he ever reference any of his compositions as representative of that
experience or was his entire body of work influenced by his experience.

Eben: You mean in the concentration camp?

Haygood: Yes.

93

Eben: Well indirectly so. He was not a person stuck in some past bad experience so
much. He was a man who accepted the situation. The pressure in which he lived brought
a deeper spiritual life, so in this case he was influenced by the experience but not directly.
There are some that refer in some way to this experience, for example, Suita Balladica
for cello and piano there is an Elegy for the victims of the war. I don’t if he reflected
exactly his experience but it was a reference to this theme.

Often he has messages, as in Laudes, so he chooses for each movement a Gregorian
chant. He doesn’t cite it exactly, but uses it as a departure point for his own music. These
themes of Gregorian chant are often giving a sort of message to his music.

Haygood: In Missa Adventus for the opening Kyrie, it sounds quite like Gregorian chant,
though my research has not found a match to that phrase.

Eben: No, not in this piece; however, there is a quotation from a Bach chorale in the
Christe section.

Haygood: Yes, in the organ.

Eben: Yes, and it is quite hidden. But otherwise I don’t think that there is anything. It is
more of a sort of spirit of the Gregorian motion. It is for unison male choir in this way. It
is modal also, and in parts of course are more romantic perhaps. There is Christ ist

94

erstanden at the quote with the resurrection, et expecto resurrectionem. It is of course a
sacred song. This was something completely against its time in 53 or something around
this time.

Haygood: Yes, that is something I noticed. Also, it is interesting that the editor’s edition
is off by about 20 years. It states the publication date as 1974.

Eben: Ah, yes, this is incorrect.

Haygood: This letter from your father to Dr. Strimple also deals with the Missa Adventus.
Would you mind reading your father’s letter, so that I have everything transcribed
correctly?

Eben: Ah, yes, of course I will try.
We had, as a nation, not many reasons in the past forty years to sing a Te
Deum. What I had written in the fifties was a Missa Adventus in strict
ascetic style and in D minor. And what expressed …

I think perhaps it is better if you read and I will follow and make corrections.

*At this point, words spoken by Dr. Eben as the author reads the letter are italicized.

Haygood: Ok. I will try.

What expressed one mood and atmosphere. The fight of our citizens of our
citizens for their faith and freedom. The fight for the Church for her
existence. But when now, suddenly, the unexpected change happened yes
as a real miracle. When we could feel God’s leading hand in the prayers of
St. Agnes of Prague, whose sanctification was so connected with the
revolution days, I felt that I must write a composition as a thanksgiving.

95

And there is no better text than the Te Deum. For a composer, the most
serious problem is in setting this text in music. Is how to create a contrast,
since in the sentences are suggesting a continuous praise and a jubilating
fortissimo. Thus, I used the Sanctus, which can be felt also in a mysterious
way, and all the praying sentences for the piano passages. I used the
quotation of the Gregorian chant in the very beginning bringing the first
half sentence with a modern answer in the after phrase to show the
traditional combined with the present. Almost, no words are repeated, but
the last sentence in te speravi non confundar expressing so precisely our
long lasting hopes, I composed as a passacaglia to underline its
importance.

Eben: He has a special handwriting, its true. The Missa Adventus is also important
because it is without Gloria for the ascetic period of the year, so it was also a response to
the situation, which was a sort of deprivation. Also, there some moments, like the Agnus
Dei where the Dona nobis pacem, which is usually soft, is forte and quite an expressive
cry.

Haygood: Yes. The reason for choosing the two works is the premise that they are at least
representative or in reaction to two different periods. That the earlier is composed in a
period of oppression and the latter is of liberation and joy.

You probably have your own vivid memories of the Prague Te Deum and the time and
experience surrounding it. Would you speak a little about that?

Eben: Well I was studying here. I was in my fourth year of study at the university. Yes, it
was an unusual experience, and somewhat euphoric afterwards. I experienced it here in
the university where I was studying musicology and was supervised at how organized the

96

normally quite unorganized Czech’s were able to do. It was very organized and efficient.
Everyone took a role and a task to visit factories, visit people, write down texts and others
put together the eating and kitchen and so forth. Everything was perfect. Often people
slept here in sleeping bags, and it was an extraordinary time. And a moment which
people had been also close one to another, when the situation normalized regular
behavior started again. It changed the atmosphere of the whole place. Prague was the
focus of everything. Every evening there were demonstrations at Wenceslas Square. Here
it was very something where people joined in this process.

Haygood: In what ways, other than its jubilant nature do you think it is representative of
that spirit?

Eben: He liked a lot of brass music and wrote a lot of it. He favored it I think. He uses it
also in the Missa cum populo, so I think it was a logical choice.

Haygood: In your opinion, as his son, how do you think he would want most to be
remembered, in his works or a message? It seems his connection to the Church remained
constant throughout his life.

Eben: I think this is the tenor of his life and his work, this connection with the Church
and his absolute stability in his faith. I think also the basis was given in the effects of the
war, afterward it was still not easy, so this built incredible stability in his position. He

97

was never political. I think also, you take these two pieces because of their political
relationship, but he was not very political. For him, his spiritual point of view was the
main thing, and he didn’t move a centimeter from it. This was the important thing. He
was a creator. I don’t think you can explain too much from politics sometimes I think
people use, though I don’t want to say it wasn’t difficult. Of course it was, but he was a
composer, so he composed music, this in connection with his feeling and spiritual life.

Haygood: That was what I have gleaned but I wanted to know from you if this was in fact
the case.

Eben: Yes. I think so. He was very stable in this and he never doubted his faith and his
decisions. He didn’t engage himself in any kind of political involvement. He felt as a
musician and a Christian that he should never hide this point of view in writing his music
for the Church and so forth. The politics are on a secondary level. Sometimes people like
to say he was depressed to explain his music, but I would not do it in this way.

Haygood: One compositional question, his music is quite angular. Did he ever mention
his compositional process or voice?

Eben: From my point of view, it seems still to me something very natural. Often for some
it is somewhat painful for people to create. I never felt that in my father’s case. He just
went down and composed. It was something very natural. Before he would start

98

composing, he would often go into the woods with a small writing pad. Then he started
work at the piano, but it was never something difficult for him. From the outside it was
something very natural, sometimes a question of time, but if he had the time, he was
sitting at the piano and composing. So, I couldn’t say there was a particular process.

Haygood: If he was working on a larger work, did he compose it in a series of days or
weeks? Or did he work on multiple compositions simultaneously?

Eben: No. Normally, he worked on one composition I think. I think he had a preliminary
idea of the composition, and he would use Gregorian of folk themes, and he had an idea
of the whole conception and he would sit down and work it out. If he had time, he would
just sit down and compose.

99

APPENDIX C
Translation of O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden
O head full of blood and wounds,
Full of pain and full of scorn,
O head mockingly bound
With a crown of thorns,
O head, at other times beautifully adorned
With highest honor and adornment,
But now, however, highly reviled:
I greet you!

I thank you from my heart,
O Jesus, dearest friend,
For your death’s pains,
Since you meant so well.
Alas, grant that I might hold on
To you and your faithfulness,
And when I become cold,
May my end be in you.

When I depart one day,
Depart not from me.
When I suffer death,
Then come forth.
When the most horrible fears
Fill my anguished heart,
Release me from my fears
By the strength of your anguish and pain.

Appear as my shield,
As consolation in my death,
And let me see the image of the cross.
Then will I want to gaze upon you,
And, filled with faith, will I want
To press you firmly to my heart!
Who so dies, dies well.
1

1
Jeffers, Ron, Translations and Annotations of Choral Repertoire Volume II: German Texts,
(Corvallis: Earthsongs, 2011), 295-296.

100

APPENDIX D

Letter from Petr Eben to Nick Strimple, 1990

101

Reprinted by permission of Nick Strimple.

102

APPENDIX E
Additional Correspondence between Petr Eben and Nick Strimple

103

104

105

Reprinted by permission of Nick Strimple.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Several scholarly publications exist on the organ, staged, and instrumental music of Petr Eben (1929-2007)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Haygood, Christopher D. (author)

Core Title Surmounting oppression in the choral music of Petr Eben: an analysis of the Missa adventus et quadragesimae

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Choral Music

Publication Date 07/03/2013

Defense Date 06/03/2013

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag communist oppression,Czech choral music,Czech composers,Eben,holocaust,holocaust survivor,Mass,micro-motives,Missa adventus,OAI-PMH Harvest,Petr Eben,Prague Te Deum,unison mass,Velvet Revolution

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Advisor Strimple, Nick L. (committee chair), Grases, Cristian F. (committee member), Scheibe, Jo-Michael (committee member)

Creator Email christopherdhaygood@me.com,christopherdhaygood@okstate.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-284487

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