''The Canticle of the Sun'' (Sonnengesang) is a composition by Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina written in 1997 and published by

Hans Sikorski Internationale Musikverlage Hans Sikorski is an international music publishing company in Berlin, formerly headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. As of June 2019, Sikorski is a part of Concord. The music publishing firm of Hans Sikorski was founded in ...

, it is based on the "

Canticle of the Sun The Canticle of the Sun, also known as Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Creatures) and ''Canticle of the Creatures'', is a religious song composed by Saint Francis of Assisi. It was written in an Umbrian dialect of Italian but has since been ...

" by

Saint Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a Mysticism, mystic Italian Catholic Church, Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most vener ...

and is dedicated to

Mstislav Rostropovich Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, (27 March 192727 April 2007) was a Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered by many to be the greatest cellist of the 20th century. In addition to his interpretations and technique, he was wel ...

for his seventieth birthday. Though the piece features a soloist and an ensemble, Gubaidulina does not consider it a cello concerto.Eddins, Stephen.
Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica: Sofia Gubaidulina: Canticle of the Sun
, ''AllMusic.com''.

Analysis

Sofia Gubaidulina gives the following outline of the formal sections: # Glorification of the Creator, and His Creations - the Sun and the Moon # Glorification of the Creator, the Maker of the four elements: air, water, fire and earth # Glorification of life # Glorification of death Though, she notes that the cellist's 'abandonment' of their instrument actually divides the piece in two. The piece is written for cello, choir, string orchestra, and percussion. An

overtone An overtone is any resonant frequency above the fundamental frequency of a sound. (An overtone may or may not be a harmonic) In other words, overtones are all pitches higher than the lowest pitch within an individual sound; the fundamental i ...

row Row or ROW may refer to: Exercise *Rowing, or a form of aquatic movement using oars *Row (weight-lifting), a form of weight-lifting exercise Math *Row vector, a 1 × ''n'' matrix in linear algebra. *Row (database), a single, implicitly structured ...

played on the C string is used, after which the cellist tunes the string down to the lowest note possible on the instrument, bows near the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, on the bridge with a snare

drum stick A drum stick (or drumstick) is a type of percussion mallet used particularly for playing snare drum, drum kit, and some other percussion instruments, and particularly for playing unpitched percussion. Specialized beaters used on some other pe ...

, behind the bridge, and then on the

tailpiece A tailpiece is a component on many stringed musical instruments that anchors one end of the strings, usually opposite the end with the tuning mechanism (the scroll, headstock, peghead, etc.). Function and construction The tailpiece anchors t ...

. The cellist then puts down the instrument, playing on a

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

, and then on a

flexatone The flexatone or fleximetal is a modern percussion instrument (an indirectly struck idiophone) consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its sou ...

with a bass bow before returning to the cello.

Recordings

The piece was completed in 1997, and was premiered the year after on 2nd September 1998 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

, Germany by Mstislav Rostropovich, the State Choir of Kaunus and the

Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra or LNSO (''Lietuvos nacionalinis simfoninis orkestras, LNSO'') is one of Lithuania's two national orchestras,Jonathan Bousfield ''Baltic States'' Rough Guides 2004 p97 "Classical music, opera and ballet ...

. Other recordings include: *the UK Premiere of the piece, it was recorded in 1999 (released 2001) and it involved Rostroprovich (Cellist),

London Voices London Voices is a London-based choral ensemble founded by Terry Edwards (1939-2022) in 1973. In its early years, it also incorporated the London Opera Chorus and London Sinfonietta Voices and Chorus. In 2004, Ben Parry, became co-director of th ...

(Choir), Ryusuke Numajiri (Conductor), and the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. The recording also included another piece of Gubaidulina title ''

Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion ''Music for Flute, Strings, and Percussion'' is a piece written by Sofia Gubaidulina in 1994 dedicated to Pierre-Yves Artaud. The instruments are divided into two sections, one of which is tuned a quarter-tone lower than the other.Michael Kurtz, M ...

'' (1994), where

Emmanuel Pahud Emmanuel Pahud (born 27 January 1970) is a Franco-Swiss flautist. He was born in Geneva, Switzerland. His father is of French and Swiss background and his mother is French. The Berlin-based flutistPatrick LamEmmanuel Pahud – The showcase behi ...

was the flautist. *ECM 2256/ECM 4764662, (rec. 2010, rel. 2012)

Gidon Kremer Gidon Kremer ( lv, Gidons Krēmers; born 27 February 1947) is a Latvian classical violinist, artistic director, and founder of Kremerata Baltica. Life and career Gidon Kremer was born in Riga. His father was Jewish and had survived the Holoc ...

(Violinist and Director),

Nicolas Altstaedt Nicolas Altstaedt (born 1982) is a German classical cellist. Biography and career Altstaedt was born in Heidelberg, Germany. As a soloist, conductor, and artistic director, he performs repertoire spanning from early music to the contemporar ...

(Cellist), Kamēr... (Choir),

Māris Sirmais Māris is a Latvian masculine given name, a cognate of the English Maurice and may refer to: * Māris Ārbergs (born 1962), Latvian politician * Māris Bogdanovičs (born 1991), Latvian cyclist * Māris Bičevskis (born 1991), Latvian ice hockey ...

(Conductor). (Also included Gubaidulina's Lyre of Orpheus; was dedicated to the composer's 80th birthday)

References

1998 compositions Cello concertos Compositions by Sofia Gubaidulina {{composition-stub