Le Laudi
| Le Laudi | |
|---|---|
| di San Francesco d'Assisi (Cantico delle creature) | |
| Oratorio by Hermann Suter | |
| English | The Praises |
| Full | Le Laudi di San Francesco d'Assisi |
| Catalogue | Op. 25 |
| Text | Canticle of the Sun |
| Language | Italian |
| Composed | 1924: Basel |
| Dedication | Basler Gesangverein |
| Movements | 9 |
| Scoring |
|
Le Laudi (The Praises), Op. 25, is an oratorio by the Swiss composer Hermann Suter. The full title is Le Laudi di San Francesco d'Assisi (Cantico delle creature) (The Praises of St. Francis of Assisi (Canticle of the Creatures), based on Francis of Assisi's Canticle of the Sun in the original Italian. Suter scored it for soloists, choir, children's choir and large orchestra. Premiered in 1924, it is one of Suter's most important works and has been performed regularly in his home country.
Suter composed the work to mark the 100th anniversary of the Basler Gesangverein (Basel Choral Society), to whom the work is dedicated. He was a central figure in the musical life of Basel, as the director of the symphony concerts of the Allgemeine Musikgesellschaft, director of the Liedertafel, of the municipal music school and the conservatory. He was director of the choir from 1902. The composition emerged in the summer of 1923 in Sils in the Engadine where Suter spent his holidays. The Italian text is the Cantico del Sole of Francis of Assisi.
The work is scored for four solo voices (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), choir, children's choir, organ and orchestra. Suter wrote as a subtitle Cantico delle creature (Song of Creation) and gave the choir prime importance in the scoring: per Coro, Soli, Voci di ragazzi, Organo ed Orchestra. He dedicated it to the memory of his parents. A performance lasts about 70 minutes.
Suter composed nine movements, according to the praises of the canticle:
The work is in the late-Romantic tradition, in particular the New German School, unaffected by the emerging dodecaphony. Suter drew on varied musical resources, including Gregorian chant, Impressionism, Polyphony and counterpoint, for example in the quadruple fugue of movement 3 and the Passacaglia in movement 5. Suter used "pictorial and dramatic elements: the first movement evokes the sun", the sparkling of the stars is illustrated in movement 2, the roar of the wind in 3, gurgling water in 4, and the blaze and sparks of fire in 5. A gentle alto aria centers on Earth. After the praise of nature, addressing the sun, the moon, stars and the four elements as brothers and sisters, man appears in movement seven, shown as forgiving and suffering. Death of the body, addressed as sister, is the topic of movement 8, general praise concludes the work.
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