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Frank Martin's Oratorio, In Terra Pax Performed in Zurich

Nov. 29, 2023

On November 12, the Zürcher Bach Chor, Basler Münsterkantorei, and the Sinfonisches Orchester Schweiz joined forces under the baton of Annedore Neufeld, to perform Frank Martin's oratorio breve, In Terra Pax. 

The composer described the genesis of this captivating work:

"Already at the beginning of the summer of 1944, while the war was still ongoing, Mr. René Dovaz, director of Radio Geneva, asked me to write a choral work that would be broadcast immediately after the end of hostilities was announced. Of course, it could only be a religious work. This request filled me with joy, but perhaps even more with fear. For I had to have before my eyes not only the idea of ​​war and peace and the expression of all suffering and all joy but also the feeling of the people at the moment of this tremendous relief, this momentary intoxication that this wonderful news must have caused. Nay, what is more, it was quite impossible to foresee what form this great event would take. Only one thing was certain: hostilities would cease. So in the summer of 1944, looking forward to the long-awaited hour, I was supposed to conjure up: the exuberant joy of the moment, the fear of the future, the infinite sadness everywhere, the devastation of war.

I decided to compose my work in four parts and search the Bible for suitable texts. The first part deals with the war itself, which the prophets see as the result of God's wrath. The second brings the announcement of liberation, the outburst of joy of a people who feel within themselves a renewed hope and new life. The third part introduces a completely new idea: the idea of ​​Christ. It is largely taken from the prophecies of Isaiah, who describes the servant of the Eternal God as one despised, a lamb led to the slaughter. This text contains answers through some of Christ's statements that insist on the need for forgiveness and love, conditions for true peace. The choir then ends with the Our Father. Finally, the fourth part, freeing itself from worldly affairs, invokes the new heaven and the new earth, where all tears will be dried, where there will be no more cries, no more suffering. It ends with the mystical statement: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God.”

I don't think that, while composing this oratorio, I ever had any illusions about the kind of peace that would follow the end of the war. But this lack of illusion could not prevent me from trying to express the transition from deep despair to hope for a bright future. And that meant that I expressed in Christ's words the absolute demand for forgiveness - as contained in his teaching - without which real peace is incomprehensible. But this demand is so great that its general realization on earth is inconceivable without the miracle of a complete transformation of human thinking and feeling. So for us, true peace can only be a hope, a destiny, a faith, a bridge that is built into an uncertain future, a future that we have to imagine, even if we do not believe in its material and earthly realization can believe.

In this way, I believed, the end of hostilities could be celebrated, apart from the very natural and spontaneous expressions of joy of thousands who walked through the streets waving flags. It is, if you will, a work for a specific occasion. I myself have never thought of it as such: the problems posed by war and peace are eternal. There are not only military wars, and isn't peace a constant longing of our souls?"


Frank Martin/In terra pax: X. Part III: Notre Pere, qui es aux cieux: Adagio/Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus/
Munich Radio Orchestra /Marcello Viotti, conductor)

To learn more about Frank Martin, visit universaledition.com.

Frank Martin
In Terra Pax (1944)
oratorio breve
for soloists, two mixed choirs (SATB), and orchestra
text (Ger/Fr) from the Bible
2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp-5perc-cel-2pno-str
43'

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