The sacred music of the 20th century reflected its controversial experience: grandeur, ignominy, ghastly disasters that threatened humanity’s existence, God-seeking, pleas for eternal harmony from the depths of chaos and unbelief. Along with traditional liturgical music, there appeared sacred compositions synthesizing elements of different styles, genres and traditions.
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was one of the leading revolutionaries in the 20th-century religious music (as well as, incidentally, in the music art of the century on the whole). The sounding of sacred texts and the music of language were in many instances more important for him than the sense of the words. The three-movement Symphony of Psalms for chorus and orchestra was composed by Stravinsky in 1930. The work was commissioned by the legendary Boston Symphony Orchestra to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Since he was given a free hand to choose the genre and theme, Stravinsky created a synthetic piece combining characteristic features of a symphony and of a vocal work: “My idea was that my symphony should be a work with great contrapuntal development, and for that it was necessary to increase the media at my disposal. I finally decided on a choral and instrumental ensemble in which the two elements should be on an equal footing, neither of them overweighing the other.” Stravinsky used the texts of Psalm 38 (a sinner’s prayer to God for mercy and salvation), Psalm 39 (expression of gratitude fоr deliverance) and Psalm 150 (praising God). The contrast of earth and heaven, of austerity and unworldly beauty is underlined by the notable instrumentation: the score omits violins, violas and clarinets, while children’s voices substitute for the upper two choral parts (soprano and alto). The world premiere was given in Brussels in December 13, 1939, under the direction of Ernest Ansermet, and soon afterwards the piece was premiered in Boston under the baton of Serge Koussevitzky.
In his religious compositions Leonard Bernstein (1918–1990) draws on the spirit of liturgical service rather than its letter. Illustrative of this is his Mass, composed in 1971, where a full classical orchestra, chorus and soloists are supplemented with a brass band, a rock band, street singers and dancers. The three-movement Chichester Psalms for mixed choir, boy soprano and orchestra was written in 1965. In that very year the piece was premiered in New York with the composer conducting. The work was commissioned by the cathedral choir of the English city of Chichester. The text was arranged by Bernstein from the Psalm of David in the original Hebrew. The music language of the piece features Bernstein’s typical traits such as rhythmic complexity, wide vocal range and vibrant juxtapositions of the idioms of academic music, rock and mass culture.
Andrew Lloyd Webber (b. 1948) wrote his Requiem in memory of his father, who died in 1982. The brilliant composer of musicals ventured to create a piece of serious classical music. Lloyd Webber’s Requiem organically combines elements of functional and academic music. The work is scored for organ, synthesizer, symphony orchestra (which omits violins and includes saxophones and a large percussion section), mixed chorus and three soloists (tenor, soprano, treble). The premiere, conducted by Lorin Maazel, took place on 24 February 1985; the three soloists were Placido Domingo, Sarah Brightman and Paul Miles-Kingston. In 1986, the piece won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.