PROGRAM NOTE
As a Jew, I come to the Mass from the perspective of “the Other.” Not musically, of course. With Western Music tradition as my musical foundation since early childhood, the great religious works by composers from the Renaissance and Baroque eras and onwards are at the very heart of what Music means to me. But as a ritual, as a symbol of Christianity, the Mass is definitely a form to which I am very much the outsider, by birth, by definition, by history.
It is, of course, a very beautiful form, one which, to its members and practitioners, is deeply meaningful and profoundly moving, just as it often is to the musician in me. The Credo, that portion of the Mass which is a declaration of faith (specifically Catholic faith), is arguably the heart and soul of the Mass. I am deeply moved and honored that Chanticleer had commissioned me to write that particular portion of the Mass, notwithstanding of the fact that I made it entirely clear that the only way in which I could take on this assignment would be if I am free to write it from my Jewish perspective.
There exists, in fact, a text that articulates many of the same beliefs as does the Credo of the traditional Latin Mass. Known as the Principles of Faith by Maimonides (1135–1205), each of its thirteen statements begins with the words “I believe (Ani Ma’amin) with perfect faith, that the creator, blessed be his name…,” proceeding onwards to pronounce God as the maker of all things; the only one; free from all properties of matter and form; the first and the last; and so on. This is a text that an orthodox Jew says in the morning as part of the weekday service.
It would have been certainly possible for me to write a Jewish version of the Credo, using this text alone. It is beautiful and majestic, and it has universal meaning that resonates with the Credo as well.
Almost as soon as I began imagining my compositional journey, though, it became clear to me that I wanted for this Credo/Ani Ma’amin to go beyond being a declaration of principles, however powerful, lofty, and compelling. In the relatively short space of time assigned for the Credo, I wanted my piece to probe into the meaning of Faith.
What does it really mean to say “I believe in God”? It was important, I felt, that my Credo/Ani Ma’amin also address the challenges of faith in the face of extreme adversity, and do so from a perspective rooted in Jewish experience.
My work begins with the Latin text, then gives way to its English parallel, followed by a setting in Hebrew of the first five of the thirteen Ani Ma’amin principles. Where the Ani Ma’amin speaks of God being the only one worthy of prayer, other prayers from the Jewish canon are briefly introduced, gradually flowing into the work’s second part, with a series of short Testaments and Reflections using texts written during, and about, the Holocaust, and one following 9/11. The work concludes with a brief Hosanna (a word rooted in the Hebrew language), stressing through the multiplicity of languages a common thread of the endurance of the noblest in the human spirit, in the name of the Almighty.
—Shulamit Ran
INFORMATION
Commissioned by Chanticleer
for And on Earth, Peace: a Chanticleer Mass
Premiere:
April 26, 2007
Chanticleer
Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City
Duration:
Full version c. 18’
Abridged version c. 12’