Although Lili Boulanger (1893-1918) is considered one of the most important French composers of the early 20th century, her music is rarely performed. On Friday 10 November Du fond de l'abîme in the AVROTROS Friday concert. A godsend, because this setting of psalm 130 is of a throat-snapping beauty. Boulanger completed the piece in 1917, a year before her death. American conductor James Gaffigan leads the Groot Omroepkoor and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert will be broadcast live on Radio 4.
The first - and only - time I Du fond de l'abîme heard live was in 1993. Back then, the aforementioned broadcasting ensembles were conducted by Ed Spanjaard at the Concertgebouw. I was studying musicology but no teacher had ever mentioned Lili Boulanger's name. Even during the rest of my studies, zero attention was paid to her. But what music! Du fond de l'abîme is a powerful, intense lament of a man in search of a glimmer of light. I still remember how I felt my hair roots tingling during the performance and got goosebumps time and again.
Sickening but ironclad
Lili Boulanger was born in Paris in 1893, the daughter of Russian princess and singer Raïssa Mischetzky and French composer Ernest Boulanger. Even at the age of two, she proved to have an amazing musical talent, which was nurtured by her parents. At the same age, however, she contracted pneumonia that severely damaged her immune system. Throughout her life, Boulanger would remain sickly and dependent on the care of others.
Therefore, she received mainly private tuition, from her parents and her six-year-old sister Nadia. Even before she was five, she regularly accompanied Nadia to her classes at the Paris Conservatoire. There she also took music theory and studied organ with Louis Vierne. In addition, she specialised in singing and learned to play the violin, cello and harp. She compensated for her delicate constitution with an iron perseverance and realised an impressive oeuvre in her short life.
Vocal music
Boulanger received composition lessons from George Caussade and Gabriel Fauré, among others. The latter in particular was deeply impressed by her talent and often brought her songs. She studied these carefully and also wrote a lot of vocal music herself. Her purely instrumental compositions equally excel in melodiousness. After Nadia had made several fruitless attempts to win the Prix de Rome, Lili decided to take a gamble. Family honour was at stake as their father had won this coveted composition prize in 1835.
Her first attempt failed but in 1913 her cantata was Faust et Hélène then awarded anyway. Le Monde Musical wrote: 'Her work stands out far above the others. It grips everyone, even on first acquaintance.' Despite her poor health, she left for Rome to work for a year at the Villa Medici. She also signed a contract with the renowned Italian publisher Ricordi.
Socially engaged
The outbreak of World War I forced Boulanger to return to Paris. There she founded the Comité Franco-Américain du Conservatoire National. Together with her sister, she raised funds for this to support musicians at the front materially and morally. She also expressed her commitment to the fate of soldiers musically. For instance in Pour les funérailles d'un soldat for baritone, choir and piano 3-hands. In it, the funeral of a soldier is sung, including the accompanying tribute.
In 1916, Lili Boulanger again went to the Villa Medici in Rome. There she began work on the opera La princesse Maleine, based on a fairy tale in which war plays a central role. She did not manage to complete it, but did compose the famous Vieille Prière Bouddique. The Buddhist text begs for freedom and tolerance among people. In particular, he asks for the peaceful coexistence of Aryan and non-Aryan people. - As if Boulanger already foresaw the calamity of World War I during World War II.
Composing with death on your heels
Because of an outbreak of intestinal tuberculosis that had plagued her for years, she had to return to Paris again in mid-1916. From then on, she knew she did not have long to live. Although she was confined to her bed almost continuously, she kept on working, with admirable perseverance. She dictated her notes to Nadia and completed her setting of psalm 130 in 1917, Du fond de l'abîme.
She dedicated this moving work for alto, tenor, two choirs, organ and orchestra to her father, whom she had lost when she was six; Ernest Boulanger was already 77 when Lili was born. She never quite recovered from the grief over this and also found its way into Du fond de l'abîme ('From the depths I cry to you, oh Lord'). The deeply felt and powerfully expressed despair clearly betrays its Russian roots. In sound beauty, the music rivals Debussy's best works.
The piece opens with dark harmonies and ominously rumbling timpani; a tuba and a cello play a Gregorian melody. Hurried rhythms and solid dissonances suggest despair and rage at the same time. Heartbreaking are the choir's exclamations to the names 'Yahweh', and 'Adonai'. It is impossible not to be carried away by these highly personal heart cries, which wash through the concert hall like a tidal wave. With Du fond de l'abîme Lili Boulanger wrote her own requiem, as it were. Not long after completion, she died, aged only 24.
TivoliVredenburg, Friday 10 November 8.15pm Introduction 7.30pm Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Great Broadcasting Choir James Gaffigan conductor Maartje Rammeloo soprano Judit Kotasi, mezzo-soprano Fabio Trumpy tenor Andre Morsch bass Ives: Symphony no. 3 The Camp Meeting Boulanger: Du fond de l'abîme (De Profundis) Schubert: Stabat Mater More info and tickets
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