Le Laudi

Le Laudi di San Francesco d' Assisi ( briefly also " Le Laudi " ) is the title of an oratorio by the Swiss composer Hermann Suter ( 1870-1926 ), which was premiered in 1924. The published as Op 25 business is one of Suter's most important works and is listed on a regular basis, especially in his home country.

Formation

The oratorio Le Laudi di San Francesco d' Assisi composed Hermann Suter occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Basel Choral Society, to whom he dedicated the work. It was created in the summer of 1923 in Sils im Engadin, where Suter spent the holidays. The Italian text basis is the Canticle del Sole ( Canticle ) of Francis of Assisi ( 1182-1226 ).

Instrumentation and Duration

The work is - according to its original subtitle Canticle creature by coro, solo, voci di ragazzi, organo ed orchestra - for four solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), choir, children's choir, organ and orchestra set. The performance lasts about 70 minutes.

Design and Music

Suter divided the Canticle in nine sets:

The work is particularly the New German School in the late-Romantic tradition. In its tonal system it appears unaffected by the rise of the emergence time twelve-tone technique. Suter took a colorful range of musical means, ranging from Gregorian chant to Impressionism and also includes elements soundcolouring ( the sparkle of the stars in the second sentence, the roar of the wind in the third sentence, the gurgle of the water in the 4th set and the blaze of fire and Stieben the spark in the fifth set). Polyphony and counterpoint are used artfully (including quadruple fugue in the third set, Passacaglia in the fifth set).

Premiere and reception

The premiere of Le Laudi di San Francesco d' Assisi was on 13 June 1924 in Basel under Hermann Suter's line instead. In the same year it was published under the opus number 25 from the publisher Hug. In addition to his Violin Concerto in particular made ​​the oratorio Le Laudi Suter's name also beyond Switzerland known. Wilhelm Furtwängler conducted the work on January 20, 1926 in Vienna, 8 years later, it led the cantor of St. Thomas Karl Straube on in Leipzig. To date, there is a continuous performance tradition, particularly in Switzerland. The work was repeatedly recorded on tape, in the early 1990s about under the direction of Theo Loosli for the label Ars Musici and András Ligeti under the label MGB.