The Devils of Loudun (opera)
Encyclopedia
The Devils of Loudun is an opera
in three acts written in between 1968-69 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki
. The work was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera
, which consequently gave the premiere on June 20, 1969. Only 48 hours afterwards, the opera received its second performance in Stuttgart
, followed two months later by its American debut mounted by the Santa Fe Opera
. The work was subsequently revised in 1972 following suggestions by the Polish
theatre director, Kazimierz Dejmek
. This new version included two new scenes, the exclusion of a scene from the opera’s first act, the regrouping of other scenes, and the modification on the first act’s instrumentation. Later, in 1975, Penderecki added two more scenes in the second act. Hence, today, performances of The Devils of Loudun generally follow the 1975 revised edition.
The Devils of Loudun, the first and most popular of Penderecki’s operas, is emblematic of the composer’s interest in historical events of traumatic nature. As suggested by its title, the opera draws its story line from the 1632-38 mass demonic possession
in the town of Loudun
, France. However, rather than a narrative of these historical events, the opera underscores a more general dichotomy between central and local power, and thus provides a political commentary, denouncing thereof the iniquities committed by the totalitarian states of the mid-twentieth century. Accordingly, the opera thematic construct should be regarded as allegorical rather than merely historical.
The world premiere, which was given at the Staatsoper, Hamburg
on 20 June 1969, received mixed reviews. However, the general consensus among critics was that the work was not a huge success. A critic, who saw the world premiere performance of the work in Hamburg, wrote that the various sounds effects (i.e. cries, laughter, roars, etc), large glissandons in orchestra, tone clusters, and pitches at extreme ends of instruments’ ranges were used merely to produce atmosphere instead of creating a dramatic effect. After seeing a Hamburg production of the opera, another critic even questioned whether Penderecki was truly interested in the piece. Positive reviews of the production were mostly on the libretto’s intriguing nature.
The next performance, which was given only two days after its Hamburg world premiere, was held in Stuttgart, Germany. Critics agreed almost unanimously that the Stuttgart production of the opera was far superior to the Hamburg production. The Stuttgart audience was pleased by the daring staging and thought it was a thrilling piece of contemporary music. The Stuttgart production of the opera, however, received some negative reviews as well. A critic, who said the presentation was marked by sensation and grandiosity, commented that the music was indescribably boring.
Outside of Hamburg and Stuttgart, the opera received positive reviews in other German cities like Berlin
, Cologne
, Munich
, and Mönchengladbach
. For example, a slightly revised version of The Devils of Loudun was performed in West Berlin
in 1970. A critic, who saw the performance, wrote that the presentation was "an electrifying unforgettable experience." In 1980, a little more than ten years after the world premiere, The Devils of Loudun received generally cruel reviews in Cologne. A critic admits that the work was convincingly performed but thought the compositional originality was completely lacking. Another critic, after seeing the Cologne production, even wondered if the opera really deserved to remain in the repertoire.
In Austria
, critics and audience reacted lukewarmly to the premiere of the work in 1971. Some thought the music was tedious and lacked the good measure of the sensational, on which the success of Penderecki’s opera depends. The second performance of the opera in Graz
was greeted by a half-empty hall of audience. Another critic in Graz said that the opera only conveys the story line and does not create much dramatic impact until it becomes musically more interesting in the final act.
In Penderecki’s native country Poland
, the first performance, which was held in Warsaw
six years after its world premiere in 1969 and considerably less risqué, received generally very negative reviews. Even the composer himself did not think the work was performed successfully. In May 1998, almost twenty years after the world premiere of the opera, a critic commented that the work was artistically successful, but musically was less successful. The same critic, after seeing a performance of the opera in Poznan
, also suggested that the work could even be called "anti-opera."
The French premiere of the opera in 1972 was rather disastrous; the performance was greeted with orange peels, turnips, leeks, cat-calls, and foot-stamping. Marseilles production of the opera, however, was praised for its set design and performers.
The British premiere in 1974, given by the Sadler’s Wells Company, was not a great success either; the British critics were mostly unimpressed with the performance. The staging and the performers were praised, but the music was criticized for lack of drama and the libretto for its failure to arouse pity in the audience. One critic even cruelly wondered whether the Company’s sparkling performance was worth the effort, given the poor quality of the music. However, a different critic thought the piece was a compelling form of musical theatre.
The Devils of Loudun was performed in other European countries such as Italy
, Switzerland
, Portugal
, etc as well. The reviews were mixed again. The Italian premiere given in Triste in 1974 was praised. In Lisbon
, the performance was met with enthusiastic applause in 1976. In 1979, the Swiss premiere of the opera was given in Geneva
by the Stuttgart Opera, and the overall impression of the performance was positive; even though a critic said that the libretto and the music failed to maintain the audience’s interest, the high quality of staging and the performers made the presentation a positive experience.
The U.S. premiere of The Devils of Loudun, which was given by Santa Fe Opera
in 1969, received more negative reviews than positive ones. A critic, who attended the performance, praised its staging but thought its music failed to support the issues or events occurring on stage. Another critic wrote that the music did not have the ability to hold drama for a long period of time. A different critic even thought that the music was more appropriate for soundtrack than an opera. Even with these criticisms, the opera received better reviews in the U.S. than in Europe
. Especially, the staging in the U.S. praised over the staging in Europe.
The opera was recorded in 1971. The recording of The Devils of Loudun received mixed reviews as well. One critic wrote that "the music is always striking, its style eclectic, and its images mesmerizing." However, there were critics who disagreed by saying that the piece was made for an electronic medium rather than for an orchestra. The music was also accused of harmonically static and lacking distinctive melodies.
Sister Jeanne, the abbess of the Ursuline
convent in Loudun, is having night visions in which Father Grandier, the Vicar of St. Peter’s Church, appears wearing a heretic shirt with a rope around his neck as he is escorted by two guards. This dreadful image of the parish priest is followed by another one; in this instance, however, Grandier rests in the arms of a woman. These macabre visions let Sister Jeanne, among other convent nuns, to the belief that they had been possessed by the devil, and thus to eventually confesses her visions to Father Mignon. In the meantime, Father Grandier’s unchaste life is disclosed through his relationships with Ninon (a widow), and Philippe (a young woman). Furthermore, Grandier assures his fatal destiny by opposing the decree to demolish the city’s fortifications put forth by the King and the powerful Cardinal Richelieu. The act comes to a close with the exorcism of Sister Jeanne performed by Barré, the Vicar of Chinon. Barré asks Jeanne: what is your name? Jeanne, in a man’s voice, responds: Grandier.
Act 2:
Jeanne’s exorcism continues. This time, however, Barré is assisted by Father Mignon and Father Rangier; yet, the attempts to expel the devil are unsuccessful. Following, Grandier denies ever seeing Jeanne, and implores God to help her. Nonetheless, his words prove feeble as Jeanne claims that he had forced the Ursuline nuns to practice black magic. The situation becomes even more convoluted when Phillip informs Grandier that she is bearing his child. Meanwhile, the exorcisms continue now in public at St. Peter’s Church, where Grandier is arrested as he enters.
Act 3:
Grandier is held responsible for the demonical possessions of the Ursuline nuns, accused of conspiracy with the devil, and indicted for blasphemy and unchastity. He is, consequently, sentenced to public torture and death at stake. Grandier’s death thus becomes a realization of Jeanne’s visions. Finally, Jeanne comes to realize that her unanswered love for Grandier was the cause of her possession.
For his first and experimental opera, Penderecki chose a story about a sensational scandal that happened in France long before his time. Surely, the story was stimulating enough to catch the attention of the audience. Moreover, it has a stronger connection with the audience below the surface; in a deeper level, the psychological aspects of the story make allusions to various historical events and tendencies in the society and its people of the time. In The Devils of Loudun, the social outsider, Grandier, struggles alone against intolerance, fanaticism, and organized violence of the society. Tuchowski shows various ways that the psychological subtleties of the relationships between value systems (i.e. religious or political organizations, etc.) and an outsider in this work could be analyzed.
First of all, there is the conflict between a social outcast and the unforgiving society. The opera ends with Grandiers’s death, which was facilitated by the society’s intolerance for an outsider. In the midst of the nuns proclaiming to have been possessed in order to make excuses for their misbehavior, Grandier, who claims to be innocent, stands out as a non-conforming social outcast. He has many qualities that distinguish him from others: his outstanding intelligence and good looks that incur the hatred and jealousy of some local notables; his sexual attractiveness that results in Jeanne’s obsessions and accusations; his disobedience to the political powers that proves fatal in the process of his destruction. Most of the time, a non-conforming social outsider must face an atmosphere of intolerance, fanaticism or at least indifference in the society. This common phenomenon of ostracizing the non-conforming member of the society works similarly in The Devils of Loudun; in the end, Grandier’s virtues and weaknesses alike, which make him unique, turn finally against him and bring him death.
Grandier’s death, however, was not a result easily granted. In value systems, anything unjustifiable or unofficial is usually considered void. As afore mentioned, the atmosphere of intolerance provides suitable conditions to eliminate an unwelcome individual. This atmosphere alone, however, is not enough to give permission to eliminate the individual; the most important ingredient needed for the removal of the unwanted is the official prosecution. In the process of bringing out this official persecution, the many unclean deeds by the authorities such as usurpation and manipulation of power come to light. For example, the martyrdom and death of Grandier reveals the ethical weakness of any absolute or totalitarian power.
In the eyes of the political authorities in the opera, the attractive and politically opposing Grandier could be seen as a threat to their power. The fact that Grandier is an outsider was a perfect reason for the authorities to eliminate him from the society. The society, however, could not murder this unwelcome figure simply out of hatred, because that would be illegal and would have no proper justification. In order to officially persecute Grandier, the society as a collectivity condemned him “evil,” which must be rid of. This form of injustice happened frequently in the 20th century. Perhaps the most notable example among many others is the mass murder of Jews by the Nazi Germany
. Penderecki is telling his audience that the official persecution of Grandier in the opera is the same injustice brought by the totalitarian states in the 20th century, only in a much smaller scale.
The composer then tries to explain the source of this injustice in the opera by demonstrating that the incompatibility between Christian ethic and Catholic
violence could become a basis of power. Based on his betrayal of faith among other misdeeds, it is difficult to label Grandier as a true Christian
. Moreover, the church authorities played the most important role in leading Grandier to his death. Grandier, however, is the most moral person that deserves to be called Christian in the world that the opera presents: a sickeningly corrupt and grotesque one. Tuchowski claims that Grandier’s moral victory is emphasized by clear references to Jesus Christ’s martyrdom.
The final scenes of the opera are obviously a reference to Christ’s Way of the Cross. Making this reference even stronger is the last scene of execution, with Father Barre’s Judas
-like kiss of betrayal and Grandier’s last words: Forgive them, forgive my enemies. Throughout the events of false accusations, Grandier does not fight against his enemies, who believe that violence committed in the name of Christianity
is justifiable. Moreover, Grandier does not hate his persecutors; he forgives them and accepts approaching death with dignity. Grandier’s and martyrdom and death show that in the imperfect world like ours, where violence exists in abundance, the inevitable conflict between Christian ethics (Grandier’s non-violence and sacrifice, etc.) and the organized violence (execution of the innocent, etc.) of the political authorities could be used to bring out results of injustice; in the case of Grandier, an undeserved death.
Presented in the midst of all the events are the various states of human psyche in different social settings. Grandier represents a psychologically complicated individual, full of internal contradictions. He is able to make judgments (although not always right) and stand for himself. The human psyche in a larger group setting, however, is dissimilar from its state in individualistic state and works differently. For example, the townsmen of Loudun, who are presumably all goodhearted as individuals, view the destruction of Grandier as a good show; and the nuns undergo a collective hysteria as they start believing their own made-up stories. In order to musically portray the variable human psyche, Penderecki made the voice parts sing in different styles in different social settings; For example, Sister Jeanne sings differently when she is singing to herself than when she is singing to other people. Penderecki portrays these various ways that human psyche works with the intention of alluding to the 20th-century totalitarian systems’ manipulation of the human mind. Because the manipulation is what they have experienced, Penderecki’s audience of the time must have found themselves engaged and connected to the work written in a novel language of sound.
The libretto
, written by the composer, is based on Erich Fried
’s German translation of John Whiting
’s dramatization of Aldous Huxley
’s essay The Devils of Loudun
. The employment of existing literature as the basis for the librettos was not exclusive to The Devils of Loudun; instead, it became the invariant among Penderecki’s four operas; namely Paradise Lost, Ubu Rex, and Die schwarze Maske. The libretto is written in German (although both Polish and English adaptations exist) and it is fashioned into a series of thirty two scenes, which proceed, from one to another, quasi cinematically.
The libretto to The Devils of Loudun refers to the mid-seventeen century’s events in Loudun, France, concerning the demonical possession of the Ursulinie nuns and their abbess, Mother Jeanne. A parish priest, Father Grandier
, was accused of the alleged possessions and indicted for conspiracy with Satan. Consequently, in August 1634, Father Grandier was sentenced to burn at the stake. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the underlying cause of Grandier’s fall was a political one, for the priest had secret alliances against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who planned to deprive Loudun of independence. The possessions continued for a number of years, yet Penderecki’s libretto comes to a closure with Grandier’s death for an obvious reason — Grandier is the main character of the opera, so with his death the opera ends.
The Loudun episode attracted the attention of composers, writers, historians, psychologists and the sort. The capacity of the events for generating a multiplicity of interpretations and intertwining religious elements with political ones granted the possibility of new plots, new compositions, and new answers. In addition to Penderecki, the theme of Loudun appealed to other Polish artists, including Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Romuald Twardowski.
Even though the libretto for The Devils of Loudun is based on Whiting’s play Demons, the two stories are fundamentally different. The libretto shortens, omits, and reorders some of the scenes of Whiting’s play. Most significant is the emotional and ideological dissimilarities of Penderecki’s and Whiting’s protagonist Grandier. Indeed, the Whiting’s Grandier and Penderecki’s Grandier are two different characters.
Whiting portrays Grandier as an existentialist, striving for self-destruction. His enemies and the political circumstances surrounding him are just tools helping him achieve his goal. Thus, the tragic fate of Whiting’s Grandier is not the doing of the society, but the result of his own actions. Furthermore, Edward Boniecki remarks that “Whiting’s protagonist is a living-dead.”
Penderecki’s libretto transforms Whiting’s existentialist Grandier into a hero and symbol of struggle against obscurantism. It does so by placing the priest’s actions into a different context, enabling a different interpretation of the events. From this perspective, Grandier’s obsession for self-destruction is reinterpreted as a desire for a martyr death. In fact, it is argued that Grandier represents a Christ-like figure, for both were unjustly accused, accepted their death, and forgave their torturers. Similarly, the fate of Penderecki’s Grandier is seen to be dominated by the context rather than by the individual. Penderecki’s Grandier is, in this sense, a victim of political conspiracy and of religious-political fanatics.
written in an expressionist style, conveying feelings of insanity and portraying the characters in psychotic states. In fact, The Devils of Loudun may be compared to Berg’s monumental expressionistic opera, Wozzeck
. “Penderecki’s flexible style, like Berg’s, is ideally suited to capture the essence of emotional states,” and thus develop several planes of expressive characterization.
The Devils of Loudun is written in Penderecki’s trademark textural style, which utilizes a number of textural and sonoric techniques, including wedges and group glissandos, microtonal clusters, a range of vibrato
s, extended instrumental techniques, and series of percussive effects. However, in The Devils of Loudun, Penderecki’s sonorism
is brought to new heights, serving now a crucial dramatic purpose. In effect, it is possible to conceive the opera’s drama as the sole opposition between Penderecki’s sound-mass and pointillistic styles.
Even though it is title as an opera, The Devils of Loudun’s dramatic style is influenced by other genres. While the use of chorus
, soloist, and orchestral fragments all adhere to the operatic tradition, the influence of theatrical genres is evident on the operas’ extensive use of speech. To this effect, the libretto, divided into 32 scenes, may also be regarded as a byproduct of a theatrical influence. In addition, it is possible to perceive some elements of comic opera
in the male-voice quartet at the end of the second act; while the reference to the Passion play
is obvious on the martyrdom figure of Grandier.
and one alto), two English horns
, an E♭ clarinet
, a double-bass clarinet, two alto saxophone
s, two baritone saxophone
s, three bassoons, a contrabassoon
, six horn
s, four B♭trumpet
s (alternating one D
trumpet), four trombone
s, two tuba
s, percussion (4 players), twenty violins, eight violas, eight celli, six basses
, harp
, piano
, harmonium
, organ
, and bass electric guitar
. The percussionists play timpani
, military drum, friction drum, bass drum
, slapstick, five wood blocks, ratchet, guiro
, bamboo scrapers, cymbals, six suspended cymbals, 2 tam-tams, 2 gongs, Javanese gong, triangle, tubular bells, church bell, sacring bells, musical saw, flexatone
, and siren (not mentioned in the instrumentation list at the beginning of the score).
Nonetheless, this extraordinarily large ensemble is used with great moderation by the composer. In particular, Penderecki exploits the use of chamber ensembles coupled by their correspondence of timbre quality and specific coloristic effect. With the resulting pallet of orchestral colors at his command, Penderecki is able to provide a musical commentary and thus determine the expressive quality of a given scene. While the smaller ensembles predominate through the work, Penderecki resources to the full ensemble resonance for dramatic effect, emphasizing this way the most emotionally charged scenes, such as the exorcisms of the Ursuline nuns and the death of Grandier.
The orchestration is written in cut-out score
format, that is with very little metrical guidelines, very few rests, and includes some aleatory
effects of notes and tone-clouds in approximate pitches. Penderecki's work-method at the time was to develop his musical ideas in various colored pencils and inks, although the final score does not use color-coding.
The Devils of Loudun calls for the use of a number of extended techniques on its instrumental writing. The use of such techniques is also for coloristic purposes. These extended techniques are evidently associated with specific notational symbols. Some of these techniques are: bowing in-between the bridge and the tailpiece
, bowing the right marrow side of the bridge, and bowing the string holder.
The illustrative music-action relationships are most evident in Penderecki’s use of performing forces. The comic and grotesque scenes are usually set in chamber music, characterized by pointillistic textures and discontinuous motifs. Furthermore, the chamber ensembles portrayed in these comic scenes often feature rather disjointed timber combinations, thus resulting in an overall comical effect. In the contrast, the music depicting the dramatic scenes is scored for larger forces, featuring thicker textures and darker tone colors. To achieve these dramatic massive textures, Penderecki relies on the use of stationary tones, glissandos, and various sound clusters. The chaotic sonorities, resulting from Penderecki’s sound-mass techniques, are used in particular to convey the demonical possession of Sister Jeanne.
While the composer depends on his instrumental writing for providing an expressive context to the actions, it is his use of many different vocal styles that enables a musical characterization of Father Grandier and Sister Jeanne. It is thus through these vocal lines that the characters’ moral, mental, and emotional states are judged. The correct literary style of Grandier is emphasized in the opera by the fluency of the recitative, its coherence with speech intonations and subdued expression. In addition, Grandier’s use of speech in the second act may be interpreted as representative of the protagonist’s sobriety. In contrast, Jeanne’s vocal style is very pointillist. The frequent leaps, changes of character, drastic dynamic changes, and glissando, characteristic of Jeanne’s vocal part, are emblematic of her hysteria and falseness. Furthermore, Jeanne’s demonical possession is underscored by the use of laughter, groans, and electronic distortion of her voice. From this viewpoint, it is unsurprising that Jeanne’s return to reality is marked with her use of regular speech, the vocal form earlier associated with Grandier’s soberness.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in three acts written in between 1968-69 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
. The work was commissioned by the Hamburg State Opera
Hamburg State Opera
The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...
, which consequently gave the premiere on June 20, 1969. Only 48 hours afterwards, the opera received its second performance in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, followed two months later by its American debut mounted by the Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
. The work was subsequently revised in 1972 following suggestions by the Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
theatre director, Kazimierz Dejmek
Kazimierz Dejmek
Kazimierz Dejmek was a Polish actor, theatre and film director, and politician. During his career he managed the Teatr Nowy in Łódź , the National Theatre, Warsaw, and the Teatr Polski, Warsaw. From 1993 to 1996 he served as Poland's Minister of Culture...
. This new version included two new scenes, the exclusion of a scene from the opera’s first act, the regrouping of other scenes, and the modification on the first act’s instrumentation. Later, in 1975, Penderecki added two more scenes in the second act. Hence, today, performances of The Devils of Loudun generally follow the 1975 revised edition.
The Devils of Loudun, the first and most popular of Penderecki’s operas, is emblematic of the composer’s interest in historical events of traumatic nature. As suggested by its title, the opera draws its story line from the 1632-38 mass demonic possession
Loudun Possessions
The Loudun possessions were a group of supposed demonic possessions which took place in Loudun, France, in 1634. This case involved the Ursuline nuns of Loudun who were allegedly visited and possessed by demons: Father Urbain Grandier was convicted of the crimes of sorcery, evil spells, and the...
in the town of Loudun
Loudun
Loudun is a commune in the Vienne department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.It is located south of the town of Chinon and 25 km to the east of the town Thouars...
, France. However, rather than a narrative of these historical events, the opera underscores a more general dichotomy between central and local power, and thus provides a political commentary, denouncing thereof the iniquities committed by the totalitarian states of the mid-twentieth century. Accordingly, the opera thematic construct should be regarded as allegorical rather than merely historical.
Performance history and reception
Based on the reviews listed in Cindy Bylander's Krzysztof Penderecki: a Bio-Bibliography, the reception of The Devils of Loudun varied. The opera received mixed reviews (mostly written around the same time and within a decade of the work’s completion) in European countries and the U.S.A. Even in the same city, there were different reactions to the work.Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
on 20 June 1969, received mixed reviews. However, the general consensus among critics was that the work was not a huge success. A critic, who saw the world premiere performance of the work in Hamburg, wrote that the various sounds effects (i.e. cries, laughter, roars, etc), large glissandons in orchestra, tone clusters, and pitches at extreme ends of instruments’ ranges were used merely to produce atmosphere instead of creating a dramatic effect. After seeing a Hamburg production of the opera, another critic even questioned whether Penderecki was truly interested in the piece. Positive reviews of the production were mostly on the libretto’s intriguing nature.
The next performance, which was given only two days after its Hamburg world premiere, was held in Stuttgart, Germany. Critics agreed almost unanimously that the Stuttgart production of the opera was far superior to the Hamburg production. The Stuttgart audience was pleased by the daring staging and thought it was a thrilling piece of contemporary music. The Stuttgart production of the opera, however, received some negative reviews as well. A critic, who said the presentation was marked by sensation and grandiosity, commented that the music was indescribably boring.
Outside of Hamburg and Stuttgart, the opera received positive reviews in other German cities like Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach , formerly known as Münchengladbach, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border....
. For example, a slightly revised version of The Devils of Loudun was performed in West Berlin
West Berlin
West Berlin was a political exclave that existed between 1949 and 1990. It comprised the western regions of Berlin, which were bordered by East Berlin and parts of East Germany. West Berlin consisted of the American, British, and French occupation sectors, which had been established in 1945...
in 1970. A critic, who saw the performance, wrote that the presentation was "an electrifying unforgettable experience." In 1980, a little more than ten years after the world premiere, The Devils of Loudun received generally cruel reviews in Cologne. A critic admits that the work was convincingly performed but thought the compositional originality was completely lacking. Another critic, after seeing the Cologne production, even wondered if the opera really deserved to remain in the repertoire.
In Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, critics and audience reacted lukewarmly to the premiere of the work in 1971. Some thought the music was tedious and lacked the good measure of the sensational, on which the success of Penderecki’s opera depends. The second performance of the opera in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
was greeted by a half-empty hall of audience. Another critic in Graz said that the opera only conveys the story line and does not create much dramatic impact until it becomes musically more interesting in the final act.
In Penderecki’s native country Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, the first performance, which was held in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
six years after its world premiere in 1969 and considerably less risqué, received generally very negative reviews. Even the composer himself did not think the work was performed successfully. In May 1998, almost twenty years after the world premiere of the opera, a critic commented that the work was artistically successful, but musically was less successful. The same critic, after seeing a performance of the opera in Poznan
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
, also suggested that the work could even be called "anti-opera."
The French premiere of the opera in 1972 was rather disastrous; the performance was greeted with orange peels, turnips, leeks, cat-calls, and foot-stamping. Marseilles production of the opera, however, was praised for its set design and performers.
The British premiere in 1974, given by the Sadler’s Wells Company, was not a great success either; the British critics were mostly unimpressed with the performance. The staging and the performers were praised, but the music was criticized for lack of drama and the libretto for its failure to arouse pity in the audience. One critic even cruelly wondered whether the Company’s sparkling performance was worth the effort, given the poor quality of the music. However, a different critic thought the piece was a compelling form of musical theatre.
The Devils of Loudun was performed in other European countries such as Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, etc as well. The reviews were mixed again. The Italian premiere given in Triste in 1974 was praised. In Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, the performance was met with enthusiastic applause in 1976. In 1979, the Swiss premiere of the opera was given in Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
by the Stuttgart Opera, and the overall impression of the performance was positive; even though a critic said that the libretto and the music failed to maintain the audience’s interest, the high quality of staging and the performers made the presentation a positive experience.
The U.S. premiere of The Devils of Loudun, which was given by Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
in 1969, received more negative reviews than positive ones. A critic, who attended the performance, praised its staging but thought its music failed to support the issues or events occurring on stage. Another critic wrote that the music did not have the ability to hold drama for a long period of time. A different critic even thought that the music was more appropriate for soundtrack than an opera. Even with these criticisms, the opera received better reviews in the U.S. than in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Especially, the staging in the U.S. praised over the staging in Europe.
The opera was recorded in 1971. The recording of The Devils of Loudun received mixed reviews as well. One critic wrote that "the music is always striking, its style eclectic, and its images mesmerizing." However, there were critics who disagreed by saying that the piece was made for an electronic medium rather than for an orchestra. The music was also accused of harmonically static and lacking distinctive melodies.
Roles
| Role | Voice type | Premiere cast, 20 June 1969 (Conductor: Henryk Czyż) |
|---|---|---|
| Jeanne, the prioress of St. Ursula’s Convent | dramatic soprano Soprano A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody... |
Tatiana Troyanos Tatiana Troyanos Tatiana Troyanos was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent.-Early life:... |
| Claire, Ursuline sister | mezzo-soprano Mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above... |
Cvetka Ahlin |
| Gabrielle, Ursuline sister | soprano | Helga Thieme |
| Louise, Ursuline sister | soprano | Ursula Boese |
| Philippe, a young girl | high lyric soprano | Ingeborg Krüger |
| Ninon, a young widow | contralto Contralto Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above... |
Elisabeth Steiner |
| Grandier, the vicar of St. Peter’s Church | baritone Baritone Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or... |
Andrzej Hiolski |
| Father Barré, the vicar of Chinon | bass Bass (voice type) A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C... |
Bernard Ładysz |
| de Laubardemont, the King’s special commissioner | tenor Tenor The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2... |
Helmuth Melchert |
| Father Rangier | basso profundo | Hans Sotin |
| Father Mignon, the Ursulines’ father confessor | tenor | Horst Wilhelm |
| Adam, a chemist | tenor | Kurt Marschner |
| Mannoury, a surgeon | baritone | Heinz Blankenburg |
| Prince Henri de Condé, the King’s special ambassador | baritone | William Workman |
| Father Ambrose, an old priest | bass | Ernst Wiemann |
| Asmodeus | bass | Arnold Van Mill |
| Bontemps, a gaoler | bass-baritone | Carl Schulz |
| d’Armagnac, the Mayor of Loudun | speaking part | Joachim Hess |
| de Cerisay, town judge | speaking part | Rolf Mamero |
| Clerk of the Count | speaking part | Franz-Rudolf Eckhardt |
| Ursuline nuns, Carmelites, people, children, guards, and soldiers | ||
Synopsis
Act 1:Sister Jeanne, the abbess of the Ursuline
Ursulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
convent in Loudun, is having night visions in which Father Grandier, the Vicar of St. Peter’s Church, appears wearing a heretic shirt with a rope around his neck as he is escorted by two guards. This dreadful image of the parish priest is followed by another one; in this instance, however, Grandier rests in the arms of a woman. These macabre visions let Sister Jeanne, among other convent nuns, to the belief that they had been possessed by the devil, and thus to eventually confesses her visions to Father Mignon. In the meantime, Father Grandier’s unchaste life is disclosed through his relationships with Ninon (a widow), and Philippe (a young woman). Furthermore, Grandier assures his fatal destiny by opposing the decree to demolish the city’s fortifications put forth by the King and the powerful Cardinal Richelieu. The act comes to a close with the exorcism of Sister Jeanne performed by Barré, the Vicar of Chinon. Barré asks Jeanne: what is your name? Jeanne, in a man’s voice, responds: Grandier.
Act 2:
Jeanne’s exorcism continues. This time, however, Barré is assisted by Father Mignon and Father Rangier; yet, the attempts to expel the devil are unsuccessful. Following, Grandier denies ever seeing Jeanne, and implores God to help her. Nonetheless, his words prove feeble as Jeanne claims that he had forced the Ursuline nuns to practice black magic. The situation becomes even more convoluted when Phillip informs Grandier that she is bearing his child. Meanwhile, the exorcisms continue now in public at St. Peter’s Church, where Grandier is arrested as he enters.
Act 3:
Grandier is held responsible for the demonical possessions of the Ursuline nuns, accused of conspiracy with the devil, and indicted for blasphemy and unchastity. He is, consequently, sentenced to public torture and death at stake. Grandier’s death thus becomes a realization of Jeanne’s visions. Finally, Jeanne comes to realize that her unanswered love for Grandier was the cause of her possession.
Interpretation
Andrzej Tuchowski states in Krzysztof Penderecki’s Music in the Context of the 20th Century Theater that the most interesting aspect of the opera is Penderecki’s sensitivity toward what goes on invisibly in the minds of almost all the characters in the opera: the psychological state of a socially ostracized individual, that of the society, that of the struggle between them, etc. This multi-layering of the psychological states corresponds to the general tendencies in the 20th-century music theatre, such as valuing the conflicts that occur in the inner world of the characters. Another tendency in the music of the time, according to Tuchowski, was a departure from the past; music started to sound less and less familiar to the ears of the audience. In order to sustain the interest of the listeners in the new foreign-sounding music, it became essential for composers to find a way to connect with the audience.For his first and experimental opera, Penderecki chose a story about a sensational scandal that happened in France long before his time. Surely, the story was stimulating enough to catch the attention of the audience. Moreover, it has a stronger connection with the audience below the surface; in a deeper level, the psychological aspects of the story make allusions to various historical events and tendencies in the society and its people of the time. In The Devils of Loudun, the social outsider, Grandier, struggles alone against intolerance, fanaticism, and organized violence of the society. Tuchowski shows various ways that the psychological subtleties of the relationships between value systems (i.e. religious or political organizations, etc.) and an outsider in this work could be analyzed.
Grandier’s death, however, was not a result easily granted. In value systems, anything unjustifiable or unofficial is usually considered void. As afore mentioned, the atmosphere of intolerance provides suitable conditions to eliminate an unwelcome individual. This atmosphere alone, however, is not enough to give permission to eliminate the individual; the most important ingredient needed for the removal of the unwanted is the official prosecution. In the process of bringing out this official persecution, the many unclean deeds by the authorities such as usurpation and manipulation of power come to light. For example, the martyrdom and death of Grandier reveals the ethical weakness of any absolute or totalitarian power.
In the eyes of the political authorities in the opera, the attractive and politically opposing Grandier could be seen as a threat to their power. The fact that Grandier is an outsider was a perfect reason for the authorities to eliminate him from the society. The society, however, could not murder this unwelcome figure simply out of hatred, because that would be illegal and would have no proper justification. In order to officially persecute Grandier, the society as a collectivity condemned him “evil,” which must be rid of. This form of injustice happened frequently in the 20th century. Perhaps the most notable example among many others is the mass murder of Jews by the Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Penderecki is telling his audience that the official persecution of Grandier in the opera is the same injustice brought by the totalitarian states in the 20th century, only in a much smaller scale.
The composer then tries to explain the source of this injustice in the opera by demonstrating that the incompatibility between Christian ethic and Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
violence could become a basis of power. Based on his betrayal of faith among other misdeeds, it is difficult to label Grandier as a true Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
. Moreover, the church authorities played the most important role in leading Grandier to his death. Grandier, however, is the most moral person that deserves to be called Christian in the world that the opera presents: a sickeningly corrupt and grotesque one. Tuchowski claims that Grandier’s moral victory is emphasized by clear references to Jesus Christ’s martyrdom.
The final scenes of the opera are obviously a reference to Christ’s Way of the Cross. Making this reference even stronger is the last scene of execution, with Father Barre’s Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
-like kiss of betrayal and Grandier’s last words: Forgive them, forgive my enemies. Throughout the events of false accusations, Grandier does not fight against his enemies, who believe that violence committed in the name of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
is justifiable. Moreover, Grandier does not hate his persecutors; he forgives them and accepts approaching death with dignity. Grandier’s and martyrdom and death show that in the imperfect world like ours, where violence exists in abundance, the inevitable conflict between Christian ethics (Grandier’s non-violence and sacrifice, etc.) and the organized violence (execution of the innocent, etc.) of the political authorities could be used to bring out results of injustice; in the case of Grandier, an undeserved death.
Presented in the midst of all the events are the various states of human psyche in different social settings. Grandier represents a psychologically complicated individual, full of internal contradictions. He is able to make judgments (although not always right) and stand for himself. The human psyche in a larger group setting, however, is dissimilar from its state in individualistic state and works differently. For example, the townsmen of Loudun, who are presumably all goodhearted as individuals, view the destruction of Grandier as a good show; and the nuns undergo a collective hysteria as they start believing their own made-up stories. In order to musically portray the variable human psyche, Penderecki made the voice parts sing in different styles in different social settings; For example, Sister Jeanne sings differently when she is singing to herself than when she is singing to other people. Penderecki portrays these various ways that human psyche works with the intention of alluding to the 20th-century totalitarian systems’ manipulation of the human mind. Because the manipulation is what they have experienced, Penderecki’s audience of the time must have found themselves engaged and connected to the work written in a novel language of sound.
Libretto
The libretto
Libretto
A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
, written by the composer, is based on Erich Fried
Erich Fried
Erich Fried , an Austrian poet who settled in England, was known for his political-minded poetry. He was also a broadcaster, translator and essayist....
’s German translation of John Whiting
John Whiting
John Robert Whiting was an English dramatist and critic.Born in Salisbury, England, he was educated at Taunton School. His works include:* A Penny for a Song. A play * Marching Song. A play...
’s dramatization of Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
’s essay The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun
The Devils of Loudun is a 1952 non-fiction novel by Aldous Huxley. It is a historical narrative of supposed demonic possession, religious fanaticism, sexual repression, and mass hysteria which occurred in 17th century France surrounding unexplained events that took place in the small town of...
. The employment of existing literature as the basis for the librettos was not exclusive to The Devils of Loudun; instead, it became the invariant among Penderecki’s four operas; namely Paradise Lost, Ubu Rex, and Die schwarze Maske. The libretto is written in German (although both Polish and English adaptations exist) and it is fashioned into a series of thirty two scenes, which proceed, from one to another, quasi cinematically.
The libretto to The Devils of Loudun refers to the mid-seventeen century’s events in Loudun, France, concerning the demonical possession of the Ursulinie nuns and their abbess, Mother Jeanne. A parish priest, Father Grandier
Urbain Grandier
Urbain Grandier was a French Catholic priest who was burned at the stake after being convicted of witchcraft, following the events of the so-called "Loudun Possessions." The circumstances of Father Grandier's trial and execution have attracted the attention of writers Alexandre Dumas, père and...
, was accused of the alleged possessions and indicted for conspiracy with Satan. Consequently, in August 1634, Father Grandier was sentenced to burn at the stake. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the underlying cause of Grandier’s fall was a political one, for the priest had secret alliances against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu, who planned to deprive Loudun of independence. The possessions continued for a number of years, yet Penderecki’s libretto comes to a closure with Grandier’s death for an obvious reason — Grandier is the main character of the opera, so with his death the opera ends.
The Loudun episode attracted the attention of composers, writers, historians, psychologists and the sort. The capacity of the events for generating a multiplicity of interpretations and intertwining religious elements with political ones granted the possibility of new plots, new compositions, and new answers. In addition to Penderecki, the theme of Loudun appealed to other Polish artists, including Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Romuald Twardowski.
Even though the libretto for The Devils of Loudun is based on Whiting’s play Demons, the two stories are fundamentally different. The libretto shortens, omits, and reorders some of the scenes of Whiting’s play. Most significant is the emotional and ideological dissimilarities of Penderecki’s and Whiting’s protagonist Grandier. Indeed, the Whiting’s Grandier and Penderecki’s Grandier are two different characters.
Whiting portrays Grandier as an existentialist, striving for self-destruction. His enemies and the political circumstances surrounding him are just tools helping him achieve his goal. Thus, the tragic fate of Whiting’s Grandier is not the doing of the society, but the result of his own actions. Furthermore, Edward Boniecki remarks that “Whiting’s protagonist is a living-dead.”
Penderecki’s libretto transforms Whiting’s existentialist Grandier into a hero and symbol of struggle against obscurantism. It does so by placing the priest’s actions into a different context, enabling a different interpretation of the events. From this perspective, Grandier’s obsession for self-destruction is reinterpreted as a desire for a martyr death. In fact, it is argued that Grandier represents a Christ-like figure, for both were unjustly accused, accepted their death, and forgave their torturers. Similarly, the fate of Penderecki’s Grandier is seen to be dominated by the context rather than by the individual. Penderecki’s Grandier is, in this sense, a victim of political conspiracy and of religious-political fanatics.
Composition style
The Devils of Loudun is an atonal Grand OperaGrand Opera
Grand opera is a genre of 19th-century opera generally in four or five acts, characterised by large-scale casts and orchestras, and lavish and spectacular design and stage effects, normally with plots based on or around dramatic historic events...
written in an expressionist style, conveying feelings of insanity and portraying the characters in psychotic states. In fact, The Devils of Loudun may be compared to Berg’s monumental expressionistic opera, Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
. “Penderecki’s flexible style, like Berg’s, is ideally suited to capture the essence of emotional states,” and thus develop several planes of expressive characterization.
The Devils of Loudun is written in Penderecki’s trademark textural style, which utilizes a number of textural and sonoric techniques, including wedges and group glissandos, microtonal clusters, a range of vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
s, extended instrumental techniques, and series of percussive effects. However, in The Devils of Loudun, Penderecki’s sonorism
Sonorism
Sonorism is an approach to musical composition that focuses on the characteristics and qualities of sound. Emphasis is placed on a search for new types of sounds on individual instruments, as well as the creation of textures by combining different instrumental sounds in unusual and unique ways.In...
is brought to new heights, serving now a crucial dramatic purpose. In effect, it is possible to conceive the opera’s drama as the sole opposition between Penderecki’s sound-mass and pointillistic styles.
Even though it is title as an opera, The Devils of Loudun’s dramatic style is influenced by other genres. While the use of chorus
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
, soloist, and orchestral fragments all adhere to the operatic tradition, the influence of theatrical genres is evident on the operas’ extensive use of speech. To this effect, the libretto, divided into 32 scenes, may also be regarded as a byproduct of a theatrical influence. In addition, it is possible to perceive some elements of comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
in the male-voice quartet at the end of the second act; while the reference to the Passion play
Passion play
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation depicting the Passion of Jesus Christ: his trial, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly in Catholic tradition....
is obvious on the martyrdom figure of Grandier.
Instrumentation and orchestration
The Devils of Loudun is scored for enormous musical forces, including nineteen soloists, five choruses (nuns, soldiers, guards, children, and monks), orchestra, and tape. The orchestra itself is of a great size too, making use of a very particular blending of instruments. The orchestra is composed of four flutes (alternating two piccoloPiccolo
The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The piccolo has the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written...
and one alto), two English horns
Cor anglais
The cor anglais , or English horn , is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family....
, an E♭ clarinet
E-flat clarinet
The E-flat clarinet is a member of the clarinet family. It is usually classed as a soprano clarinet, although some authors describe it as a "sopranino" or even "piccolo" clarinet. Smaller in size and higher in pitch than the more common B clarinet, it is a transposing instrument in E, sounding a...
, a double-bass clarinet, two alto saxophone
Alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
s, two baritone saxophone
Baritone saxophone
The baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
s, three bassoons, a contrabassoon
Contrabassoon
The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon or double-bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower...
, six horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
s, four B♭trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s (alternating one D
D (musical note)
D is a musical note a whole tone above C, and is known as Re within the solfege system.When calculated in equal temperament with a reference of A above middle C as 440 Hz, the frequency of middle D is approximately 293.665 Hz. See pitch for a discussion of historical variations in...
trumpet), four trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
s, two tuba
Tuba
The tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
s, percussion (4 players), twenty violins, eight violas, eight celli, six basses
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
, organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, and bass electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
. The percussionists play timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
, military drum, friction drum, bass drum
Bass drum
Bass drums are percussion instruments that can vary in size and are used in several musical genres. Three major types of bass drums can be distinguished. The type usually seen or heard in orchestral, ensemble or concert band music is the orchestral, or concert bass drum . It is the largest drum of...
, slapstick, five wood blocks, ratchet, guiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
, bamboo scrapers, cymbals, six suspended cymbals, 2 tam-tams, 2 gongs, Javanese gong, triangle, tubular bells, church bell, sacring bells, musical saw, flexatone
Flexatone
The flexatone is a modern percussion instrument consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. -History, construction and technique:...
, and siren (not mentioned in the instrumentation list at the beginning of the score).
Nonetheless, this extraordinarily large ensemble is used with great moderation by the composer. In particular, Penderecki exploits the use of chamber ensembles coupled by their correspondence of timbre quality and specific coloristic effect. With the resulting pallet of orchestral colors at his command, Penderecki is able to provide a musical commentary and thus determine the expressive quality of a given scene. While the smaller ensembles predominate through the work, Penderecki resources to the full ensemble resonance for dramatic effect, emphasizing this way the most emotionally charged scenes, such as the exorcisms of the Ursuline nuns and the death of Grandier.
The orchestration is written in cut-out score
Cut-out score
A cut-out score or cutout score is a musical score in which measures with rests are simply omitted, and no rests of any kind are used. Cut-out scores are mostly used for proportional notation scores, such as Penderecki's Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima...
format, that is with very little metrical guidelines, very few rests, and includes some aleatory
Aleatory
Aleatoricism is the incorporation of chance into the process of creation, especially the creation of art or media. The word derives from the Latin word alea, the rolling of dice...
effects of notes and tone-clouds in approximate pitches. Penderecki's work-method at the time was to develop his musical ideas in various colored pencils and inks, although the final score does not use color-coding.
The Devils of Loudun calls for the use of a number of extended techniques on its instrumental writing. The use of such techniques is also for coloristic purposes. These extended techniques are evidently associated with specific notational symbols. Some of these techniques are: bowing in-between the bridge and the tailpiece
Tailpiece
A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually the end opposite the end with the tuning mechanism the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.-Function and construction:...
, bowing the right marrow side of the bridge, and bowing the string holder.
Music-action relationships
The Devils of Loudun makes use of a set of music-action relationships that help reinforce and propel the drama. Yet, not all of these music-action associations are of the same nature, some serve a more illustrative purpose, while others provide a musical characterization of specific situations and actions.The illustrative music-action relationships are most evident in Penderecki’s use of performing forces. The comic and grotesque scenes are usually set in chamber music, characterized by pointillistic textures and discontinuous motifs. Furthermore, the chamber ensembles portrayed in these comic scenes often feature rather disjointed timber combinations, thus resulting in an overall comical effect. In the contrast, the music depicting the dramatic scenes is scored for larger forces, featuring thicker textures and darker tone colors. To achieve these dramatic massive textures, Penderecki relies on the use of stationary tones, glissandos, and various sound clusters. The chaotic sonorities, resulting from Penderecki’s sound-mass techniques, are used in particular to convey the demonical possession of Sister Jeanne.
While the composer depends on his instrumental writing for providing an expressive context to the actions, it is his use of many different vocal styles that enables a musical characterization of Father Grandier and Sister Jeanne. It is thus through these vocal lines that the characters’ moral, mental, and emotional states are judged. The correct literary style of Grandier is emphasized in the opera by the fluency of the recitative, its coherence with speech intonations and subdued expression. In addition, Grandier’s use of speech in the second act may be interpreted as representative of the protagonist’s sobriety. In contrast, Jeanne’s vocal style is very pointillist. The frequent leaps, changes of character, drastic dynamic changes, and glissando, characteristic of Jeanne’s vocal part, are emblematic of her hysteria and falseness. Furthermore, Jeanne’s demonical possession is underscored by the use of laughter, groans, and electronic distortion of her voice. From this viewpoint, it is unsurprising that Jeanne’s return to reality is marked with her use of regular speech, the vocal form earlier associated with Grandier’s soberness.