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Works

Adam's Lament

2009 / 2010

Scored for

mixed choir (SATB) and string orchestra

Duration

24 min

Short description

One of the most recent large-scale works by Arvo Pärt, Adam’s Lament is based on the Russian prose text of the same title by the monk Silouan the Athonite (also Saint Silouan of Mount Athos, 1866–1938), taken from his book Staretz Silouan. The book was compiled by Silouan’s disciple, the Archimandrite Sophrony (1896–1993), to whom Pärt has also dedicated this piece. The writings of St Silouan have been a source of inspiration for the composer for decades. Through this poetic text in which Adam laments his betrayal of his Creator and having lost the love of God and Paradise, Pärt speaks about Adam as the forefather of all people.

Arvo Pärt: “For the holy man Silouan of Mount Athos, the name Adam is like a collective term which comprises humankind in its entire…

One of the most recent large-scale works by Arvo Pärt, Adam’s Lament is based on the Russian prose text of the same title by the monk Silouan the Athonite (also Saint Silouan of Mount Athos, 1866–1938), taken from his book Staretz Silouan. The book was compiled by Silouan’s disciple, the Archimandrite Sophrony (1896–1993), to whom Pärt has also dedicated this piece. The writings of St Silouan have been a source of inspiration for the composer for decades. Through this poetic text in which Adam laments his betrayal of his Creator and having lost the love of God and Paradise, Pärt speaks about Adam as the forefather of all people.

Arvo Pärt: “For the holy man Silouan of Mount Athos, the name Adam is like a collective term which comprises humankind in its entirety and each individual person alike, irrespective of time, epochs, social strata and confession. But who is this banished Adam? We could say that he is all of us who bear his legacy. And this “Total Adam” has been suffering and lamenting for thousands of years on earth. Adam himself, our primal father, foresaw the human tragedy and experienced it as his personal guilt. He has suffered all human cataclysms, unto the depths of despair.“ (CD Adam’s Lament (ECM, 2012) booklet)

The pervading theme in St Silouan’s writings, love and humility, has also influenced Arvo Pärt’s sense of the world, and we could say that this composition has become one of his main works. The composer had carried its idea in his mind since the late 1980s. It is also significant that the world premiere of Adam’s Lament took place in Turkey, the intersection of three monotheist religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The work was commissioned by the two Capitals of Culture, Istanbul 2010 and Tallinn 2011, and the event was a joint performance for these two cities. The premiere took place on 7 June 2010 in Istanbul’s Hagia Irene concert hall within the former cathedral. The performers included the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, the vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis and the chamber setting of the Borusan Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Tõnu Kaljuste, who was awarded a Grammy Award in 2014 for Best Choral Performance for the CD of the first recording of Adam’s Lament (ECM).

Most of the vocal part consists of the text by Silouan as the narrator, mainly performed by the mixed choir. This forms a frame around the central element of the composition, Adam’s monologue, performed by male voices – a lament, a silent prayer, filled with anguish. As in many of Pärt’s other compositions, here too the structure of the text has dictated the course of music down to the tiniest details. Punctuation marks, the number of syllables and word emphasis all play an important role in this tintinnabuli-composition.

Latvian Radio Choir, Vox Clamantis, Sinfonietta Rīga, Tõnu Kaljuste (conductor). CD Adam´s Lament. ECM New Series 2225

© ECM Records

World premiere

07.06.2010
Hagia Irene (Hagia Eirene), Istanbul, Turkey

Concert of Istanbul and Tallinn, the European Cultural Capitals in 2010 and 2011

Tõnu Kaljuste (conductor), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir , Vox Clamantis (vocal ensemble), Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra

Other titles

Aadama itk

Completion year

2009

Revision year

2010

Dedication

to Archimandrite Sophrony

Commissioned by

Culture Capitals Istanbul 2010 and Tallinn 2011

Scored for

mixed choir (SATB) and string orchestra

Duration

24 min

Publishers

Universal Edition

Language

Russian

Instrumentation details

violin I, violin II, viola, violoncello, double bass

Vocal text

St Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938)
Adam's Lament (Адамов плач)

Адам, отец вселенной, в раю знал сладость любви Божией, и потому, когда был изгнан из рая за грех и лишился люб¬ви Божией, горько страдал и с великим стоном рыдал на всю пустыню. Душа его терзалась от мысли: «Любимого Бога я оскорбил».
Не так жалел он о рае и красоте его, как о том, что лишился любви Божией, которая ненасытно каждую минуту вле¬чет душу к Богу.
Так, всякая душа, познавшая Бога Духом Святым, но потом потерявшая благодать, испытывает Адамово мучение. Больно душе, и сильно жалеет она, когда оскорбит любимого Господа.
Скучал Адам на земле и горько рыдал, и земля была ему не мила. Он тосковал о Боге и говорил:
«Скучает душа моя о Господе, и слезно ищу Его. Как мне Его не искать? Когда я был с Ним, душа моя была весела и покойна, и враг не имел ко мне доступа; а теперь злой дух взял власть надо мною, и колеблет, и томит душу мою, и потому скучает душа моя о Господ…
St Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938)
Adam's Lament (Адамов плач)

Адам, отец вселенной, в раю знал сладость любви Божией, и потому, когда был изгнан из рая за грех и лишился люб¬ви Божией, горько страдал и с великим стоном рыдал на всю пустыню. Душа его терзалась от мысли: «Любимого Бога я оскорбил».
Не так жалел он о рае и красоте его, как о том, что лишился любви Божией, которая ненасытно каждую минуту вле¬чет душу к Богу.
Так, всякая душа, познавшая Бога Духом Святым, но потом потерявшая благодать, испытывает Адамово мучение. Больно душе, и сильно жалеет она, когда оскорбит любимого Господа.
Скучал Адам на земле и горько рыдал, и земля была ему не мила. Он тосковал о Боге и говорил:
«Скучает душа моя о Господе, и слезно ищу Его. Как мне Его не искать? Когда я был с Ним, душа моя была весела и покойна, и враг не имел ко мне доступа; а теперь злой дух взял власть надо мною, и колеблет, и томит душу мою, и потому скучает душа моя о Господе даже до смерти, и рвется дух мой к Богу, и ничто на земле не веселит меня, и ничем не хочет душа моя утешиться, но снова хочет видеть Его и насытиться Им, не могу забыть Его ни на минуту, и томится душа моя по Нему, и от множе¬ства скорби стоном плачу я: «Помилуй мя, Боже, падшее создание Твое».
Так рыдал Адам, и слезы лились по лицу его на грудь и землю, и вся пустыня слушала стоны его; звери и птицы замолкали в печали; а Адам рыдал, ибо за грех его все потеряли мир и любовь.
Велика была скорбь Адама по изгнании из рая, но когда он увидел сына своего Авеля, убитого братом Каином, то еще большею стала скорбь его, и он мучился душою, и рыдал, и думал: «От меня произойдут и размножатся народы, и все будут страдать, и жить во вражде, и убивать друг друга».
И эта скорбь его была велика, как море, и понять ее может только тот, чья душа познала Господа и как много Он нас любит.
И я потерял благодать и вместе с Адамом зову: «Милостив буди мне, Господи. Даруй мне духа смирения и любви».


Adam, father of all mankind, in paradise knew the sweetness of the love of God; and so when for his sin he was driven forth from the garden of Eden, and was widowed of the love of God, he suffered grievously and lamented with a mighty moan. And the whole desert rang with his lamentations. His soul was racked as he thought: “I have grieved my beloved Lord.”
He sorrowed less after paradise and the beauty thereof – he sorrowed that he was bereft of the love of God, which insatiably, at every instant, draws the soul to Him.
In the same way the soul which has known God through the Holy Spirit but has afterwards lost grace experiences the torment that Adam suffered. There is an aching and a deep regret in the soul that has grieved the beloved Lord.
Adam pined on earth, and wept bitterly, and the earth was not pleasing to him. He was heartsick for God, and this was his cry:
“My soul wearies for the Lord, and I seek Him in tears. How should I not seek Him? When I was with him my soul was glad and at rest, and the enemy could not come nigh me. But now the spirit of evil has gained power over me, harassing and oppressing my soul, so that I weary for the Lord even unto death, and my spirit strains to God, and there is nought on earth can make me glad. Nor can my soul take comfort in any thing, but longs once more to see the Lord, that her hunger may be appeased. I cannot forget Him for a single moment, and my soul languishes after Him, and from the multitude of my afflictions I lift up my voice and cry: “Have mercy upon me, O God. Have mercy on Thy fallen creature.””
Thus did Adam lament, and tears streamed down his face on to his beard, on to the ground beneath his feet, and the whole desert heard the sound of his moaning. The beasts and the birds were hushed in grief; while Adam wept because peace and love were lost to all men on account of his sin.
Adam knew great grief when he was banished from paradise, but when he saw his son Abel slain by Cain his brother, Adam’s grief was even heavier. His soul was heavy, and he lamented and thought: “Peoples and nations will descend from me, and multiply, and suffering will be their lot, and they will live in enmity and seek to slay one another.”
And his sorrow stretched wide as the sea, and only the soul that has come to know the Lord and the magnitude of His love for us can understand.
I, too, have lost grace and call with Adam: “Be merciful unto me, O Lord! Bestow on me the spirit of humility and love.”

Translation by Rosemary Edmonds
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