Song for Athene
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"Song for Athene" (also known as "Alleluia. May Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest") is a musical composition by
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
composer
John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious works. Among his best known works are '' The Lamb'' (1982), ''The Protecting Veil'' (1988), and '' Song ...
with lyrics by Mother Thekla, an
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
nun, which is intended to be sung a cappella by a four-part ( soprano, alto,
tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
and bass)
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
. It is Tavener's best known work, having been performed by the
Westminster Abbey Choir Westminster Abbey Choir School is a boarding preparatory school for boys in Westminster, London and the only remaining choir school in the United Kingdom which exclusively educates choristers (i.e. only choirboys attend the school). It is loca ...
conducted by
Martin Neary Martin Gerard James Neary LVO is an English organist and choral conductor. Neary was born in London, and read theology and music at Cambridge University. He was Organist and Director of Music at Winchester Cathedral from 1972 to 1988, and Org ...
at the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 6 September 1997 as her cortège departed from
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
. Commissioned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, the piece was written in April 1993 by Tavener as a tribute to Athene Hariades, a young half-Greek actress who was a family friend killed in a cycling accident. At the time that she died, Athene Hariades was working as a teacher of English and Drama at the
Hellenic College of London Hellenic College of London was a bilingual school in Knightsbridge, London. It was founded in 1980 by former King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, and closed in 2005. It started as a boarding school, but it later also functioned ...
. Tavener said of Hariades: "Her beauty, both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the
Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (di ...
."Page 7 of ''Tavener's The Beautiful Names'', the programme of a concert by the
BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
, BBC Symphony Chorus and Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 March 2008. He had heard her reading
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
in Westminster Abbey, and after her funeral, developed the idea of composing a song which combined words from the Orthodox funeral service and Shakespeare's ''
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
''. The work was published by
Chester Music Wise Music Group is a global music publisher, with headquarters in Berners Street, London. In February 2020, Wise Music Group changed its name from The Music Sales Group. In 2014 Wise Music Group (as The Music Sales Group) acquired French cla ...
in 1997.


Music and lyrics

"Song for Athene", which has a performance time of about seven minutes, is an
elegy An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, and in English literature usually a lament for the dead. However, according to ''The Oxford Handbook of the Elegy'', "for all of its pervasiveness ... the 'elegy' remains remarkably ill defined: sometime ...
consisting of the
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
word ''
alleluia Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...
'' ("let us praise the
LORD Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
") sung monophonically six times as an introduction to texts excerpted and modified from the funeral service of the Eastern Orthodox Church and from Shakespeare's ''Hamlet'' (probably 1599–1601). The lyrics were written by
Mother Thekla Mother Thekla (born Marina Sharf; 18 July 1918 – 7 August 2011), a daughter of Vladimir and Alice Sharf (née Volkenstein) in Kislovodsk, a spa town in the North Caucasus. She was born during the revolution in Russia, the day after Nicolas II an ...
(18 July 1918 – 7 August 2011), an
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
nun who co-founded the Orthodox Monastery of the Assumption near
Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...
,
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...
, and whom Tavener called his "spiritual mother". Tavener had come away from the funeral of Athene Hariades with the music of ''Song for Athene'' fully formed in his mind. He called Mother Thekla the same day, and said to her: "I want words." She sent him the lyrics by post, which arrived the next day. The music reaches a climax after the sixth intonation of ''alleluia'' with the lines "Weeping at the grave creates the song: Alleluia. Come, enjoy rewards and crowns I have prepared for you." ''Alleluia'' is then sung a seventh time as a coda. Following the example of traditional Byzantine music, a continuous ''ison'' or
drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...
underlies the work.


Significant recordings

The song has appeared on, among others, a number of recordings of Tavener's work by various choirs, including ''Ikons'' (Cala, 1994) by the
BBC Singers The BBC Singers are a British chamber choir, and the professional chamber choir of the BBC. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time professional British ...
, ''Tavener: Innocence'' (Classics, 1995) by the Westminster Abbey Choir, ''John Tavener: Byzantia'' (Classical, 1999) by the
Winchester Cathedral Choir Winchester Cathedral Choir is an internationally recognized professional choir based at Winchester Cathedral at Winchester in Hampshire. The choir currently consists of 18 boy choristers and 12 lay clerks and sings eight services weekly in the Cat ...
, ''John Tavener: Song for Athene, Svyati and Other Choral Works'' ( Naxos Records, 2000) by the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge, ''The John Tavener Collection'' ( Universal Classics Group, 2003) by the Choir of the Temple Church and the Holst Singers, and ''Ikon'' (Decca, 2006) by
The Sixteen The Sixteen are a United Kingdom-based choir and period instrument orchestra; founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first billed concert in 1979. The group performs early Engl ...
. The Westminster Abbey Choir's performance of the work at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, appears in a recording of the service released by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
as ''Diana, Princess of Wales, 1961–1997: The BBC Recording of the Funeral Service'' (Uni/London Classics, 1997). In 2007, Scottish violinist
Nicola Benedetti Nicola Joy Nadia Benedetti (born 20 July 1987) is an Italian-British classical solo violinist and festival director. Her ability was recognised when she was a child, including the award of BBC Young Musician of the Year when she was 16. She w ...
released an album entitled '' Nicola Benedetti: Vaughan Williams; Tavener'' which contained an arrangement of the song for solo violin and string orchestra.


Notes


References

*. *. *''Tavener's The Beautiful Names'', the programme of a concert by the
BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...
, BBC Symphony Chorus and Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 March 2008.


Further reading


Musical score

*.


Articles

*. *. *.


Audiovisual material

* – in a programme called ''Manifestations of God'' on the DVD, Tavener speaks about his choral music, and the parents of Athene Hariades talk about the inspiration behind "Song for Athene".


External links


John Tavener: Song for Athene - Gabrieli Consort - Paul McCreesh
{{Authority control 1993 compositions A cappella songs Choral compositions Christian songs Classical music in the United Kingdom Compositions by John Tavener Eastern Orthodox liturgical music Funerary and memorial compositions Works based on Hamlet