New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Book of Lamentations is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem.
It is generally accepted that the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC forms the background to the poems. The book is partly a traditional "city lament" mourning the desertion of the city by God, its destruction, and the ultimate return of the divinity, and partly a funeral dirge in which the bereaved bewails and addresses the dead.
The tone is bleak: God does not speak, the degree of suffering is presented as undeserved, and expectations of future redemption are minimal.
The book is traditionally recited on the fast day of Tisha B'Av ("Ninth of Av"), mourning the destruction of both the First Temple and the Second. [1]
Its five short chapters contain graphic, poignant, eye-witness descriptions of the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 586 BCE.
The composition is not descriptive, however the general "tone" of the poems which constitute "Eikhah" reflect on every movement.
It is not a Symphony in the traditional meaning because it does not fit in the sonata form: two opposing and complementary themes or ideas. Rather it is a
Symphonic Poem without "programme", where each movement is inspired from the poems of the book "Lamentations" (Eikhah).
The composition employs a large orchestra, with a full set of percussion instruments.
One main tone-series is used as a "leitmotiv", this series is used as is in the first and last movements and its variations are employed in others.
The pitch material on which all movements are based is in the form of one main and some derivative tone-rows which emphasize the intervals of minor and major thirds.
The result of this selection of pitches creates an overall sound-color which stands apart from the usual distinction of consonant versus dissonant. The music can be at times almost "post-Romantic", Bruckner-like, but also "pointillistic" at others.
I. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! - Andante doloroso
A plaintive "call" from the Oboe starts the first movement.
Strings create a complex polyphony as a kind of "magma" expanding from the Oboe tone.
The main tone row, used here as a theme or "leitmotiv", emerges occasionally.
Few bright sections as "light rays" occur with staccato octaves on Flutes, Celesta and Harp.
A powerful crescendo of the brass section unveils the view of devastated Jerusalem, which emerges as a nightmare like vision.
The English Horn solo over ostinato chords on the Violas and Cellos, punctuated with
Double bass pizzicatos is the inner talking of the Prophet.
In sheer horror, the reality surpasses even what can be witnessed or imagined by the Prophet.
The big crescendo leading to the last section brings out two simultaneous solos on Violin and Violoncello. The Violin solo is desperately climbing to extreme high ranges it is mercilessly punctuated with tutti Cello short and strong chords.
The movement ends as it started with plaintive held notes at the woodwinds.
