Chapter XX: Part III: The Pentecost

The personages are Jesus, Mary and two narrators. The composition, which by some is pronounced the finest of modern oratorios, is a curious mixture of old and new ways of musical treatment. While Gounod, evidently influenced by Wagner, made use of ‘leading motives,’ he also used the narrator in the same manner as did Bach and in like manner treats the chorale. After a short instrumental introduction, descriptive of chaos, and the narrator’s recitative concerning the fall of man, the Redemption theme is heard and it appears wherever the atonement is thought of. This beautiful leading motive is heard nine times during the course of the work and is most effectively introduced in the first chorus, ‘The earth is my possession.’ Its most touching use is where Jesus tells the dying malefactor, ‘To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise,’ and its most impressively triumphant appearance is in the orchestral part at the close of the splendid chorus, ‘Unfold, ye portals everlasting.’

The first part treats of the condemnation of Jesus, the crucifixion, Mary at the foot of the cross and Jesus’ conversation with the two thieves. It contains some finely written solos and choruses, and the two instrumental numbers--‘The March to Calvary’ and the number descriptive of the darkness that fell over the earth as Jesus uttered his last words. The second part includes the events in the period between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Among the beautiful numbers in this part are the trio of Holy Women (two sopranos and a contralto) ‘The Lord, He is risen again,’ and the lovely chorus with soprano obbligato, ‘From Thy love as a Father.’ Possibly the strongest chorus in the whole work is ‘Unfold, ye portals everlasting,’ which is so often sung as a separate chorus number. The third part with its beautiful orchestral introduction has for its first chorus the melodious ‘Lovely appear over the mountains,’ followed by one of the most exquisite portions of the whole work, the soprano solo, ‘Over the barren wastes.’ After a repetition of the preceding chorus, there follow the impressive events of the day of Pentecost, the Apostles at prayer (for orchestra alone), the descent of the Spirit and the singing of the Beatitudes. The close is a repetition of the majestic apostles’ hymn in unison, with the whole chorus, orchestra and organ massed in a magnificent structure with grandiose effect.

_Mors et Vita_ is the second of his contemplated ‘sacred trilogy,’ of which ‘The Redemption’ was the first. The Latin text is compiled from the Catholic liturgy and from the Vulgate, and the work is dedicated to Pope Leo XIII. The first performance took place at the Birmingham Festival, August 26, 1885, under the direction of Richter, and the first performance in Paris, in May, 1886. Gounod writes in the preface: ‘It will perhaps be asked why, in the title, I have placed death before life. It is because in the order of eternal things death precedes life, although in the order of temporal things life precedes death.’ He also refers to his use of ‘leading motives,’ which are also employed in ‘The Redemption.’ There are four of these, the first of which, a theme made up of four tones (a sequence of three major seconds), is supposed to express ‘the terror inspired by the sense of the inflexibility of Justice and, in consequence, by that of the anguish of punishment. Its sternness gives expression both to the sentences of Divine Justice and the sufferings of the condemned, and is found in combination throughout the whole work with melodic forms which express sentiments altogether different, as in the _Sanctus_ and the _Pie Jesu_ of the _Requiem_ which forms the first part.’ The second, the motive of sorrow and tears, is, by the alteration of one tone, changed into a motive of joy. Of the fourth, Gounod writes: ‘By means of a threefold superposition, it results in the interval of an augmented fifth and announces the awakening of the dead at the terrifying call of the angelic trumpets, of which St. Paul speaks in one of his epistles to the Corinthians.’

A short Prologue leads to the first part, _Mors_ (Death), which is a _Requiem_ expanded by interpolated texts of a reflective character. The second part, called _Judicium_ (Last Judgment), contains six subdivisions, as follows: The Sleep of the Dead, The Trumpets at the Last Judgment, The Resurrection of the Dead, The Judge, The Judgment of the Elect, The Judgment of the Rejected. The third part, _Vita_ (Life), using the text of St. John’s vision in the Apocalypse, describes the joys of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, closing with an exultant _Hosanna in excelsis_.

Among the finest choruses of the oratorio are the _Quid sum miser_ (‘Ah! What shall we then be pleading’) and the _Lacrymosa dies illa_ (‘Day of weeping, day of mourning’) from the _Dies iræ_. Probably the greatest aria of the work is the soprano solo, _Beati qui lavant_ (‘The righteous shall enter into Glory Eternal’).

The theme which Gounod has chosen presents opportunities for orchestral effects which such a master of orchestration as he was would naturally seize upon, and several of the numbers are for orchestra alone--The Epilogue to the first part, in which the various leading motives are developed, The Judge, and The Heavenly Jerusalem.

FOOTNOTES:

[80] These oratorios were, in addition to the one named, ‘Deborah,’ ‘Rachel,’ ‘Ruth and Naomi,’ ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ and the three ‘Coronation Oratorios’ written for the three days’ coronation ceremonies of Napoleon in 1804 (in reality three masses expanded so as to include the special ceremonies).