Eternity’s Sunrise

by John Tavener

I shared in the image of God, but did not keep it safe; the Lord shares in my flesh, so as to save the image, and to make the flesh immortal.

St. Gregory of Nazianzus

My first ideas for Eternity’s Sunrise came to me in January 1997, soon after my father’s death. These ideas were taken up again in September the same year, in response to a commission from The Academy of Ancient Music, which happened soon after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. There is no such thing as accident or coincidence, so I dedicated my piece to the memory of the Princess.

The concept of solo soprano (representing earth) at ground level, handbells (representing the angels) at an intermediate Position, and the main baroque ensemble (representing heaven) at a high level, fitted exactly with the Blake text which I had decided to set. When seen as things truly are, the earth is a mirror of the Eternal World, and, when seen correctly, it is possible in this world to live in Eternity’s sunrise. God does not exist in the world, and yet at the same time He is reflected in it, giving it form and structure. The music should be played with quiet joy, as a day of sunshine and calm, full of gentleness and radiance.

To see a World In a Grain of Sand, Alleluia
He who kisses the joy as It files,
And a Heaven In a Wild Flower, Alleluia
Lives In Eternity’s sunrise.
Hold Infinity In the palm of your hand Alleluia
He who kisses the joy as It flies,
And Eternity In an hour, Alleluia
Lives In Eternity’s sunrise.

from Auguries of Innocence, 1800–10,
and Eternity, 1793–99,
by William Blake (1757–1827)

(Excerpt from John Tavener’s notes to his Eternity’s Sunrise, reproduced by kind permission of Harmonia Mundi USA).

This is what John Tavener and Paul Goodwin had to say about their collaboration on the newly released Eternity’s Sunrise in 1998.

John Tavener

In one sense, all the music on this CD confronts Death, Love, and Eternity: death of a beloved father in Funeral Canticle; Sappho’s exquisite longings for her love in Sappho: Lyrical Fragments; and Seferis showing his long Odyssean voyage on rotten timbers to those islands ever so slightly out of reach in Petra. And, then, the mystery of Eternity: Blake’s Eterity’s Sunrise and the Song of the Angel.

Perhaps, one could say that all the music and texts on this disc aspire to the words of St. Isaac the Syrian: ‘When we reach love, we have reached God; our road is ended and we have crossed to the Island which is beyond the world.’

Paul Goodwin

When we discussed this recording, John suggested that we include his two a cappella pieces written in memory of his father as a perfect partner to Eterity’s Sunrise. He has since made them into one continuous piece and added string parts so that they now make up the wonderfully calm and mesmeric Funeral Canticle.

I chose the other pieces heard here because I felt something special would be added by performance on baroque instruments. All are recent compositions except the evocative settings of the lyrical poetry fragments of Sappho. This piece is a serial composition written in 1980 and offers a complete change of style: colourful, dramatic, sensuous, and full of exquisite word Painting and fantasy. This is the only piece that I have had to adapt in any way for baroque instruments, simply redistributing the parts and adding a lute, whose folk-like qualities John thought completely appropriate to the text. We were also lucky enough to have the composer at our rehearsal sessions and, during this time, he helped to transform the piece into one that had complete unity with the colours of baroque instruments, and indeed it has become a piece of an altogether different and more subtle character.

As for the question of why modern music for early instruments, the answer is two-fold. First, however hard we in the Early Music movement try to achieve the sounds and techniques of the past, we can never escape the fact that ultimately we see everything through 20th century eyes and, therefore, represent a late 20th century musical movement. Appealing as we do to today’s audiences, it seems to me purely logical to have the music of today written for us. Second, the sound of baroque instruments is very different from that of their modern counterparts and, with their particular colours, blends, and flexibility, they offer the modern composer a new and exciting sound world.

(These notes are reproduced here by kind permission of Harmonia Mundi USA).

Tavener reviewed — BBC Music Magazine

Tavener
Eternity’s Sunrise; Song of the Angel; Petra: A Ritual Dream; Sappho: Lyrical fragments; Funeral Canticle.
Patricia Rozario, Julia Gooding (soprano), George Mosley (baritone), Andrew Manze (violin); The Choir and Orchestra of The Academy of Ancient Music/Paul Goodwin Harmonia Mundi HMU 907231
65:03 mins

It seemed a bizarre combination at first: the music of one of Britain’s most popular living composers performed by one of its most renowned early music groups. But the disc soon convinced me otherwise: the sparer, leaner textures of gut strings, lute and Baroque flute actually enhance the ritualistic nature of Tavener’s music, and Goodwin draws moving and disciplined performances from his forces.

Eternity’s Sunrise (1997), a 25th birthday commission from AAM, is an immediately attractive piece, very Eastern sounding with its plucked strings, harp and bells. So slowly and melismatically is William Blake’s text set that Rozario’s exquisitely high, pure soprano line could just as well be wordless. What comes across most powerfully is the music’s calm, ecstatic quality, given shape by recurring figures and an underlying strophic form.

The disc which developed from this commission offers a chance to hear three other recent Tavener works not otherwise available in the catalogue, all typical of the religious simplicity that has become his hallmark. In addition, Sappho (1981), written in hospital after a stroke at the age of 36 left the composer temporarily paralysed, shows something of his earlier, more complex instrumental writing and loosely serial style.

Janet Banks, reproduced here by kind permission of the BBC music Magazine.