Psalms 137 has been the
subject of manuscript illustrations and paintings, [1] of several musical melodies
and compositions, Judaica and Christian art, and even English poetry. A few
examples:
1.
MEDIEVAL ART
The Middle Ages have also left
manuscript illuminations of other subjects taken from the Psalms; and these are
often extremely literal in interpretation. Psalm 137 ("By the rivers of Babylon")
likewise formed the subject of manuscript illustrations, but also of paintings
by the 19th-century French Romantic artist EugIne Delacroix (in the dome of theology
of the Palais Bourbon, Paris, now the National Assembly) and the 19th-cent. German
academician Eduard Bendemann (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne).
2.
RENAISSANCE COMPOSITION BY SALAMONE ROSSI
The following composition,
published in 1622 by Renaissance musician and composer Salamone Rossi, is the
most darkly dramatic of his motets. This rendition is performed by the Zamir
Chorale of Boston.
Rossi's approach to the
text from Psalm 137 is extremely personal, suggesting an ardent Jewish nationalism.
Since this motet is considered a lamentation in Jewish liturgy, Rossi may have
turned for his models to the Latin late sixteenth century settings of the Lamentations
of Jeremiah. Pietro Cerone described the prevailing 17th-century church music
practice in his treatise : "The style for composing the Lamentations is
such that all the parts proceed with gravity and modesty, nearly always singing
together.... In this kind of composition, more than in any other, the composer
makes use of dissonance, suspensions, and harsh passages to make his work more
doleful and mournful, as the sense of the words and the significance of the
season demand... They are always sung by very low and heavy voices."[2]
All of these characteristics
are present in Rossi's setting of Psalm 137.
[1]
Painting by 19th-century French Romantic artist Eugene
Delacroix (in the dome of theology of the Palais Bourbon, Paris) and
German academician Eduard Bendemann (Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne)
[back]
Recording
from: Zamir Chorale of Boston, "Salamone Rossi Hebreo, Baroque
Music for the Synagogue and the Royal Court." Recorded in 1996
in the sanctuary of Congregation Kehillath Israel, Brookline, Mass.
Program notes by Dr. Joshua Jacobson, used by permission of the Zamir
Chorale of Boston.
