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Using music to heal Catholic-Jewish relations: an analysis of Stephen Paulus' post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn

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Using music to heal Catholic-Jewish relations: an analysis of Stephen Paulus' post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn

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USING MUSIC TO HEAL CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS:
AN ANALYSIS OF STEPHEN PAULUS’ POST-HOLOCAUST ORATORIO,
TO BE CERTAIN OF THE DAWN
By Kristen Simpson

_____________________________________________________________________________

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

August 2019

ii

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Los Angeles, California

This dissertation, written by

Kristen Simpson

under the supervision of her Dissertation Committee, and approved by all its members, has been
presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the University of Southern California Thornton
School of Music, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

with major in Choral Music

............................................................................. .............................
Dean, Thornton School of Music Date

DISSERTATION COMMITTEE:

............................................................................. .............................
Chairperson Date

.............................................................................

.............................................................................

.............................................................................

iii

“This is the task: in the darkest night to be certain of the dawn, certain of the
power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into a song. To know the monster’s
rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face (even a monster will be transfigured
into an angel); to go through Hell and to continue to trust in the goodness of God
– this is the challenge and the way.”
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
from A Passion For Truth, pg 301

iv

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... iv
List of Tables ............................................................................................................................ vi
List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... viii
List of Musical Examples .......................................................................................................... ix
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................x
Introduction ................................................................................................................................1
Chapter 1: Nostra Aetate .............................................................................................................3
The Complicated Relationship Between Christians and Jews ...................................................3
The Roman Catholic Church and the Third Reich .................................................................. 11
Genesis of the Nostra Aetate ................................................................................................. 18
Jewish Population Shifts in the United States and the Development of Anti-Semitism ........... 30
Chapter 2: Biographical Information ......................................................................................... 38
Composer Stephen Paulus ..................................................................................................... 38
Librettist Michael Dennis Browne ......................................................................................... 41
Chapter 3: Background and General Structure of To Be Certain of the Dawn ............................ 46
Structure of the Work ............................................................................................................ 49
Motives Used Throughout Work ........................................................................................... 51
Incorporation of Jewish Service Elements ............................................................................. 52
Orchestration ......................................................................................................................... 59
Performances ........................................................................................................................ 59
Imagery ................................................................................................................................. 61
Chapter 4: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part I “Renewal” .......................................................... 66
Section 1: “Sh’ma Yisrael!” .................................................................................................. 66
Section 2: “Teshuvah” ........................................................................................................... 72
Section 3: “First Blessing” .................................................................................................... 81
Section 4: “Kingdom of Night” ............................................................................................. 86
Section 5: “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha” ......................................................................... 92
Chapter 5: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part II “Remembrance” ................................................ 94
Section 6: “Two Little Girls in the Street” ............................................................................. 94
Section 7: “Second Blessing” .............................................................................................. 101
Section 8: “Where Was the Light?” ..................................................................................... 105

v

Section 9: “Old Man, Young Man”...................................................................................... 107
Section 10: “Third Blessing” ............................................................................................... 116
Section 11: “This We Ask of You” ...................................................................................... 119
Section 12: “Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst” ........................................... 122
Section 13: “Three Coats” ................................................................................................... 126
Section 14: “Fourth Blessing” ............................................................................................. 132
Section 15: “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God” .......................................................................... 136
Section 16: “Boy Reading” .................................................................................................. 142
Section 17: “Interlude: Veil of Tears” .................................................................................. 149
Section 18: “Hymn to the Eternal Flame” ............................................................................ 152
Chapter 6: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part III “Visions” ....................................................... 155
Section 19: “B’Tselem Elohim” .......................................................................................... 155
Section 20: “Voices of Survivors” ....................................................................................... 163
Section 21: “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha” ..................................................................... 169
Chapter 7: Summary ............................................................................................................... 174
Appendices ............................................................................................................................. 177
Appendix A: Ten Points of 1947 Seelisberg Emergency Meeting ........................................ 178
Appendix B: Twelve Points of 2009 Berlin Annual General Meeting of ICCJ ..................... 179
Appendix C: Known Performances of To Be Certain of the Dawn ....................................... 180
Appendix D: Transcript of Beyond the Notes Video ............................................................ 185
Appendix E: Transcript of Student Interview Video ............................................................ 189
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 190

vi

List of Tables
Table 1.1. Original Form of Good Friday Prayer for the Jews used until 1956. ............................7
Table 1.2. Examples of the opening text of the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews from Missals
issued during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. ..........................................................................9
Table 1.3. Total Jewish Population in the United States between 1818 and 1918. ...................... 30
Table 1.4. Changes in Jewish Population within the United States from 1907 to 1989. .............. 36
Table 3.1. Details of the World Premiere performances of To Be Certain of the Dawn. ............. 60
Table 4.1. Formal components of Section 1: "Sh'ma Yisrael!" ................................................... 66
Table 4.2. Formal components of Section 2: "Teshuvah" ........................................................... 72
Table 4.3. Formal components of Section 3: "First Blessing" .................................................... 81
Table 4.4. Formal components of Section 4: "Kingdom of Night" ............................................. 86
Table 4.5. Formal components of Section 5: "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha" ......................... 92
Table 5.1. Formal components of Section 6: "Two Little Girls in the Street" ............................. 94
Table 5.2. Formal components of Section 7: "Second Blessing" .............................................. 101
Table 5.3. Formal components of Section 8: "Where Was the Light?" ..................................... 105
Table 5.4. Formal components of Section 9: "Old Man, Young Man" ..................................... 107
Table 5.5. Formal components of Section 10: "Third Blessing" ............................................... 116
Table 5.6. Formal components of Section 11: "This We Ask of You" ...................................... 119
Table 5.7. Formal components of Section 12: "Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst"
............................................................................................................................................... 123
Table 5.8. Formal components of Section 13: "Three Coats" ................................................... 126
Table 5.9. Formal components of Section 14: "Fourth Blessing" ............................................. 132
Table 5.10. Formal components of Section 15: "Breathe in Us, Spirit of God" ........................ 137
Table 5.11. Formal components of Section 16: "Boy Reading" ................................................ 143
Table 5.12. Formal components of Section 17: "Interlude: Veil of Tears" ................................ 150

vii

Table 5.13. Formal components of Section 18: "Hymn to the Eternal Flame" .......................... 152
Table 6.1. Formal components of Section 19: "B'Tselem Elohim" ........................................... 155
Table 6.2. Formal components of Section 20: "Voices of Survivors" ....................................... 163
Table 6.3. Formal components of Section 21: "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha" ..................... 171

viii

List of Figures
Figure 1.1. Participants of 1947 Emergency Meeting on Anti-Semitism in Seelisberg,
Switzerland. Source: ICCJ “Reports and Recommendations of the Emergency Conference on
Anti-Semitism,” Seelisberg, 1947. ............................................................................................. 20
Figure 1.2. Minneapolis Rabbi Albert G. Minda attends meeting with Cardinal Augustin Bea on
March 31, 1963. ........................................................................................................................ 25
Figure 3.1. Image of children during Holocaust. Likely taken at Theresienstadt, the concentration
camp in Terezin, Czechoslovakia. Source and date unknown. ................................................... 63
Figure 3.2. Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. ..................................................... 65
Figure 5.1. “Two friends shyly approach the photographer, Lodz.” ca. 1935-1938 in Lodz,
Poland. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography. ........................ 99
Figure 5.2. An orthodox father visits his son, [TOZ (Society for Safeguarding the Health of the
Jewish Population) summer camp, probably Otwock. ca. 1935-1937. © Mara Vishniac Kohn,
courtesy International Center of Photography. ......................................................................... 114
Figure 5.3. "Boy suffering from a toothache clutches a tattered school notebook, Slonim." Taken
in Slonim, Poland. ca. 1935-38. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of
Photography. ........................................................................................................................... 131
Figure 5.4. “In cheder (Jewish elementary school), Mukacevo” in Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia.
ca. 1935-1938. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography. ........... 147

ix

List of Musical Examples
Example 3.1. Adonai Malach scale. ........................................................................................... 55
Example 3.2. Ahavah Rabbah scale. .......................................................................................... 56
Example 3.3. Magein Avot scale. .............................................................................................. 57
Example 3.4. Ukrainian Dorian mode. ....................................................................................... 57
Example 4.1. Clarinet in opening section of Part I: Renewal, "Sh'ma Yisrael!" mm. 20-23. ....... 69
Example 4.2. Conclusion of opening section of Part I: Renewal, Section 1 “Sh’ma Yisrael!” mm.
35-44......................................................................................................................................... 70
Example 4.3. Lack of direction in choral melodies to depict “pathlessness” in Part I: Renewal,
Section 2 “Teshuvah,” mm. 66-68. ............................................................................................ 79
Example 4.4. First appearance of "wandering" motive in Part I: Renewal, Section 2 "Teshuvah"
section, mm. 35-52. ................................................................................................................... 80
Example 5.1. Pastoral motive in bassoon and cello from Part II: Remembrance, Section 8 'Where
Was the Light?" mm. 50-52. .................................................................................................... 110
Example 5.2. Reappearance of pastoral motive in Part II: Remembrance, Section 9 "Old Man,
Young Man," m. 135. .............................................................................................................. 111
Example 5.3. Use of Ahavah Rabbah scale (here: D Eb F# G A Bb C D) in Part II:
Remembrance, Section 9 "Old Man, Young Man," mm. 203-206. ........................................... 112
Example 5.4. Cantor melody in Part I: Renewal, Section 1 "Sh'ma Yisrael!" mm. 14-19. ........ 124
Example 5.5. Chimes melody in Part II: Remembrance, Section 12 "Du sollst deinen Nächsten
lieben wie dich selbst," mm. 82-93. ......................................................................................... 124
Example 5.6. Depiction of respiration in mixed chorus of Part II: Remembrance, Section 15
"Breathe in Us, Spirit of God," mm. 110-121. ......................................................................... 141
Example 6.1. Cantor and strings in Part I: Renewal, Section 5 "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha,"
mm. 198-206. .......................................................................................................................... 172
Example 6.2. Cantor and strings reprise material from Section 5 in Part III: Visions, Section 21
"V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha," mm. 315-322. .................................................................... 172

x

Abstract
This dissertation analyzes American composer Stephen Paulus’ (1949-2014) post-Holocaust
oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn (2005). It determines how this work conveys atonement
toward the Jewish community for the actions of the Roman Catholic Church over the past two
millennia that blamed Jews for the death of Christ. It also considers the changes in the
relationship between Catholics and Jews, including activities that prompted the development and
release of Nostra Aetate (In Our Time)
1
by the Catholic Church in response to the Holocaust, as
well as considers the specific needs of the Minneapolis community which commissioned this
work. Paulus incorporated Jewish elements throughout the work, including use of traditional
Jewish modes such as the Adonai Malach, Ahavah Rabbah, and Magein Avot scales. He
purposefully included a role for a cantor, who sings theMourners' Kaddish at one point during
the work. Even Jewish service elements such as the Shema, V'Ahavta, and the use of a shofar
make significant appearances.
To counter these Jewish components, Paulus used a mixed chorus to portray Christian attitudes
toward Jews during World War II and soloists to portray children depicted in photographs by
Roman Vishniac (1897-1990) and four Holocaust survivors who settled in Minnesota after
World War II. The composition is unique in his large library of compositions (600+ works); as
his only oratorio, it also features the drama and energy found in his opera works while including
sensitive choral writing for its most intimate moments. To Be Certain of the Dawn is one of the
few major works of music inspired by Nostra Aetate and the only work offered as a gift of
reconciliation to the Jewish community prompted by the Catholic Church’s attempts to right the
relationship between the two world religions over the past fifty-plus years.

1
Vatican, "Nostra Aetate." (Vatican archives, 2018).

1

Introduction
This document explores the background of the connections between Judaism and Christianity,
with special focus on the Roman Catholic Church, and how the two religions influenced the
creation of composer Stephen Paulus’ (1949-2014) post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the
Dawn. The first three chapters cover background information. Chapter One looks at the attitudes
of the Christian Church as it sought dominance and followers in the early days of Christianity.
The chapter also traces the history of the development of Nostra Aetate, the Roman Catholic
Church’s seminal document issued in 1965 by the Second Ecumenical Council (often referred to
as Vatican II) dealing with the relationship between the Church and other religions, especially
Judaism. The end of Chapter One also reviews the relationships between Jews and Christians in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, a city which in 1946 was given the label “the capital of anti-Semitism
in the United States” by writer Carey McWilliams (1905-1980).
1
Chapter Two presents
background and biographical information about composer Stephen Paulus and librettist Michael
Dennis Browne (b. 1940) who collaborated on the oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn. Chapter
Three describes the structure of the oratorio and includes information about the specific Jewish
prayer modes that influence the scales used throughout the work. Details about the premiere
performances in 2005 are included as are details on the specific imagery displayed during the
premiere.
Analysis of the three parts of the work comprise Chapters Four through Six. Part I: “Renewal”
and its five sections make up Chapter Four. Chapter Five covers Part II: “Remembrances” and its

1
Carey McWilliams, “Minneapolis: The Curious Twin,” Common Ground. (Autumn 1946): 61.

2

thirteen sections. Chapter Six includes the analyses of Part III: “Visions” and its final three
sections. Reflections on the work and its place among similar works inspired by Nostra Aetate
are included in Chapter Seven. Appendices include the Ten Points of Seelisberg
2
from 1947
issued after the 1947 Emergency Meeting on Anti-Semitism in Seelisberg, Switzerland, which
led to the formation of the International Council of Christians and Jews, the Twelve Points of
Berlin from 2009 which modernized the Ten Points of Seelisberg from 1947, plus a list of all
known performances of To Be Certain of the Dawn, and interview transcriptions with the
composer, librettist, and performers.

2
The Ten Points of Seelisberg were part of the results emanating from the 1947 Emergency Meeting on Anti-
Semitism and were instrumental in future discussions between the Roman Catholic Church and scholars of Jewish-
Christian relations. Ultimately, many of the Ten Points led to direct changes in Catholic teaching as part of Vatican
II.

3

Chapter 1: Nostra Aetate
The Complicated Relationship Between Christians and Jews
The belief that Jews caused the death of Christ has prevailed as one of the largest matters of
contention between Judaism and Christianity. The intent of Church leaders to keep early
Christians focused on their new religion instead of “straying” back to Judaism led to the
development of Papal decrees, laws, and theological writings throughout Europe intended to
separate members of the two religions. By characterizing Judaism in a negative manner, new
Christians were discouraged from rejoining their former religion. Add in the characterization of
Jews as “deicides”, and intimidation allows the early Church to hold on to and expand its number
of followers. Solomon Zeitlin (1892-1976), Jewish historian and scholar, wrote about early
Church leaders and historical documents which gave rise to Christian contempt of Jews, and
noted, “The charge of the Church Fathers that the Jews are deicides, the killers of Christ, has
been the Church’s battle cry since the Second Century.”
3
Zeitlin points out that the writing of
John Chrysostom (c. 349-407), a fourth century Christian author, included, “Even if they [the
Jews] no longer murder their own children…they murdered Christ, which is worse…God hates
them.”
4
Such explosive hate against the Jews “poisoned the minds of Christians who came to
look upon the Jews not as children of God but as children of devils, responsible for the
crucifixion of Jesus, for whom there was no repentance and no redemption unless they accepted
Jesus as the Christ.”
5

3
Solomon Zeitlin, “The Ecumenical Council Vatican II,” The Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. 56, No. 2 (1965): 97.
4
Ibid., 98.
5
Ibid., 98.

4

Christians have been systematically taught to view Jews as Christ's murderers. The mere action
of Jews going about their lives on Good Friday, the Christian holy day which observes the
crucifixion of Christ, was considered by many Christians as an affront to their Messiah. In 538
B.C.E., the Third Council of Orléans
6
went so far as to “order…Jews to stay indoors during the
Easter holidays.”
7
During the reign of Pope Innocent III (1161-1216), who served as pope from
1198 to 1216, restrictions forbade Jews from being “well dressed [sic] during the days before
Easter…for to dress well on the anniversary of the suffering and the crucifixion of Jesus is an
insult to Christians.”
8
When the pope convened the Fourth Lateran Council in November 1215,
the proceedings’ second decree was titled “That Jews Should be Distinguished From Christians
in Dress.”
9
Jacob Marcus discusses the proceedings in The Jew in the Medieval World, a Source
Book 315-1791, and describes the reasoning for requiring “…Jews and Saracens of both sexes in
every Christian province and at all times shall be marked off in the eyes of the public from other
peoples through the character of their dress…” as a precaution by the Church “…prevented
intermarriage and the consequent losses to the Christian religion.”
10
Furthering Christianity
throughout the world would occur by protecting the Church’s assets, which in this case was its
number of followers, at all costs.

6
The Third Council of Orléans was convened to discuss Church doctrine in 538 B.C.E. Jacob Marcus notes that the
results of this council demonstrated perhaps one of the earliest restrictions on the movement of Jews as they were
ordered to stay indoors during the Easter holiday. Jacob Marcus, The Jew In the Medieval World, a Source Book
315-1791 (Cincinnati: The Sinai Press, 1938), 139.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid.
9
Ibid., 138-139.
10
Ibid., 139.

5

In Medieval Spain, the Las Siete Partidas (The Seven Laws) were issued in 1265 and made no
attempt to cover disdain for Jews. Several of the more pointed laws included:
Law II: We also forbid any Jew to dare to leave his house or his quarter on Good Friday,
but they must all remain shut up until Saturday morning; and if they violate this
regulation, we decree that they shall not be entitled to reparation for any injury or
dishonor inflicted upon them by Christians.
11

Law VII: Where a Christian is so unfortunate as to become a Jew, we order that he shall
be put to death just as if he had become a heretic; and we decree that his property shall be
disposed of in the same way that we stated should be done with that of heretics.
12

11
Paul Halsall, “Medieval Sourcebook: Las Siete Partidas,” (Fordham University, 1997), available at:
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/jews-sietepart.asp. Accessed on November 2, 2018.
12
Ibid.

6

Good Friday Prayer for the Jews
The act of associating Jews with the death of Christ has been part of traditions in the Roman
Catholic Church for millennia. Jewish-Catholic relations scholars, including John Connelly
13
,
Philip Cunningham
14
, Peter M. Marendy
15
, and others
16
point to problems with the Church’s
expressed desire to convert all, including Jews, to Catholicism through its wording used in the
Good Friday Prayer for the Jews, which has been part of the Church’s liturgy since 1604. Every
year, the Church’s liturgy from Missale Romanum, the obligatory liturgical book in use since the
seventeenth century and intended to unify churches across the world, includes a dedicated prayer
for the Jews to be used on Good Friday. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
includes examples of the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews found within versions of the Missale
Romanum.
17
One of the most controversial items within the missals is the Good Friday Prayer for

13
John Connelly, From Enemy to Brother – The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews 1933-1965,
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2012).
14
Philip Cunningham, The Road Behind and the Road Ahead: Catholicism and Judaism, (Oxford University Press,
2018).
15
Peter M. Marendy, “Anti-Semitism, Christianity, and the Catholic Church: Origins, Consequences, and Reponses,”
Journal of Church and State, Vol. 47, No. 2, Spring 2005, 289-307.
16
Additional sources which discuss issues associated with the Good Friday Prayer include:
Associated Press, “Pope Halts Prayer, Bars Slur to Jews,” New York Times, April 13, 1963.
Mary Boys, Redeeming our Sacred Story: The Death of Jesus and Relations Between Jews and Christians,
(Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2011).
Elizabeth T. Groppe, “Revisiting Vatican II’s Theology of the People of God after Forty-Five Years of Catholic-
Jewish Dialogue,” Theological Studies, 72(2011), 586-619.
Hanspeter Heinz and H.C. Henry G. Brandt, “A New Burden on Christian-Jewish Relations: Statement of the
Discussion Group ‘Jews and Christians’ of the Central Committee of German Catholics on the Good Friday
Prayer ‘For the Jews’ in the Extraordinary Rite Version of 2008,” European Judaism, Vol. 41, No. 1, Spring
2008, 159-161.
Walter Homolka, “Back to the Ice Age? The Roman Catholic Church and Judaism,” Israel Affairs, Vol. 16, No.
4, October 2010, 496-509.
International Federation Una Voce, “Positio N. 28 The Good Friday Prayer for the Jews in the Extraordinary
Form,” February 2016.
17
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Roman Missal,” http://usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-
mass/roman-missal/. Accessed October 24, 2018.

7

the Jews. Below is the complete original Latin prayer from 1604 as promulgated by Pope
Clement VIII (1536-1605) and used in this form until 1956.
Table 1.1. Original Form of Good Friday Prayer for the Jews used until 1956.
18

Oremus et pro perfidis Judaeis: ut
Deus et Dominus noster auferat
velamen de cordibus eorum; ut et ipsi
agnoscant Jesum Christum Dominum
nostrum.

(Non respondetur ‘Amen’, nec dicitur
‘Oremus’, aut ‘Flectamus genua’, aut
‘Levate’, sed statim dicitur:)

Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui
etiam Judaicam perfidiam a tua
Misericordia non repellis: exaudi
preces nostras, quas pro illius populi
obcaecatione deferimus; ut, agnita
Veritatis tuae luce, quae Christus est,
a suis tenebris eruantur. Per eumdem
Dominum nostrum Jewsum Christum
Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat
in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus: per
omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.
Bidding
Let us pray also for the faithless Jews:
that Almighty God may remove the
veil from their hearts so that they too
may acknowledge Jesus Christ our
Lord.
Rubric
(‘Amen’ is not responded, nor is said
‘Let us pray’, or ‘Let us kneel’, or
‘Arise’, but immediately is said:)
Collect
Almighty and eternal God, who dost
not exclude from thy mercy even
Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers,
which we offer for the blindness of
that people; that acknowledging the
light of thy Truth, which is Christ,
they may be delivered from their
darkness. Through the same our Lord
Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth
with thee in the unity of the Holy
Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

18
Text and translation from Appendix A in the February 2016 document “Positio N. 28 The Good Friday Prayer for
the Jews in the Extraordinary Form” released by the Foederatio Internationalis Una Voce.
https://lms.org.uk/sites/default/files/resource_documents/fiuv/pp28_good_friday_prayer.pdf, February 2016.
Accessed December 12, 2018.

8

There are two controversial components in the prayer above: the use of perfidis / perfidiam as
well as the expression of the Church’s desire to convert all Jews to Christianity. Perfidis and
perfidiam both derive from the Latin word perfidus meaning “faithless, from per- [meaning]
detrimental to + fides [meaning] faith.”
19
When translated to the English word perfidy, the word
carries a significant negative component and is sometimes equated to treachery
20
or betraying
another person.
Between 1604 and today, the Church has modified the language of the Good Friday Prayer for
the Jews multiple times. Versions through the 1950’s still used versions of perfidis and
perfidiam. Based on a review of the versions of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews since its
first appearance in 1604 and the continual usage of perfidis through the 1950’s, it appears that it
was not until the 1960’s and the events around the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican
that the Church finally adjusted the text to better reflect on Jews. Selected versions of the
prayer’s opening with changes made to both the Latin and English versions are included in Table
1.2 below.
21

19
“Perfidy,” Merriam-Webster, 2018. Alternate definitions include “an act or an instance of disloyalty.”
20
Ibid.
21
In addition to the U.S. Catholic Council of Bishops website (http://usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/roman-
missal/) which describes changes to missals throughout recent centuries, the website Corpus Christi Watershed
maintains scanned versions of the Good Friday prayer as shown in seven versions of the Roman missal ranging from
the 1500s to 1923. One article in particular was insightful: Jeff Ostrowski. “Changing the Good Friday Prayer for
the Jews.” November 30, 2015. http://www.ccwatershed.org/modification/. Accessed October 24, 2018. Further
information regarding the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews can be found in the article “Pro Perfidis Judaeis” by John
M. Oesterreicher, Theological Studies, January 1, 1947, Vol. 8, 80-96, and the February 2016 document “Positio N.
28 The Good Friday Prayer for the Jews in the Extraordinary Form” released by the Foederatio Internationalis Una
Voce.

9

Table 1.2. Examples of the opening text of the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews from Missals
issued during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
VERSION LATIN ENGLISH NOTES
1875
Missal
22

Oremus et pro perfidis
Judais: ut Deus et
Dominus noster auferat
velamen de cordibus
eorum; ut et ipsi
agnoscant Jesum
Christum Dominum
nostrum.
Let us pray also for the
perfidious Jews; that our
Lord God will withdraw
the veil from their hearts;
that they also may
acknowledge our Lord
Jesus Christ.

1957
Missal
23

Oremus et pro perfidis
Judais: ut Deus et
Dominus noster auferat
velamen de cordibus
eorum; ut et ipsi
agnoscant Jesum
Christum Dominum
nostrum.
Let us pray also for the
faithless Jews, begging
the Lord our God to take
away the veil from their
hearts, so that they too
may believe in Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Latin unchanged but change
in English translation of
perfidis from “perfidious” to
“faithless” reflects attempts
by Catholic Church to clarify
its meaning.
1965
Missale
Romanum
24

Oremus et pro Judais: ut
Deus et Dominus noster
faciem suam super eos
illuminare dignetur; ut et
ipsi agnoscant Iesum
Christum Dominum
nostrum.
Let us also pray that our
God and Lord will look
kindly on the Jews, so
that they too may
acknowledge the
Redeemer of all, Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Significant changes to both
Latin and English versions.
Prayer still reflects Catholic
Church’s desire to convert all
Jews.

22
Original Latin and English translation from Corpus Christi Watershed, “14-21-26_0.pdf,”
http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/15/11/30/14-21-26_0.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2018.
23
Original Latin and English translation from Corpus Christi Watershed, “14-21-08_0.pdf,”
http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/15/11/30/14-21-08_0.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2018.
24
Original Latin and English translation from Corpus Christi Watershed, “13-34-00_0.pdf,”
http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/16/03/21/13-34-00_0.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2018.

10

VERSION LATIN ENGLISH NOTES
2013
Campion
Missal &
Hymnal
25

Oremus et pro Judais: ut
Deus et Dominus noster
illuminet corda eorum, ut
et agnoscant Iesum
Christum salvatorem
omnium hominum.
Let us pray also for the
Jews: May our God and
Lord enlighten their
hearts, so that they may
acknowledge Jesus
Christ, savior of all men.
Pope Benedict’s re-write of
the prayer reflects a desire for
Jews to acknowledge the
significance of Christ but no
longer includes the desire to
convert Jews. Many scholars
consider Benedict’s version
to lack sufficient sensitivity
toward Jews, especially as he
granted churches (namely in
South America) who were
struggling to adapt to Vatican
II the option to revert to pre-
Vatican II methods of
worship.

In 1974, the Catholic Church clarified the reference to the Jews found in the New Testament
gospel of John. In its document “Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar
Declaration Nostra Aetate,” Cardinal Johannes Willebrands (1909-2006), president of the
Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, included the following footnote:
Thus the formula “the Jews”, in St. John, sometimes according to the context
means “the leaders of the Jews”, or “the adversaries of Jesus”, terms which
express better the thought of the evangelist and avoid appearing to arraign the
Jewish people as such. Another example is the use of the words “pharisee” and
“pharisasim” which have taken on a largely pejorative meaning.
26

25
Original Latin and English translation from Corpus Christi Watershed, “14-19-34_0.pdf,”
http://www.ccwatershed.org/media/pdfs/15/11/30/14-19-34_0.pdf. Accessed October 24, 2018.
26
Vatican, “Guidelines and Suggestions for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration ‘Nostra Aetate’ (n. 4),” final
footnote. December 1, 1974. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/chrstuni/relations-jews-
docs/rc_pc_chrstuni_doc_19741201_nostra-aetate_en.html. Accessed October 20, 2018.

11

Other attempts by the Catholic Church to reach out to Jewish leaders through official documents
continued to acknowledge Judaism’s place in history as well as its legitimacy as a contemporary
world religion. These documents are discussed later in “Genesis of the Nostra Aetate.”
The Roman Catholic Church and the Third Reich
With the rise of Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) in Germany and his appointment to Chancellor
seemingly imminent, Catholic officials pondered the nature of future relations between Hitler’s
government and the Vatican. One method the Church has used since the twelfth century to define
its affairs with sovereign states is the use of concordats. These legal agreements between church
and state serve as treaties to define a wide range of secular points between the two parties.
Currently, more than 200 active concordats are in use between the Vatican and more than fifty
countries worldwide.
27
Pope Pius XI (1857-1939) described the Church’s position on using
concordats in his encyclical “Dilectissima Nobis” dated June 3, 1933, while addressing perceived
oppression of the Church of Spain:
Universally known is the fact that the Catholic Church is never bound to one form
of government more than to another, provided the Divine rights of God and of
Christian consciences are safe. She does not find any difficulty in adapting herself

27
Number of active concordats is derived from two locations: Concordat Watch, “Concordat Watch,”
http://www.concordatwatch.eu/, accessed November 15, 2018, and Pontificia Università Gregoriana Facoltà di
Diritto Canonico, “The amount of treaties with the Holy Sea,”
https://www.iuscangreg.it/accordi_numeri.php?lang=EN, accessed March 21, 2019. The website Concordat Watch
claims to have the first English translations of many of the Church's concordats. Concordat Watch is hyper-critical
of the use of concordats by the Vatican, claiming the Church uses these legal agreements to gain control, influence
the states with which it has concordats, and become subsidized by state taxpayers. The website lists no names of
authors or publishers for its written material and its information should be considered cautiously.

12

to various civil institutions, be they monarchic or republican, aristocratic or
democratic.
28

A concordat known as Reichskonkordat
29
was signed at Vatican City on July 20, 1933, by then-
Cardinal Secretary of State (who in six years’ time would become Pope Pius XII) Eugenio
Pacelli (1876-1958) and German Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen (1879-1969). The
Reichskonkordat went into effect on September 10, 1933 and is still considered an active
agreement. Author James Carroll writes that the “Reichskonkordat effectively removed the
German Catholic Church from any continued role of opposition to Hitler. More than that, as
Hitler told his cabinet on July 14, [1933] it established a context that would be ‘especially
significant in the urgent struggle against international Jewry.’”
30

Part of the terms of the Reichskonkordat stipulated that German Catholic clergy should remain
uninvolved in politics. Article 16 also required Catholic clergy to state allegiance to the German
Reich:

28
Vatican, “Dilectissima Nobis,” 1933. Issued by Pope Pius XI on June 3, 1933. English translation available on
Vatican website.
29
No English version of the official Reichskonkordat is available on the Vatican archive website. A version of the
Reichskonkordat in Italian is available here:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/archivio/documents/rc_seg-st_19330720_santa-sede-
germania_it.html. A German version of the Reichskonkordat is available here:
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/archivio/documents/rc_seg-st_19330720_santa-sede-
germania_ge.html Accessed December 29, 2018. For an English translation by Muriel Frasier of the original
German text, see
http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showkb.php?org_id=858&kb_header_id=752&order=kb_rank%20ASC&kb_id=121
1. Accessed November 13, 2018.
30
James Carroll, Constantine’s Sword. (Mariner Books, 2002), 499.

13

Before bishops take possession of their dioceses they are to take an oath of loyalty
either to the Reich governor of the state (Land) concerned or to the President of
the Reich respectively, according to the following formula:
“Before God and on the Holy Gospels I swear and promise, as becomes a bishop,
loyalty to the German Reich and to the State (Land) of . . . I swear and promise to
honour the legally constituted government and to cause the clergy of my diocese
to honour it. With dutiful concern for the welfare and the interests of the German
state, in the performance of the ecclesiastical office entrusted to me, I will
endeavour to prevent everything injurious which might threaten it.”
31

Equally frightening, it could be argued that another article, number 14, demonstrated the
Church’s complicity by tacitly supporting Nazi race superiority ideals by supporting a
requirement for all clergy to be German citizens. Although Article 14 opens with a seemingly
innocuous statement, “As a matter of principle the Church retains the right to appoint freely to all
Church offices and benefices without the involvement of the state or of civil groups”
32
the
restriction on clergy nationality foreshadowed the work of the Nazi party yet to come. Even the
language in the oath from Article 16 included the phrase ‘legally constituted government,’ which
acknowledged the new German authority structure as legitimate. When the Reichskonkordat was
signed, the Vatican became the first sovereign state to recognize Hitler and his near-dictator hold
on the German government. German Cardinal Michael Faulhaber (1869-1952) preached in a
sermon in 1937 that “at a time when the heads of the major nations in the world faced the new
Germany with reserve and considerable suspicion, the Catholic Church, the greatest moral power

31
Muriel Frasier. “Concordat Watch – Germany | Reichskonkordat (1933): Full Text.” Concordat Watch.
http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showkb.php?org_id=858&kb_header_id=752&order=kb_rank%20ASC&kb_id=121
1. Accessed November 13, 2018. English translation of original German text.
32
Ibid.

14

on earth, through the Concordat, expressed its confidence in the new German government. This
was a deed of immeasurable significance for the reputation of the new government abroad.”
33

The website Concordat Watch
34
claims there is a secret section of the Concordat
35
, a claim which
the Vatican denies. The purported section covers actions the Church agreed to if Germany started
war actions. Given the timing of the Concordat, Nazis had already enacted several significant
actions against Jews. Several important early dates of the Holocaust prior to the signing of the
Reichskonkordat and noted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum include the
opening of the Dachau concentration camp on March 20, 1933, and organizing a national boycott
of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933.
36
It is difficult to believe that the Church was not aware of
the Nazis’ extreme hatred of Jews as their actions escalated. Other actions taken by the Nazis as
they marched across Europe during the lead up to and throughout World War II include:
• September 15, 1935: Nuremberg Race Laws which defined Jews as a race, not a
religious community.
• November 9-10, 1938: Kristallnacht (Night of Crystal, or The Night of Broken
Glass), the start of a nation-wide pogrom in Germany.
• September 1, 1939: Germany invaded Poland, start of World War II.

33
Ibid., Carroll, 505.
34
Ibid., Frasier.
35
Ibid., Frasier. The “Secret Supplement” section near the end of the webpage lists four points supposedly agreed to
between the Vatican and Germany about the use of priests in military service. There are no references to this section
available through a general search of the Vatican website; the Vatican website contains only the original
Reichskonkordat versions in Italian and German previously cited.
36
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Key Dates,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, 2018.

15

• January 27, 1945: Auschwitz concentration camp liberated by Soviets. More than 1.1
million people died at Auschwitz before its closing.
37

• April 11, 1945: American forces arrived at Buchenwald concentration camp and
found that prisoners had taken control of the camp earlier that day.
38

• April 26, 1945: Germans forced prisoners from Dachau onto a death march.
39

• April 29, 1945: Dachau concentration camp liberated by Americans.
• May 7, 1945: Germany surrendered to western allies.
• May 9, 1945: Germany surrendered to the Soviets.
An appearance of complicity by the Vatican and Pope Pius XII (1876-1958), who served the
Church as Pope from 1939 until his death, arose when they did not publicly denounce the Nazis’
“Final Solution.” Instead, the Church countered those claims by noting it was working through
back channels to save people and that publicly denouncing the Nazi actions would have put more
in harm. The only public comment Pius XII made came in his 1942 Christmas address broadcast
on the radio, and used such ambiguous language to be worthless to either side: “Hundreds of
thousands of persons who, without any personal fault on their part, sometimes only because of
their nationality or ethnic origin, have been condemned to death or slow decline.”
40
David Cymet
notes that the pope “systematically avoided mentioning Jews by name in written or spoken

37
Ibid., “Auschwitz.”
38
Ibid., “Buchenwald.”
39
Ibid., “Dachau.”
40
John Rodden and John Rossi, “Was Pius XII ‘Hitler’s Pope’?”, Society, 408.

16

communications; neither did he ever identify the Germans as their victimizers.”
41
This lack of
Church denouncement of Nazi atrocities has led some theological scholars to go so far as to label
Pope Pius XII as “Hitler’s Pope.”
42
But authors Cymet, Rodden, and Rossi all voice support of
the Church's efforts to work with the Nazi party through diplomacy rather than condemnation
through official Vatican channels such as a papal bull. They point out the likely consideration of
reactions to past papal bulls which would have influenced the Church's decision to pursue
negotiations with the Nazis, including the 1570 papal bull Regnans in Excelsis declaring English
queen Elizabeth I a heretic. Not only did the English head of state ignore the bull, but the
formation of a state-sponsored religion in the form of the Church of England caused a reduction
in the number of Catholic followers. Rodden and Rossi point to Reformation scholar Dermot
MacCullogh’s reflection that the 1570 papal bull “was so generally recognized as a political
blunder that it was even remembered in the 1930s when the Papacy considered how to react to
Hitler’s regime.”
43
Reluctance of English parishioners and even priests during the sixteenth
century to remain Catholic in the face of rising Anglicanism diminished the impact and influence
of the Roman Catholic Church in England that still exists today. In a populous country like
Germany during the twentieth century, the Catholic Church would be reluctant to lose followers
again. It is logical that the Church would work deliberately to protect its ability to operate in

41
David Cymet. “Ch. 11 Vatican Response to the Final Solution,” History vs Apologetics. (Lanham, MD: Lexington
Books, 2012).
42
Rodden and Rossi’s article “Was Pius XII ‘Hitler’s Pope’?” considers the question of how much of a puppet Pius
XII was for Hitler. They ultimately conclude that it is erroneous to label him so harshly, especially from the
convenience of reviewing Pius’ actions decades after the war events. They weigh the gesture of a theoretical official
condemnation of Hitler during his rise to power with the likely saving of countless lives by not provoking the
dictator.
43
Ibid., Rodden and Rossi, 409.

17

Nazi Germany. Although the pope was reluctant to issue direct condemnation of Nazi actions,
Rodden and Rossi point out that his lack of action did not equal an attitude in support of anti-
Semitism. “No evidence in Cardinal Pacelli’s career supports the charges that anti-Semitism
formed part of his thinking.”
44

Despite signing the Concordat, the Nazis began violating parts of the agreement within months.
Their actions, including closing Catholic schools, limiting the abilities of the Catholic press, and
absorbing the Catholic Youth organizations into Hitler’s own organizations, prompted Pacelli to
react. “In light of these treaty violations, Pacelli determined that he had grounds to act…[he]
drafted a sharply worded encyclical…published in German…designed to send a message…”
45

On March 14, 1937, Pope Pius XI issued the encyclical titled “Mit Brennender Sorge” or “With
Burning Anxiety” which was addressed to the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany.
46
The
encyclical was smuggled out of Rome and read in every pulpit in Germany on Palm Sunday,
March 21, 1937. In addition to the expected negative reactions from the Nazis, especially after
Pacelli referred to Hitler as “a mad prophet possessed with repulsive arrogance,”
47
the encyclical
also changed the view of the Vatican in the eyes of the Allies to a positive stance. Finally the
Vatican was taking a visible stand against the atrocities occurring across Europe directed by
Hitler.

44
Ibid, Rodden and Rossi, 410.
45
Ibid, Rodden and Rossi, 412.
46
Vatican, “Mit Brennender Sorge,” 1937.
47
Ibid, Rodden and Rossi, 412.

18

Genesis of the Nostra Aetate
To counter the effects of increasing anti-Semitism and Nazism during the twentieth century,
organizations comprised of both Christians and Jews formed throughout Europe and the United
States. In 1927, the London Society of Jews and Christians was formed.
48
In 1928, during a time
of rising activities by the Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups throughout the country, the United
States formed the American Federation of Christians and Jews. South Africa followed suit in the
early 1930’s, followed by Australia and Switzerland.
The first international conference of organizations committed to connecting Christians and Jews
met in Oxford, England, from July 30 to August 6, 1946. One hundred fifty delegates from more
than fifteen countries attended the conference. The purpose, as noted by American Henry Noble
MacCracken, was three-fold: 1) to acknowledge tensions between the religions; 2) to study the
“theoretical bases of thought acceptable to all three;”
49
and 3) to assign “responsibility in
community and personal life, for the bettering of conditions.”
50

A summary of the conference proceedings was published by the primary organization
representing the United States at the conference, the National Conference of Christians and Jews,
in its Human Relations Pamphlet No. 7. Published in 1946 and titled “Freedom Justice
Responsibility: Report on the International Conference,” the conference separated into six
commissions to discuss specific topics, namely:

48
ICCJ, “A Time for Recommitment.” (ICCJ, 2009), 9.
49
Henry Noble MacCracken, Human Relations Pamphlet No. 7, (The National Conference of Christians and Jews,
1946), 4.
50
Ibid.

19

• Commission No. 1: Group Tensions
• Commission No. 2: Fundamental Postulates of Christianity and Judaism in
Relation to Human Order
• Commission No. 3: Religious Freedom
• Commission No. 4: Justice and Its Claims
• Commission No. 5: Mutual Responsibility in the Community
• Commission No. 6: Education and Training for Responsible Citizenship

In addition to the six adult-led commissions, a youth group also met and put forth a “Youth
Committee Report on Group Unity” which is included near the end of the Human Relations
Pamphlet No. 7. One the most significant results immediately after the conference was a vote by
delegates from Australia, England, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States
51
to form an
official International Conference of Christians and Jews. The vote encouraged its immediate
formation.
The recommendation to form an official International Conference of Christians and Jews came to
fruition the following year when an unofficial international group meeting was held in
Seelisberg, Switzerland, between July 30 and August 5, 1947. This meeting was referred to as an
“Emergency Meeting on Anti-Semitism” and included sixty-five participants from nineteen
countries. Similar to the 1946 preliminary meeting in England, the conference split into multiple
commissions, including:
• Commission No. 1: Principal Objectives of Jewish-Christian Cooperation in combating
Antisemitism

51
Ibid., 5.

20

• Commission No. 2: Educational Opportunity in Schools and Universities
• Commission No. 3: Task of the Churches; with an Address to the Churches
• Commission No. 4: Work in the Field of Civic and Social Service
• Commission No. 5: Relations with Governments
Figure 1.1. Participants of 1947 Emergency Meeting on Anti-Semitism in Seelisberg,
Switzerland. Source: ICCJ “Reports and Recommendations of the Emergency Conference on
Anti-Semitism,” Seelisberg, 1947.

Conference proceedings were published by the International Council of Christians and Jews in
1947 and the report was titled "Reports and Recommendations of the Emergency Conference on
Anti-Semitism." The emergency meeting ended with two formal resolutions: the first resolution

21

proposed the official formation of the International Council of Christians and Jews
52
(ICCJ); the
second resolution dealt with the upcoming United Nations’ Commission on Human Rights
meeting and authorized a representative of the conference “to maintain contact with the
Commission in relation to the appropriate resolution of the Conference, with a view to support
the universal establishment and guarantee of fundamental Human Rights, the elimination of
discrimination on grounds of race or religion, and the equality of all men and women before the
law.”
53

Commission Number 3, which focused on the responsibilities of churches and how they teach
parishioners about other religions, created a list of ten points, included in Appendix A, which
were instrumental in future discussions with the Vatican and their advisors. The ICCJ updated
the Ten Points of Seelisberg in 2009 and expanded the points to twelve. The new list from the
ICCJ website, referred to as the Twelve Points of Berlin, is included in Appendix B.
54

The Influence of Jules Isaac
One of the attendees of the 1947 conference was French historian and teacher, Jules Isaac (1877-
1963). As a Jew, Isaac personally experienced the tragedies of the Nazi regime in France when
his own wife, daughter, and son-in-law were captured in 1943, transferred to Auschwitz, and
subsequently murdered. Only through sheer luck did Isaac manage to avoid capture himself: he
had only just left the apartment to pick up a newspaper. In his grief, Isaac spent more than six

52
The ICCJ is still in existence today. Information about the council is available on its website, www.iccj.org. The
organization describes itself on its “About Us” page at http://www.iccj.org/About-us.2.0.html as “the umbrella
organisation of 40 national Jewish-Christian dialogue organisations world-wide.” In recent years, its dialogues have
expanded to include Muslim relations as well as Judeo-Christian.
53
ICCJ, “Reports and Recommendations of the Emergency Conference on Anti-Semitism,” (ICCJ, 1947), 22.
54
ICCJ, “ICCJ_Time-for-Commitment_English_9.9.09.doc.” (ICCJ, 2009).

22

years sorting through Christian theology, including reviewing the original Greek versions of the
Gospels, to understand why those claiming to be Christian could have developed such a
profound hatred for Jews and attempt to exterminate an entire religious community. The results
of his scholarly work, Jésus et Israel, was published in 1948. His research was instrumental in
the results of the 1947 conference, especially the work of Commission Number 3 and the Ten
Points. Isaac’s work was also used in future dialog with the Vatican as the Roman Catholic
Church began to review its own relationship with Judaism.
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican
Pope Pius XII died on October 9, 1958. Shortly thereafter, on October 28, Pope John XXIII
(1881-1963) was elected pope. On January 25, 1959, John XXIII unexpectedly gave notice of his
intent to convene the Ecumenical Council for only the second time in the Church’s long history.
Isaac met with John XXIII the following summer on June 13, 1960. The exact content of their
conversation is not known but on September 18, the pope commissioned Cardinal Augustine Bea
(1881-1968), president of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, to draft a declaration on
the Church's relations with Jews. It would then take more than a year for a formal summons of
the Vatican’s Ecumenical Council to be issued through the apostolic constitution Humanae
salutis which was released on December 25, 1961.
55

On October 11, 1962, The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican (colloquially referred to as
Vatican II) officially opened in Rome. And yet the first proceedings lasted barely fifteen minutes

55
Father Joseph Komonshak, “December | 2011 | ‘In verbo Veritatis,’” personal website, 2011. An English
translation of the constitution by Komonshak is available on his website. This priest had been part of the group
advising the Vatican throughout the Council.

23

as there were significant disagreements on the number of cardinals to involve in the Council.
After agreements were arranged outside of formal proceedings, the Council reconvened on
October 16 and the organization of the Council's committees was completed. The group tasked
with working on the Church's relationship with the Jews was called Ad christianorum unitatem
fovendam (Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity). This group was based on a
preparatory commission created on June 5, 1960, in advance of the start of the Ecumenical
Council and a week prior to the pope’s meeting with Isaac. Cardinal Bea was appointed president
when the preparatory commission was formed and would serve an important role throughout
Vatican II.
56

The Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity issued several major documents for the
Ecumenical Council. One of the documents was titled Nostra Aetate, or “In Our Time,” and
served as the impetus for To Be Certain of the Dawn forty years later. The first draft of Nostra
Aetate, called Decretum De Judaeis, or “Decree on the Jews,” was issued in November 1961
based on the preparatory work completed prior to the official opening of the Ecumenical
Council.
57
In this draft, the Church expressed an expectation to convert Jews, similar to its
intentions expressed in the Good Friday Prayer for the Jews.
In early March 1963, the office of Cardinal Bea reached out to one of the major Jewish leaders in
the United States, Rabbi Abraham Heschel (1907-1972), to arrange a meeting in New York City
of a small, pre-selected group of rabbis and other significant Jewish leaders with the Cardinal

56
Philip McGee, “An Analysis of the Major Tensions Inherent in the Catholic Church’s Response to the Religious
Other: From Vatican II and Nostra Aetate to Dominus Jesus,” Master’s Thesis, 2012, 21.
57
Ibid., Cymet.

24

and his staff. After a review of correspondence between the Cardinal's office, Rabbi Heschel,
Rabbi Albert Minda (1895-1977), and others, it appears that the Church planned to have serious
discussions with the Jewish leaders and that the Jewish representatives of the meeting planned to
be very straightforward in their feedback on how to better Judeo-Christian relations.
58
On March
31, during a lecture tour of the United States, Cardinal Bea met with Rabbi Heschel, Rabbi
Minda and other Jewish figures in New York City, captured in Figure 1.2 below.

58
Reviewed correspondence includes:
• Memo dated June 22, 1961, from The American Jewish Committee to unknown recipient titled, “The
Image of the Jews in Catholic Teaching.” Available at:
http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/6A3.PDF
• Letter dated November 17, 1961, from Louis Caplan, President of The American Jewish Committee, to
Cardinal Bea. Available at: http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/6A2.PDF
• Memo dated May 22, 1962, from Abraham Joshua Heschel to Cardinal Bea titled, “On Improving
Catholic-Jewish Relations.” Available at: http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/6A4.PDF
• Confidential letter dated March 7, 1963, to Cardinal Bea titled, “Questions to be submitted to Cardinal
Bea at the meeting with Jewish Scholars.” Available at: http://www.ajwnews.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/Heschel_memo_-_Pg_1.jpg, http://www.ajwnews.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/Heschel_memo_-_Pg_2.jpg, and http://www.ajwnews.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/03/Heschel_memo_-_Pg_3.jpg.
• Confidential letter dated March 25, 1963, from Abraham Joshua Heschel to Albert Minda inviting
Rabbi Minda to the Jewish scholars meeting with Cardinal Bea in New York City on March 31, 1963.
Available at: http://www.ajwnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Heschel_letter_to_Minda.jpg

25

Figure 1.2. Minneapolis Rabbi Albert G. Minda attends meeting with Cardinal Augustin Bea on
March 31, 1963.
L-R: [unknown], Rabbi Minda, Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel, Cardinal Bea, and [unknown].
Source: American Jewish World.
59

But with his death on June 3, 1963, Pope John XXIII died without seeing the conclusion of the
Ecumenical Council’s efforts and its effect on Church doctrine throughout the world. On June
21, Pope Paul VI (1897-1978) was then elected pope.
On November 8, the second draft of Nostra Aetate, titled On the Attitude of Catholics toward
Non-Christians and especially toward Jews, was released. The third draft of Nostra Aetate, now

59
Photograph provided by Roland Minda, son of Rabbi Minda, to American Jewish World along with a copy of the
“confidential” letter Minda received from Rabbi Heschel inviting him to the March 1963 meeting with Cardinal Bea.
Reference Twin Cities Daily Planet article “The Minneapolis connection to Vatican II” by American Jewish World
editor, Mordecai Specktor, dated 3/20/11.

26

called On the Jews and Non-Christians, was released on September 28, 1964. Both of these
versions drew criticism from Jewish leaders as the Church still included text about their desire to
convert Jews. As Cymet and other Judeo-Catholic authors note, until the Roman Catholic Church
changed its focus to acceptance of Jews rather than conversion and acknowledged Judaism as a
viable contemporary religion, the rift in relations between the two religions would not be
healed.
60
Heschel’s reaction to the third draft was highly critical: “A message that regards the
Jews as candidates for conversion and proclaims that the destiny of Judaism is to disappear will
be abhorred by Jews all over the world and is bound to foster reciprocal distrust as well as
bitterness and resentment.”
61
After his close work with Cardinal Bea in 1963 and 1964, Heschel
was ultimately provided an opportunity to meet Pope Paul VI “on the eve of Yom Kippur
1964…to suggest that the final document should leave out altogether its eschatological dreams of
Jewish conversion.”
62

The fourth and final version of Nostra Aetate, entitled Declaration on the Relation of the Church
to Non-Christian Religions, was proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965, and broken
into five sections. The end of Section 2 encourages members of the Church to engage with other
religions, and "…therefore, exhorts her sons, that through dialogue and collaboration with the
followers of other religions, carried out with prudence and love and in witness to the Christian
faith and life, they recognize, preserve and promote the good things, spiritual and moral, as well
as the socio-cultural values found among these men."
63
The Church acknowledged the

60
Ibid., Cymet, “Epilogue,” History versus Apologetics.
61
Ibid., Cymet.
62
Ibid., Cymet.
63
Vatican, “Nostra Aetate,” 1965.

27

importance of other religions and encouraged Catholics to engage in healthy communication
with those of other religions.
In Section 4, the Church states:
Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this
sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and
respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as
of fraternal dialogues...Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against
any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and
moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred,
persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by
anyone…It is, therefore, the burden of the Church's preaching to proclaim the
cross of Christ as the sign of God's all-embracing love and as the fountain from
which every grace flows.
64

The Second Ecumenical Council officially closed on December 8, 1965. The Council released
four constitutions, nine decrees, and three declarations, one of which was the final version of
Nostra Aetate.
Later Attempts by the Catholic Church to Repair its Relationship with Jews
As successful as Nostra Aetate and other Vatican II documents were in healing the divide
between Catholics and Jews, it was not the last time the Church would attempt to address its
relationship with Jews. On December 1, 1974, the Church released “Guidelines and Suggestions
for Implementing the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, n. 4.”
65
In 1985, the Church released

64
Ibid.
65
Vatican, “Guidelines”, 1974.

28

“Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the
Roman Catholic Church.”
66

The next major document related to Jews, issued in March 1998 by the Vatican, was “We
Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah.” This document was requested by Pope John Paul II
(1920-2005) who wrote of his hope that “the document…will help to heal the wounds of past
misunderstands and injustices.”
67
“We remember” was more than ten years in the making, with
its intentions first marked by Cardinal Willebrands in Rome on August 31, 1987, when he stated
that the Church would prepare another official response to the events of the Holocaust. In the
document, Pope John Paul II encouraged Roman Catholics to “remember how much the balance
[of Catholic-Judeo relations] over two thousand years has been negative.”
68
The document
consists mainly of five points of reflection, which include acknowledging the tragedy of the
Shoah and retaining a “moral and religious memory” of the event and its horrible outcome.
Similar to Nostra Aetate, “We remember” reiterates the “erroneous and unjust interpretations of
the New Testament regarding the Jewish people and their alleged culpability.”
69
Jews, both then
and now, were not to be viewed by Catholics as responsible for the death of Christ.
But in section III, it also provides a litany of examples of how the Roman Catholic Church
worked to prevent or at least condemn the actions of the Nazis, including that the Church in

66
Vatican, “Notes”, 1985.
67
Vatican, “We Remember”, 1998.
68
Ibid., Vatican, “We Remember,” originally in Cf. Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in
Preaching and Catechesis in the Catholic Church (24 June 1985).
69
Ibid., Vatican, “We Remember,” Section III.

29

Germany dealt with rising Nationalism “by condemning racism. The condemnation first
appeared in the preaching of some of the clergy [and]…the well-known Advent sermons of
Cardinal Faulhaber in 1933…clearly expressed rejection of the Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda.”
70

This attempt to show that the Church had been actively working against Nazi actions through the
action of individual clergy members rang hollow with many Jewish leaders, who ultimately
dismissed the overall message of “We remember.” The International Jewish Committee on
Interreligious Consultations responded to the document with the following statement: “Nobody
can doubt the Pope’s sincere abhorrence of anti-Semitism but his apparent absolution of the
Church from historical responsibility was, at least, puzzling.”
71
Despite stating that the “Catholic
Church therefore repudiates every persecution against a people or human group anywhere, at any
time,”
72
Jews found it hard to believe that the Catholic Church had worked hard to stop the
Shoah and the examples listed in “We remember” did not go far enough to counter their beliefs.
Cymet sums up its issues:
While We Remember pointed out correctly that the Nazis wanted to convert the
Church into a docile instrument serving the interests of the Nazi totalitarian state,
it ignored the far more significant fact of the accommodating response of the
Church and its enthusiastic cooperation with the Nazis. While it true that Nazism
was in its very essence a “Godless ideology,” the fact that the Church considered
Hitler and the Nazis to be the defenders of “Christian Civilization” is passed over
in silence…Forgotten is Pius XII’s oral commitment of noninterference with the
German solution of the Jewish problem given at the ratification of the concordat;
his zealous observance of this commitment throughout the existence of the Third
Reich, never mentioning, not even once, the persecuted Jewish people in his
messages and public addresses. Instead of invoking religious sanctions against the

70
Ibid., Vatican, “We Remember,” Section III.
71
Ibid., Cymet, “Epilogue.”
72
Ibid., Vatican, “We Remember,” Section IV.

30

perpetrators that could have been a “formidable and effective weapon” in the
hands of the Church to save lives, he remained silent, even when the Jews of his
own city, Rome, were rounded up by the Germans and deported to Auschwitz.
73

Jewish Population Shifts in the United States and the Development of Anti-Semitism
Statistics on Jewish immigration and populations throughout the world are available on the
American Jewish Committee (AJC) Archives website. The AJC Archives maintain scans of
Jewish “year books” issued with population statistics. Table 1.3 listed below reflects the
significant changes in the Jew population that occurred in the United States between 1818 and
1918.
Table 1.3. Total Jewish Population in the United States between 1818 and 1918.
74

YEAR AUTHORITY NUMBER
1818 Mordecai M. Noah 3,000
1824 Solomon Etting 6,000
1826 Isaac C. Harby 6,000
1840 The American Almanac 15,000
1848 M. A. Berk 50,000
1880 Wm. B. Hackenburg 230,257
1888 Isaac Markens 400,000
1897 David Sulzberger 937,800
1905 The Jewish Encyclopedia 1,508,435
1907 American Jewish Year Book 1,777,185
1910 American Jewish Year Book 2,043,762
1914 Bureau of Jewish Statistics and Research 2,933,874
1918 Bureau of Jewish Statistics and Research 3,300,000

73
Ibid., Cymet, “Epilogue.”
74
American Jewish Committee Archives, “American Jewish Year Book, 1920-1921,” Table IV, 368. All population
numbers in this table can be found in the document located at
http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1920_1921_6_Statistics.pdf. Accessed November 17, 2018.

31

As seen in Table 1.3 above, over the course of one hundred years, the Jewish population within
the United States grew one thousand-fold mainly due to immigrants arriving from Europe. The
most significant increases occurred in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century.
The creation of the American Federation of Christians and Jews in 1927 acknowledged that the
United States experienced tension between members of the two religions. Although it was first
created to address “anti-Catholic sentiment being expressed during Al Smith’s run for the
Democratic nomination,” it later expanded to bring “diverse people together to address interfaith
divisions.”
75
The organization was renamed in the 1990’s to the National Conference for
Community and Justice to reflect a broader scope of addressing issues beyond religious
differences.
Minneapolis’ unfortunate label in 1946 by Californian essayist Carey McWilliams as the “capital
of anti-Semitism in the United States” has stuck with the city since its coining. Articles about
Jewish life in Minneapolis refer to McWilliams’ quote, but few delve into how Minneapolis
differed from other cities within the United States. A review of oral history transcripts with
important Jewish leaders in Minneapolis during the Twentieth Century, available through the
Minnesota Historical Society, paints a less dire picture of Jewish life in the city than one under
direct attack of physical violence. Instead, leaders such as Rabbi Albert Minda (rabbi at Temple
Israel from 1921 to 1963) talk about a systematic exclusion of Jews from everyday experiences,
ranging from employment opportunities, housing, and civic activities which included being

75
National Conference for Community and Justice, “Our Story,” 2019. https://nccj.org/about/our-story. Accessed
January 1, 2019.

32

barred from joining local country clubs.
76
Note that Rabbi Minda referred to here is the same
rabbi involved in the March 1963 New York meeting with Cardinal Bea.
The system of exclusion which Minda mentioned in his oral history interview is echoed in
McWilliams’ oft-quoted article in the magazine, Common Ground. McWilliams included a
seemingly arbitrary reflection that “…one might even say, with a measure of justification, that
Minneapolis is the capitol of anti-Semitism in the United States.”
77
McWilliams referred to
limitations placed on Jews as an “iron curtain”
78
and noted that he believed Minneapolis to be the
“only city in America in which Jews are, as a matter of practice and custom, ineligible for
membership in service clubs.”
79
A circular pattern can develop, McWilliams postulated, where
restrictions caused the Jews to turn to each other for support and created “a kind of vacuum
which makes possible the continuance of an anti-Semitic pattern.”
80
Without pushback from
those being suppressed, those in power will likely continue to exercise their power. But the
imposed restrictions on Jews from Minneapolis social life was tolerated, to an extent, by building
their own hospital called Mount Sinai Hospital in 1951, educating their children in Jewish
schools, and supporting each other through business and housing agreements that allowed Jews
to live and function in Minneapolis.

76
“Rabbi Albert G. Minda,” Transcript of Minnesota Oral History Project interview, Minnesota Historical Society,
28-30.
77
Carey McWilliams, “Minneapolis: The Curious Twin,” Common Ground, Autumn 1946, 61.
78
Ibid.
79
Ibid.
80
Ibid., 63.

33

The idea that a desire for power drove the suppression of Jews from civic life in Minneapolis is a
curious one. Despite being settled earlier than Minneapolis, the city of St. Paul and its
organizations placed fewer restrictions on Jews. McWilliams suggested that because Jewish
settlement occurred while St. Paul was being established, a social ladder in that city had not been
created prior to their arrival.
81
The social hierarchy in Minneapolis, on the other hand, was
established by early settlement by New Englanders who began to arrive in the 1850’s. The
population of Jews in Minneapolis did not start to become significant in number until it jumped
from 172 in 1877 to 2,500 in 1881.
82
The first group of Jews in the city was primarily from the
eastern coast of the United States and brought with them their Western Europe traditions from
areas such as Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary as well as some assets.
83
Rapp noted
that the “early settlers wanted to integrate themselves into the American cultural patterns and to
eschew any characteristics which would demonstrate cultural differences between them and the
non-Jewish community in which they lived. Consequently, most joined the Reform
movement.”
84
Rapp also indicated that no Jewish ghetto was established and the Minneapolis
Jews of the late 1870’s tended to use English as their primary language.
A second wave of Jews arriving in Minneapolis in the mid-1880’s was comprised of mainly
Eastern European Jews, bringing with them more orthodox practices and a reluctance to learn the

81
Ibid., 64.
82
Michael G. Rapp. “Samuel N. Deinard.” Minnesota History, Vol. 43, No. 6 (Summer, 1973), 214.
83
Ibid.
84
Ibid.

34

language of their new homeland. Their avoidance of English led to seclusion and insulation from
other ethnic and religious groups. Rapp describes this secluded group of Jews as follows:
Most were peddlers who lived in two- or three-room frame houses which
frequently held more than one family…had outdoor plumbing…The Eastern
European Jews did not readily become assimilated, nor did they necessarily desire
to do so. They observed orthodox religious customs in homes and synagogues,
maintained Old World habits of dress (long coats, broad black hats, and beards for
the men, wigs for the married women), and, with few exceptions, spoke Yiddish.
Their relations with non-Jewish neighbors were often strained.
85

Jewish rabbis worked to bridge relationships within the Jewish communities of various
synagogues (both Orthodox and Reform) and with Christian leaders based in Minneapolis. Prior
to the arrival of Rabbi Minda, Rabbi Samuel N. Deinard (1873-1921) made deliberate gestures in
the early twentieth century to connect with the orthodox synagogues by preaching regularly for
their congregations. His commitment to dialog with those beyond his Reform synagogue was
reflected by the large number of orthodox Jews who held dual-membership between their own
synagogue and Deinard’s synagogue at Temple Israel.
86
Michael G. Rapp commented that “had
Rabbi Deinard never gone to Minneapolis the national divisions within the Jewish community
still would have crumbled…[but] through word and deed Deinard was directly and indirectly
responsible for many changes which did occur – and he hastened the inevitability of others.”
87

As a strong Zionist, Deinard connected with the Eastern European Jews, earning their “respect
and admiration…[w]ithin their community he acted as a teacher while serving as their

85
Ibid., 215.
86
Ibid., 220.
87
Ibid., 214.

35

spokesman to his own community…Yet Deinard wanted more than just to explain one group to
the other. He wanted their unification.”
88
His efforts led him to create a weekly publication for
the Jewish community, first creating Jewish Weekly in 1912 which lasted for six months, and
finally American Jewish World in 1915 which is still in existence today, more than one hundred
years later. The newspaper notes that it “unites the main Jewish communities in St. Paul and
Minneapolis, as well as those in Duluth, Rochester and smaller cities, and bridges the divides
between the various Jewish religious streams.”
89
The addition of fictional short stories added to
the unification message, highlighting positively the traditions of Eastern European Jews and even
showing “Eastern European Jews and German Jews…became friends and relatives at the stories’
conclusions.” The newspaper also encouraged the adoption of English as the primary language
used by its readers to further their assimilation into the community and connect the Eastern
European Jews with the German Jews.
Between 1907 and 1918, the Jewish population in Minneapolis (and Minnesota at large) more
than doubled and appeared to peak in the late 1920’s. But while the Jewish population across the
United States continued to grow, Minnesota began to see a reduction in its numbers of Jews. It is
possible to trace the population changes of Jews settling in the state of Minnesota and
specifically in Minneapolis through data available through the American Jewish Archives which
publishes yearbooks of Jewish data, including immigration, throughout the world since 1899.

88
Ibid., 218.
89
Mordecai Specktor, ed. “American Jewish World About the AJW,” American Jewish World, 2018.

36

Table 1.4. Changes in Jewish Population within the United States from 1907 to 1989.
Year
Jewish Population
in Minneapolis, MN
Jewish Population in
Minnesota
Jewish Population in
United States
1907 (not available) 13,000
90
1,777,185
91

1918 15,000
92
31,462
93
3,300,000
94

1920 (not available) 33,550
95
3,602,220
96

1927 22,000
97
43,197
98
4,228,029
99

1937 20,700
100
41,728
101
4,831,180
102

1948/1949 21,000
103
(not available) 5,000,000
104

1959 20,000
105
34,400
106
5,367,000
107

The following links for population statistics were accessed on November 17, 2018 from the American Jewish
Committee Archives:
90
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1920_1921_6_Statistics.pdf, Table V, 370.
91
Ibid., 1920-1921 6, Table IV, 368.
92
Ibid., 1920-1921 6, Table IX, 373.
93
Ibid., 1920-1921 6, Table V, 370.
94
Ibid., 1920-1921 6, Table IV, 368.
95
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1925_1926_7_Statistics.pdf. Table XIII, 382.
96
Ibid., 1925-1926 7, Table XIII, 382.
97
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1930_1931_7_Statistics.pdf. Table VI, 223.
98
Ibid., 1930-1931 7, Table I, 220.
99
Ibid., 1930-1931 7, Table VII, 226.
100
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1941_1942_9_Statistics.pdf. Table VII, 661.
101
Ibid., 1941-1942 9, Table I, 656.
102
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1940_1941_8_Statistics.pdf. Table IX, 601.
103
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1950_3_USSocioEconomic.pdf. Table I, 72.
104
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1950_7_WJP.pdf. Table 3, 248.
105
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1960_3_USDemographic.pdf. Table 1, 5.
106
Ibid., 1960, Table 2, 9.
107
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1960_18_WJP.pdf. Table 2, 352.

37

Year
Jewish Population
in Minneapolis, MN
Jewish Population in
Minnesota
Jewish Population in
United States
1968 20,500
108
33,565
109
5,868,555
110

1979 22,090
111
33,980
112
5,860,900
113

1989 (related page was
missing from 1990
Year Book)
30,500
114
5,941,000
115

Author Hyman Berman states that the “massive trauma inflicted upon the Minnesota Jewish
community…stemmed from the open and flagrant use of anti-Semitism in the political campaign
[for governor] of 1938.”
116
Even as white-supremacist groups like the Silver Shirts who operated
in Minneapolis during the 1930’s became more visible, the verbal attacks on Jews from the
politicians became more “open, brazen, well-financed, and successful.”
117

108
AJC, http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1970_6_USDemographic.pdf. Table 3, 350.
109
Ibid., 1970, Table 1, 345.
110
Ibid., 1970. Table 1, 346.
111
http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1980_6_USDemographic.pdf. Table 3, 166.
112
Ibid., 1980, Table 1, 161.
113
Ibid., 1980, Table 1, 162.
114
http://ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/1990_6_USDemographic.pdf. Table 1, 280.
115
Ibid., 1990, Table 1, 281.
116
Hyman Berman, “Political Antisemitism in Minnesota during the Great Depression,” 247.
117
Ibid, 257.

38

Chapter 2: Biographical Information
Composer Stephen Paulus
Born in Summit, New Jersey in 1949 just after World War II, Minnesota composer Stephen
Harrison Paulus was a prolific writer who composed more than 600 works across a variety of
disciplines, including twelve operas and more than 400 choral works. Unfortunately, Paulus died
in 2014 at the age of 65 due to complications suffered from a stroke a year earlier. He spent most
of his life in the state of Minnesota, with only the first two years of his life spent in New Jersey
and four years spent in Atlanta while working as composer-in-residence for the Atlanta
Symphony between 1988 and 1992.
1
Paulus learned the piano as a child from his father, a part-
time organist; eventually he took his own organ and choir directing jobs at local churches.
Given his strong Minnesota roots, Paulus chose to study music in 1967, first at Macalester
College in Saint Paul for two years before transferring to the University of Minnesota Twin
Cities campus to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree in piano performance in 1971. Paulus
returned to the University of Minnesota to complete his Master of Music (1974) and PhD
degrees in Theory and Composition (1978) where he studied primarily with Paul Fetler as well
as Dominick Argento and others. In 1975, Paulus married his wife Patty, a visual artist. The
couple raised two sons: Gregory, who was born in 1984, and Andrew, born in 1989. Since his
father’s death, Andrew Paulus has taken on responsibility for managing Paulus’ website and the
digital distribution of self-published works available on the site. Those with questions regarding

1
Stephanie L. Kruger, “The Three Hermits,” dissertation, 2003. Chapter 7 contains interview notes with the
composer that was the source for much of the background information included in this section.

39

production recommendations (such as the images recommended for projection during
performances) of To Be Certain of the Dawn are directed to Andrew.
In an interview with Beverly Taylor, Paulus described his own compositional style as “colorful,
anchored in tonality but not without dissonance, used sometimes in obvious, sometimes in more
subtly prepared ways.”
2
He also noted that he prioritizes rhythm within his music, using it as an
“anchor” which was “vital to all composition[s].”
3
Eight years prior to writing To Be Certain of
the Dawn, Paulus spoke with Taylor “of the importance of writing interesting and inspiring
music, of moving people, of allowing them to let go,”
4
all aspects which would be important
components of the oratorio yet to come. Writer Michael Anthony succinctly described Paulus’
writing, referring to “Paulus’s own musical voice – tonal in its harmony, mildly dissonant,
lyrically rich, rhythmically pungent…”
5
Randall Craig Speer observed that “Paulus’s musical
style often involves long melodic lines over subtly shifting harmonies. His choral music usually
avoids much counterpoint, preferring a more homogenous fabric with a foreground of a single
melodic line or harmonic texture. The resulting clarity is one of the many appealing aspects of
Paulus’s music.”
6

2
Beverly Taylor, “An Interview with Stephen Paulus,” Choral Journal 37, no. 8 (1997), 18.
3
Ibid., Taylor.
4
Ibid., Taylor, 17.
5
Michael Anthony, “The Paulus Legacy: Music That Had Magic and Sizzle,” MinnPost, October 22, 2014,
https://www.minnpost.com/arts-culture/2014/10/paulus-legacy-music-had-magic-and-sizzle/. Accessed October 27,
2018.
6
Randall Craig Speer, “The American Composers Forum and Its Impact on Choral Music in the United States,”
dissertation, 2001, 73-74.

40

Larry Smith’s interview with Stephen Paulus revealed the composer’s intentions for developing
“singable” choral lines within his music:
If you have a line of text that really has a full sound, I’ll often start with one
melodic idea and sort of evolve the harmonies from that. The linear idea is, I
think, as important as the vertical, harmonic [idea] simply because it has to be, to
me, a singable line…I sort of put it through two tests…It has to be somewhat
expressive of what’s going on or happening in the text, first of all,…it has to be
something that contributes to the whole texture and flavor, and it also has to be
something that is singable…I think what I’ve tried to do in choral harmonies is do
things that seem surprising, on the one hand, and inevitable at the same time.
7

Paulus’ impact on the music community reached beyond composition. In 1973 on the campus of
the University of Minnesota, Paulus informally founded the Minnesota Composers Forum (later
renamed the American Composers Forum in 1996) along with fellow Minnesota composer Libby
Larsen (b. 1950) to support composers and ensembles through its "granting programs, readings,
salons, conferences and residencies that support the creation of new work and connect composers
to communities."
8
In 1975, the organization was formally incorporated and it has continued to
provide significant opportunities for composers to develop their music.
9

Conductor Osmo Vänskä, who conducted the premiere performances of To Be Certain of the
Dawn, reflected on Paulus after his passing: “He was not a composer with only one genre or one
way to write music. He was open-minded…It showed how Steve was willing to come out of his

7
Larry Smith, “The Choral Music of Libby Larson and Stephen Paulus: An Examination and Comparison of
Styles,” dissertation, 1998, 202.
8
“About American Composers Forum,” American Composers Forum, 2018.
9
Further information about the development of the American Composers Forum is available in the dissertation by
Randall Craig Speer, “The American Composers Forum and Its Impact on Choral Music in the United States,” 2001.

41

frame as a composer. And it says something about working with him that so many different
people have wanted to premiere his pieces.”
10
Fellow conductor Dale Warland, director of the
choral ensemble, The Dale Warland Singers, commissioned dozens of works from Paulus.
Warland stated that the composer was “faithful to the text that he was setting, but was invariably
pushing the edge just a bit, giving the choir and the audience a beautiful, inspiring work, without
fail.”
11

In addition to wining a Guggenheim Award in 1982 and a Grammy Award (posthumously) in
2016, Paulus served on the board of directors of American Society of Composers, Authors, and
Publishers (ASCAP) until his death.
Librettist Michael Dennis Browne
Taylor’s interview with Paulus revealed a composer who carefully sought out texts for his choral
music, with Paulus indicating that he “reads widely and seeks recommendations from friends and
colleagues.”
12
Russell Thorngate, in his analysis of Paulus’ choral cycle Voices, described his
choice of texts for the work as “imaginative, including a set by eighth-century Chinese poets, and
another with texts by thirteenth-century female mystics.”
13
Finding relevant and inspirational
texts for his subject works was important to Paulus and one of his most valued collaborators for
texts was fellow Minnesotan, Michael Dennis Browne, poet and professor emeritus at the
University of Minnesota. Originally born in England, Browne migrated to the United States in

10
Pioneer Press, “Obituary: St. Paul-based composer Stephen Paulus dies at age 65,” Twin Cities Pioneer Press,
October 28, 2015.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid., Taylor, 21.
13
Russell Thorngate, “The Choral Cycle: A Conductor’s Guide to Four Representative Works,” dissertation, 2011,
136.

42

1965 and attended the University of Iowa. Browne has written fourteen books, most collections
of poems. Several were part of the Carnegie Mellon Poetry Series. His most recent book,
Chimes: selected short poems, was published by Nodin Press in 2017.
In his interview with the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical & Cultural Research in 2013,
Browne revealed that he was exposed at a young age to French and English poets, including
Chaucer, Byron, and Wordsworth. He described writing as “my job and my joy is to write.
Borrow from everything that occurs to me. In the early stages, write down everything, even if it
is bad.”
14
With the mantra that “a serious writer is a serious reader,”
15
Browne was a strong
partner to align with Paulus in his search for the best texts for his projects. Ultimately he views
his responsibility as a writer to be a “witness…use language, in my case, rhythmically as
possible, as memorably as possible, to say what it’s like to be here now.”
16

Prior to Paulus’ death in 2014, the pair collaborated often on texts for Paulus’ choral works.
Notable examples of their collaborations include perennial crowd favorites, "Pilgrims' Hymn"
(1997) which was extracted from Paulus’ opera, The Three Hermits, and The Road Home (2002).
In all, Browne provided the text for dozens of choral works and operas for Paulus between 1976
and 2014. A calculated poet, Browne expressed his process of writing texts for choral music as
“building a boat, not a house. You build it strong but buoyant, lighter, so when the music comes,

14
Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical & Cultural Research, “Interview with Michael Dennis Browne 12.18.2013,”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7ZJ9aE-2ts. December 18, 2013.
15
Ibid., Collegeville interview.
16
Ibid., Collegeville interview.

43

it will lift the words.”
17
And he noted that in writing the text for To Be Certain of the Dawn “that
these were the deepest waters my boats have ever been privileged to float upon.”
18

Works by Stephen Paulus with text by Dennis Michael Browne include:
• Canticles: Songs and Rituals for the Easter and the May (1977) – SSAATTBB and
instruments (organ and orchestra or piano)
• Carol of the Candle (1998) – SATB and keyboard
• Fountain of My Friends (1976) – SSA and piano. Commissioned and premiered by The
Schubert Club of St. Paul, MN.
• Harmoonia (1991) – Opera in one act. Commissioned and premiered by Opera Iowa and
Des Moines Metro Opera.
• Hymn for America (2004) – SSATBB or TTBB a cappella. Commissioned and premiered
by Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
• Hymn for Dad (2016) – SSAATTBB a cappella. Written by Stephen Paulus’ son, Greg
Paulus, after Stephen Paulus’ death.
• “Hymn to the Eternal Flame” from To Be Certain of the Dawn (2005) – Mixed chorus,
children’s chorus, soprano solo, a cappella. Commissioned by Rev. Michael J.
O’Connell, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis, MN.
• North Shore (1977) – SSAATTBB, baritone and mezzo-soprano soloists, and small
orchestra. Premiered by The Bach Society Chorus of Minnesota.

17
Ibid., Collegeville interview.
18
Ibid., Collegeville interview.

44

• Pay Through the Nose (2000) – SSA and piano.
• Pilgrims’ Hymn (2010) – SSAATTBB and two marimbas. Commissioned and premiered
by VocalEssence. Earlier versions for SSAATTBB a cappella (1997) and SATB a
cappella choir (1997) are also available. More than 160,000 copies have been purchased
across all variants of the work and is the best seller in Paulus’ catalog.
19

• The Road Home (2002) – SATB a cappella. Also available in SSAA or TTBB
arrangements. Commissioned and premiered by The Dale Warland Singers.
• The Shoemaker (2012) – Opera in one act. Premiered by Plymouth Congregational
Church, Minneapolis, MN.
• “Singalo, Singalay” from Harmoonia (1991) – Solo voice and piano.
• The Three Hermits (1997) – Opera in one act. Commissioned by The House of Hope
Presbyterian Church, St. Paul, Minnesota . “Pilgrims’ Hymn” was extracted from the
opera as a stand-alone choral work at the suggestion of Kathy Saltzman Romey, choral
director at the University of Minnesota.
20

• Tree of Two Birds (2016) – Three-part treble chorus and piano.
In addition to his work with Stephen Paulus, Browne has worked with other notable choral
composers and conductors including Craig Hella Johnson. His recent collaboration with Johnson
on the libretto for the fusion oratorio Considering Matthew Shepard has seen much success, with
performances across the United States both by Johnson’s professional ensemble, Conspirare, as
well as in collaborations with university and community choruses. Browne’s connection to the

19
Stephen Paulus, “Pilgrims’ Hymn – Stephen Paulus Music,” 2018.
20
Ibid., Kruger, 114.

45

oratorio project extended beyond his partnership with Stephen Paulus: he is a parishioner at the
Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, the church responsible for the commissioning of To Be
Certain of the Dawn and the location of its premiere performances in 2005.

46

Chapter 3: Background and General Structure of To Be Certain of the Dawn
In Section 4 of Nostra Aetate, the Church states:
Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews is thus so great, this
sacred synod wants to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and
respect which is the fruit, above all, of biblical and theological studies as well as
of fraternal dialogues…Furthermore, in her rejection of every persecution against
any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and
moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred,
persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by
anyone…It is, therefore, the burden of the Church's preaching to proclaim the
cross of Christ as the sign of God's all-embracing love and as the fountain from
which every grace flows.
1

More than fifty years after McWilliams’ anti-Semitic label was applied to the city of
Minneapolis and thirty-five years after the release of Nostra Aetate, Father Michael O'Connell,
then rector at the city’s Basilica of Saint Mary, became “convinced that Christians had to own
the Holocaust.”
2
As an active Roman Catholic priest, O’Connell was aware of the
recommendations and expectations laid out in Nostra Aetate. He had recently completed a trip to
Eastern Europe which included visits to several Nazi concentration camps with members from
his congregation and from a Minneapolis synagogue, Temple Israel. In his interview with
O’Connell in advance of the album recording session, Karl Gehrke noted that the priest believed
that “while Christians didn’t cause the Holocaust, 2,000 years of blaming Jews for the death of
Christ made it possible.”
3
O’Connell went on to describe his desire to “create what is hopefully a

1
Ibid., Vatican, “Nostra Aetate.”
2
Karl Gehrke, “Minnesota Orchestra Records Holocaust Oratorio,” The Current, February 11, 2008.
https://www.thecurrent.org/feature/2008/02/11/paulusoratorio. Accessed November 19, 2018.
3
Ibid., Gehrke.

47

beautiful, strong, powerful, and compelling piece of choral and orchestral music. I want the work
to teach Christian children of the 21
st
Century to not forget what history did and what misguided
Christianity did and in some profound way help them learn to not do it again.”
4

O’Connell would go on to commission a large-scale choral-orchestral work from Paulus as an act
of reconciliation between his local Catholic community and the local Jewish community.
5

O'Connell only requested that it meet two requirements: 1) the work must include a children's
chorus; and 2) the work must include a significant role for the cantor at Temple Israel, the first
Jewish congregation established in Minneapolis and which is today considered the tenth largest
Reform Jewish congregation in North America.
6
Paulus noted that the oratorio commission
process took four years, “…beginning with the idea of Fr Michael O’Connell…who decided that
an oratorio would be a powerful vehicle for communicating to individuals and communities that
children are key to the prevention of genocide, both today and in the future.”
7
To Be Certain of
the Dawn was organized with a 2005 premiere to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of Nostra
Aetate and the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of
World War II.
Paulus ultimately chose the title of the work from a quote by Rabbi Heschel, the same rabbi
involved in the 1963 discussions with Cardinal Bea surrounding the Nostra Aetate document. For

4
Ibid., Gehrke.
5
Ibid., Anthony.
6
Temple Israel, “About Us | Temple Israel | Minneapolis,” 2018.
7
Stephen Paulus and Michael Dennis Browne. “Liner Notes,” To Be Certain of the Dawn (2008), 4.

48

help with the work's structure and libretto, Paulus worked with his favorite local poet, Browne,
who had found Heschel’s writing during his research and included it in the documents he put
together for Paulus.
8
Rabbi Heschel pondered the following question in his book, A Passion for
Truth (1973), in response to the Shoah:
Who could breathe at a time when man was engaged in murdering the holy
witness to God six million times? And yet God does not need those who praise
Him when in a state of euphoria. He needs those who are in love with Him when
in distress, both He and ourselves. This is the task: in the darkest night to be
certain of the dawn, certain of the power to turn a curse into a blessing, agony into
a song. To know the monster’s rage and, in spite of it, proclaim to its face (even a
monster will be transfigured into an angel); to go through Hell and to continue to
trust in the goodness of God – this is the challenge and the way.
9

The work’s libretto was prepared using three different languages: English, Hebrew, and German.
A unifying theme the two collaborators used throughout the oratorio text was to include the Old
Testament verse from Leviticus 19:18, "You should love your neighbor as yourself" for a
scriptural instruction common to both Judaism and Christianity. This sentiment is also found in
the instruction given by Jesus in Matthew 22:39. They chose to present this text in both Hebrew
and German, inspired by the story of writing found on one of the few surviving stones of a Berlin
temple destroyed by Nazis during World War II. As Paulus noted in their 2011 interview, “the
chorus sings it [“you should love your neighbor as yourself”], in German, which also is kind of
shocking because what's German doing in a work like this but you know, there's a purpose to it.
It's stating: this is where ‘the other side’ is coming from.”
10

8
Ibid., Collegeville interview.
9
Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion for Truth. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, 301.
10
Transcript available in Appendix D.

49

Browne indicated he was a changed person from his experiences developing the libretto and
working on the oratorio with Paulus. He hoped listeners would have similar experiences and said
“I would like people to leave the work saying, ‘I had no idea of the horrors. I had no idea of the
vigor of a vanished life.’ And somehow as they go about in the world, they put their shoulders to
the wheel in a new way because something in the work has jogged something loose.”
11

Structure of the Work
The oratorio is formatted as a triptych and lasts approximately sixty minutes. Due to the through-
composed nature of the composition, the shifts from one section to the next are not always
apparent to the listener. Paulus avoids using a key signature anywhere in the work which makes
determining the intended tonal center in each section difficult, especially with Paulus’ extensive
use of diminished-seventh chords. The structure of each separate section rarely follows classical
compositional forms such as sonata-allegro form or binary form and clear cadential patterns are
elusive, allowing one section to morph into the following as one large, masterwork.
Part I: "Renewal," is divided into five sections. Music begins with three calls of the Jewish horn,
known as the shofar, with short exclamations in the orchestra between each. The cantor calls the
concert “service” to order, establishing from the first section the key role that Jewish service
components will have on the entire work. The full choir and orchestra join in for the second
section, as well as several of the vocal soloists, and the children's choir sings the first of four
blessings in the third section. The last two sections in "Renewal" use the mixed chorus and

11
Ibid., Gehrke.

50

children's chorus and concludes with the cantor proclaiming the main theme in Hebrew, "You
should love your neighbor as yourself."
Part II: "Remembrance," is divided into thirteen sections, with four sections used to represent
images from photographs of Holocaust victims that Browne observed during a trip to the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. during his research to prepare the
libretto. The four sections based on the photographs use the soloists, with small interjections by
members of the mixed chorus (in the role of Christians taunting Jews) of the rules that Jews
suffered through during the Holocaust (such as "Jews may not attend school, Jews may not
marry outside their race"). Placed between the "photograph" sections are additional blessings
sung by the children's choir and other choral responses. Part Two ends with a setting of "Hymn
to the Eternal Flame" for mixed chorus, children's chorus, and soprano soloist. This movement
and the preceding orchestral interlude "Veil of Tears" are sometimes performed by ensembles as
stand-alone music, outside of the context of the full oratorio, and are published separately from
the overall work.
Part III: "Visions,” contains three sections that alternate between the soloists, mixed chorus, and
children's chorus, often within each section. Near the end, the cantor sings the opening theme in
Hebrew from the back of the performance hall in a move intended as a "transformational
gesture…a unifying moment of reconciliation."
12
There are then additional calls from the shofar
in discord with the orchestra as it sounds from the rear of the performance hall. The work ends

12
Ibid., Paulus and Browne, “Liner Notes,” 4.

51

with tritones played in the low strings which Paulus described as "underscoring the uncertainty
that still exists and reminding us that there is much to be done before peace and reconciliation
are established, both in the music and in the world."
13

Motives Used Throughout Work
Paulus uses specific methods to unify the entire work, including the appearance of several
distinctive motives. One of the first motives is referred to throughout this dissertation as the
“wandering” motive and features a constant thread of eighth notes which meander back and
forth, and often repeats its measure-long pattern over and over. This motive occurs in multiple
instrumental lines at a time and is found most often in the violins. The “wandering” motive is
used in:
• Section 2: “Teshuvah” (shown in Example 4.4 on page Error! Bookmark not defined.),
• Section 9: “Old Man, Young Man,”
• Section 13: “Three Coats,” and
• Section 19: “B’Tselem Elohim.”
Another motive which Paulus incorporates is a rhythmic motive of repeated eighth or quarter
notes that lasts typically two or four measures. This motive, referred to here as the “military”
motive, achieves a militaristic feel through its regimented and unwavering usage of unchanging
rhythm. The “military” motive appears in:
• Section 4: “Kingdom of Night,” (as shown at Rehearsal 41 on page 32 of Study Score),

13
Ibid., Paulus and Browne, “Liner Notes,” 5.

52

• Section 10: “Third Blessing,”
• Section 13: “Three Coats,” and
• Section 16: “Boy Reading.”
Besides use of motives, Paulus includes liberal use of tritones, from the opening and closing
intervals played by the shofar to all sections between in both vocal and instrumental lines. The
unsettled feeling the listener experiences with these tritone intervals was intentional by the
composer given the subject matter.
Incorporation of Jewish Service Elements
To combine elements of both Christianity and Judaism in one major work requires deliberate
planning. In addition to including a significant role for a cantor, Paulus utilizes other aspects of
traditional Jewish service elements throughout the work. The entire work opens and closes with
the shofar, a traditional horn whose use dates back thousands of years. Today, the shofar marks
Rosh Ha’Shana and the end of Yom Kippur. From the Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and
Traditions, the shofar “creates the musical impression of an unanswered question. The blower
can produce an upward melodic gesture but not a downward gesture: There is no way of
returning to the exact departing musical point. As a result, the shofar cry remains edgy, plaintive,
and ‘unresolved.’”
14
From the Hebrew Scriptures story of Abraham arguing with God as he
prepares to slaughter his son Isaac, the shofar (or ram’s horn) served as an example of God’s
salvation of the “sacrificial innocent ram.”
15

14
“Shofar,” The Encyclopedia of Jewish Folklore and Traditions, 2018.
15
Ibid.,“Shofar.”

53

Paulus and Browne use prayers and other elements from traditional Jewish services throughout
the work, including the Shema (or Sh’ma) which is used to begin the cantor’s singing in
Section 1 “Sh’ma Yisrael!” Ethan Nash describes the Shema as a “profession of faith [which]
expresses the central tenet of Judaism, proclaiming for all to hear that there is one God. Very
much like the Credo of the Mass, it is a declaration of Jewish faith which has been an integral
part of the [Shacharit] prayer service for thousands of years.”
16

Another service aspect which typically follows the Shema is the V’Ahavta. Nash notes that the
V’Ahavta is “often considered to be a part of the Sh’ma” and it is “[o]ften sung by the entire
congregation, it commands us to love God with our whole being and to hold dear in all aspects of
life the words of the Sh’ma that we have just uttered. Included in this, as well, is the inscribing of
the words on the doorposts of our house.”
17
The V’Ahavta is included in both Sections 5 and
21,
18
both titled “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha.”
19

The Mourners’ Kaddish is recited by the cantor during Section 4 “Kingdom of Night.” For Jews,
the Kaddish “is perhaps the most sacred prayer in the liturgy and can only be said publicly, in the
presence of a minyan (typically a quorum of ten Jewish adults). Though popularly considered to
be a mourner’s prayer for the departed, the text of the Kaddish praises God and yearns for the

16
Ethan Nash, Jewish Choral Music, dissertation, 2007, 66.
17
Ibid., 67.
18
The analysis of Section 5 begins on page 87. The analysis of Section 21 begins on page 162.
19
Paulus formatted the titles of Sections 5 and 21 using V’a Havta rather than the more common spelling, V’Ahavta.
When referring to the name of the section, this dissertation will use Paulus’ spelling. When referring to the
traditional aspect of the Jewish service, this document will use the more common spelling.

54

speedy establishment of God’s kingdom on earth, saying nothing specifically about mourning
and making no reference to the deceased.”
20

The tonality of Paulus’ music also incorporates versions of traditional Jewish prayer modes.
Paulus uses variations of three prayer modes: Adonai Malach (sometimes referred to as The Lord
is King)
21
, Ahavah Rabbah (also called Great Love)”
22
, and Magein Avot (sometimes called
Shield to the Fathers).
23
Examples of the three prayer modes are included below. Each of the
prayer modes features a lowered seventh instead of a leading tone, “hence the scales lack
dominant and subdominant functions.”
24
Information on these prayer modes are available in
articles by Baruch Joseph Cohon and Lester Seigel as well as the dissertation by Ethan Nash.
25

Cohon notes that German Jews more often chant with the Adonai Malach scale and in major
scales while Eastern European Jews are known to use all scales listed below.
26
Cohon’s
information is very detailed and separates the various motives used for beginning phrases, pausal
phrases
27
, modulations, pre-concluding phrases, and concluding phrases.

20
Ibid., 70.
21
Lester Seigel, “Pursuing Authenticity in Choral Music for the Synagogue,” Choral Journal. Vol. 56, Num. 11,
2016, 30.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid., Nash, 76.
25
Baruch Joseph Cohon, “The Structure of the Synagogue Prayer-Chant,” American Musicological Society, Jan 1,
1950; Lester Seigel, “Pursuing Authenticity in Choral Music for the Synagogue,” Choral Journal. Vol. 56, Num. 11,
2016; and Ethan Nash, Jewish Choral Music, dissertation, 2007.
26
Baruch Joseph Cohon, “The Structure of the Synagogue Prayer-Chant,” American Musicological Society, Jan 1,
1950, 26.
27
The term “pausal phrases” appears throughout Cohon’s article and his musical examples. The author indicated on
page 19 that these phrases, which occur as intermediate phrases, end with a “musical comma,” giving a sense of a
pause at their ends, as opposed to the other type of intermediate phrases he describes, modulations.

55

Example 3.1. Adonai Malach scale.

The Adonai Malach scale (also referred to as Adonoy Moloch) is identical to the Mixolydian
mode, or a major scale with a lowered seventh, but with occasional adjustments to pitches below
and above the complete octave. The name is based on a setting of Psalm 93 (The Lord shall
reign)
28
. Example 3.1 displays the scale based on C with its modified pitches, using a raised
seventh-scale degree below the tonic and lowering the tenth. Adonai Malach is used the most of
the three prayer modes and is found in:
• Section 1: “Sh’ma Yisrael!,”
• Section 2: “Teshuvah,”
• Section 3: “First Blessing,”
• Section 4: “Kingdom of Night,”
• Section 10: “Third Blessing,”
• Section 13: “Three Coats,”
• Section 14: “Fourth Blessing,”
• Section 15: “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God,” and
• Section 19: “B’Tselem Elohim.”

28
Ibid., Nash, 77.

56

Example 3.2. Ahavah Rabbah scale.

The name for the Ahavah Rabbah scale (also referred to as Ahavoh Rabboh) is based on a
Sabbath morning prayer.
29
The scale is also referred to as the Phrygian Dominant scale. Some
consider the scale to display the “most characteristic ‘Jewish’ sound”
30
through its use of an
augmented second which creates a larger interval within the scale than those encountered in
traditional scales. Example 3.2 shows the inclusion of F# in what would otherwise be a Phrygian
scale begun on D, or a natural minor scale in D with a lowered second scale degree. Ahavah
Rabbah is used in:
• Section 1: “Sh’ma Yisrael!,”
• Section 7: “Second Blessing,”
• Section 9: “Old Man, Young Man,” and
• Section 16: “Boy Reading.”

29
Ibid., Nash, 79.
30
Ibid., Seigel, 30.

57

Example 3.3. Magein Avot scale.

The Magein Avot (or Mogen Ovos) scale, originally named for a Friday evening prayer,
31
is the
same as the Aeolian or natural minor scale. Example 3.3 displays this scale when starting on D.
Seigal refers to Magein Avot as “a versatile mode for non-Western harmonization.”
32
Magein
Avot appears in:
• Section 15: “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God”

Example 3.4. Ukrainian Dorian mode.

In addition to the three typical Jewish prayer modes listed above, several times Paulus uses an
altered version of the Dorian mode referred to as the “Ukrainian Dorian” mode, a label that
appears to have been first coined by Abraham Idelsohn
33
and later used by other Jewish musical

31
Ibid., Nash, 76.
32
Ibid., Seigel, 30.
33
Abraham Idelsohn, Jewish Music in its Historical Development, New York: Holt, 1929.

58

scholars including Mark Slobin
34
. This version raises the fourth scale degree of a Dorian scale as
shown in Example 3.4. The Ukrainian Dorian mode appears in:
• Section 2: “Teshuvah”
• Section 15: “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God”
• Section 16: “Boy Reading”
Other modes or scales that Paulus uses throughout the work include: standard Dorian mode,
pitches from the ascending melodic minor scale, and pitch collections that are fully chromatic or
missing only one or two pitches of the twelve.

34
Mark Slobin, American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots, University of California Press, 2002, pg 123, n. 56.
This bibliography entry describes the development of the term and points, in part, to Idelsohn’s Jewish Music in its
Historical Development book.

59

Orchestration
Full orchestration of To Be Certain of the Dawn includes the following:
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in Bb
2 Bassoons
1 Shofar

4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
3 Trombones (3
rd
Bass)
1 Tuba

Timpani

2 Percussion:
Temple Blocks,
Brake Drum,
Bass Drum,
Large Suspended
Cymbal,
Chimes,
Large Tam-Tam,
Xylophone,
Tom-Toms,
Crotales,
Glass Wind Chimes,
Glockenspiel,
Vibraphone
Harp

Children’s Chorus (SSA)
Mixed Chorus (SSAATTBB)
Soloists:
Soprano,
Mezzo-soprano,
Tenor,
Baritone,
Cantor

Strings
Performances
To Be Certain of the Dawn officially premiered the third weekend of November, 2005
(November 17, 18, and 19) with the timing intended to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the
liberation of Nazi concentration and extermination camps (liberated between 1944 and 1945) as
well as the fortieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate (released October 1965). Performers of the
premiere included the Minnesota Orchestra, Minnesota Chorale, Basilica Cathedral Choir,
Cathedral Choristers, Minnesota Boychoir, conductor Osmo Vänskä, cantor Barry Abelson, and
soloists Elizabeth Futral (soprano), Christina Baldwin (mezzo-soprano), John Tessier (tenor),
and Philip Cokorinos (bass-baritone). The premiere performances took place at The Basilica of
Saint Mary in Minneapolis.
Additional performances have been completed since its premiere, with most occurring in
Minnesota or nearby states. In addition to the November 2005 premiere, the same forces reprised
the oratorio in February 2008. Collegiate choirs from several Minnesotan colleges later

60

premiered the work in Europe, including at the site of a former concentration camp located in
France, Natzweiler-Struthof. And at the 2012 ACDA North Central Division conference,
musicians from Minnesota State University, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Wartburg College,
and the Madison Boys and Girls Choirs performed the oratorio with the Wisconsin Youth
Symphony Orchestra in a special performance for conference attendees.
A total of eighteen performances have been performed since its premiere in 2005. Table 3.1
below includes details on the premiere. Appendix C includes a list of all known performances.
Table 3.1. Details of the World Premiere performances of To Be Certain of the Dawn.
DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS
November 17, 2005
November 18, 2005
November 19, 2005

Basilica of St. Mary
Minneapolis, MN
The Basilica Cathedral Choir and Cathedral Choristers
(Teri Larson, Music Director)

Minnesota Orchestra
(Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and Conductor)

Norah Long, soprano
Christina Baldwin, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Cardwell, tenor
Tim Krol, baritone
Barry Abelson, cantor

A production guidelines document was released in November 2014 with a subsequent update
released in March 2015.
35
The guidelines include a note from the librettist, suggested use of
candles and images to project during a performance, positioning of the children’s choir, notes on

35
Andrew Paulus, “Oratorio Guidelines-March2015Update,” 2015.

61

how to treat the final chorus, and references to recordings and other materials from past
performances.
Imagery
A total of six images were projected on large screens in the premiere performances. Each image
inspired sections in the music during its development. Four images were found in a collection of
Holocaust-era photographs taken in Eastern Europe by photographer Roman Vishniac (1897-
1990). Vishniac’s daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn, published the images in 1999 by University of
California Press in her book, Children of a Vanished World. Mara Vishniac Kohn donated her
father’s estate consisting of tens of thousands of photography and videography elements to the
International Center of Photography (ICP) in 2007.
36
Working in conjunction with the United
States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ICP is cataloging all of the items received from Vishniac’s
donation to make his materials available for research, many of which are available online
through the ICP website. The four Vishniac images used in the premiere performances include:

36
International Center of Photography, “Roman Vishniac Archive,” 2018. Images can be located through the search
function in the archive.

62

• “Two friends shyly approach the photographer, Lodz.” ca. 1935-1938 in Lodz,
Poland. This image served as the inspiration for Section 6, “Two Little Girls in the
Street.”
• “An orthodox father visits his son”, TOZ (Society for Safeguarding the Health of the
Jewish Population) summer camp, probably Otwock. ca. 1935-1937. This image
became the basis for Section 9, “Old Man, Young Man.”
• “In cheder (Jewish elementary school), Mukacevo” ca. 1935-1938 in Mukacevo,
Czechoslovakia. This image inspired Section 16, “Boy Reading.”
• "Boy suffering from a toothache clutches a tattered school notebook, Slonim."
Taken in Slonim, Poland. ca. 1935-38. This image was used to craft Section 13,
“Three Coats.”

Browne notes that “the middle section…[is brought] to life through the soloists’ four portraits of
children. The soloists sing as if they were those young people in the photographs.”
37

Two public domain images were also used in the premiere performances. One is of a group of
children believed to be housed at the children’s camp at Theresienstadt in Terezin,
Czechoslovakia. Browne was drawn to the children’s innocence pictured in the image, not
knowing of the harshness to come. He noted that the children are “deceptively looking, you
know, nicely clothed and happy, but that was all a sham.”
38
He was so moved by the children’s
photo that he has kept a framed copy on the piano in his own home.
39

37
Ibid., Gehrke.
38
See Appendix D for transcription.
39
“To Be Certain of the Dawn: Beyond the Notes,” interview with Stephen Paulus and Michael Dennis Browne,
Youtube video, 2011.

63

Figure 3.1. Image of children during Holocaust. Likely taken at Theresienstadt, the
concentration camp in Terezin, Czechoslovakia. Source and date unknown.

The photograph of the children is the last one to be displayed during the performance and is used
at the end of the words of the final survivor in Section 20 “Voices of Survivors.” The lyrics
include “I lived in a world with no children, I would never live in a world with no children
again.” Browne recalls the emotion during the performance as “Voices of Survivors” transitions
into Section 21 “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha,” where “we hear the strains of the beautiful
V’a Havta and that this appears. And it’s an extraordinary moment, those…hopeful and doomed

64

faces of the children…the faces of the children are the sun, moon, and stars of this work. They
are the center.”
40

The other public domain image is of children’s faces displayed at the children’s memorial at Yad
Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center located in Jerusalem. Similar to Father
O’Connell’s intent of commissioning To Be Certain of the Dawn to share the stories of the Shoah
with children lest we forget the atrocities that occurred during World War II, Yad Vashem
“places great emphasis on educating the younger generations about the Holocaust”, following in
the Jewish tradition of “Vehigadeta Lebincha (‘And you shall tell your children’),”
41
an idea that
Father O’Connell took to heart when commission the work. Displayed in the children’s memorial
are images of young children, some smiling and others looking more solemn, taken during the
Holocaust. The photographs are surrounded by thousands of points of light to symbolize the
memorial candles Jewish people use to remember the dead. This memorial was built to honor the
one and a half million children who were murdered during the Shoah and reflects the memorial
candles “infinitely in a dark and somber space, creating the impression of millions of stars
shining in the firmament. The names of murdered children, their ages and countries of origin can
be heard in the background.”
42

40
See Appendix D for transcription.
41
Yad Vashem, “Mission Statement,” 2018.
42
Yad Vashem, “Children’s Memorial”, 2018.

65

Figure 3.2. Children's Memorial at Yad Vashem, Jerusalem.
43

At O’Connell’s official retirement celebration in 2015, the Basilica Cathedral Choir performed
one of the sections from To Be Certain of the Dawn, “Hymn to the Eternal Flame,” a fitting
send-off for an influential man at the Basilica and instrumental in bringing the work to fruition.
44

43
Ibid., Yad Vashem, “Children’s Memorial.”
44
The Basilica of Saint Mary, “Basilica”, 2015, 7.

66

Chapter 4: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part I “Renewal”
Section 1: “Sh’ma Yisrael!”
Performing Forces
Cantor, Bb clarinets, shofar, horns, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’56”
1

Paulus incorporates a short motive in the clarinet twice, based on notes from the Jewish prayer
mode Ahavah Rabbah within this section. This prayer mode features an initial half step followed
by a full step and a half when ascending from the first scale degree to create an alternation with
half steps, every other interval. Starting on Bb, the scale becomes Bb-B-C#-D-E-F-G-A. In its
usage here, Paulus adjusts the top pitch down a half step to Ab.
Table 4.1. Formal components of Section 1: "Sh'ma Yisrael!"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
[none] 1-11 ♩ = 116 E None Opens with shofar tritones (E-Bb)
followed by repeated E’s

1
All section lengths are based on the official 2008 album recording. Paulus, Stephen and Michael D. Browne. Liner
notes to To Be Certain of the Dawn. Minnesota Orchestra, BIS Records, BIS-CD-1726, Recorded February 2008.

67

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
1 12-19 ♩ = 69 Bb Line
1
Cantor sings one phrase with sustained
Bb in cello and soft, rolled timpani and
bass drum underneath.
NOTES: Bb C D Eb
STEPS: 1-1-½
2 20-23 ♩ = 69 Bb None Clarinet musing above sustained Bb in
cello and soft, rolled timpani and bass
drum underneath.
NOTES: Bb B C# D E F G (Ab)
STEPS: ½-1 ½-½-1-½-1-½
Uses the Ahavah Rabbah scale based
on Bb with lowered top note (Ab
instead of A).
3 24-34 ♩ = 69 Bb Line
2
Cantor sings Line 2 of the text using a
phrase similar to Rehearsal 1.
NOTES: Bb C D Eb
STEPS: 1-1-½
4 35-45 ♩ = 69 Bb None No vocal lines, long sustained notes in
strings with continued rolled notes on
timpani and bass drum. Ascending
chromatic line in Violin 1 and
Glockenspiel (mm. 39-42) wanders
back and forth between Bb and B
before settling on Bb.

68

Text Choice and Setting

1
2
Cantor
Sh’ma Yisrael! Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad!
Barukh sheim K’vod malchuto l’olam va’ed.

Translation:
[Hear, O Israel: Adonai our God, Adonai is One.
Blessed is the name of God’s glorious reign forever and ever.]

Influence of Jewish liturgy is evident from the opening section. In addition to including the
Ahavah Rabba scale in the clarinet, both lines of text sung by the cantor in this section are from
the opening of the Sh’ma, or Shema, a Jewish prayer based on Deuteronomy 6:7 used as “an
affirmation of Judaism and a declaration of faith in one God. The obligation to recite the Shema
is separate from the obligation to pray and a Jew is obligated to say Shema in the morning and at
night.”
2

Line 2 of the Shema is not found in the Hebrew Scriptures but instead began as a response by
people gathered in their Temple listening to the priest reciting Line 1 before the people’s
response was incorporated into the Shema. Now, Line 2 is “said quietly, except for on Yom
Kippur when it is recited out loud.”
3
It is customary to close or cover the eyes when reciting the
beginning of the Shema.
The shofar opens the entire work, playing a tritone interval multiple times. The end of each of
the shofar’s three opening phrases is marked by a quick strike of instruments starting first with
pizzicato strings, percussion, and timpani. Horns, trombone, and tuba add to each punctuation

2
Shira Schoenberg, “Jewish Prayers: The Shema,” Jewish Virtual Library, 2018.
3
Ibid.

69

after the second phrase. A drone cello bass note on Bb along with a rolled bass drum and timpani
sustain through the end of the section while the cantor sings lines 1 and 2. Both lines are
melodically identical and move along the first four degrees of a Bb Ahavah Rabbah scale. After
each of the cantor lines, the clarinets play four and five measure phrases based on the Bb Ahavah
Rabbah scale sounding like a musing in response to each cantor line. An example of the clarinet
musing is illustrated in Example 4.1. Considering Paulus’ affinity for using tritones in this work,
another way to consider the Ahavah Rabbah scale is as a tetrachord of tritones, B-F, C#-G, D-
Ab.
Example 4.1. Clarinet in opening section of Part I: Renewal, "Sh'ma Yisrael!" mm. 20-23.

Once the cantor finishes singing lines 1 and 2, a solo violin doubled with the glockenspiel
searches for the tonic of Bb, repeating a D twice, before ascending nearly chromatically from G
to B ♮ and retreating again to Bb. The strings underneath slowly descend from Em, to Gb, Ebm,
Dbm, B, and finally settle on Bb (see Example 4.2 below). Paulus writes many chords in second
inversion.

70

Example 4.2. Conclusion of opening section of Part I: Renewal, Section 1 “Sh’ma Yisrael!” mm.
35-44.

After the opening bars with their quick interruptions in the strings, timpani, and brass, long note
durations then dominate this section. The few exceptions occur in the musing clarinet line
(shown in Example 4.1) after each of the cantor’s lines as well as within the cantor melody itself
to fit the text declamation.
Paulus only uses the shofar in two sections of the entire work, the first and last, and its use is
highly symbolic to the underlying message of the oratorio. Traditionally, a shofar is “sounded on
Rosh Ha’Shana to mark the beginning of the Jewish New Year and to signal a call to

71

repentance.”
4
The horn is still used today during Rosh Ha’Shana and at the end of Yom Kippur.
In addition to calling the “service” to order, listeners experience an unsettled feeling with the
shofar’s tritone intervals which Paulus uses purposefully to indicate the unresolved state of the
Judeo-Christian relations in the world. Pizzicato strings, brass, and percussion interrupt the
shofar’s call to prayer. But Paulus then shifts to a tremolo cello, timpani and percussion to create
an underlying sense of calm prior to the cantor’s first entrance.

4
Ibid., “Shofar.”

72

Section 2: “Teshuvah”
Performing Forces
SSAATTBB mixed chorus, children's chorus, cantor, soprano soloist, mezzo-soprano soloist,
tenor soloist, baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 4’22”
Due to this section’s lack of clear tonality, most Rehearsal numbers were analyzed using their
various pitch collections and associated intervals to determine if any of the traditional Jewish
prayer modes or other special scales were being used. With the high amount of chromaticism,
Paulus shifts between a variety of modes, including Lydian with a flat 3 in Rehearsals 7-8, a
heptatonic scale in Rehearsal 14, Dorian (ascending melodic minor) in Rehearsals 17-21, and
Adonai Malach prayer mode (Rehearsals 22-23).
Table 4.2. Formal components of Section 2: "Teshuvah"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
5 1-12 ♩ = 76-
80, 88
Gm Line
1
NOTES: G Ab A Bb C# D D# E F#
G
(Includes all pitches between octave
Gs except B, C, and F)
STEPS: ½-½-½-1 ½-½-½-½-1-½

73

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
6 13-21 ♩ = 100,
112
Gm Lines
1-2
Uses the same pitches as Rehearsal 5
NOTES: G Ab A Bb C# D D# E F#
G
(Includes all pitches between octave
Gs except B, C, and F)
STEPS: ½-½-½-1 ½-½-½-½-1-½
7 22-28 ♩ = 112 Am
which
transitions
to Bm
Lines
3-4
NOTES: A B C D# E F# G# A
(Includes all pitches between octave
As except A#, C#, D, F, G)
STEPS: 1-½-1 ½-½-1-1-½
Uses either Lydian scale with flat 3
or a Ukrainian Dorian scale with a
flat 7.
8 29-34 ♩ = 132 Bm which
transitions
back to
Am
Line
4
Harp and Violins play following
scale:
B C D Eb F# G A B which could be
considered part of an A-based
Ukrainian Dorian scale with an
added D. All pitches of the choir fit
that scale as well (A B C (+ D) D# E
F# G A).
9 35-47 ♩ = 140 Am None “Wandering” motive appears in
horns and strings.
NOTES: A B C D (Eb) E F# G G#
(Ab) A
All chromatic pitches between
octave A’s with the except of A#,
C# and F.
10 48-54 ♩ = 140 Am Line
5
Mixed chorus re-enters. Wandering
motive continues. Paulus includes a
literal “dropping” of pitch in mixed

74

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
chorus on “stone” in m. 51 from C
to B.
NOTES: A B C D (Eb) E F# G A
11 55-64 ♩ = 140 Am Line
6
Scalar movement in both mixed
chorus and strings along A melodic
minor scale. Occasional use of C#
and G# in low strings add brief
senses of major tonality.
NOTES: A B C (C#) D E F# G (G#)
A
12 65-71 ♩ = 140 Am Lines
6-7
NOTES: A B C D# E F# G#
STEPS: 1-½-1 ½-½-1-1
13 72-77 ♩ = 140 Am Lines
8-9
Uses a nearly complete chromatic
scale, missing only C#.
NOTES: A Bb B C D Eb E F F# G
G#
STEPS: ½-½-½-1-½-½-½-½-1
14 78-86 ♩ = 140 Am Lines
10-12
First four bars use notes of
heptatonic scale (diatonic scale with
flat third, fifth, and seventh) with an
added E. Brief use of G# as passing
tone in low strings in m. 80.
NOTES: A B C D Eb E F# G A
STEPS: 1-½-1-½-½-1-½-1
In the last five bars, the block chords
in mixed chorus shift between Am,
Gm, and Gb.
15 87-98 ♩ = 140 Am Lines
13-15
Block chords in the mixed chorus
again shift between Am, D, Bm, and
G#m.

75

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
NOTES: A B C D D# E F# G G# A
All chromatic pitches between
octave A’s with the except of A#
and C#.
16 99-112 ♩ = 140 Transition Lines
16-17
Significant chromatic usage,
especially in mixed chorus.
NOTES: All chromatic pitches
between octave A’s are used.
17 113-123 ♩ = 140 Ebm Lines
18-20
Tonality has shifted by tritone from
Am to Ebm. Very little movement in
strings and brass with long,
sustained notes. Mixed chorus is
marked with intensity. Pitches form
Eb Dorian.
NOTES: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db
STEPS: 1-½-1-1-1-½
18 124-129 ♩ = 140 Ebm Line
21
Paulus colors the word “difficult” in
soloists with dissonant half-step
intervals. Limited use of
instruments, especially while
soloists are singing.
NOTES: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb
Pitches continue to form Eb Dorian.
19 130-138 ♩ = 140 Ebm Lines
22-24
Continues use of Eb Dorian.
Increased rhythmic movement in
woodwinds in m. 137 to set up
following phrase.
NOTES: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb
20 139-150 ♩ = 140 Ebm Lines
25-26
Continues use of Eb Dorian.
Trumpets return with fast movement
through their eighth and sixteenth
notes. The trumpets enter in a 5/8
measure with syncopated eighth

76

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
notes. Women’s voices from mixed
chorus enter with an atypical 7/8
measure before men’s voices sing
“Teshuvah.” Trumpets continue over
sustained strings and voices.
NOTES: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb
21 151-158 ♩ = 140 Ebm Lines
25-26
Continues use of Eb Dorian. Phrases
similar to Rehearsal 20 (mm. 143-
150) with increased dynamics and
moderate development of the
material.
NOTES: Eb F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb
22 159-165 ♩ = 140 Eb Line
27
Trumpets drop out. Harp repeats
same arpeggiated pattern in constant
sixteenth note rhythm. Mixed chorus
becomes more intense with
repetition of Line 27, increased
dynamics, and gradual increasing
intervals to reach higher tessitura.
Strings, percussion and brass (no
trumpet) are used as punctuating
quarter notes on the beats that the
mixed chorus is not singing.
NOTES: Eb F G Ab Bb C Db Eb
STEPS: 1-1-½-1-1-½-1
With the shift from Gb to G, pitches
now form Adonai Malach
(Mixolydian) scale.
23 166-169 ♩ = 140 Eb Line
28
Harp maintains its continuous
sixteenth notes through the end of
this section. Woodwinds use
ascending scales before long trills on
Ab. Strings turn to sustained
tremolos. Mixed chorus sustains
final syllable for four measures in
upper range (including high Bb in

77

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
Soprano 1) to add to the intensity.
Leads directly into following
section, “First Blessing.”
NOTES: Eb F G Ab Bb C Db Eb
Paulus ends this section with more
use of the Adonai Malach scale.

Section 2 “Teshuvah” moves directly into Section 3 “First Blessing” with no use of a double bar
line, fermata, or other structural device to indicate the end of a section. The final scales in the
harp line lead directly into Rehearsal 24, the assumed beginning of “First Blessing.” Instruments
are marked with a diminuendo through the last measure to shift from fortissimo to mezzo-forte in
the new section.
Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4

5
6
7
8
9

10
11
12
13
14
15
Mixed Chorus
Create a great emptiness in me.
Send a wind.
Lay bare the branches.
Strip me of usual song.

Drop me like a stone,
send me down unknown paths,
send me into pathlessness;
drop me like a stone
so that I go where a stone goes.

Send me down unknown paths,
send me into pathlessness,
into the lost places,
down into echoes
to where I hear
voices, but no words:

18
19
20

21
22
23
24

25
26
27
28

Teshuvah,
Teshuvah,
Teshuvah.
Translation:
[Returning]

Soprano soloist, Tenor soloist
Give me difficult dreams
where my skills will not serve me;
make bitter
the wines I have stored.

Mixed Chorus
Begin the returning.
Teshuvah,
Teshuvah,
Teshuvah.

78

16
17
a place of weeping
below any of earth’s waters.

Continuing with the use of Jewish traditions to influence and organize the work, Paulus
incorporates the concept of Teshuvah, known as the Ten Days of Penitence. These ten days occur
between two major Jewish holidays, Rosh Ha’Shanah and Yom Kippur, and are intended as a
“time for reflection, introspection, and repentance, during which people apologize to one another
for any wrongs they may have committed during the previous year.”
5
The sentiment of Teshuvah
aligns well with a Holocaust remembrance musical work.
The opening line of the singers, line 1, is presented in increasing increments of words and
dynamics with each new phrase. The first phrase uses only “Create in me,” leaping at first in an
interval of a perfect fifth, then falling a half step to mark a tri-tone interval with the first note.
The second phrase, now longer, expands to “Create in me a great,” but again ends on a tri-tone
interval from the first pitch of the phrase. In the third phrase, Paulus enlarges the phrase to
“Create in me a great emptiness,” finally splitting the singers with tenors and sopranos in
octaves, ending on a tri-tone from the first pitch, and with the altos and basses in octaves, ending
a half step up from the first pitch. Finally, the fourth phrase in the singers (mm. 13-16) uses the
entire text of Line 1.
Ever the opera composer, Paulus utilizes a fast glissando on the harp in m. 21 to depict the wind
from the singers’ line 2 (“Send a wind”). He also writes falling voices from m. 27 to m. 28 on

5
“Teshuvah,” Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary, ed. Helene Henderson, 5th ed.
Omnigraphics, Inc., 2015.

79

line 3 (“Strip me of usual song”), perhaps reflecting giving up. The use of literal settings of text
continue with the mixed chorus’ line 5, “drop me like a stone,” in mm. 49-51 followed by quick
movement on the first two eighth notes in m. 53 in many of the instruments plus a drop of a
major sixth in the upper strings. Paulus decorates the instrumental response to “send me down”
with a chromatic descending scalar pattern in the flutes on m. 57. As shown in Example 4.3, the
melodic lines in the mixed chorus in mm. 66-68 reflect the “pathlessness” of the singers’ text, as
their short melodies repeat within the phrase.
Example 4.3. Lack of direction in choral melodies to depict “pathlessness” in Part I: Renewal,
Section 2 “Teshuvah,” mm. 66-68.

The first instance of a “wandering” motive appears in the horns and upper strings beginning in
m. 35 and is shown in Example 4.4. This motive reappears in altered forms throughout the work
in Section 9 “Old Man, Young Man,” Section 13 “Three Coats,” and Section 19 “B’Tselem
Elohim.” The triadic movement between the instruments, mostly minor chords in either root or
first inversion, features constantly moving eighth notes, typically shifting in whole step intervals
up and down with no apparent cadences.

80

Example 4.4. First appearance of "wandering" motive in Part I: Renewal, Section 2 "Teshuvah"
section, mm. 35-52.

81

Section 3: “First Blessing”
Performing Forces
Children's chorus (SSA), flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba,
timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’53”
“First Blessing” is the first presentation of a blessing section by the children’s chorus. The
singers are primarily accompanied by the strings with occasional punctuation by woodwinds or
horns. The section maintains a major tonality throughout and features material that is repeated in
verse-like format, first presented by the strings, then sung by the children’s choir, and then
slightly modified as the material is repeated again. The Adonai Malach scale is used in the
chimes, here set in Bb against the pedal C’s used in the children’s chorus and other instruments.
Table 4.3. Formal components of Section 3: "First Blessing"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
24 172-180 ♩ = 140 C Line
1
Children’s chorus maintains pedal C
throughout. Instruments begin in
octave Cs before shifting from Bb to
Ab. Chimes are used in a very bold
manner, like bells pealing out from a
church bell tower, and feature the
Adonai Malach scale (Bb C D Eb F G
Ab).

82

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
25 181-190 ♩ = 140 D Line
1
Children’s chorus continues on pedal
C as the instruments shift now to Gb.
Children’s chorus then slides on a
glissando down a third to the A and the
instruments shift to D.
26 191-203 ♩ = 66
(half = ♩)
D None Children’s chorus fades out while
chimes and woodwinds add significant
movement with eighths and sixteenth
notes. Strings sustain on long, tied
notes.
27 204-212 ♩ = 66 D None Violin 1 introduces melody to be sung
in following rehearsal by children’s
chorus which begins like simple
nursery song. Other strings move
homo-rhythmically with Violin 1.
Double bass drops outs.
28 213-225 ♩ = 66 D Lines
1-5
Children’s chorus re-enters, now
singing in unison the melody started
by Violin 1. All strings (still no double
bass) repeat the material from
Rehearsal 27. As the children’s chorus
completes the remainder of the
melody, the strings all become
harmony to their line. Harp also
accompanies children’s chorus and
strings, with end of phrasing
punctuation by bassoon and horns.
Final cadence shifts to F#.
29 226-235 ♩ = 66 D None Children’s chorus drops out briefly
while instruments play material similar
to Rehearsal 28 but now with flute and
oboe added.

83

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
30 236-247 ♩ = 66 D Lines
6-10
Children’s chorus re-enters, singing
material similar to Rehearsal 28. At
“blossom”, the melody shifts higher
and then the voices split from unison
into three-part harmony. Only strings
accompany children with just two
measures of harp and glockenspiel as
they shift to harmony. Cadence ends
on F#, much like Rehearsal 28.

84

“First Blessing” ends with only a double bar line after the final cadence to F#. There is no
fermata or caesura marked so that movement continues attacca into the following section,
“Kingdom of Night.”
Text Choice and Setting

1

2
3
4

5

6

7
8
9

10
Children's Chorus
Adonai! Adonai, Adonai, Adonai, Adonai!

Who gives us our hearts,
and as they open,
so You fill them.

Hope. We thank You for our hope.

Adonai, Adonai,

Who gives us our dreams,
and as they blossom,
so we praise You.

Dreams. We thank You for our dreams.

Blessings are placed on either side of the Sh’ma in a traditional Jewish service so the use of
blessings in this work are expected. This section’s blessing is one of four included in the work.
The other blessings are all found in Part II, in Sections 7, 10, and 14. Structurally, Paulus
deliberately uses the children’s chorus in all four blessings, which provides both continuity and
presents the most innocent voices for the blessings. Browne created a section in the Production
Guide to share with any children that are performing this work so that they understand each of

85

the blessings.
6
Here, the children open with several cries to “Adonai,” or Lord, in bright C before
singing a gentle melody that resembles a child’s lullaby or nursery rhyme.

6
Ibid., Andrew Paulus, 4.

86

Section 4: “Kingdom of Night”
Performing Forces
SSAATTBB mixed chorus, children's chorus, cantor, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns,
trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 4’37”
“Kingdom of Night” is one of the few sections Paulus wrote with a clear repetition of material
from an earlier grouping of phrases within the section. After the presentation of material through
Rehearsal 44, when the cantor enters, reciting the Mourners’ Kaddish, the instruments and mixed
chorus repeat the material used in Rehearsals 41 through 44. Parts of the string lines, such as the
last three measures of Rehearsal 36, are later adapted in Section 17 “Interlude: Veil of Tears.”
Paulus also incorporates the “military” motive with its repeated eighth notes starting at Rehearsal
41. The opening pitches used for the mixed chorus in Section 2 “Teshuvah” also make an
appearance around Rehearsal 39.
Table 4.4. Formal components of Section 4: "Kingdom of Night"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
31 1-8 ♩ = ca.
116
F#m None Sixteenth notes in strings move away
from F# and quickly return. Bassoon
echoes quick motive from low strings.
Trombone 3 and tuba move away
from C# and also quickly return.

87

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
32 9-17 ♩ = ca.
116
F#m None Opening motive in low strings and
bassoon are used again. Sweeping
scales in violins appear multiple
times. Harp begins unrelenting
arpeggiated pattern in sixteenth notes
starting in m. 15 and continues
through 27.
33 18-27 ♩ = ca.
116
F#m None Crowd noise from mixed chorus,
marked “restless at first…then going
angry and violent” as the dynamics in
the instruments grow toward
fortissimo. Section with the most
number of sixteenth notes used in
most instruments. The sweeping
ascending scales in violins in
Rehearsal 32 are used again and added
to flutes.
34 28-33 ♩ = ca.
116
Em in
mixed
chorus
1st half
of Line
1
Long, sustained notes in mixed chorus
as it sings two syllables across five
measures. While mixed chorus
maintains Em chord (second
inversion), woodwinds, trumpet, and
upper strings play a distinctive pattern
in octaves (F#-B-Bb), creating a
tritone against the E in the chorus.
35 34-39 ♩ = ca.
116
Em Line 1 Leaping pattern from Rehearsal 34 in
strings is used again. Mixed chorus
continues with long, sustained notes.
36 40-51 ♩ = ca.
116
Gm Line 1 Repetition of Line 1 now includes
descending glissando in mixed chorus
before returning to first notes.
Soprano 1 add clashing F# to Em
chord. Violins and upper woodwinds
repeat their leaping gesture from
Rehearsal 32. M. 49-51 in low strings
are similar in character to opening of
Section 17 “Interlude: Veil of Tears.”
NOTES: G A Bb C D E F# G

88

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
Melodic minor scale
37 52-60 ♩ = 120 Em Line 1 Orchestration becomes more limited,
with strings playing sighing gestures
with more simplified rhythms of
quarter notes and half notes. Bassoon
and Trombones 1 and 2 accompany
tenors and basses of mixed chorus.
38 61-70 ♩ = 120 Em Lines
1-3
Bassoon and trombones continue to be
only instruments accompanying tenors
and basses of mixed chorus.
39 71-78 ♩ = 120 A Line 4 The falling gesture turns into a tritone
which was used at the start of Section
2 “Teshuvah” appears in the violins in
m. 71. These will be used later in
Section 17 as well. When mixed
chorus re-enters, strings become
sustained.
40 79-89 ♩ = 120 A Lines
4-6
Repeat of choral notes used for Line 4
in mm. 73-75 before the music
expands for Lines 5 and 6. Strings
play long, sustained notes. Upper
woodwinds add color when voices
sustain long notes.
41 90-97 ♩ = 120 Am Line 7 Bass line in mixed chorus drops out.
Horns and upper strings play the
“military” rhythmic motive for four
measures before the horns drop out
and the strings continue motive
through m. 103. Low strings and
Trombone 3 / Tuba add Ab against the
repeated A’s. The “military” aspect
appears just before the mixed chorus
sings “On the day you called to us”, as
if the sound of approaching Nazis
should have spurred us into action to
protect our neighbors.

89

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
42 98-105 ♩ = 120 Am Lines
8-9
Bass line in mixed chorus remains
unused. Low strings and trombone 3 /
tuba continue their plodding quarter
notes with Ab against the repeated
A’s.
43 106-111 ♩ = 120 Am Lines
10-11
Bass line in mixed chorus returns. In
mm. 107-108, the lower three mixed
chorus lines fall a fifth, leap a fifth
and then fall a half step, to add tritone
sounds to their lines. The soprano line
simply leaps down and up a tritone.
44 112-120 ♩ = 120 Cm Lines
12-14
First use of a cadence to Cm in this
section. Instruments sustain long notes
underneath mixed chorus before
trombones and other brass turn to
staccato eighth notes and low strings
alternate between C-G.
45 121-129 ♩ = 120 Am Line 7 As the mixed chorus repeats its text
and the instruments continue, cantor
recites Mourners’ Kaddish beginning
in m. 122 and continuing through m.
151. Upper strings pick up the
“military” motive. Same material in
voices and instruments as Rehearsal
41.
46 130-136 ♩ = 120 Am Lines
8-9
Cantor continues Mourners’ Kaddish.
Voices and instruments perform same
material as Rehearsal 42.
47 137-142 ♩ = 120 Am Lines
10-11
Cantor continues Mourners’ Kaddish.
Voices and instruments perform same
material as Rehearsal 43.
48 143-151 ♩ = 120 Cm Lines
12-14
Cantor continues Mourners’ Kaddish.
Voices and instruments perform same
material as Rehearsal 44.
49 152-161 ♩ = 120 Cm Lines
16-19
New material in mixed chorus with
small gestures in instruments based on
previous material (such as woodwinds

90

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
in mm. 155-156 based on m. 150).
Arpeggios in low strings and bassoon
no longer leap up from C to G to C
and back down but now from C to G
and higher to D). At the end of
Rehearsal 49, the vocal lines shift the
ear up to high F# (tritone against C).
50 162-172 ♩ = 120 Cm Lines
20-23
Children’s chorus takes on the F# of
the mixed chorus tenors and sopranos,
crying out for “Adonai” while the
mixed chorus repeats “calling” over
and over, shifting back and forth
between Gm (with major seventh) to
Gdim7. Sopranos and tenors sing their
highest pitches in the entire work
(sop: B5, ten: A4) on “night” over
descending chromatic scales in the
low strings, bassoons, and low brass.
51 173-182 ♩ = 120 Cm Line
24
Rising scales (C natural minor) repeat
in flutes, oboes and clarinets. All
instruments and voices crescendo to
fortissimo on sustained notes, adding
a feeling of a wall of sound. Ends on
C / G, significant due to the following
section starting directly on Db.

“Kingdom of Night” ends with an accented quarter note, followed by a double bar with a
fermata. The build-up of sound through all the musicians involved in this section coupled with its
abrupt conclusion can be likened to desperate pleas for help that vanish into a vacuum and are
suddenly gone.

91

Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5
6

7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14

Mixed Chorus
Holy God,
Who found no strength in us
to be Your power.
How should we think ourselves
Your hands, Your feet?
How should we be Your heart?

On the day You called to us,
in the kingdom of night
where You kept calling,
how did we heal one another
in Your name?
How did we think we might
be recognized as You
in all we failed to do?

15

16
17
18
19

20

21
22
23

24
Cantor
[recites mourners’ Kaddish]

Mixed Chorus
In the kingdom of night
where, again and again,
out of the mouths of children,
You kept calling, calling.

Children’s Chorus, Mixed
Chorus
Adonai, Adonai, Adonai.

Calling and calling and calling
and calling
in the kingdom of night.

Adonai!

Beginning with Line 20, the children’s chorus reflects the children of the Holocaust crying out
for their God in time of need.
In Jewish tradition, one of the main prayers recited every day and at special services is the
Kaddish. Essentially, it is a doxology to praise God and calls for “the speedy establishment of
God’s Kingdom on Earth.”
7
Of the four types of Kaddish, this section uses a Mourners’ Kaddish
which is based on the full Kaddish but deletes the third paragraph. The cantor recites the Kaddish
here as the music continues.

7
“Kaddish,” The New Encyclopedia of Judaism, 2018.

92

Section 5: “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha”
Performing Forces
Cantor, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’58”
"V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha" is a through-composed section that begins after the final
fermata of "Kingdom of Night." The melodic and rhythmic material played in the strings in this
section will be used later by both the strings and mixed chorus in Section 18 “Hymn to the
Eternal Flame.”
Table 4.5. Formal components of Section 5: "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
52 183-193 ♩ = 63,
72
Db None Chimes are used to play main
melodic line, connecting a Christian
aspect (calling parishioners to
worship) to this work.
53 194-203 ♩ = 72 Db Line
1
First presentation of work’s choral
theme (here sung in Hebrew by
cantor). The strings play material
from the second half of Rehearsal 52
and then a slightly modified version
of those five measures again.
54 204-208 ♩ = 72 Db None Chimes is used for a few melodic
intervals before the harp becomes the
sole instrument in use.

93

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
55 209-218 ♩ = 84 Transition
to F#
None Harp continues as sole instrument for
a few measures before Violin 1 solo
is then joined by rest of the upper
strings to transition into the
following section. Upper strings
present the material that the soloists
will start with in Section 6.

The section ends with an attacca indicating a launch into Part II as well as presentation of the
soloist singers’ material in the upper strings that will be used at the opening of Section 6 “Two
Little Girls in the Street.”
Text Choice and Setting

1
Cantor
V'a havta le reacha kamocha.

Translation:
[You should love your neighbor as yourself.]

This section marks the first setting of this text and is presented here in Hebrew by the cantor. It
will be presented again in a similar manner at the end of the work in Section 21 as well as in a
combination of German and Hebrew in Section 12. The text is taken from Leviticus 19:18 and
was inspired by the use of both German and Hebrew translation inscribed on a surviving stone
from a Berlin temple destroyed during World War II.

94

Chapter 5: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part II “Remembrance”
Section 6: “Two Little Girls in the Street”
Performing Forces
SSATBB mixed chorus, soprano soloist, mezzo-soprano soloist, flutes, oboes, harp, and strings
Formal Characteristics
Length: 3’50”
Even though “Two Little Girls in the Street” is the beginning of Part II, it begins as an attacca
from the end of “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha.”
Table 5.1. Formal components of Section 6: "Two Little Girls in the Street"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
56 1-9 ♩ = 104 G/D Lines
1-2
Soprano soloist and mezzo-soprano
soloist sing motives similar to upper
strings’ material at the end of Section
5 “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha.”
Orchestration is limited to violins who
only play when the vocal lines are not
moving.
57 10-17 ♩ = 104 Dm Lines
3-5
Continued soprano soloist and mezzo-
soprano soloist with material nearly
identical to Rehearsal 56 before
shifting from D to Dm. Violin
movement becomes more active with
scalar passages along Dm.
58 18-27 ♩ = 104 Dm Lines
6-9
Harp adds in, violins exit. Harp only
plays in the rests between phrases
sung by the soprano soloist and mezzo
soloist (exception is mm. 24-25).

95

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
59 28-36 ♩ = 104 Gm Lines
10-13
All strings play long, sustained notes
for two measures before soprano
soloist and mezzo-soprano continue
their duet a cappella in this section.
Vocal lines move most often in
parallel thirds but sometimes
compress into smaller intervals such
as minor seconds.
60 37-44 ♩ = 104 Gm Lines
14-18
Strings continue to sustain long notes
beneath the soprano soloist and
mezzo-soprano soloist. Vocal lines
move most often in parallel thirds but
sometimes away from each other, like
two friends gaining confidence from
each other’s presence.
61 45-53 ♩ = 104 G Line
19
Soprano soloist and mezzo-soprano
soloist repeat Line 19 twice, first with
confidence at mezzo-forte and then
again softer at mezzo-piano as the
lower voice wanders in and out of the
pitch sung by the soprano. Strings
sustained beneath the voices. Harp has
dropped out and the flute adds in with
mostly scalar movement.
62 54-64 ♩ = 104 Transition Lines
20-24
Oboe and harp add in while flute
drops back out. Sustained notes in
strings continue. Soprano soloist and
mezzo-soprano soloist sing the end of
their duet before the soprano
continues as she sings Lines 23-24.
The only movement in the instruments
occurs when the vocal lines are not
moving.
63 65-68 ♩ = 104 Em Line
25
Soprano soloist continues alone with
limited instruments as she sings Line
25.

96

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
64 69-74 ♩ = 104 Em, ends
on F#m
Lines
26-27
Mixed chorus sings “rules” for Jews
with only low strings on sustained
notes for accompaniment. Vocal
harmony shifts back and forth
between Em, Fm, Em, and F#m.
65 75-84 ♩ = 104 Transition Lines
28-33
Soprano soloist sings while there is
limited movement in strings on whole
notes with quick sixteenths in harp
between vocal phrases. Oboe line
moves with soloist, feeling like a duet
in lieu of mezzo-soprano soloist. Pitch
collection contains many chromatic
notes.
66 85-94 ♩ = 104 Transition Lines
34-37
Soprano soloist continues with only
strings underneath. Strings continue
with limited movement while soloist
sings. Pitch collection again contains
many chromatic notes.
67 95-106 ♩ = 104 Em Lines
38-40
Mezzo-soprano soloist returns in duet
with soprano soloist, moving in
parallel thirds and fourths.
68 107-114 ♩ = 104 Em Lines
41-42
Repeated notes in strings follow
quarter-half note pattern marked with
tenutos. Harp adds sixteenth note
patterns between vocal phrases.
69 115-121 ♩ = 104 Em None Long, sustained high notes sound in
violins while harp plays two lines that
move and sound similar to the vocal
duet lines. Harp and violins end with a
fermata before the double bar line.

This section ends with a fermata and double bar line, a relatively common way in this work that
Paulus ends one section before starting the following section.

97

Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5

6

7
8
9

10
11
12
13

14
15
16
17
18

19

20
21
22
23
24
25

Soprano, Mezzo-soprano soloists
two little girls
we are just
two little girls
in the street
sisters?

what do you think?

maybe so
maybe not
maybe so

we’re a little bit curious
about the camera
we’re not so unhappy
about the camera

(who is it
we wonder
who is
looking at us
just the two of us?)

here we are!

do you like the skirt?
what do you think of the coat?
pretty red coat!
it’s Tuesday
so I get the coat for the day
Leah is wearing the skirt

26
27

28
29

30
31

32
33
34
35
36
37

38
39
40
41

42
Mixed Chorus
Jews may not be citizens.
Jews may not meet in public places.

Soprano, Mezzo-soprano
why bread
in both my hands?

why does Leah have
nothing at all?

she has one hand
on the back of my neck
she’s holding onto me
the other hand’s empty
just in case
just in case

hands are for holding onto
for filling up
and never for hurting us
hands are for giving us things

what do you think of our shoes???

This section utilizes the soprano and mezzo-soprano soloists to portray two young girls shown in
the photograph from Figure 5.1 below. Through limited use of capitalization or punctuation
within the text as it appears in the libretto, Browne portrays the innocence that accompanies
childhood. Lines 1 through 22 feature both soloists singing in harmony and moving homo-

98

rhythmically. The soprano soloist performs lines 23 through 25 by herself before an interjection
by the mixed chorus of rules that Jews were forced to observe during the Holocaust. This style of
interjection or commentary by the mixed chorus occurs again in sections Section 9 (“Old Man,
Young Man”), Section 13 (“Three Coats”), and Section 16 (“Boy Reading”). The soprano soloist
takes over again, performing lines 28 through 37. The mezzo-soprano soloist rejoins her “friend”
to sing lines 38 through 42 in a manner similar to the opening of the section, moving homo-
rhythmically and in harmony with the soprano soloist.

99

Figure 5.1. “Two friends shyly approach the photographer, Lodz.” ca. 1935-1938 in Lodz,
Poland. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography.
8

Paulus wrote the mixed chorus section from mm. 69 to 74 in a regimented manner. Text
declamation feels natural, with “citizens” placed on two eighth notes followed by a dotted half
note, and yet the text feels very bound together by some kind of rule or law, as all voices in the
mixed chorus move together. Harmonically, there is inherent instability in the sound with Em
plus an 11
th
in the soprano line before shifting to Fm, now with an 11
th
in the low treble voices.

8
International Center of Photography, “71527:RV_1_001_01 | Roman Vishniac Archive,” ca. 1935-1938.

100

There is use of tone clustering within each of the chords, including chords with G, A, and B
(mm. 69, 71, and 73), or Ab, B, and C (m. 70), or F ♯, G ♯, and A (mm. 72 and 74).
When the two soloists begin the section, they are accompanied only by the violins. The
accompaniment shifts to the harp in m. 19 before all of the strings play long, sustained notes,
beginning in m. 28. Upper woodwinds join in m. 45 but are used sparingly. When the mixed
chorus enters in m. 69, the accompaniment reduces to low strings in unison, reinforcing the tonic
of each of the mixed chorus’ chords. As the soloists return, the accompaniment style of the first
part of the section returns as well. The section ends with the harp emulating the simple eighth-
note rhythm of the soloists with the violins playing soft, sustained harmonics which add a
melancholic character.

101

Section 7: “Second Blessing”
Performing Forces
Children's chorus (SSA), flutes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trombones, tuba, timpani,
percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’23”
"Second Blessing” starts with a very clear beginning, after the double bar line which ends the
previous section. Similar to “First Blessing,” the children’s chorus is used to sing a blessing. In
contrast to “First Blessing,” the children sing in three-part harmony from the opening of the
section. The children’s chorus also returns to a unison cry of Adonai before splitting back into
harmony with increased use of minor. Paulus writes oddly paired broken arpeggios in the violins,
based on what appears to be Gm in Violin 1 and Ebm in Violin 2, starting in Rehearsal 72, but
after an analysis, these parts are comprised of pitches using the Ahavah Rabbah scale. Broken
arpeggios based on this prayer mode will appear later in Section 9 “Old Man, Young Man” as
well.
Table 5.2. Formal components of Section 7: "Second Blessing"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
70 1-7 ♩ = 116 D Line
1
Opens with a sprightly, upbeat feel
through staccato eighth notes in
woodwinds, brass, and low strings.
Children’s chorus sings in three-part
harmony.

102

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
71 8-14 ♩ = 116 Transition
s to G
Line
1
Continues similar to Rehearsal 70.
Ends with fermata and caesura.
72 15-20 ♩ =
132-
126
Eb None Broken arpeggios in both Violins,
seemingly with G in Violin 1 and
Ebm in Violin 2. Intervals between
the two parts are often major thirds
but the exact nature of the tonal
center feels murky – is it major or is
it minor? Arpeggios like this part are
used elsewhere, including Section 9,
“Old Man, Young, Man.” Notes
within violins and harp are from the
Ahavah Rabbah scale starting on D
(D Eb F#/Gb G A Bb C D) which
adds complexity to the color palette
given by the tonality. Rocking
intervals within the violins add a
drowsy or dreamlike feeling to the
music. Harp and flute add color and
speed with their bursts of sixteenth
notes. Pedal Bb is used in cello and
viola.
73 21-28 ♩ =
132-
126
Eb Line
2
Children’s chorus is used again, now
on a long, sustained setting of one
word, “Adonai” sung in unison. The
broken arpeggios in the violins
continue. Cello and viola continue
pedal Bb.
74 29-35 ♩ =
132-
126
Eb Lines
3-4
Crotales add in. Children’s chorus
begins to split from unison.
Arpeggios in violins continue as
does the harp motive used in
Rehearsal 72.

103

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
75 36-41 ♩ =
132-
126
Transition None String movement transitions from
violins’ arpeggios to alternating half
steps in Violin 2 (Bb/A) and Viola
(G/F#). As opposed to the typical
major third intervals between the
violins, the intervals between the
Violin 2 and viola are minor thirds.
Clarinets twice play an ascending
Ahavah Rabbah scale (Phrygian
dominant) in m. 38 and 40 alluded
to by the Harp in mm. 17 and 20 –
using a D scale with a flat 2 and flat
6. Paulus adds a passing tone of C ♮
for additional chromaticism. Low
strings add the sense of the tritone
intervals (G-C#) as they move from
low F-G and up to D-C#.
76 42-49 ♩ =
132-
126
G Lines
5-6
Children’s chorus present last two
lines over long, sustained low notes
in strings. A short timpani and string
pattern of two eighths and a quarter
follow each line.

At its conclusion at m. 49, this section transitions directly into “Where Was the Light?” in a
manner difficult to discern the conclusion of one section and the start of the next. The final
tremolo crescendos directly into “Where Was the Light?” with no appreciable break in sound or
energy. Without looking at the score, it would be impossible to decipher the shift from this
section into the following section.

104

Text Choice and Setting

1

2
3
4
5

6
Children's Chorus
Barukh attah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam.
Translation:
[Praised are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe.]

Adonai, Adonai,
Who gives us apples,
Who gives us bread
we give to one another.

Sunlight. We thank You for sunlight.

As the second of four blessings in the work, this section again uses the children's chorus to
present first a standard Jewish prayer (line 1) used to bless food before its consumption and then
a similar prayer-like poem in English (lines 2-6).

105

Section 8: “Where Was the Light?”
Performing Forces
SSAATTBB mixed chorus, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones,
tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’09”
“Where Was the Light?” begins directly out of the end of “Second Blessing.” The score makes
no indication of the exact starting measure for this section so for the purposes of this analysis, the
beginning of Rehearsal 77, m. 49, was chosen as the starting point. This section is one of the few
in the entire work that includes usage of the trumpets, although they are only used in six
measures here.
Table 5.3. Formal components of Section 8: "Where Was the Light?"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
77 49-54 ♩ = 132-
126
G Line
1
Bassoon and Cello both play the same
motive that will be used again in the
flute line in the following section, “Old
Man, Young Man,” in mm. 135 and
146. Mixed chorus women’s voices
enter and repeat the first word of Line
1.
78 55-64 ♩ = 132-
126
G Lines
1-2
Grace notes added to most notes in the
horns and trombones / tuba. Vocal
lines continue with women’s voices
from mixed chorus. Alto 1 line adds an
interval of a second to final chords in
each phrase.

106

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
79 66-79 ♩ = 132-
126
G Line
3
Upper woodwinds and trumpets drop
out. Bassoon, horns, low brass and
strings play low, mostly sustained
notes. Similar to Rehearsal 78, Alto 1
adds in the second to many of the
choral chords.
80 75-79 ♩ = 132-
126
C Line
4
Repeated four-note sixteenth note
patterns in upper woodwinds while all
other instruments and voices use long
sustained notes. Trumpets are added in.
81 80-91 ♩ = 132-
126
Am Line
5
Ends with a four-measure postlude in
strings only. Time signature shifts
from 4/4 to 3/2 coupled with long
duration notes which imply a shift to a
slower tempo.

“Where Was the Light?” ends with a short string postlude that features a clear double bar line
combined with an attacca to lead into Section 9 “Old Man, Young Man.”
Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4

5
Mixed Chorus
Where was the light we should have been?
Moons we are, ghosts we were;
no way for anyone to know
that great sun shone.

And everywhere such wounds.

Consider the irony that the preceding ends with thanksgiving for light and then here turns to the
adults reflecting on how they should have been the light during the Holocaust (Line 1).

107

Section 9: “Old Man, Young Man”
Performing Forces
TTBB chorus, tenor soloist, baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 4’17”
"Old Man, Young Man" is a through-composed section that begins attacca from the final
tremolo of "Where Was the Light." All tenors and basses are used in this section, alternating
from one voice part to the next. The “wandering” motive appears multiple times in the violins,
with additional pastoral motives applied to the woodwinds. Paulus shifts the tonal center
constantly, often using the vocal line (primarily the baritone soloist) to make chromatic
movement from one tonal area to the next.
Table 5.4. Formal components of Section 9: "Old Man, Young Man"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
82 92-103 ♩ = 120-
116
G(7) Lines
1-2
Opens with “wandering” motive in
both violins. Baritone soloist line is
quite speech-like. Flute and oboe
lines add pastoral feel.
83 104-112 ♩ = 120-
116
Transition Lines
3-5
Sustained clustered notes (F#/G and
C/D) in violins while baritone
soloist sings.
84 113-118 ♩ = 120-
116
Dm Lines
6-7
Baritone soloist continues.
Reflection on youth (“so young”)
leads to baritone’s highest and
strongest notes.

108

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
85 119-130 ♩ = 120-
116
Transition Lines
8-13
Long, sustained notes in violins.
Baritone soloist line first sings
arpeggios of F#m before shifting
down half-step to F while strings
sustain Bb7 beneath.
86 131-135 ♩ = 120-
116
G Line
14
Tenor soloist enters for one line of
text. Sustained notes in upper
strings. Ends with flute version of a
meandering pastoral motive from
the previous section, “Where Was
the Light?” in m. 50 played by both
the bassoon and cello. See Example
5.1 and Example 5.2 below for a
comparison.
87 136-145 ♩ = 120-
116
D Lines
15-18
Baritone soloist returns. First
instance of sixteenth notes in
violins in pastoral motive similar to
earlier woodwinds.
88 146-155 ♩ = 120-
116
Transition Lines
19-21
Begins with meandering pastoral
motive in flute previously used in
m. 135 and in other instruments in
previous section. Baritone re-enters
and strings turn back to sustained
notes in descending step-wise
movement. Last four measures are a
cappella and transitions key center
to A for next phrase.
89 156-166 ♩ = 120-
116
A Lines
23-25
Wandering motive returns in upper
strings for five measures. Tenor
soloist enters after motive ends and
strings return to sustained notes.
Vocal line ends in G.
90 167-175 ♩ = 120-
116
Chords
alternate
between
Db and G
Lines
26-27
Tenor and baritone from mixed
chorus sing “rules” for Jews in a
manner similar to the “rules” of
Section 6 “Two Little Girls in the
Street.” Alternation in vocal lines
between tritone intervals Db and G.

109

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
91 176-185 ♩ = 120-
116
F#m Lines
28-29
Baritone soloist returns. Wandering
motive returns in violins as vocal
line sings “I want this dream to go
on and on.” Flute plays descending
scale as if reminiscing pastoral
phrases earlier in the section.
92 186-192 ♩ = 120-
116
F#m None Wandering motive continues in
violins.
93 193-203 ♩ = 120-
116
G Lines
30-34
As baritone soloist reflects on his
“good enough” quality of life,
strings’ rhythm slows to dotted half
notes. Eighth note alternation in
half steps across all lines occurs as
the reflection considers “nothing so
bad”.
94 204-210 ♩ = 108 Ebm Lines
35-37
Tempo slows down and harp adds
in. Arpeggios in violins pair
seemingly conflicting harmonies –
G/D in Violin 1 against Ebm in
Violin 2. Long sustained notes in
lower strings. Harp plays snippets
of both violin lines. Notes within
violins and harp are from the
Ahavah Rabbah scale starting on D
(D Eb F#/Gb G A Bb C D) which
adds complexity to the color palette
given by the tonality. Rocking
intervals within the violins add a
drowsy or dreamlike feeling to the
music. Flute struggles to maintain
sense of pastoral motive as its lines
become more chromatic. See
Example 5.3 below.

110

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
95 211-218 ♩ = 108 Am Lines
38-40
Conflicting harmonies within each
violin line shift to A/E in Violin 1
against Gbm in Violin 2 which
yield tension-filled intervals
between the parts (minor and major
sevenths, augmented seconds).
Continued sustained notes in lower
strings with similar harp and flute
lines from previous phrase.
96 219-229 ♩ = 108 Ebm Lines
41-42
Arpeggios in violins shift back to
original conflicting harmonies –
G/D in Violin 1 against Ebm in
Violin 2. Long sustained notes
continue in lower strings. Harp
continues to play snippets of both
violin lines. Flute line has shifted to
longer duration notes – quarter and
half note durations.
97 230-233 ♩ = 108 Gm(7) Line
43
Tenor soloist with light sustained
violins underneath before ending a
cappella. Vocal part outlines
arpeggiated Gm7 chord, ending on
seventh.

Example 5.1. Pastoral motive in bassoon and cello from Part II: Remembrance, Section 8
'Where Was the Light?" mm. 50-52.

111

Example 5.2. Reappearance of pastoral motive in Part II: Remembrance, Section 9 "Old Man,
Young Man," m. 135.

112

Example 5.3. Use of Ahavah Rabbah scale (here: D Eb F# G A Bb C D) in Part II:
Remembrance, Section 9 "Old Man, Young Man," mm. 203-206.

113

Text Choice and Setting

1
2

3
4
5

6
7

8
9
10

11
12
13

14

15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22

23
24
25

Baritone, Tenor
you can keep standing there
if you want

I’m going to stay
sitting here with my back
against this tree

and smiling to see you
just being so young

maybe it’s something
you’re saying to me
(I don’t remember)

maybe it’s because
I am father
to your mother

Zayde, tell me that story again

maybe that’s not really
a smile on my face
maybe I’m half-asleep
and I’m having a dream
where I’m leaning against a tree
and Rachel’s boy is standing
slender in sunlight
talking with me

When you were a boy
and you fell in the river
and nobody heard you–tell me
again!

26
27

28
29

30
31
32

33
34

35
36
37
38
39
40

41
42

43
Mixed Chorus
Jews may not attend school.
Jews may not marry outside their race.

Baritone, Tenor
I want this dream
to go on and on

and things are still good
or good enough
in this world of summer

nothing so bad
has happened to us

not under these trees
where you stand
your back to the camera
young child of a man
young child of my child
talking with me

as if you were made of sunlight
as if you were made of leaves

And suddenly, Zayde, you knew how to
swim!

The words and music were inspired by the Roman Vishniac photo shown in Figure 5.2 shown
below. Paulus uses the lower, baritone soloist to portray the grandfather, or Zayde, in this

114

section. The younger grandson role is sung by the upper, tenor soloist which seems to convey a
child-like innocence to his words.
Figure 5.2. An orthodox father visits his son, [TOZ (Society for Safeguarding the Health of the
Jewish Population) summer camp, probably Otwock. ca. 1935-1937. © Mara Vishniac Kohn,
courtesy International Center of Photography.
9

Browne follows the child’s request – Line 25, insisting that his grandfather tell his story again –
with the reminder of the laws from the Nazi regime used to diminish the lives of Jews (Lines 26
and 27, “Jews may not attend school, Jews may not marry outside their race.”) The harsh
reminder is presented by the tenors and basses of the mixed chorus in a manner similar to
Section 6, “Two Little Girls in the Street.”
A reappearance of the “wandering” motive occurs at Rehearsal 89 but this instance is only five
measures long and utilizes only the upper string instruments. Paulus then uses a longer version,

9
International Center of Photography, “71544:RV_1_005_03 | Roman Vishniac Archive,” ca. 1935-1937.

115

seventeen measures now, of the motive starting at Rehearsal 91. In this second instance, the
motive is mainly in the second violin line, with the first violin simply alternating between E and
A in the same rhythm. After ten measures at m. 186, the first violin line adopts the melodic
character of the motive again.
The chord structure of the tenors and basses from the mixed chorus shifts from Dbm (second
inversion) to G, back to Dbm (second inversion) – Bb– Cb before repeating the progression and
ending on G. This harmony is in contrast from the use of the mixed chorus in Section 6, “Two
Little Girls in the Street,” where the chords remained minor.
The upper woodwinds add a pastoral characteristic to the conversation between grandfather and
grandson, with short meandering phrases in the flute or oboes, including mm. 111-112 after
grandfather says he is sitting with his back “against this tree”, and in mm. 146-147, after the
grandfather expresses that he is “having a dream.” The baritone soloist, with an inherently lower
tessitura lending a sense of maturity, portrays the grandfather and the tenor soloist, with his
higher tessitura and implied youthfulness, portrays his grandson.

116

Section 10: “Third Blessing”
Performing Forces
Children's chorus, soprano soloist, flutes, oboes, bassoons, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion,
and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’15”
"Third Blessing" is a through-composed section that begins after a fermata ending of “Old Man,
Young Man” with a two-bar tremolo in the violins and glockenspiel. Tempo is taken from the
previous section.
Table 5.5. Formal components of Section 10: "Third Blessing"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
98 233-241 ♩ = 108 F Line
1
Children’s chorus enters singing half of
Line 1. Chimes announce the children’s
entrance on a broken arpeggiated F7
chord. Tension is added to the sound
through the inclusion of Gb in bassoon,
Trombones 1 and 2, and viola. Only
violins on tremolo F’s play while
children perform moving notes.
99 242-253 ♩ = 108 F Lines
1-2
Similar rhythmic line to first phrase in
lower woodwinds, brass, and lower
strings. Children sing last half of Line 1
and then sing entire Line 1 again in
similar fashion. Soprano soloist is added
above on Line 2 in English. Vocal lines
end on Bb second inversion chord. Only
violins on tremolo F’s play while vocal
lines perform moving notes.

117

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
100 254-262 ♩ = 184
(Half =
92)
Eb Lines
3-4
Staccato quarter notes which start and
stop in clarinet and bassoon add a
regimented quality, perhaps portraying a
military band in the distance while the
innocent children praise God.
101 263-273 ♩ = 184
(Half =
92)
Eb Lines
5-6
The militaristic staccato notes from the
previous phrase are gone as the
children’s chorus sing the last two lines
of text. Upper strings sustain through
most of the phrase while upper
woodwinds add color above at the end.

A fermata and a caesura mark the end of the entire section.
Text Choice and Setting

1

2

3
4
5

6
Children’s Chorus, Soprano
Barukh attah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam.
Translation:
[Praised are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the
Universe.]
Praised are You, Adonai, Ruler of the Universe.

Who gives us our mouths,
Who gives us air
and every breath we breathe.

Our songs. We thank You for our songs.

The children’s chorus opens with the Hebrew text (line 1) that starts traditional Jewish blessings.
Three more words are typically added at the end to specify what is being blessed. This type of
blessing is used most often to bless items giving sustenance, such as food. In this section, the
type of blessing specified is written in English (lines 3 through 6).

118

There is simultaneous presentation of the children's chorus line in Hebrew (line 1) with the
soprano soloist singing the English translation of the same line. When the children are singing,
there is very little accompaniment besides tremolo or sustained upper strings.

119

Section 11: “This We Ask of You”
Performing Forces
SATB mixed chorus, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba,
timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’00”
"This We Ask of You" is a through-composed section that begins after the final fermata and
caesura of "Third Blessing." Measure numbers in “This We Ask of You” start again from
number 1, which could be considered an indication of a significant “break” in of music. This
section utilizes a fast tempo and feels very insistent in orchestration through repeating eighth
notes on the same pitch in bassoons, trombones, and upper strings. It also is one of the few
sections that includes the use of trumpets. The harp is not used.

Table 5.6. Formal components of Section 11: "This We Ask of You"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
102 1-11 ♩ =
152-
144
Dm Line
1
Mixed chorus sings in octaves on scale
passage. Repeated use of D’s in bassoon,
Trombones 1-2, and upper strings
reinforce tonal center while other
instruments explore chromatic pitches
with force through accented staccatos.

120

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
103 12-19 ♩ =
152-
144
Dm Lines
1-2
Vocal parts become more separated with
short canonic entrance in m. 14 and shift
from the scalar movement to the
chromatic movement from instruments at
the opening of the section. Chromaticism
adds tension to the sung text. After mixed
chorus sings “brought us into being,”
Paulus uses accented eighth notes in
instruments to depict a fiery creation of
the world.
NOTES: D Eb E F Gb G G#/Ab A Bb B
C Db D
Pitch collection contains full chromatic
scale.
104 20-27 ♩ =
152-
144
Dm Lines
3-4
Brass, percussion and upper strings drop
out. Continued use of the scalar passages
in the instrumental lines. Mixed chorus
rhythm slows down and uses smaller
intervals.
NOTES: D Eb E F F# G G# A Bb B C
Pitch collection contains full chromatic
scale with the exception of C#.
105 28-37 ♩ =
152-
144
Dm Lines
5-6
All instruments involved as they
crescendo. Instruments feature long,
building scale on Dm while mixed chorus
holds on two tetrachords in their upper
registers (C-F and D-G).
106 38-42 ♩ =
152-
144
A None Mixed chorus drops out. Instruments
sustain long A major chord with a
majestic sounding triplet motive in the
woodwinds.

121

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
107 43-52 ♩ =
152-
144
Db None Beginning on the first measure of this
phrase, the strings plays the same notes
(melodies and harmonies) they will play
in the following section for each verse.
As such, it will be considered as part of
the next section and not part of “This We
Ask of You.”
Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Mixed Chorus
This we ask of You –
You who brought us into being –
which tasks are ours? which labors?
which joys? which dances?
which instruments of Yours
do we become?
should we have been?
10

The voices start with homo-rhythmic movement in octaves, with a short, delayed start in the alto
and bass lines at the second entrance before returning to unison/octaves. With such a quick
tempo in this section, marked 152-144 to the quarter note, the lyrics take on an urgent and
pleading quality.

10
Although this line of poetry is listed at the libretto section of the study score, Paulus did not set it within the
music.

122

Section 12: “Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst”
Performing Forces
SSAATTBB mixed chorus, cantor, percussion (chimes), and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’49”
This section is written in the style of a German chorale and the underlying orchestration is
limited to strings. On the first time through, the verse is performed by strings only. The second
time through, the mixed chorus sings in German with the strings. The third time through, the
cantor adds in using the Hebrew version of the same text used by the mixed chorus. The fourth
verse features a modified version of the previous verses to allow the cantor to sing through the
material borrowed from Section 5 which is longer than the length for each of the first three
verses. Throughout this section, Paulus uses long, sustained notes in the instruments and voices
with movement limited to either half note or whole note values. The cantor is the only part to
have a variation in note durations with quarter notes and dotted half notes added as well.

123

Table 5.7. Formal components of Section 12: "Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
107 43-52 Half =
72
Db None Verse 1. While the woodwinds and
brass sustain A major chord from
previous phrase, the strings drop by a
tritone to Db to begin the prelude on
long, sustained notes as the other
instruments fade away. Instrumental
version of the verse emerges from
previous section. Strings play through
entire verse (harmony and melody)
which they will then repeat for each
verse to come.
108 53-62 Half =
72
Db Line
1
Verse 2. Mixed chorus presents the text
in German. Strings continue to play.
109 63-72 Half =
72
Db Lines
1-2
Verse 3. Mixed chorus and instruments
repeat the same notes and text while
cantor is added above using the melodic
material from Section 5, “V’a Havta Le
Reacha Kamocha,” in Hebrew.
110 73-81 Half =
72
Db Lines
1-2
Verse 4. Modified version of previous
verse to fit with the cantor material.
Sopranos from mixed chorus move in
parallel thirds below the cantor melody.
Due to the length of the cantor’s
melodic material lasting longer than the
standard ten-measure verse length here,
the mixed chorus repeats the last half of
the text from line 1. Instrumental lines
adjust to reflect the modified melodic
lines as well.
111 82-93 Half =
72
Db None Verse 5. Includes final three measures
of vocal lines. The chimes play a
version of the opening cantor melody
from Section 1, “Sh’ma Yisrael!”

124

As the mixed chorus and cantor end, Paulus includes a deliberate use of adapting the opening
vocal line in mm. 14-19 from Section 1, “Sh’ma Yisrael!” to the chimes in mm. 82-93. Although
the time signature has shifted from the original 3/4 to 4/4, the modified melody is still
recognizable as shown in Example 5.4 and Example 5.5 below. Section 12 then ends with a
fermata and clear double bar line.
Example 5.4. Cantor melody in Part I: Renewal, Section 1 "Sh'ma Yisrael!" mm. 14-19.

Example 5.5. Chimes melody in Part II: Remembrance, Section 12 "Du sollst deinen Nächsten
lieben wie dich selbst," mm. 82-93.

Text Choice and Setting

1

2
Mixed Chorus [in German]
Du sollst deinen Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst.

Cantor [in Hebrew]
V’a havta le reacha kamocha.

Translation of both lines:
[You should love your neighbor as yourself.]

125

After a “verse” by the strings, the mixed chorus performs the entire German phrase (Line 1). On
the mixed chorus' repeat of the German text, the cantor adds in two beats later with the Hebrew
version of the text (line 2) on top. Overlaying a Hebrew version of the mixed chorus’ German
text was originally inspired by a cornerstone at a Berlin synagogue that survived the bombing of
the city during World War II. Lines 1 and 2 were both carved on the cornerstone, connecting the
German to the Hebrew.

126

Section 13: “Three Coats”
Performing Forces
SSATTBB mixed chorus, mezzo-soprano soloist, tenor soloist, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons,
horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’06”
Paulus uses the Adonai Malach prayer mode in “Three Coats.” There is also the uncommon
usage of trumpets in this section which starts with a distinct usage of staccato quarter notes
which stop and return throughout the section. The mixed chorus is used to interject “rules” that
Jews faced during the Holocaust (Lines 27-28), written with many half step intervals to add an
oddity in the shift from one chord to another. The “wandering” motive is also used in “Three
Coats.”
Table 5.8. Formal components of Section 13: "Three Coats"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
112 94-98 ♩ = 152 Eb None Three-part staccato quarter notes in
trumpets.
113 99-108 ♩ = 152 Eb Lines
1-4
Repeat of three-part staccato quarter
notes, now played in oboes and
horns. Mezzo-soprano, marked
vigorously, sings her lines
comprised of both large skips and
short scalar passages.

127

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
114 109-115 ♩ = 152 Transition Lines
5-6
As mezzo-soprano soloist poses the
question, “Am I a girl or a boy?”,
she moves back and forth from A to
Bb. Instruments wander through
chromatic pitches, some organized
around F#m, some around Ebm.
Trill in clarinet vacillates between E
and F#.
115 116-122 ♩ = 152 F#m Line 7 Trilled clarinet line leads into
sustained notes in strings. Mezzo-
soprano sings a portamento on line 7
before the trombones restart the
staccato quarter note-type motive in
m. 121.
116 123-130 ♩ = 152 Transition Lines
8-11
Staccato quarter note motive shifts
to the bassoon. Tenor soloist begins
to sing. Tonal center is not clear.
117 131-137 ♩ = 152 Transition Lines
12-14
Tenor soloist continues and wanders
through non-diatonic notes (F Eb Db
in one phrase, D C B in the next).
Tonal center is not clear.
118 138-144 ♩ = 132 Am Lines
15-18
Only strings and tenor soloists are
used. Tenor soloist and instruments
express the soloist’s pain in m. 140
with forte-piano combination of Ab-
Eb in low strings and Em in the
upper strings and vocal line.
119 145-160 ♩ = 132 Am Lines
19-26
“Wandering” motive used in upper
strings. Mezzo-soprano soloist
outlines Fm7 chord at start of each
of her phrases. Double bass
alternates between A and D.

128

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
120 161-164 ♩ = 116 Am Lines
27-28
Mixed chorus sing about the Jewish
“rules” supported by long, sustained
notes in cello and double bass.
Vocal lines end on G#m with A in
bass line and instruments. Bass 2
line remains on low A for all but
two notes in m. 165 while the other
voices wander between Em-Ebm-
Em-A half dim-Am-G#m.
121 165-174 ♩ = 152 Ebm Lines
29-35
Restart of the staccato quarter notes
in the horns. Text alternates between
the tenor soloist and mezzo-soprano
soloist.
122 175-180 ♩ = 152 Ebm Lines
36-37
Strings play accented staccato notes,
ending on a tritone (A-Eb). The
tenor soloist ends the section a
cappella.

The brass and woodwind parts open with staccato motives similar to the clarinet and bassoon
lines located near the end of “Third Blessing” (mm. 254 to 262). The regimented, militaristic
character is still present with the motive first presented in the trumpets, then passed to the oboes
and bassoons, before being used in the trombones. It returns in similar usages throughout the
entire section. “Three Coats” then ends with a fermata and a double bar line.

129

Text Choice and Setting

1

2

3
4
5

6

7

8
9
10

11

12
13
14

15
16
17
18
Mezzo-soprano, Tenor
I’m wearing [three coats or
maybe it’s]
two jackets and a coat

I have curls hidden
under my knitted cap
am I a girl or a boy?

it doesn’t matter!

(a girl)

under the coats
there’s a shirt,
it’s buttoned up, too

(I’m a boy)

and I’m wearing
a scarf
between my shirt and vest

I just wish
it didn’t hurt
where my tooth came out
didn’t look so bad

19
20
21

22
23
24
25
26

27
28

29

30

31
32
33
34
35

36
37

and if only I wasn’t
so sleepy today
(bad dreams)

and if only
father didn’t look
so scared last night
when we heard
the knocking on the door

Mixed Chorus
Jews may not keep animals.
Jews may not ride bicycles.

Mezzo-soprano, Tenor
(it was just the wind)

so –

a shirt
a scarf
a jacket
a vest
a coat

I’m a boy!
I’m a bundled-up boy!

130

Figure 5.3 depicts another Roman Vishniac photo which influenced this section.
11
In the
photograph, a young boy, clutching papers and with a large scarf tied around his head and jaw
and his mouth agape, looks forlornly at the camera. The boy is clad in a coat and Browne’s lyrics
about a boy wishing “it didn’t hurt where my tooth came out” (Lines 16-17) are a strong match
for what the image portrays.

11
In the joint interview with both Paulus and Browne included in Appendix D, both speakers discuss the influence
they experienced from viewing the Roman Vishniac photographs which Browne first observed during his trip to the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

131

Figure 5.3. "Boy suffering from a toothache clutches a tattered school notebook, Slonim." Taken
in Slonim, Poland. ca. 1935-38. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of
Photography.
12

12
International Center of Photography, “64871:RV_2_037_04 | Roman Vishniac Archive,” ca. 1935-1938.

132

Section 14: “Fourth Blessing”
Performing Forces
Children's chorus, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba,
timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 1’55”
Section 13 “Three Coats” and Section 14 “Fourth Blessing” are separated by a fermata and
double bar line. “Fourth Blessing” is relatively unique in To Be Certain of the Dawn given its
unchanging use of Eb throughout the entire section. Even the use of a major tonality is a rare find
and Paulus unabashedly uses it to proclaim the final of the work’s four blessings with the
children’s chorus and bright-sounding brass.
Table 5.9. Formal components of Section 14: "Fourth Blessing"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
123 1-10 Half =
60
Eb Line
1
Children’s chorus sings descending
scalar passage and back to starting pitch
twice. Violins repeat the tonic every beat.
124 11-21 Half =
60
Eb Lines
2-3
Viola and cello add in. Upper part in
children’s chorus sings “Adonai”
repeatedly on high Eb while lower part
repeats opening phrase on English
translation. Chords in strings alternate
between Eb and Fm7 (with Bb in cello).

133

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
125 22-30 ♩ = 144 Eb None Children’s chorus drops out. Tempo
picks up as the horns play moving triads
(first inversion) that shift up and down
the Eb scale. Woodwinds add more
movement with descending sixteenth
note scales.
126 31-36 ♩ = 144 Eb Line
4
Children’s chorus returns in
straightforward presentation of Eb. Upper
strings assume the moving triads from
the horns in the previous phrase. All
other instruments are not used at the
beginning before the low strings and
most brass return when the children’s
chorus finishes its phrase.
127 37-47 ♩ = 144 Eb Lines
5-6
Similar to Rehearsal 126. Children’s
chorus continues singing accompanied by
upper strings playing moving triads.
Woodwinds complete the phrase with an
ascending sixteenth note scale.
128 48-54 ♩ = 144 Eb Line
7
Children’s chorus sings the first half of
Line 7 (“Every life”) twice on ascending
perfect fifth. Upper strings underneath
play scalar passages in quarter notes in
Eb.
129 49-64 ♩ = 144 Eb Line
7
Children’s chorus sings complete Line 7
and ascends to highest pitch used for
soprano line in the entire work (high Ab).
130 65-70 ♩ = 144 Eb Line
8
Children’s chorus sings in unison with
octave leap from low Eb to high Eb
before final accented notes at fortissimo.
Brass adds sforzando notes in final
measures. Percussion maintain rolled
notes

134

After a final sforzando in all instruments on the tonic, a short caesura ends the section. The
transition into the next section has an attacca character.
Text Choice and Setting

1

2
3

4
5
6

7
8
Children’s Chorus
Barukh attah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam.
Translation:
[Praised are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the
Universe.]
Praised are you, Adonai, our God,
Ruler of the Universe, Adonai.

We praise You for the lives before us,
we praise You for the lives to come,
whether we will see them or not.

Every life. We thank You for every life.
We praise You! We praise You!

The “Fourth Blessing” opens with the same text that starts section ten, “Third Blessing.” But the
melody of the children’s chorus is quite different. Here, the voices descend on an Eb scale down
to F before ascending back to Eb. As the lower voice sings a similar pattern for lines 2 and 3, the
upper voice sustains on a high Eb. The rest of the section features unison singing between the
two parts, with the exception of mm. 62 through 64 where the lower voice adds harmony to the
upper melody. The joyful “We praise You!” at the end of the section is fortissimo and accented,
emphasizing the children’s excitement.
Harmonically, this section remains in the tonal center of Eb. Cadences move to either the tonic or
dominant. The low strings reinforce the tonic or dominant throughout the entire section and the
opening measures use a repeated Eb in the upper strings as the only accompaniment.

135

This blessing section is the most involved, instrument-wise, of all four blessing sections, and
Paulus includes the trumpets in this section. Overall, the middle part of this section, with its
moving horn lines and punctuated beats in a 3/4 time signature feels very uplifting and joyous,
matching the jubilant marking at the children’s chorus entrance in m. 48.

136

Section 15: “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God”
Performing Forces
SATB mixed chorus, tenor soloist, baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, timpani, percussion, harp, and
strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’42”
“Breathe in Us, Spirit of God” begins after the caesura and double bar line ending of “Fourth
Blessing”. Starting with a rolled cymbal and sustained upper strings, Paulus adds a sense of pulse
through the use of quarter notes on the downbeats of the opening measures in the low strings.
The downbeat pulses continue through Rehearsal 134 after the women’s voices from the mixed
chorus sing “the heart;” as the singers then ask God to “breathe in us” the pulses stop and then
haltingly reappear in Rehearsal 135. Compositionally, Paulus uses a wide mix of scales and
modes throughout this section, starting with the Ukrainian Dorian scale (Dorian with a raised
fourth degree), before using the natural minor, versions of the Adonai Malach prayer mode, the
Magein Avot prayer mode, and ascending melodic minor. “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God” finally
ends with a fermata followed by a double bar line to mark the shift to Section 16 “Boy Reading.”

137

Table 5.10. Formal components of Section 15: "Breathe in Us, Spirit of God"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
131 71-76 ♩ = 108 Cm None Long, sustained notes in upper strings
that continue into Rehearsal 133 (m.
85). Low strings begin alternating
between G and Eb. Oboes split into
major sevenths apart before returning
to parallel thirds.
NOTES: C D Eb (E) F# G A Bb
(Ukrainian Dorian scale)
132 77-83 ♩ = 108 Cm Line
1
Women’s voices from mixed chorus
add in with unison scalar passage that
moves from C to Eb. Low strings
continue alternating between G and
Eb.
NOTES: C D Eb G Ab Bb (Natural
minor)
133 84-92 ♩ = 108 Eb Lines
2-3
Women’s voices from mixed chorus
continue in unison, now with several
larger intervals. Low strings alternate
octave G’s.
NOTES: Eb F G Ab Bb C Db Eb
(Adonai Malach scale)
134 93-102 ♩ = 108 C Lines
4-5
The pitches should be viewed as
within the Magein Avot prayer mode.
Although the pitches used in this
phrase could be considered part of an
Eb scale, Paulus reinforces the feeling
of a root on C by using sustained C’s
in the violins and starting each of the
vocal phrases on C.
NOTES: C D Eb F G Ab Bb C
(Magein Avot)
135 103-109 ♩ = 108 C Lines
5-6
Continued use of the Magein Avot
prayer mode similar to previous
phrase.

138

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
136 110-121 ♩ = 108 Cm Lines
5-8
While the mixed chorus invokes the
spirit of God through their contracting
and expanding intervals, the tenor
soloist and baritone soloist add
independent lines above. Orchestration
is limited to very sparse viola and
cello lines.
NOTES: C D Eb F G A B C (notes
from ascending melodic minor)
137 122-129 ♩ = 108 Cm Lines
6-8
Same pitch collection (ascending
melodic minor) and voices /
instruments as Rehearsal 136.
NOTES: C D Eb F G A B C
138 130-137 ♩ = 108 Cm Lines
5, 7
Same pitch collection (ascending
melodic minor) and voices /
instruments as Rehearsal 137. Viola
and cello begin to move in parallel
thirds. Tenor soloist and baritone
soloist move homo-rhythmically as
well, sometimes in parallel thirds like
the strings.
NOTES: C D Eb F G A B C
(Ascending melodic minor)
139 138-145 ♩ = 108 A Lines
7-8
Use of C# becomes prevalent. Mixed
chorus shift back and forth between G
and A7.
NOTES: A B (C) C# D (Eb) E F G A
Pitch collection is Adonai Malach
with a lowered sixth.

139

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
140 146-153 ♩ = 108 Transition Line
8
Tenor and baritone soloists drop out,
as well as soprano, alto, and tenor in
mixed chorus. Only timpani, harp,
bass, and strings remain with
instruments playing dotted half notes
in manner similar to mixed chorus in
Rehearsal 139.
141 154-161 ♩ = 108 G Line
8
Long, sustained notes in upper strings.
Baritone line in mixed chorus
becomes lower and softer before
sustaining final word.

Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Mixed Chorus, Tenor, Baritone
In the time of the breaking of glass,
the tearing of roots,
the splitting of every little temple
of hope, the heart,
breathe in us, Spirit of God,
so that we strengthen,
so we may grow and be known
by our love.

With text referring to Kristallnacht (such as line 1, “breaking of glass”), in this section Browne
seems to remind listeners that despite the horrible acts being inflicted on the Jews, their faith was
a source of strength to sustain them in their dark times. The text of this section also applies to
Christians: those who may not have been involved in stopping the atrocities of the Shoah can
also gain strength to learn from past mistakes and show love. Lines 1 through 4 are presented
first by the soprano and alto sections after a brief introduction by the instruments. The tenors
then sing the first part of Line 5 “breathe in us” before they are joined in unison by the sopranos

140

and altos. The sopranos leap up to the fifth before the basses join and the chordal structural of the
choir becomes more complex. All four voice parts from the mixed chorus move homo-
rhythmically through the remainder of the lines of text (mm. 100 through 145). Paulus lays the
tenor and baritone soloist lines on top of the choir in an antiphonal setting of lines 7 and 8. All
six vocal parts continue to repeat lines 5 through 8 (mixed chorus) or lines 7 and 8 (tenor and
baritone soloists). At m. 146 (or Rehearsal 140), all voices except the basses drop out. From m.
146 to the end of the section, the basses repeat the text of Line 8 a total of six times, with the
final statement with an implied ritardando through the augmented durations of the last three
words. Considering the following section (Section 16, “Boy Reading”) is an imagined story
about a grandfather and his grandson, sung by the baritone and tenor soloists, the end of this
section feels like it is setting up the grandfather’s part as an internal reflection of the grandfather
reminding himself how humanity shows love.
The choir primarily moves step-wise throughout the section with a few intervals leaping
distances up to a fifth. The two soloists follow suit, and by m. 131, the lines are even moving in
parallel thirds through the end of their lines. Each of the six times the basses sing Line 8 (“By
our love”) at the end of the section, the first two notes (D and G) are the same as the first three
phases sung by the baritone soloist (mm. 117, 124, and 130). Even the instruments (viola and
cello) used during the two soloists’ lines mimic their melodic lines. As shown in Example 5.6
below, the mixed chorus’ alternation between first inversions of dominant seven chords in F and
G with a collapsing gesture in the outer voices gives the impression of exhaling and inhaling as
the mixed chorus asks “Breathe in us.”

141

Example 5.6. Depiction of respiration in mixed chorus of Part II: Remembrance, Section 15
"Breathe in Us, Spirit of God," mm. 110-121.

The section remains in a 3/4 time signature and most movement by both singers and instruments
follows a dotted half-note duration or the occasional use of slurs connecting quarter-note and
half-note patterns.
There is a sparing use of instruments throughout this section. Oboe and flute add color to the
spaces between many of the phrases sung by the mixed chorus. Sustained upper strings with
lower strings punctuating the downbeats are used until the tenor and basses enter in m. 99. The
violins sustain again as a foundation of C beneath the mixed chorus as it shifts back and forth.
By the time the soloists enter in m. 114, the only instruments used are viola and cello which at
times mimic the writing style of the soloists (mm. 114-129) or follow in an interval of a third
starting three beats behind the voices moving in that manner (such as measures 132-133 and 137-
138). When only the basses remain, the timpani, harp, and low strings move in octaves with each
other until the end of the section. The violins and viola add color with chromatic movement.

142

Section 16: “Boy Reading”
Performing Forces
SSATBB mixed chorus, baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets,
trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’49”
After the fermata at the end of Section 15 “Breathe in Us, Spirit of God,” “Boy Reading” starts
with a double bar line and a clean shift in character from the previous section. The violins begin
with two quick trills, first B-C and then C-Db. Paulus uses a combination of traditional major
scales for tonality as well as settings of the Ahavah Rabbah prayer mode and the Ukrainian
Dorian mode. He also turns to the “military” motive, using it to build a “crowd” chanting “wear
this star” with ever-increasing dynamics and intensity. The final cry from the mixed chorus of
“Wounds!” in Am is punctuated by two quick, accented and staccato eighth notes in most of the
instruments after reaching a dynamic level of triple forte (FFF). The section is marked with a
double bar line marking to separate it from the following interlude.

143

Table 5.11. Formal components of Section 16: "Boy Reading"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
142 162-171 ♩ = 132 Cm Lines
1-4
Four-measure prelude in strings.
Baritone soloist then begins, with
staccato quarter and eighth notes from
bassoon and low strings when
baritone is not moving. With the
staccato notes in the instruments this
phrase feels very ordered.
NOTES: C (C#) D E F# G A Bb C
(Lydian with lowered seventh degree
or Ukrainian Dorian with raised third
degree)
143 172-181 ♩ = 132 Cm Lines
5-8
With ascending staccato eighth notes
in bassoon, the section begins to feel
less regimented and more pastoral.
NOTES: C D Eb F# G A Bb C
(Ukrainian Dorian)
144 182-190 ♩ = 132 Eb Lines
9-11
Baritone soloist line turns more legato
along with long, sustained notes in
strings add a sense of calm or
dreaminess.
NOTES: Eb F G (A) Ab Bb C D Eb
145 191-198 ♩ = 132 Eb Lines
12-15
Low strings drop out as baritone
continues melodic line. Upper strings
begin to move with the vocal line
briefly before sustaining again before
a fermata (rarely used in the middle of
sections).
NOTES: Eb F G Ab Bb C D Eb

144

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
146 199-207 ♩ = 132 Transition Lines
16-18
Baritone soloist sings line 16 a
cappella, almost under his breath to
achieve the parenthetical marking
from the text. Then the mixed chorus
sings the “rules” for Jews a cappella.
NOTES: F Gb G Ab Bb C Db Eb (E)
147 208-214 ♩ = 132 Cm Lines
19-21
Baritone soloist returns, mixed chorus
drops out. All instrumental notes
incorporate staccato and the bassoon
and upper strings feature a version of
the “military” motive with four quick
eighth C’s. Low strings play
ascending staccato scale (Ukrainian
Dorian, C D Eb F# G A Bb) and a
descending scale that appears to be
taken from the Ahavah Rabbah scale
based on F ((not used: F G) A Bb C
C# D# E E#).
148 215-224 ♩ = 132 Wanders
then ends
in Bb
Lines
22-26
Strings turn into long, sustained notes
beneath baritone soloist.
149 225-233 ♩ = 126 Dm Lines
27-28
In m. 228, bassoon plays short motive
in Ahavah Rabbah prayer mode (D Eb
F# G A Bb C). Instruments and
baritone soloist alternate between D
and Eb.
150 234-244 ♩ = 126 Dm Line
29
Start of repeated D’s in timpani and
low strings using the “military”
motive. Baritone soloist ends his solo.
Bassoon repeats material from m. 228
in Ahavah Rabbah prayer mode (D Eb
F# G A Bb C).

145

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
151 245-252 ♩ = 126 Dm Line
30
“Military” motive continues in
timpani and low strings with addition
of upper strings joining as well.
Women’s voices from mixed chorus
sing moving and descending minor
triads (C#m, Bm, Cm, Bm) similar to
horn motive at beginning of phrase.
152 253-262 ♩ = 126 Dm Lines
30-33
“Military” motive continues in
strings, brass, and timpani throughout
this part with mixed chorus tenor and
basses joining in the march in m. 253.
Soprano and alto sing chords in
various inversions of Am. Dynamics
build to fortissimo.
153 263-268 ♩ = 126 Am Line
30
Accented eighth notes in low
woodwinds, brass, and strings, all
moving in octaves before final word
sung by mixed chorus on “Wounds!”
with crescendo to double forte. All
low instruments play two quick
accented A’s or A-E to end the
section with a deceptive cadence to
Am.
NOTES: A Bb C E F Gb A (Phrygian
with a flat 7)

146

Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5

6
7
8

9
10

11

12
13

14
15
16

Baritone
I’m looking down
from far away
I’m high up on a branch
looking down
on the book

so many little characters
all of them keys
says Mama

keys to all the doors
I want to open

I want to open them all

I like the way
the characters are

sometimes I think I see
looks on their faces
(they’re looking at me)

17
18

19
20
21

22
23
24
25
26

27
28

29

30

31
32
33
Mixed Chorus
Jews may not imagine.
Jews may not dream.

Baritone
they’ll take me
into the stories
where I want to go

I had a dream
where I grew so heavy
I fell out of the tree
down, down
into the characters

and they covered me over
and no one could find me

they never found me

Mixed Chorus
And everywhere such wounds.

Wear this star.
Wear this star.
Wear this star.

Another Roman Vishniac photo inspired this section. In Figure 5.4 below is the photograph
Browne observed in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum which prompted the lyrics
for “Boy Reading.”
13

13
Similar to Figure 5.3, in the joint interview with both Paulus and Browne included in Appendix D, both speakers
discuss the influence they experienced from viewing the Roman Vishniac photographs which Browne first observed
during his trip the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

147

Figure 5.4. “In cheder (Jewish elementary school), Mukacevo” in Mukacevo, Czechoslovakia.
ca. 1935-1938. © Mara Vishniac Kohn, courtesy International Center of Photography.
14

The interjecting chorus occurs again in this section, similar to Section 6 (“Two Little Girls in the
Street”) and Section 9 (“Old Man, Young Man”). Like the previous sections, the mixed chorus
sings two short phrases of laws (lines 17 and 18) between the soloist’s lines. But new here, the
mixed chorus sings a cappella. After their two phrases, the strings and bassoon enter ominously,
in staccato eighth or quarter notes that add a military character. The baritone soloist’s attempt to
escape reality through his books is interrupted by ever-repeating quarter notes starting in m. 243
in the strings and timpani, reminiscent of the military approaching used in Section 4 “Kingdom
of Night,” Section 10 “Third Blessing,” and Section 13 “Three Coats.” The sopranos and altos of
the mixed chorus re-enter six measures later in a meandering minor triad. The tenors and basses
of the mixed chorus pick up the repeating quarter-note D’s from the strings as the voices begin to

14
International Center of Photography, “71531:RV_1_001_05 | Roman Vishniac Archive,” ca. 1935-1938.

148

chant “Wear this star” over and over for ten bars, increasing in dynamics to fortissimo.
Additional instruments, including the bassoon, horns, trombones and tuba join the repetition of
the single D, feeling like members of a crowd joining in a taunting of the Jews. The mixed
chorus’ final chord in m. 265, an Am chord sung on the word “Wounds!”, is irritated by a
fortissimo tremolo high Bb in the violins.
Paulus uses the “military” rhythmic motive with the straight quarter-note rhythm starting in the
timpani then strings, then tenor and basses in the mixed chorus and finally in brass and
woodwinds for "Wear this star." The repetition of rhythm and text reinforces the image of the
pressure Jews faced to follow Nazi rules such as displaying the Jewish star on their clothing.
Leading into the final measures where all voices in the mixed chorus sing "Wounds," the low
instruments (bassoons, trombones/tuba, and low strings) change to a punctuated, syncopated
rhythm to depict the harshness of the singers' words.

149

Section 17: “Interlude: Veil of Tears”
Performing Forces
Strings only.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 3’42”
This section begins after a double bar marking at the end of “Boy Reading.” The writing in this
movement features many accidentals, both to create enharmonic equivalents between upper and
lower string parts, as well as to allow for many small intervals of a half step or whole step
beyond one simple tonal area. There is repeated use of neighbor and passing tones, such as m.
321 in Violin 1 as the melody slides from E to C# to C to B before rising to Eb, to add color akin
to angst throughout this section.
Browne notes in the Production Guide that “Veil of Tears” was originally written as a way to
give ushers at the premiere performances sufficient time to walk through the aisles of the
Basilica to light the candles that each member of the audience had been given upon entering.
15

The section needed to be long enough so that all candles could be lit before the start of the
following section, “Hymn to the Eternal Flame.” Later performances have used children walking
with candles, either real or battery-powered, down the main aisle to the stage and placed on the
stage. Browne then cautions that if children are used to bring the candlelight to the front, they
should walk “reverently” to create an appropriate mood of solemnity.

15
Ibid., Andrew Paulus, 4.

150

There is continued use of tritone intervals, such as the low strings moving from Gb up to Db and
back down the half step to C which occurs several times between measures 312-315. There is
also an increased use of enharmonic equivalents.
Paulus shows very deliberate voicing by only writing for the strings in this section. He alternates
the strings included at different moments, beginning with only violins, then adding low strings as
accompaniment chords which move homo-rhythmically, before peeling away the low strings to
use only the violins again. The section ends with a brief accompaniment from the lower strings.
"Veil of Tears" is available for purchase as a stand-alone string work and has been programmed
by orchestras in the United States.
Table 5.12. Formal components of Section 17: "Interlude: Veil of Tears"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
154 269-277 ♩ = 96 Am None Violins start in unison for first six
measures then diverge.
NOTES: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A
B
The only chromatic note not used in
this pitch collection is Bb/A# which
actually is used on the downbeat of
the following m. 278.
155 278-284 ♩ = 96 Em None The violins wander farther apart
from each other, achieving intervals
that range from minor seconds to
major sevenths.
NOTES: C Db D Eb E F F# G Ab
Bb
Pitch collection is nearly chromatic,
only missing A and B.

151

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
156 285-293 ♩ = 96 Transition None Em for first half which transitions to
Bbm with added scale degree 4.
157 294-301 ♩ = 96 Transition None Again ends on Bbm now with B
added in Violin 2.
158 302-308 ♩ = 96 Ebm None Lower strings add in on long,
sustained notes as support for
violins.
159 309-315 ♩ = 96 Ebm None Violins repeat same falling motive
three times. Low strings begin to
move in octaves.
160 316-321 ♩ = 96 Ebm None Violins rise up a tritone by step
every half note while lower strings,
still moving in octaves, descend a
total of a seventh.
161 322-328 ♩ = 96 Cm None Violin 1 repeats motive from
previous phrase while movement in
low strings turns to long, sustained
notes.
162 329-337 ♩ = 96 Cm None Viola takes on the motives played in
Rehearsal 156. Phrase ends on G#m
with high Bbs in Violin 1.
163 338-349 ♩ = 96 Cm None Starts again in D#/Eb and uses Eb to
shift to Cm. The opening of this part
is a developed version of the
opening measures 269-272 before it
shifts not to Em but to Ebm.

Text Choice and Setting
None.

152

Section 18: “Hymn to the Eternal Flame”
Performing Forces
SSATBB mixed chorus, children's chorus, and soprano soloist.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’27”
The study score version of To Be Certain of the Dawn has incorrect and missing rehearsal
numbers in Section 18 “Hymn to the Eternal Flame.” The first number marked is labeled 160,
which duplicates a rehearsal marking in the previous section, “Interlude: Veil of Tears.” The
previous section also ends with number 163, so the start of this section is assumed to be number
164. Due to Section 19, “B’Tselem Elohim,” starting at Rehearsal 168, it can be inferred that
Rehearsal 164 through 167 should be marked in Section 18.
Table 5.13. Formal components of Section 18: "Hymn to the Eternal Flame"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
*Erroneously
marked as
160, should
be 164
350-360 ♩ = 80 C Lines 1-6 Text presented by mixed chorus
a cappella.
*165
(missing
from study
score)
361-371 ♩ = 80 C Lines 7-
12
Text presented by children’s
chorus with sustained “Ah” in
mixed chorus. Children sing
melody from Rehearsal 164.

153

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
*166
(missing
from study
score)
372-382 ♩ = 80 C Lines 13-
18
Text presented by children’s
chorus (notes from Rehearsal
165) and mixed chorus (notes
from Rehearsal 164). Soprano
soloist is overlaid with a descant
line on the same text.
*167
(missing
from study
score)
383-388 ♩ = 72 C Hum in
Children’s
chorus,
end of
“fire” in
mixed
chorus
Short postlude in the children’s
chorus and mixed chorus.
Children’s chorus sings on a
hum the first half of Rehearsal
164 with a resolution to C.

Section 18 uses a strophic setting of a three-verse poem with a short postlude section in the
chorus. The section ends with a slow, moving hum in the children’s choir and with a formal
double bar line to conclude the section. "Hymn to the Eternal Flame" has proved popular with
choral ensembles beyond this oratorio setting and is available for purchase as a stand-alone
octavo.
Text Choice and Setting

1
2
3
4
5
6

7
8
9
Mixed Chorus, Children’s Chorus,
Soprano
Every face is in you,
Every voice,
Every sorrow in you,
Every pity,
Every love, every memory,
Woven into fire.

Every breath is in you,
Every cry,
Every longing in you,

154

10
11
12

13
14
15
16
17
18
Every singing,
Every hope, every healing,
Woven into fire.

Every heart is in you,
Every tongue,
Every trembling in you,
Every blessing,
Every soul, every shining,
Woven into fire.

The text in this section is a three-verse poem with the first verse presented by the mixed chorus.
The children's chorus adds to the melody line in verse two, and the soprano soloist joins on verse
three.

155

Chapter 6: To Be Certain of the Dawn: Part III “Visions”
Section 19: “B’Tselem Elohim”
Performing Forces
SATB mixed chorus, children's chorus, soprano soloist, mezzo-soprano soloist, tenor soloist,
baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani,
percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 6’28”
Part III “Visions” begins after a double bar line conclusion to “Hymn to the Eternal Flame.” The
first section in Part III, Section 19 “B’Tselem Elohim,” opens with a nineteen-measure cello solo
marked ad libitum before adding the rest of the strings, harp and woodwinds. These instruments
include many leaps on perfect fifth intervals. As the mezzo-soprano soloist enters, the pitch
collection which Paulus used becomes clear as an Adonai Malach prayer mode in A. B’Tselem
Elohim translates to “Image of God.”
Table 6.1. Formal components of Section 19: "B'Tselem Elohim"

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
168 1-10 ♩ = 108 Em None Solo cello only. Large intervals used as
well as chromatic movement.
NOTES: E F F# G G#/Ab A Bb B C C#
D#
Pitch collection is completely chromatic
with the exception of a missing D.

156

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
169 11-19 ♩ = 108 Em None Solo cello continues by itself.
NOTES: B C D Eb G# A
170 20-27 ♩ = 108 A None Add harp, woodwinds, strings. Harp
plays its first two instances of a shifting
open fifth motive (E-B, G-D, A-E).
Strings play long, sustained notes. Flute
and oboe add embellishments to harp
line.
NOTES: A B D E F# G A (no use of C or
C#), appears to be a use of Adonai
Malach prayer mode which is also used
in the following phrases. Also feels like
either E or Em with pedal E in double
bass and E-B fifths in harp.
171 28-35 ♩ = 108 A Line
1
Mezzo-soprano soloist sings a simple
melody within a narrow range. Harp
plays its shifting open fifth motive again.
Strings continue long notes, shifting
every dotted half note. Flute and oboe
continue to add embellishments.
NOTES: A B C# D E F# G A (Adonai
Malach prayer mode)
172 36-45 ♩ = 108 A Line
1
Mezzo-soprano soloist continues,
repeating text from previous phrase but
now with a slightly larger range. Harp
plays its shifting open fifth motive again.
Oboe line begins a long descending scale
on eighth notes using the Adonai Malach
prayer mode scale from A.
NOTES: A B C# D E F# G A (Adonai
Malach prayer mode)

157

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
173
(first half)
46-49 ♩ = 108 Em Line
2
End of mezzo-soprano solo. Mezzo-
soprano also follows a descending
Adonai Malach prayer mode scale,
starting on D and moving down to low E
before returning to A.
NOTES: A B C# D E F# G A (Adonai
Malach prayer mode)
173
(second
half)
50-54 ♩ = 120 F#m? Line
3
Entry of children’s chorus. Harp
maintains constant eighth notes while
strings play longer duration notes beneath
the children’s chorus. Continuation of
Adonai Malach prayer mode in vocal
lines and instruments.
174 55-61 ♩ = 120 F#m Line
4
Continuation of material and mood from
Rehearsal 173. Children’s chorus adds in
D# and G# to pitch collection, which
flute and oboe pick up as they return at
the end of the phrase.
175 62-73 ♩ = 120 B Lines
7-8
Mezzo-soprano soloist returns as the
children’s chorus drops out. Lower
woodwinds and horns add in. Wandering
motive re-appears in the Violin 2 line.
Tight intervals of thirds closing to major
seconds appear in strings and
woodwinds.
176 74-81 ♩ = 120 B Lines
5-6
Children’s chorus return and sing in
unison as the harp resumes the
continuous eighth notes. Wandering
motive continues in Violin 2.

158

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
177 82-95 ♩ = 120 Em Lines
9-13
Mixed chorus enters with most
instruments. Sopranos and tenors sing
Lines 9-10 in octaves. Altos and basses
join the other sopranos and tenors in
octaves for Lines 11-13. By the time the
lower voices add in, the only instruments
remaining are the strings, timpani, and
bassoon which all move in long duration
notes.
178 96-99 ♩ = 120 Dm None Mixed chorus drops out. This material is
used to transition between mixed chorus
and soloists as well as shift to Dm.
179 100-109 ♩ = 120 Dm Lines
14-
17
Soprano soloist and baritone soloist move
homo-rhythmically but in tension-filled
intervals including sevenths and ninths.
Rhythmic movement in strings slows
down to dotted half notes. Harp returns,
mainly playing running eighth notes.
180 110-118 ♩ = 126 Am Lines
18-
20
Children’s chorus returns, now in two-
part harmony. Soprano soloist and
baritone soloist drop out as does the harp.
Upper strings turn to tremolos.
181 119-125 ♩ = 126 Am Line
21
Children’s chorus continues in two-part
harmony, moving mostly in parallel
fourths and thirds. Flute, oboe, and
clarinet return. On “Give them up,”
strings join in the same rhythm as the
children’s chorus and follow the same
accents to punctuate the line.
182 126-138 ♩ = 126 G Lines
22-
24
Women’s voices from the mixed chorus
join with the children’s chorus, mostly in
unison. Bassoon and low strings
repeatedly play a short rhythmic motive
of two eighth notes and a quarter note, all
staccato, on the downbeat of each
measure. Horns and upper strings sustain
longer notes above.

159

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
183 139-147 ♩ = 126 G Lines
25-
29
Soprano and baritone soloist sing as the
children and women’s voices of the
mixed chorus drop out. Paulus uses the
instruments in syncopated fashion to
highlight “roots of the trees.”
184 148-159 ♩ = 126 G Lines
30-
33
All four voices of the mixed chorus
return in quarter notes and half note-
quarter note patterns. Instruments
beneath play sustained dotted half notes.
Tom Tom is used to add rhythmic
element with triplets nearly every
measure.
185 160-171 ♩ = 126 Am None “Announcement”-type motive with horns
and violins every two to three measures
186 172-178 ♩ =
120-
126
Am None “Wandering” motive appears in violins.
Ends with two measures with vibraphone.
187 179-190 ♩ =
120-
126
Am Lines
34-
36
For the first time in the section, Paulus
uses all four soloists at the same time,
placing the women’s voices in unison
with harmony in the men’s voices. The
four parts split into four-part harmony for
Lines 35-36.
188 191-196 ♩ =
120-
126
Am None “Wandering” motive appears again in
violins. Only other instruments used are
upper woodwinds and harp.
189 197-204 ♩ =
120-
126
Am Lines
37-
39
“Wandering” motive continues in violins.
Soprano soloist and mezzo-soprano
soloist return and sing in harmony.
Woodwinds drop out.

160

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
190 205-213 ♩ =
120-
126
G Lines
40-
41
Uses tenor soloist and baritone soloist
who alternate singing the text, first tenor
then baritone finishes. Long, sustained
notes in all instruments used (horns,
trumpet, trombone, strings). More
chromaticism appears in all instruments
and voice parts.
191 214-222 ♩ =
120-
126
G Lines
42-
44
Again, all four vocal soloists are used at
the same time. Soprano, tenor, and
baritone soloists’ syllables mostly align,
with the alto delayed one to two beats for
interest. Instruments play long, sustained
notes underneath.
192 223-227 ♩ =
120-
126
G Line
45
Vocal soloists continue singing homo-
rhythmically. Instruments continue with
long duration notes.

The end of “B’Tselem Elohim” leads directly into the following section, “Voices of Survivors.”
Like many previous sections, without looking at a score it would be impossible to know the
music had transitioned into the next section.

161

Text Choice and Setting

1
2

3
4
5
6

7
8

9
10
11
12
13

14
15
16
17

18
19
20
21
22
23
24

25
26
27
28

Mezzo-soprano soloist
I would like to be walking with you
in the cool of the evening.

Children’s Chorus
I will pour out My spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.

Mezzo-soprano soloist
Walking with you in the streets of that city
we have imagined and dreamed.

Source of All Life
Mixed Chorus
Source of All Life,
beyond all names we have for You,
how should we do
all that must be done
unless we see through Your eyes?

Soprano soloist, Baritone soloist
Not evening.
Maybe in the heat of noon.
Or midnight with its winds.
Not a time of our choosing.

Children’s Chorus
Do not fear, I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up,’
and to the south, ‘Do not withhold;
bring My sons from far away
and My daughters from the ends of the earth.”

Soprano soloist, Baritone soloist
Maybe a rain,
running down the leaves, [study score eliminates “the”]
running over the stones, [study score eliminates “the”]
down the roots of the trees

162

29

30
31
32
33

34
35
36
37
38
39

40
41

42
43
44
45
We are walking there.

Mixed Chorus
Source of All Life,
these eyes and faces [study score uses “these waves and mountains”]
are You among us
as we labor to repair this world.

Soprano soloist, Mezzo-soprano soloist,
Tenor soloist, Baritone soloist
Maybe stars,
those faithful ones
that do not step down.
We will walk by their light,
and ask for forgiveness
for smallness of dreams.

I would like to be walking with you
in the cool of the evening,

I would like to be walking
in the streets of that city
we have dreamed and imagined;
there we are walking.

163

Section 20: “Voices of Survivors”
Performing Forces
Soprano soloist, mezzo-soprano soloist, tenor soloist, baritone soloist, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets,
bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’45”
Overall, Section 20 “Voices of Survivors” is one of the sections with the most rhythmic
variation, including constant triplets and duplets in the harp, eighth note patterns in the trumpet,
placed against the more common usage of quarter note and longer durations in the vocal lines.
Table 6.2. Formal components of Section 20: "Voices of Survivors"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying
Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
193 228-233 ♩ = 152 Transition None Every one or two beats the
chord shifts from Em to
Ebm, or in the case of the
harp, D#m to Em. Even
within the woodwinds on a
given beat, both chords are
sometimes present, adding
tension.
194 234-241 ♩ = 140 Em with
Eb pedal
Line 1
Survivor 1
Survivor text sung by
soprano soloist with
underlaid “Ah” in mixed
chorus. Em in mixed chorus
with pedal Eb in bass vocal
line and cello.

164

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying
Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
195 242-250 ♩ = 140 Em with
Eb pedal
Line 2
Survivor 1
Survivor text sung by
soprano soloist with
underlaid “Ah” in mixed
chorus. Em in mixed chorus
with pedal Eb in bass vocal
line and cello.
196 251-261 ♩ = 140 Em with
Eb pedal
Lines 3-4
Survivor 2
Survivor text sung by tenor
soloist with underlaid “Ah”
in mixed chorus. Em in
mixed chorus with pedal Eb
in bass vocal line and cello.
Same tempo as previous
Survivor.
197 262-265 ♩ = 140 Transition None Short four measure
instrumental phrase with
meandering harp continuing
and upper strings shift to
half note-quarter note
rhythm. Juxtaposed
harmonies of D#m in harp
and Em/Ebm in strings.
198 266-277 ♩ = 126 Ab Lines 5-6
Survivor 3
Vocal line shifts to baritone
soloist. Rhythm in strings
(no double bass) becomes
quarter-half-quarter using
similar harmony from
previous phrase.
199 278-289 ♩ = 126,
108 with
small
ritardandos
Transitions
to A
None Flute and clarinet motives
in m. 271 are repeated in
measures 278 and 279.
Includes a short
instrumental interlude
between Survivor 3 and
Survivor 4 text played in
the strings (no double bass).

165

Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying
Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
200 290-299 ♩ = 96 n/a Lines 7-8
Survivor 4
Mezzo-soprano soloist’s
line starts with tritone (E-
Bb) then wanders
chromatically and in
unpredictable intervals
before settling on Ab.
Chimes double mezzo-
soprano line as she
otherwise sings a cappella.

“Voices of Survivors” ends with a fermata at the end of the mezzo-soprano’s final line
transitioning into the following section. For analysis purposes here, the four-measure interlude
that begins in the strings at Rehearsal 201 is considered part of “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha”
and not “Voices of Survivors.”
Text Choice and Setting

1
2

3
4

5
6

7
8
Soprano soloist
‘I see the people, the places –they live in my
memory –the faces of the people who meant so much to me.’
[Felicia Karo Weingarten, survivor]

Tenor soloist
‘Why did I survive? The Rabbi said: “God kept you on
Earth to write the story.” ’
[Henry Oertelt, survivor]

Baritone soloist
‘I dream of a sculpture of a bird – I try to touch it. I
Wake up touching the bird. I think it is a miracle.’
[Robert O. Fisch, survivor]

Mezzo-soprano soloist
‘I have lived in a world with no children… I would
never live in a world of no children again.’
[Hinda Kibort, survivor (zl; of blessed memory)]

166

All four Holocaust survivors used for the text in this section have connections to Minnesota.
Short histories of each are included in the 2017 booklet released by the Jewish Community
Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas called “Witnesses to the Holocaust: Stories of
Minnesota Holocaust Survivors and Liberators, 25
th
Anniversary

Edition.” These four survivors
were previously interviewed by other entities to document their experiences, including by the
University of Wisconsin, River Falls, and prior interviews with the Jewish Community Relations
Council in the 1980’s.
The soprano soloist portrays the words of Holocaust survivor Felicia Karo Weingarten who was
born in Lodz, Poland in 1926. Ms. Weingarten lost her entire family to the events of the
Holocaust. She was brought to multiple concentration camps, including Auschwitz, Birkenau,
and Breslau, before being liberated by the British on April 15, 1945. She moved to New York in
1948 where she married another Holocaust survivor, Leon. The couple moved to St. Paul,
Minnesota in 1950 and raised two children. Her memories of life during the Holocaust were
captured on film during a June 1982 interview at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls.
16
For
Ms. Weingarten, those who survived the camps were people who formed connections with
others. She focused on taking care of her mother and sharing small joys such as smuggled food
gifted from other prisoners. Years after her experience in the concentration camps, she stated, “I
talk about this so people will understand and remember…We are all capable of good and evil
and I hope most of us choose to be good, not to be cruel to people because they are different.”
17

16
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Oral History Interview with Felicia Weingarten,” 1982.
17
Pat Nemo, “Holocaust Survivor Reminds People to Remember,” 2005. Many of Ms. Weingarten’s remembrances
of her Holocaust experience are captured in an article by Pat Meno at the University of St. Thomas, a college in St.
Paul, Minnesota.

167

Her survival story is also shared in a book she published in 2005, Ave Maria in Auschwitz: The
True Story of a Jewish Girl from Poland.
The tenor soloist is used for the words of Henry A. Oertelt, born in Berlin in 1921. Mr. Oertelt
died in 2012. Similar to Ms. Weingarten, Mr. Oertelt was brought to multiple concentration
camps, including Theresienstadt and Auschwitz, and marched to Birkenau and Flossenbürg. He
and other survivors were liberated in April 1945. Mr. Oertelt arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota
around 1949 and wrote a book about his experience during the Holocaust called An Unbroken
Chain: My Journey through the Nazi Holocaust. A short film about his life, Becoming Henry,
was released in 2012 and was previously available for viewing on the film’s website until
November 2018 but now is only found on Vimeo.
18
The film was partially sponsored by the Los
Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.
19
In Minnesota, Mr. Oertelt joined the Jewish Community
Relations Council’s Holocaust Education Commission for opportunities to share his story with
his community. He was also interviewed in June 1982 at the University of Wisconsin, River
Falls.
20

Robert O. Fisch, MD, is portrayed by the baritone soloist. Dr. Fisch is a retired University of
Minnesota professor of pediatrics who was born in 1925 and grew up in Hungary. As a child, he
attended both synagogue and Sunday Mass due to influence from the Catholic nurse who lived

18
The film’s website was located at https://becominghenry.com which has since November 2018 become
unavailable. A direct link to the film is also available on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/62638448.
19
“Henry Oertelt | 6Mfor6M,” 6Mfor6M, 2018.
20
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Oral History Interview with Henry Oertelt,” 1982.

168

with his family.
21
Dr. Fisch’s story was captured in a February 1986 interview (audio only) for a
Holocaust oral history project sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the
Anti-Defamation League of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
22

The final survivor portrayed in this section is Hinda Kibort (1921-2003) who grew up in
Lithuania. She was taken to the Struthof concentration camp which was eventually liberated by
the Russian army. Similar to the first two survivors in this section, her story was captured in a
June 1982 interview at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls.
23
Her words of never wanting to
live in a world without children inspired use of the public domain photograph of children from
Terezin during the premiere performances and the concentration camp she was held at was used
for one of the performances during the 2009 European concert tour of musicians from the state of
Minnesota. As one of the ensembles’ directors said, “…from the first blast of the shofar to the
beautiful sweetness of Cantabile (children’s chorus) to the power of the music and the singing of
‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. You will never sing more defiant words in your life than in
this place [Struthof concentration camp].”
24

21
Phil Bolsta, “The Hungarian Holocaust – Robert O. Fisch,” Jewish Magazine, February 2008.
22
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Oral History Interview with Robert Fisch,” 1986.
23
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “Oral History Interview with Hinda Kibort,” 1982.
24
See transcription in Appendix E.

169

Section 21: “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha”
Performing Forces
SSATBB mixed chorus, children's chorus, cantor, flutes, oboes, Bb clarinets, bassoons, shofar,
horns, trumpets, timpani, percussion, harp, and strings.
Formal Characteristics
Length: 2’51”
The text and melody of “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha” occur twice in To Be Certain of the
Dawn, first as Section 5 and now as Section 21. This version starts after a fermata and caesura
conclude “Voices of Survivors” but with no double bar line to separate the sections. After a brief
transition phrase by the strings, now both the mixed chorus and children’s chorus sing a
harmonized version of the music originally found in Section 5 Rehearsal 53 when the cantor
starts the melody. Here, the children’s chorus and mixed chorus sopranos sing the same notes
taken from the Violin 1 line of Section 5 set to the rhythm of the melody. The mixed chorus altos
sing the same notes found in the Violin 2 line in Section 5. The tenors from the mixed chorus
sing notes taken mainly from the viola line with occasional incorporation of cello line notes and
a few exceptions that are not found in either part. The basses in the mixed chorus sing notes
taken from the double bass and cello lines, and much like the tenors also have their own
additions to fit into the chord progression. The strings act as accompaniment to the mixed chorus
and children's chorus, outlining the same harmonic movement as the voices, mostly following
their earlier lines from Section 5, with a few adjustments at cadential points.

170

After the mixed chorus and children’s chorus complete their setting of the text, at Rehearsal 203
the cantor then sings material reprised from the second half of the melody from Section 5,
measures 198 through 205, complete with similar string parts from the first presentation of the
material. See Example 6.1 and Example 6.2 below for comparison. All instruments except the
strings are tacet until the cantor finishes singing from the back of the performance hall. But
unlike Section 5, the chimes do not enter after the cantor finishes; instead, Paulus uses whole
notes in the woodwinds and brass and combines them with the shofar. With the inclusion of the
shofar at the end of Section 21, Paulus brings the instrument back which began the entire work in
Section 1, here using it to again play an ominous tritone interval of E-Bb. As the brass and
woodwinds join in, the shofar sounds its tritone interval four more times. The entire work then
ends on a diminuendo to pianissimo. The music ends with only timpani, glockenspiel, harp, and
strings alternating pitches across another tritone interval, now G-Db, and the music fades away to
inaudible levels. Paulus discussed the use of the tritone at the end and its relevance to healing the
rift in the Christian-Judeo relationship: “...it's my way of acknowledging and in just a sort of
subtle little way with a couple of intervals that, my own opinion, is it's not resolved. It's an on-
going problem.”
25

25
See Appendix D for transcription.

171

Table 6.3. Formal components of Section 21: "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha"
Rehearsal Measures Tempo
Tonal
Center Text
Identifying Characteristics
or Repeating Motives
201 300-303 ♩ = 96 Ab None Four-measure transition by
strings to shift from Ab that
ends previous section to Db.
202 304-314 ♩ = 80 Db Line 1 Text sung by mixed chorus
and children’s chorus.
Melody from earlier
presentation (Section 1).
203 315-329 ♩ = 80,
ending
with
fermata
and/or rit.
in each
measure
Db Line 1
(repeated)
Mixed chorus and children’s
chorus drop out. Text sung
by cantor positioned in the
rear of performance hall.
Cantor’s melody and strings
from earlier presentation in
Section 5 “V’a Havta Le
Reacha Kamocha” are used
here. Low strings end with
alternating pitches across the
tritone interval of G and Db
in mm. 321 and 322. Final
four measures continue to
use alternation in low
instruments on tritone
interval of Db and G, ending
on final Db.

172

Example 6.1. Cantor and strings in Part I: Renewal, Section 5 "V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha,"
mm. 198-206.

Example 6.2. Cantor and strings reprise material from Section 5 in Part III: Visions, Section 21
"V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha," mm. 315-322.

173

The positioning of the cantor at the rear of the performance space was intended to be symbolic of
leading the audience back out into the world, now with the knowledge and acknowledgement of
past atrocities which can be overcome with love for each other. Browne noted that the decision
to place this final singer at the back of the hall was not decided until technical rehearsals prior to
the first performance.
26

Text Choice and Setting

1
Mixed Chorus, Children’s Chorus,
Cantor
V’a havta le reacha kamocha.

Translation:
[You should love your neighbor as yourself.]

The text for the final section has been presented before: first in Hebrew sung by the cantor
(Section 5, “V’a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha”) and later as a simultaneous version sung in
German by the mixed chorus and in Hebrew sung by the cantor (Section 12, “Du sollst deinen
Nächsten lieben wie dich selbst”). Here in Section 21, the children’s choir joins the mixed choir
in singing the text in Hebrew. The cantor then sings the text, positioned in the back of the
performance space. The cantor’s music is essentially a repetition of the second half of Section 5,
mm. 198-205, with a small adjustment to the text and rhythm in the first few notes so that this
final sung phrase captures the entire text of line 1.

26
Ibid., Andrew Paulus.

174

Chapter 7: Summary
Intent on writing a Holocaust-related work unlike any other, Paulus wrote To Be Certain of the
Dawn to provide listeners with a “healing sentiment: acknowledgement first, then memory, you
have to remember, and then…visions of hope for the future.”
1
Through his use of traditional
Jewish elements, including prayer modes, blessings, instruments, and other service elements,
Paulus paid tribute to the rich history and musical contributions of one of the oldest religions in
the world in his post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn. Recognizing that
Christianity and Judaism still have work left to heal their relationship which has been contentious
for millennia, Paulus included a significant amount of tritones throughout the work. Given that
much of his music in other genres follows traditional compositional rules, the sounds of this
oratorio are noticeably different. Even the usage of forces beyond the orchestra are unique in
Paulus’ catalog, with incorporation of a mixed chorus, children’s chorus, a cantor, and four
soloists.
The twenty-first century has seen other attempts to acknowledge the role of Nostra Aetate and to
recognize the work of those fighting anti-Semitism. In 2005, at the same time that To Be Certain
of the Dawn was being prepared and performed, U.S. Congress Resolution 260, passed during
the 109
th
Congress, recognized the 40
th
anniversary of Nostra Aetate and “encourage[d] the
United States to continue to serve in a leading role in combating anti-Semitism and other forms

1
See Appendix D for transcript.

175

of religious intolerance and religious discrimination worldwide.”
2
Other U.S. Congress
resolutions passed that year which related to anti-Semitism include:
• Concurrent Resolution 248 (109
th
) which recognized the work of Simon Wiesenthal
to bring perpetrators of Holocaust crimes to justice and “reaffirm[ed Congress’] …
commitment to the fight against anti-Semitism and intolerance in all forms, in all
forums, and in all nations…”
3

• Simple Resolution 39 (109
th
) was limited to “commending countries and
organizations for marking the 60
th
anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and
urging a strengthening of the fight against racism, intolerance, bigotry, prejudice,
discrimination, and anti-Semitism.”
4

Beyond Paulus’ To Be Certain of the Dawn, several other musical works have also been inspired
by Nostra Aetate. American composer Richard Danielpour (b. 1956) was commissioned by the
Pax Per Musicam Foundation to set text by George Washington to music in honor of the fortieth
anniversary of Nostra Aetate. The seven-minute work, Washington Speaks, features a narrator
and orchestra and was premiered on November 14, 2005, at The Catholic University of America
in Washington, DC. The premiere’s narrator was world-renown broadcaster, Ted Koppel. A
score is available through G. Schirmer.
Another work generated by the response to Nostra Aetate is an oratorio by Judith Cohen Lechter
(birth year unknown) called Nostra Aetate: Oratorio for World Peace. A Canadian composer,
Lechter, is an opera singer and noted to be “a spiritual Jewish woman”
5
who was honored by

2
GovTrack, “Text of H.Con.Res 260 (109th),” Civic Impulse, 2005.
3
GovTrack, “Text of H.Con.Res 248 (109th),” Civic Impulse, 2005.
4
GovTrack, “Text of H.Res 39 (109th), Civic Impulse, 2005.
5
Ibid., Baum, 525.

176

Queen Elizabeth II with the Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.
6
Her work was originally
scheduled to be premiered at the Vatican in October 28, 2015, the fiftieth anniversary to the day
of the release of Vatican II’s seminal document on relations with other religions. The
performance was ultimately pushed to December 2015 due to scheduling issues. During the
performance, text by Canadian priest Gregory Baum (1923-2017) was read between each
movement that described the history of Nostra Aetate’s development. Baum, an expert in
theology, served as an advisor to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Christian Unity on sections
including its relationship with Jews, and was uniquely suited to prepare the text for Lechter. The
complete texts were shared in an article in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies.
7
His final
statement reflects a more modern attitude of the Catholic Church:
We no longer look upon the plurality of religions as fault lines of history to be
overcome by the victory of the all-embracing Catholic Church. We now accept
religious pluralism as the work of God’s providence and are grateful for it.
8

6
“Judith Cohen Lechter.” The Governor General of Canada, 2012.
7
Ibid., Baum, 525-528.
8
Ibid., Baum, 527-528.

177

Appendices

178

Appendix A: Ten Points of 1947 Seelisberg Emergency Meeting
9

1. Remember that One God speaks to us all through the Old and the New Testaments.
2. Remember that Jesus was born of a Jewish mother of the seed of David and the people of
Israel, and that His everlasting love and forgiveness embrace His own people and the whole
world.
3. Remember that the first disciples, the apostles, and the first martyrs were Jews.
4. Remember that the fundamental commandment of Christianity, to love God and one's
neighbor [sic], proclaimed already in the Old Testament and confirmed by Jesus, is binding
upon both Christians and Jews in all human relationships, without any exception.
5. Avoid disparaging biblical or post-biblical Judaism with the object of extolling Christianity.
6. Avoid using the word Jews in the exclusive sense of the enemies of Jesus, and the words the
enemies of Jesus to designate the whole Jewish people.
7. Avoid presenting the Passion in such a way as to bring the odium of the killing of Jesus upon
Jews alone. In fact, it was not the Jews alone who are responsible, for the Cross which saves
us all reveals that it is for the sins of us all that Christ died. Remind all Christian parents and
teachers of the grave responsibility which they assume, particularly when they present the
Passion story in a crude manner. By so doing they run the risk of implanting an aversion in
the conscious or subconscious minds of their children or hearers, intentionally or
unintentionally. Psychologically speaking, in the case of simple minds, moved by a
passionate love and compassion for the crucified Saviour [sic], the horror which they feel
quite naturally towards the persecutors of Jesus will easily be turned into an undiscriminating
hatred of the Jews of all times, including those of our own day.
8. Avoid referring to the scriptural curses, or the cry of a raging mob: His blood be upon us and
upon our children, without remembering that this cry should not count against the infinitely
more weighty words of our Lord: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
9. Avoid promoting the superstitious notion that the Jewish people are reprobate, accursed,
reserved for a destiny of suffering.
10. Avoid speaking of the Jews as if the first members of the Church had not been Jews.

9
Ibid., ICCJ, Seelisberg.

179

Appendix B: Twelve Points of 2009 Berlin Annual General Meeting of ICCJ
10

A Call to Christians and Christian Communities:
1. To combat religious, racial and all other forms of antisemitism.
2. To promote interreligious dialogue with Jews.
3. To develop theological understandings of Judaism that affirm its distinctive integrity.
4. To pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
A Call to Jews and Jewish Communities:
5. To acknowledge the efforts of many Christian communities in the late 20
th
century to
reform their attitudes toward Jews.
6. To re-examine Jewish texts and liturgy in the light of these Christian reforms.
7. To differentiate between fair-minded criticism of Israel and antisemitism.
8. To offer encouragement to the State of Israel as it works to fulfill the ideals stated in its
founding documents, a task Israel shares with many nations of the world.
A Call to Both Christian and Jewish Communities and Others:
9. To enhance interreligious and intercultural education.
10. To promote interreligious friendship and cooperation as well as social justice in the
global society.
11. To enhance dialogue with political and economic bodies.
12. To network with all those whose work responds to the demands of environmental
stewardship.

10
Ibid., ICCJ, “Time for Commitment.”

180

Appendix C: Known Performances of To Be Certain of the Dawn
DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS NOTES
November 17, 2005
November 18, 2005
November 19, 2005

Basilica of St. Mary
Minneapolis, MN
The Basilica Cathedral Choir and
Cathedral Choristers
(Teri Larson, Music Director)

Minnesota Orchestra
(Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and
Conductor)

Norah Long, soprano
Christina Baldwin, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Cardwell, tenor
Tim Krol, baritone
Barry Abelson, cantor

World Premiere
February 12, 2008

Orchestra Hall
Minneapolis, MN
The Basilica Cathedral Choir and
Cathedral Choristers
Minnesota Chorale
Minnesota Boyschoir

Minnesota Orchestra
(Osmo Vänskä, Music Director and
Conductor)

Elizabeth Futral, soprano
Christina Baldwin, mezzo-soprano
John Tessier, tenor
Philip Cokorinos, baritone
Barry Abelson, cantor

Revival presented by
Minnesota Orchestra
the week prior to
official album
recording sessions.
Misidentified in album
liner notes as
occurring in 2007.
April 25, 2008
Ritsche Auditorium,
Saint Cloud State
University
Saint Cloud, MN

April 26, 2008
Saint John’s Abbey
Church
Collegeville, MN

Musicians from the following Minnesota-
based universities:
College of Saint Benedict
Saint John’s University
Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud State University Cantabile
Girls Choir
Saint John’s Boys’ Choir
Pre-tour concerts for
many of the
performers on the May
20-June 4, 2008
European tour.

181

DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS NOTES
May 24, 2008
St. Antonius Catholic
Church, Düsseldorf-
Oberkassel, Germany

May 29, 2008
Former concentration
camp Natzweiler-
Struthof near
Strasburg, France

Musicians from the following Minnesota-
based universities:
College of Saint Benedict
Saint John’s University
Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud State University Cantabile
Girls Choir

Jeffrey Hess, cantor

European tour.
European premiere in
Düsseldorf, Germany.
Tour included
performance at former
concentration camp,
Natzweiler-Struthof
February 14, 2009
Memorial Auditorium
Burlington, IA

February 15, 2009
IHCC St. John
Auditorium
Ottumwa, IA
Members of:
Bel Canto Chorale
Mount Pleasant Chorale
Iowa Wesleyan College Choir
Indian Hills Concert Choir
Greater Ottumwa Area Vocal Arts Project

Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra
(Jamie Spillane, guest conductor)

Lisa Hearn, soprano
Margaret Clair, mezzo-soprano
Dennis Willhoit, tenor
Stephen Swanson, baritone
Jeffrey Hess, cantor

Iowa premiere
April 19, 2009
Civic Center of Greater
Des Moines
Des Moines, IA
Members of:
Choirs of Drake University
Heartland Youth Chorus

Faculty and Student Orchestra, Drake
University
(Aimee Beckmann-Collier, conductor)

182

DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS NOTES
February 10, 2012
North Central ACDA
Conference
Overture Center
Madison, WI

Choirs from:
Minnesota State University
Nebraska Wesleyan University
Wartburg College

Members of:
Madison Boys and Girls Choirs

Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra
(Lee Nelson, conductor)

November 16, 2012
November 17, 2012

DeVos Performance
Hall
Grand Rapids, MI
Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus
Peal Shangkuan, director)

Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Chorus
(Sean Ivory, director)
Grand Rapids Symphony
(David Lockington, conductor)

Elizabeth Futral, soprano
Julia Elise Hardin, mezzo-soprano
Edgar Ernesto Ramirez, tenor
Grant Youngblood, baritone
Benjamin Warschawski, cantor

183

DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS NOTES
November 18, 2012

Mankato West High
School Auditorium
Mankato, MN
Minnesota State University Concert Choir
Minnesota Valley Chorale
Musicorum
Mankato Children’s Chorus

Members of:
Minnesota Chorale

Mankato Symphony Orchestra
(Kenneth Freed, conductor)

Angela Mortellaro, soprano
Abigail Fischer, mezzo-soprano
Brad Benoit, tenor
Kimm Julian, baritone
Barry Abelson, cantor

Programmed in part to
acknowledge the 150
th

anniversary of the US-
Dakota war. Paired
with traditional Native
American prayer and
Michael Daugherty’s
Trail of Tears.
11

January 29, 2015
LaSells Stewart Center
Corvallis, OR
Oregon State University Chamber Choir
Corvallis Repertory Singers
Heart of the Valley Children’s Festival
Choir

Corvallis-Oregon State University
Symphony Orchestra

Marlan Carlson, conductor
Megan Sand, mezzo-soprano
Nicholas Larson, tenor
Kevin Helppie, baritone
Ida Rae Cahana, cantor

11
Tanner Kent. “Mending Music: MSO’s ‘To Be Certain of the Dawn,’” Mankato Free Press, 2012.

184

DATE / LOCATION PERFORMERS NOTES
March 20, 2015
Cathedral Basilica of
Saint Peter and Paul
Philadelphia, PA

March 22, 2015
Bryn Mawr
Presbyterian Church
Bryn Mawr, PA

Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Sanctuary Choir
Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Children’s Choir
Cathedral Basilica Choir
Archdiocesan Children’s Choir
Singers from area synagogues

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia

Jeffrey Brillhart, conductor

Elizabeth Weigle, soprano
Suzanne DuPlantis, mezzo-soprano
William Lim, tenor
Michael Hogue, tenor
Randall Scarlata, baritone
Elizabeth Shammash, cantor

185

Appendix D: Transcript of Beyond the Notes Video
To Be Certain of the Dawn: Beyond the Notes,
Interview with Stephen Paulus and Michael Dennis Browne

[audio selection from oratorio]
MDB: For Michael O'Connell who was then director of the Basilica of St. Mary has a very very
strong interfaith life. And a very strong connection with Temple Israel. And I knew him because
he was the parish priest at St. Cecilia where we go to church. And he wanted to make a major
statement. And this was 2005, it was the 60th year of the liberation of the death camps, it was the
40th anniversary of the document Nostra Aetate (In Our Time) which absolved Jews that they
were responsible for the death of Christ. And so Michael wanted to make a major statement of
solidarity with the Jewish community. And he said, I don't want the children to go into the 21st
century, umm, not alert, or re-alerted, to the horrors of the Shoah and the reality of that. And so
he commissioned this work from us as a gift from the Christian community to the Jewish
community in the Twin Cities with a special focus on the Basilica of St. Mary and Temple Israel.
One of Michael's favorite words is B'sharit which means "meant to be" or "in the cards" and I
think we all worked hard to make this happen but there was an element of b'sharit, it was a
convergence that it was meant to happen.
[audio selection from oratorio]
PURPOSE
MDB: This is a public domain photograph, we've tried to trace the origin, we think it's children
in Theresienstadt, as I said, deceptively looking, you know, nicely clothed and happy, but that
was all a sham. Umm, and it's the last of six slides that we see in the work, at the end of the
testimony of Hinda Kibort, umm. "I lived in a world with no children, I would never live in a
world with no children again." And we hear the strains of the beautiful V'a Havta and that this
appears. And it's an extraordinary moment, those, those hopeful and doomed faces of the
children. And picking up on Father Michael, what I said was, in a program note, the faces of the
children are the sun, moon, and stars of this work. They are the center [gestures in a
circle]. That's been very powerful for both of us, even keep it [the photo of the children] there by
the piano, I keep it in my study.
SP: Some of the discussions we had, I think I sort of played devil's advocate because I said, there
are the radicals who think the Holocaust didn't happen [MDB chuckles] and we're not sure what
planet they are living on but take that just off the table. But there are other people who, and I
knew this, who would say well you know, I wasn't there, I wasn't responsible and so I sort of
played a role with Michael, I said how do we? We are apologizing for everybody and some
people might say no need to apologize for me, I had nothing to do with it, so we said, well, you
are buying into it by virtue of buying into your faith. I guess I don't know if that is a good answer
or not, but gradually we talked ourselves around how to say things in a way that made people, I
thought, between the words and the music, buy into the idea that there is a collective

186

responsibility here and it needs to be acknowledged and apologized for. And that also made the
music easier to write. But you know, I had to overcome, I had to be able to defend several points
of view in order to write the music unabashedly. And once we had several thoughts where there
was no music written and there wasn't really any libretto discussed, it was just like general
things. I read a lot of books about the Holocaust, some I re-read from years earlier, and Michael
had done a lot of reading, a ton of reading.
[audio selection from oratorio]
STRUCTURE
MDB: Well I knew I couldn't write this, it was too large, but I like to quote Samuel Becket who
said "I can't go on, so I'll go on." [Paulus laughs] So kept writing and I always accumulate a lot
of unusable ideas. Theodore Reckit says when you go dredging in a river, the great American
poet, you are going to bring up a bunch of gunk with the good stuff, if there is good stuff. So I
had lots of ideas and, um, ran them by Stephen, ran them by the little committee with Marcia
Zimmerman and Michael Anders from the Basilica. I had one idea of ending the oratorio and
Marcia Zimmerman said I don't think, I don't think so [MDB shakes head and laughs]. There was
some quite good vetoes of some bad ideas. [laughs] I just brainstormed and I read books like
liturgies of the Holocaust, what seemed to work and not work, liturgies that get performed
regularly with the different communities to commemorate like at Yom Ha'Shoah. Um, but the
key thing was, when I went to the Holocaust museum with a group from the Basilia and Temple
Israel and I saw this amazing three-story tier of photographs from the people in the village, I
can't pronounce it, forgive me, who were massacred by the Nazis but all their old photographs
were gathered together here. And I saw the photographs just in that area, too, by Roman
Vishniac, and I said to Stephen that I think the faces of the children must be at the center of the
work. I didn't have a metaphor at the time. So, umm, I just accumulated many, many drafts and
uh, had some strong discussions with Stephen, you know, interesting composer-librettist
moments there, and at one point, toward the end he found my structure too stolid and he said it
must be more helical. So did we cut and paste? [MDB turns to SP who nods]. Scissors and you
know, scotch tape, and a little bit the way that Hermits is with its alternation of liturgy and so
forth, of the soloists. I'm not sure I'm being articulate, I just, I overwrote incredibly, rather
desperate to find a way into this enormous work, because the pressure was huge, it was a
Christian gift, being performed in the Basilica with an orchestra, et cetera, et cetera. You want it
to be good. Quite good! [laughs]
SP: Gradually I began to see things merging together. There were other questions which were
significant but I said, well we need major sections so that people can get their hands around …
this section is about this and this one, all these little bits are about that, whether it is the adult's
chorus, the children's chorus, or the orchestra is playing, this is about that. And then there's this
part. And it sort of fell into three things, and I think I did kind of say, well the first part is you
know, about renewal because it had Teshuvah and the idea of somehow starting anew which
meant acknowledging the wrongs of the past. And that's another discussion. And then in the
middle, partly because of this postcard that Michael had these pictures of, taken by Roman
Vishniac of this Polish village that was annihilated and thought this is kind of like remembrance,
this whole area, and then somewhere along the line we got the idea of projecting the images of

187

the actual photos that Michael was writing about with, you know, kids, grandfather and grandson
and everything, and so there were like little, uh, musical or sonic snapshots but accompanied or
accompanying these visual images that were projected on scrims. And the last one became, uh,
visions, the idea that Christians and Jews or Christians and other people or Jews and other people
walking together hand in hand. And with three big sections like that, you know, people think
pretty well in tripartied forms and a triangle or a tripod is a pretty stable structure [chuckles] so
then it seemed to sort of have its own swim and pull to me and it became easier to write and just
find I'm going to this section now, why? because it relates to this big concept. And I thought
people could really relate to that.
[audio selection from oratorio]
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
SP: This phrase, um, appears, I think I got this right, the first time it appears by the cantor in
Hebrew, V'a Havta Le Reacha Kamocha, and uh, it's sort of a, uh, kind of pulls you up short all
of a sudden, when this cantor sings, in Hebrew, this work that is being sung principally by the
chorus representing Christians speaks to this thing and it's just a moment that will stop you dead
in your tracks. And later on, uh, the chorus sings it, in German [MDB repeats "German"], which
also is kind of shocking because what's German doing in a work like this but you know, there's a
purpose to it. It's stating: this is where, quote the other side, is coming from. And eventually then
the chorus and the cantor join towards the end to sing it all together in Hebrew which, you know,
it sounds pedantic or pedagogical or whatever, but it's not attempting to teach anything, really,
it's just sort of showing a movement of people as they gravitate perhaps throughout the
performance of the work, perhaps towards rehearsing it and getting to the final, uh, final moment
in the performance and I came, yea I came up with the tune for it, right, because it wasn't
something I stole from anything …
MDB: Not only a beautiful tune which everybody loves but I had written this Hymn to the
Eternal Flame. And I remember writing it on a clipboard while I was driving down to Redwing
[laughs] no need to know, writing this thing. Somehow, Stephen managed with, just a little bit of
pruning to fit those words to this already established melody and it works as the hymn, it is just
extraordinary. Um, I don't know how he does these things. But it was very important that it be a
transformational element, that an hour from the beginning, um, we needed to be in a different
place. And, uh, otherwise you just have this documentary where we are just talking about the
horrors that were done but no redemptive, progressive elements to it. And of course, this is a
post-Holocaust oratorio that doesn't go into what happened in the camps except by implication. I
have no credentials to go there, it's an abyss, it's a, it's what they call a surd, s-u-r-d, there is no
"why?" to it, it is just some incredible calamity.
SP: Also I didn't want to write a work like that. [MDB: No, no] It's been done. Why recount the
atrocities and ok, I have to write some really angular, ugly music and people will sit and listen to
it. And people have heard about it, they say that people can't hear it enough, that's why stories get
repeated but you know, do something new for a change and go, uh, a different place. And I think
the work is very much geared towards a healing sentiment: acknowledgement first, then
memory, you have to remember, and then you know, one of the visions of hope for the future.

188

[audio selection from oratorio]
VEIL OF TEARS
SP: Uh, you had all these words and, wonderful words, and but you just need some time to
reflect before you progress to the next thing and uh, the next section. And where the chorus and
children's chorus sing "Hymn to the Eternal Flame" I thought, hmm, this is little too emotionally
laden to just GO ON and the next part is this, folks so … um, it was a wonderful opportunity to
do something just with strings, and as Michael was saying people are lighting candles, so it's the
visual effect, and in the church when they are able to do that I guess some place they had, what,
little lights because they can't, the fire code, you couldn't have actual lights, but in this case for
the premiere they could have candles and that's a moment when the lights all come up and you
see everybody's faces in the candlelight.
[audio selection from oratorio]
SP: Where it ends, with this Db, could end on a nice Db major chord, with the lower basses and
cellos keep going down a tritone to the G, um, below the Db, that's maybe way too technical, but
the idea is that we've come this distance because we spent an hour singing at you about this
problem, we've got visions of hope and everything is wonderful except if anyone reads a
newspaper today, or looks on their iPhone, it's not wonderful. Not yet! And it's my way of
acknowledging and in just a sort of subtle little way with a couple of intervals that, my own
opinion, is it's not resolved. It's an on-going problem.
MDB: As you write, as you are in the process, it generates things you could never have
anticipated. It's like when you go out at night and you see half a dozen stars, when you develop
night vision, you see thousands of stars. And as you write, you get an idea. The writing is smarter
than we are, you know, and it generates its own discoveries that if you could anticipate, wouldn't
be what you want, um. There's a poem by Randall Girould that has this line in it, "if I can think
of it, it's not what I want." Meaning, that yea, you do have concepts and titles ahead of, but the
essence of it to me usually comes by way of the friction of a pad on the paper or as you write.
And Stephen had so many good ideas in this piece that, I think, came as he worked on it.
[audio selection from oratorio]
To Be Certain of the Dawn: Beyond the Notes
Produced by Aimee Beckmann-Collier
Directed by Jess Hoffert
Drake University School of Journalism and Mass Communication
Video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s59HwIf5FMA
Posted on July 27, 2011

189

Appendix E: Transcript of Student Interview Video
To Be Certain of the Dawn,
Student Interviews by St. Cloud State University during 2008 European Tour
HOLOCAUST AND TRANSCENDENT
Voiceover: This was not a mandatory trip, you all chose to be here to bring a gift of your art in
order to fully understand the meaning of the art we needed to bring you to this place
THROUGH ENCOUNTER AND DIALOGUE …
Female student 1: We’re talking about different religions returned about new experiences and
new conversations and it encompasses so much more than I think we had ever anticipated.
JOURNEY TOWARD OTHER
[instrumental music plays]
Male student 1: I had never expected this on my education at St. Cloud State, not because the
school wasn’t capable but just because I wasn’t capable of really fathoming this, so this is very
very, it’s unexpected.
JOURNEY INTO SELF
Man: From the first blast of the shofar to the beautiful sweetness of Cantabile (children’s chorus)
to the power of the music and the singing of “Love your neighbor as yourself”. You will never
sing more defiant words in your life than in this place. [Struthof concentration camp]
[audio selection from oratorio plays]
Male student 2 : The concert was a struggle because we had to be professional while at the same
time we couldn’t ignore what we were feeling inside and when we saw the irony of the fact that
they put a concentration camp in these beautiful hills you saw the glorious light and the the the
darkest pit of humanity, all thrown into one image and one occurrence, one event.
JOURNEY OF COMMEMORATION
[audio selection from oratorio plays]
Produced by Daniel Wildeson and Holly Santiago
Video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGp61e866Ag
Posted on August 22, 2008

190

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Asset Metadata

Creator Simpson, Kristen (author)

Core Title Using music to heal Catholic-Jewish relations: an analysis of Stephen Paulus' post-Holocaust oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn

School Thornton School of Music

Degree Doctor of Musical Arts

Degree Program Choral Music

Publication Date 07/23/2019

Defense Date 07/18/2019

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

Tag Catholic,choir,choral,holocaust,Jewish,major work,Michael Dennis Browne,Minneapolis,Minnesota,Music,Nostra Aetate,OAI-PMH Harvest,oratorio,Orchestra,Stephen Paulus,Vatican II

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Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Grases, Cristian (committee chair), Scheibe, Jo-Michael (committee member), Sparks, Tram (committee member)

Creator Email chimesmasterto@gmail.com,kcsimpso@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-188661

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Legacy Identifier etd-SimpsonKri-7576.pdf

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Document Type Dissertation

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