The Art of the Psalm

The Art of the Psalm By Leon Botstein Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Romanticism in the nineteenth century followed the so-called Age of Enlightenment, in which reason was celebrated and religion was tarnished as superstition, rigid doctrine, and the…

Anton Bruckner, Psalm 150 By Christopher H. Gibbs, Bard College Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The celebrated violinist Fritz Kreisler, who as a boy studied theory with Bruckner in Vienna, remarked that the composer was a “combination of genius…

Franz Schreker, Psalm 116, Op. 6 By Christopher Hailey, Director, Franz Schreker Foundation Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Franz Schreker (1878-1934) is best known as an opera composer, but he had a long and close association with choral music.…

Franz Liszt, Psalm 13 By Dana Gooley, Brown University Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. If Franz Liszt had done nothing after retiring from the concert stage in 1847, his place in history would have been assured. He had vastly…

Alexander Zemlinsky, Psalm 23, Op. 14 By Christopher Hailey, Director, Franz Schreker Foundation Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. As a teenager Zemlinsky had served as an organist in his synagogue in Vienna and thus, like Schreker, had early experience working…

Max Reger, Psalm 100, Op. 106 By Fred Kirshnit Written for the concert The Art of the Psalm, performed on Oct 22, 2006 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. Outside of the arcane world of the organ, the works of Max Reger are not generally known. This is odd because in the early years…