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Arthur Honegger

Le Roi David, H. 37

H. 37

Le Roi David was composed in Mézières, Switzerland, in 1921 by Arthur Honegger, as incidental music for a play in French by René Morax. It was called a dramatic psalm, but has also been performed as oratorio, without staging. The plot, based on biblical narration, tells the story of King David, first a shepherd boy, his victories in battle, relationship to Saul, rise to power, adultery, mourning of his son's death, and finally his own death. The work has 27 musical movements consisting of voice solos, choruses, and instrumental interludes. A narrator unifies the work by providing spoken narration of the story of King David.
Arthur Honegger was commissioned to write incidental music to accompany René Morax's play Le Roi David in 1921. The commission outlined that the work was to be performed by 100 singers and seventeen instruments. Honegger struggled with these limited resources, and wrote to Igor Stravinsky for advice. Stravinsky advised him to think as if he had purposefully chosen that instrumentation, and compose as such. Honegger had a nearly impossible deadline of two months to complete the work. This short deadline made it necessary for him to write the movements of this 27-movement work out of order. First, he wrote the choral and solo voice parts to allow the music to be copied and rehearsed. Honegger wrote the orchestration for the entire work last. He completed his composition on May 20, 1921, and was rewarded with much acclaim at the premiere on June 11, 1921. In 1923 he combined Morax's narrative with his music and created a "symphonic psalm", the form that is familiar today, and titled his work Le Roi David.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Movements

  1. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 1. Introitus (Récitant)
  2. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 2. Cantique du berger David (Voix d'enfant)
  3. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 3. Psaume (Choeur mixte) "Loué soit le Seigneur"
  4. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 4. Chant de victoire (Choeur mixte)
  5. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 5. Cortège (Récitant)
  6. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 6. Psaume (Ténor) "Ne crains rien"
  7. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 7. Psaume (Soprano) "Ah! Si j'avais des ailes de colombe"
  8. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 8. Cantique des Prophètes (Choeur d'hommes)
  9. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 9. Psaume (Ténor) "Pitié de moi, mon Dieu"
  10. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 10. Le récitant (Récitant) "Le camp de Saül"
  11. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 11. Psaume (Choeur mixte) "L'éternel est ma lumière infinie"
  12. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 12. Incantation de la Pythonisse (Récitant)
  13. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 13. Marche des Philistins (Récitant)
  14. Le Roi David: Partie I: No. 14. Lamentation de Guilboa (Choeur de femmes)
  15. Le Roi David: Partie II: No. 1. Cantique de fête (Choeur de femmes)
  16. Le Roi David: Partie II: No. 2. La danse devant l'arche (Récitant, Choeurs)
  17. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 1. Cantique (Choeur mixte) "De mon coeur jaillit un cantique"
  18. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 2. Chant de la servante (Mezzo soprano)
  19. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 3. Psaume de pénitence (Choeur mixte)
  20. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 4. Psaume (Choeur mixte) "Je fus conçu dans le péché"
  21. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 5. Psaume (Ténor) "Je lève mes regards vers la montagne"
  22. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 6. La chanson d'Ephraim (Soprano, Choeurs de femmes)
  23. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 7. Marche des Hébreux (Récitant)
  24. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 8. Psaume (Choeur mixte) "Je t'aimerai, Seigneur, d'un amour tendre"
  25. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 9. Psaume (Choeur mixte) "Dans cet effroi"
  26. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 10. Couronnement de Salomon (Récitant)
  27. Le Roi David: Partie III: No. 11. Le mort de David (Soprano, Choeur mixte)

Recommended recordings

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