Symphony of Psalms was the product of Igor Stravinsky’s efforts to grant his friend Serge Kussevitzsky’s request for a symphony that would honor the fiftieth anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930.
Stravinsky’s dramatic works Oedipus Rex and Apollo paved the way for Symphony of Psalms. The former works were similar to his religious works in their splendor and musical composition even though pagan in subject matter.
The dedication to the Boston Orchestra was: "Cette Symphonie composée à la glorie de Dieu...". Stravinsky's faith was in full bloom when he wrote the Symphony of Psalms. This was attested by the fact that he was a regular communicant of the Orthodox Church in 1926.
Inspiration of the Symphony of Psalms
The Symphony of Psalms was wrenched from the author’s soul. It represented his efforts to explicitly express his faith and desire to pay tribute to God. The resulting effect was a highly dramatic work that evoked man’s inner longings for the everlasting arms of God.
The fact that he was a pious believer did not imply that the work should be viewed as a personal confession of faith. Symphony of Psalms is the projection of Stravinsky's own faith which typifies the faith of a devoted congregation. Because of that, Symphony of Psalms never lost its sense of drama.
In the Symphony of Psalms, Stravinsky used three of David's Psalms, in the Latin version of the Vulgate. He presents them in consonance with the spirit exhibited in the Old Testament. Before Christ came and earned salvation for men, man's relation to God, as shown in the sacred Mosaic texts, is incomplete.
The grace which comes from God can only be won for the Christians through the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. But even under such circumstances, attaining grace is still possible at certain very special moments. It is only on such occasions of perfect grace that faith enables to help us get rid of all the problems of existence, to dissolve the dramatic tensions of human life, and to calm the turmoil of the spirit.
In the absence of grace, faith is only able to offer us consolation as it grants prayer and invocation, thus giving us deeper awareness on the emotional level where the dramatic tone of alternate struggle and passivity of the Old Testament and the pain and suffering of life are real and common.
The Three Movements
Symphony of Psalms is actually comprised of three movements, but there is no gap or abrupt change in each movement, which follow one upon the other. He stressed that `it is not a symphony on which I have included Psalms to be sung. On the contrary, it is the singing of the Psalms that I am symphonizing' which was apparent in the way he treated the voices, like the way he treated the orchestra musically.
Stravinsky wrote the third movement first, which is dated April 27, 1930 where an inscription, `a week after Ascension,' is found. The first movement was finished on August 15th, `Assumption Day in the Roman Church'.
The second movement was finished on July 17. Stravinsky attached `a drawing of the Crucifixion' into his sketchbook, and wrote on it the following: `Adveniat regnum tuum'; and in an interview in May 1930 he stated that `the more one separates oneself from the canons of the Christian Church, the further one distances oneself from the truth,' but also `the overflowing of the framework in art testifies to a lack of internal discipline, which weakens the work.'
Form not Standard 19th Centuray Symphony
Stravinsky did not intend to imitate the standard nineteenth century symphony, comprised of four distinct movements. Even before Symphony of Psalms, he was able to produce a special symphonic form for the Symphonies of Wind Instruments whereby several periodic episodes were connected to form a single movement. His wanted the Symphony of Psalms to be an original symphonic work performed on a grandiose scale without adhering to conventions.
He wanted `to create an organic whole without conforming to the various models adopted by custom, but still retaining the periodic order by which the symphony is distinguished from the suite' (Craft, Chronology of a Friendship).
When Stravinsky called his previous work Symphonies of Wind Instruments instead of Symphonies for Wind Instruments, he actually meant to emphasize the initial meaning of the word symphony, which is to bring together various instruments to produce a single sound. The symphony later pertains to a four-movement work with a particular structure. This is also apparent in his work Symphony in Three Movements.
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