De Rerum Natura for narrator and Orchestra by Thérèse Brenet

Musik Fabrik has just published Thérèse Brenet's De Rerum Natura for Orchestra (2(pic)222/4330/Timp/2perc/hp/pn/strings)with narrator The work is in five movements and lasts eleven minutes. From the composer's notes for the work :

De Rerum Natura a was inspired by a passage by Lucretius, a long and ample phrase, which is divided into five sequences to illustrate the five movements of this piece for orchestra.

I. When, looking upwards, we meditate on the celestial spaces of this vast World et the fixed stars which shine in the ether and when our thoughts are drawn to the paths of the Moon and the Sun...
II. ...then, an anguish which had been hidden in our heart by other worries, is awoken...
III. ...Would there not, just in front of us, the gods who with an infinite power cause the varied movement of the white stars? Given up to doubt by the ignorance of causes, the spirit wonders if there was a beginning, a birth of the World.
IV. ...if there must be en end, and when the ramparts of the World must accept the weariness of this troublesome movement...
V. ...or rather if, given an eternal existence by the gods, they may continue their paths in the infinity of Time and thus defy the effort of the immense duration.
(Lucrce, De rerum natura. V. 1204-1216)

The work begins with three trumpets whose melodies, which sometimes use quarter-tones, make an oblique reference to the purity of Gregorian chant which rises and falls and seems to represent the poet’s invitation to turn our eyes towards the sky.

Then an aleatoric sequence is superimposed on the trumpets et while this unorganised passage could shock, it seemed that this technique evoked perfectly the movements of the stars, the complex network of paths of the different solar sphères. Against this aleatoric background, the trumpets appear two more times, which reminds of the poet’s thoughts and his emotion on contemplating the infinite.

In the second movement, which avoids all notion of development, Thérèse Brenet sought an extreme concision, which seeks to create a dramatic tension and the sense of the poet’s anguish. The massed strings and winds seem to attract and repulse with a great violence. Each effort, each crescendo gives a sense of collision and collapse of the musical materail in an eternal violent rocking .

In the score of the third piece, the author gave the following indication for the strings : "Consider that the written pitches are approximate and avoid as much as possible the impression of a diatonic system One should try to mimic the inflictions of the spoken or screamed voice, playing with the heavy and rough character that one can obtain with the double-stops ».
Superimposed on this rough and acid sound in the strings, are dry, accented chords in the brass. The two elements are progressively brought to a crescendo which is not completely realized.

The fourth movement , which is very dark in character, is made up of a single chord in the strings which is repeated in order to take on a full texture. The oboes attempt to announce a theme which cannot be quite distinguished out of the dense string texture. The condensed, static and meditative nature creates a feeling of suspension which prepares the last movement.

The fifth movement uses a rocking motif in which the massed brass and strings, each with its own incompatible rhythm, seems to crash together and to each impose its proper movement in an eternal process. The idea of eternity is central to this work. Ordinarily, works have an ending. This one does not, as a symbolic means of expressing this eternal movement by the author. The final bar is omitted from the score and the last few measure are combined in a repeated sequence which can be played without end, with a diminuendo in which one will never completely realise the final limits.,

In this same movement, the expression sempre crescendo is used a number of times. Of course, there comes a moment in which it is no longer possible, except for perhaps the percussion instruments, to play louder, but one can give the illusion of a crescendo by the obsessive repetition, the growing tension et the oppressive character without having to increase the true amount of decibles. In this manner, the instruments will be able to go to the limits of their possibilities and then maintain this level, so that one will have the impression at each measure that the orchestra is playing as loudly as possible and that the next measure will create the illusion that it is indeed louder.

In this work, the composer wanted to establish a parallel between Lucretius‘ revolutionary ideas about the Latin language and her own work in building her individual musical language. Apart from Lucretius’ poetic breath and expression, Lucretius tries to resolve what he perceives as the poor quality of his native language - patrii sermonais egestas - especially compared to the rich vocabulary of Greek by trying to create new words and new combinations of words. He uses a system in which different non-grammatically correct ordering of words are used to create new ideas or images. This process may be compared to the musical idea of separating certain sounds which may naturally attract. While this notion is completely natural in a tonal system, it is perhaps less apparent when used in an atonal texture.

"That which perhaps characterises best the poetry of Lecretius is the admirable sensation of the Infinite which he evokes many times with weight...He is never as great as when he brings us into the mysterious regions outside of all limits when he breaks down the « walls of the world » and in the shining of a pure light, contemplates from afar both our miserable World and also the Infinite Space of the Cosmos.".
Henri Clouard. Lucrèce De la Nature des Choses, introduction, p. 10.

The score is available for sale in our score catalog. The orchestral parts are on rental.