This is the second in what I can now call a series of blog posts on works by Louis Spohr.
Die letzten Dinge (The Last Judgment) deals with a big topic, but it’s a small-scale oratorio. It takes a little over an hour to perform, and it isn’t very difficult. Choral societies might find it a good addition to their repertoire. There are no solo numbers or fancy vocal passages; what’s needed is four vocalists who can blend well with each other and the chorus. The text is based on the Book of Revelation, so we’re in for a wild ride. The work is oriented more toward drama than deep religious feeling.
The work is listed as WoO 61, even though it was published during his lifetime. It was a huge success at its first performance in 1826 and later in England.
The overture establishes the polarity that drives the work. It opens with a slow section which suggests Handel in its dotted rhythms and counterpoint, though the harmonic language is distinctly Spohr’s. A quiet cadence, a kind of “Amen,” repeatedly offsets the sternness of the main theme. It recurs in various guises throughout the work. Following the pattern of the Baroque overture, a fast section follows, incorporating the dotted rhythm that recurs whenever Spohr wants to set an ominous mood.
The first part establishes the scene in Heaven, with reassurances to the faithful. The concluding number, “Heil! Dem Erbarmer Heil!” is especially effective in its interplay between the four solo singers and the chorus.
The Sinfonia which opens the second part is one of the most extended pieces in the work, showing that the story is now getting down to business. It opens with a unison passage for strings reminiscent of the oratorio’s opening music, then turns a variant of the theme into a grim fugue. References to it will never be far away until the devastation is complete. The Sinfonia includes just one brief reassuring passage, but it will be heard again later.
The tenor declares in a recitative that the end is coming. Tremolos and quick descending runs add to the sense of coming doom, reinforced by the theme from the Sinfonia. The tenor and soprano beg for mercy in a duet; the chorus offers reassurance while the orchestra quotes the merciless fugue.
A dominant seventh chord in the brass (a bit too obvious?) brings in the tenor’s announcement that the hour of judgment has come. The chorus presents the fall of Babylon in full four-part counterpoint, with the orchestra contributing the dotted motifs, but what is most impressive is what follows. The orchestra falls into chromatic passages suggesting the wind blowing through a bombed-out city. The tenor, previously so bold, sings softly, just once, “Es ist geschehen” (it has happened). Then, in complete contrast to this scene of divine fury, the vocal quartet and the chorus sing “Selig sind die Töten” (blessed are the dead), a text similar to the last part of Brahms’ German Requiem, with minimal accompaniment.
The announcement of a new Heaven and new Earth quotes the reassuring theme from the Sinfonia. A couple of fugues conclude things as an oratorio demands.
Die letzten Dinge is a strongly unified work with some very memorable moments, and it’s well worth hearing.
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