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Heart's Ease

Spirituality in the Music of John Tavener

by June Boyce-Tillman (Volume editor) Anne-Marie Forbes (Volume editor)
©2020 Edited Collection XXIV, 306 Pages
Series: Music and Spirituality, Volume 11

Summary

Our age owes Sir John Tavener deep gratitude. His works cross both cultural and disciplinary boundaries. He illustrated how to deal with intense suffering and felt deeply for the suffering of the world. He stands as an icon representing a view of artistic expression as a way of generating hope and transcendence.
In Tavener’s thinking, spirituality was closely tied to wellbeing and healing and this book considers the spiritual encounters that brought him ‘heart’s ease’ and the communication of that experience to performers and listeners through his composition. The contributors to this book include scholars, musicians, theologians, medical practitioners, informed listeners and practitioners in religious traditions. It includes case study material, empirical studies, philosophical, theological and theoretical contributions along with accounts from lived experience of the spirituality generated by Tavener’s music. This is set in the context of a world that sees spirituality sometimes coupled and sometimes uncoupled from religion.
The pattern of the book is an alternation between interludes and chapters illuminating different facets of the crystal of Tavener’s creative work and the spirituality and ‘heart’s ease’ it can offer.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Contents
  • List of Figures
  • Acknowledgements
  • Welcome from Lady Maryanna Tavener
  • Introduction (June Boyce-Tillman)
  • Prelude: ‘To Be a Pilgrim’ – the Spiritual Journey of John Tavener through his Music (June Boyce-Tillman)
  • 1 John Tavener’s Musical Theology of Religions (Stephen B. Roberts)
  • 2 In Search of Truth: John Tavener’s Transition from Western Culture to Eastern Tradition (Andrzej Kęsiak)
  • Interlude One: The Mystery of Faith – an Interview with John Tavener (June Boyce-Tillman)
  • 3 Tavener and Taverner: Choral Perspectives on the Holy Trinity (Anne-Marie Forbes)
  • 4 ‘Dumped Modernism’? The Interplay of Musical Construction and Spiritual Affect in John Tavener and his To a Child Dancing in the Wind (Brian Inglis)
  • Interlude Two: An Instrumentalist Embraces the Choral Tradition (Neil Valentine)
  • 5 Critical Encounters with John Tavener’s Requiem : ‘Our glory lies where we cease to exist’ (Bart Seaton-Said)
  • Interlude Three: John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil – a Performer’s Reflections (Matthew Barley)
  • 6 Spiritual Echoes of Love: John Tavener’s Three Hymns of George Herbert (Anne-Marie Forbes)
  • Interlude Four: Mozart – a Celebration of an Unconscious Mystic (Sir John Tavener)
  • 7 John Tavener and the Search for an English Orthodox Musical Language (Alexander Lingas)
  • Interlude Five: Encomium for Sir John Tavener (June Boyce-Tillman)
  • 8 John Tavener and Sacred Silence (Eduard Heyning)
  • Interlude Six: John Tavener and the Holy Spirit (Jill Bunce)
  • 9 Spirituality in Music as a Source of Wellbeing: Group Experiences and Client Statements on the Basis of the Music Therapy Method ‘Guided Imagery and Music’ with Music by John Tavener (Anna E. Röcker)
  • Postlude: Brief Reflections on Winchester Cathedral and the Music of Sir John Tavener (James Atwell)
  • Notes on Contributors
  • Index
  • Affirmations
  • Series index

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Figures

Figure 0.1. This photograph was taken at the unveiling and includes (from left to right) the Rev. Andreas Andreopoulos, the Rev. Professor June Boyce-Tillman, Dr Olu Taiwo, Professor Joy Carter, Vice Chancellor of the University of Winchester, Professor Elizabeth Stuart, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Winchester.

Figure P.1. The Spiritual Experience in Music.

Figure 1.1. Tavener, The Veil of the Temple B1, Cycle I, bars 26–7. © 2002 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 1.2. Tavener, The Veil of the Temple B3, Cycle III, bars 17–20. © 2002 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 1.3. Tavener, The Veil of the Temple B7, Cycle VII, bars 16–23. © 2002 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 1.4. Tavener, The Veil of the Temple J7, Cycle VII, bars 224–8. © 2002 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 3.1. Tavener, Prayer to the Holy Trinity opening. © Copyright 1995 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

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Figure 3.2. Tavener, Prayer to the Holy Trinity layered structure

Figure 3.3. Tavener, Prayer to the Holy Trinity ‘O Lord be merciful’ © Copyright 1995 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 3.4. Tavener, Prayer to the Holy Trinity ‘O Master forgive’ © Copyright 1995 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 3.5. Taverner, Missa Gloria tibi trinitas Credo.

Figure 3.6. Taverner, Missa Gloria tibi trinitas Gloria opening.

Figure 3.7. Taverner, Missa Gloria tibi trinitas Credo ‘et ascendit’.

Figure 3.8. Andrei Rublev, Trinity Ikon – Angels at Mamre (c. 1410), Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Public domain image sourced from Wikimedia Commons .

Figure 4.1. Tavener, The Lamb, bars 1–2. Text by William Blake © Copyright 1982 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.2. Tavener, The Lamb, bars 3–6. Text by William Blake © Copyright 1982 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.3. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, opening harp passage. © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.4. Conversion of Byzantine Palindrome letter square to pitch-classes

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Figure 4.5. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, vocal line pp 3–5. Text by William Butler Yeats © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.6. Summary Analysis of To a Child Dancing in the Wind

Figure 4.7. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, harp ostinato in Song 1. © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.8. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, voice and alto flute lines p. 6. Text by William Butler Yeats © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.9. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, beginning of Song 3, p. 16. Text by William Butler Yeats © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.10. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, beginning of Song 7, p. 42. Text by William Butler Yeats © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 4.11. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, melodic paradigm of Song 9. © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

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Figure 4.12. Tavener, To a Child Dancing in the Wind, vocal line p. 13 (‘By the waters’). Text by William Butler Yeats © Copyright 1983 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.1. Liverpool’s Metropolitan Roman Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King. Photographer: Rebecca Tavener. Reproduced with permission.

Figure 5.2. Interior of Liverpool’s Metropolitan Roman Catholic Cathedral (1967) showing central altar and cardinal directions. Image supplied by Liverpool Archdiocesan Archives CAT 10/6/A1.

Figure 5.3. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. I ‘Primordial White Light’, bars 1–2. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.4. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. I ‘Primordial White Light’, bars 2–4. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.5. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. I ‘Primordial White Light’, bars 56–63. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.6. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. I ‘Primordial White Light’, bars 74–8. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

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Figure 5.7. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. I ‘Primordial White Light’, bars 79–83. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.8. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. II ‘Kyrie’, bars 105–8. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.9. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. II ‘Kyrie’, bars 125–6. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.10. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. IV ‘Kali’s Dance/Dies Irae’, bar 161. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.11. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. IV ‘Kali’s Dance/Dies Irae’, bar 163. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 5.12. Tavener, Requiem. Movt. VII ‘Ananda’, bars 287–90. © Copyright 2007 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 6.1. Spatial arrangement of performers for Tavener’s Three Hymns of George Herbert.

Figure 6.2. Tonal organisation of Tavener’s ‘Heaven’

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Figure 6.3. Tavener, Three Hymns of George Herbert ‘Heaven’, bars 13–17. © Copyright 2012 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited. Reproduced with permission.

Figure 6.4. Tavener Three Hymns of George Herbert ‘Love’, bars 1–6 © Copyright 2012 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited. Reproduced with permission.

Figure 6.5. Tavener Three Hymns of George Herbert ‘Life’, bars 1–4 © Copyright 2012 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 6.6. Tavener Three Hymns of George Herbert ‘Life’, bars 34–40. © Copyright 2012 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.1a. Five note sequence. Tavener, Liturgy of St John Chrysostom (Great Litany of Peace) © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.1b. Retrograde. Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Great Litany of Peace. © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.1c. Inversion. Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Little Litany © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

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Figure 7.1d. Retrograde Inversion. Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Little Litany © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.2a. Three part canon (Cherubic Hymn) Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.2b. Parallel octaves and fourths set against drones (Hosanna) Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.2c. Parallel triads (Creed) Tavener Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. © Copyright 1977 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.3a. Phos hilaron (Sakellarides 1908: 15)

Figure 7.3b. Tavener Orthodox Vigil Service, p. 25 © Copyright 1984 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Figure 7.4a. Prokeimenon for Saturday vespers (Sakellarides 1908: 17).

Figure 7.4b. Tavener Orthodox Vigil Service, p. 38 © Copyright 1984 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

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Figure 7.5a. Trisagion of the Great Doxology Mode Plagal 4 (Sakellarides 1908: 331).

Figure 7.5b. Tavener, Orthodox Vigil Service, p. 182 © Copyright 1984 Chester Music Ltd. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited.

Details

Pages
XXIV, 306
Publication Year
2020
ISBN (PDF)
9781788747493
ISBN (ePUB)
9781788747509
ISBN (MOBI)
9781788747516
ISBN (Softcover)
9781788747486
Language
English
Publication date
2020 (November)
Keywords
John Tavener Music Spirituality June Boyce-Tillman Anne-Marie Forbes Heart’s Ease
Published
Oxford, Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, New York, Wien, 2020. XXIV, 306 pp., 13 fig. col., 60 fig. b/w.

Biographical notes

June Boyce-Tillman (Volume editor) Anne-Marie Forbes (Volume editor)

The Rev. Professor June Boyce-Tillman MBE, PhD, MA, LRAM, FRSA read music at Oxford University and is Professor Emerita of Applied Music at the University of Winchester and Extra-ordinary Professor at North West University, South Africa. She has published widely on music education and spirituality and is editing the series on Music and Spirituality for Peter Lang. Associate Professor Anne-Marie Forbes PhD, MMus, MA, BMus, FRSPH leads the interdisciplinary programmes in Creative Arts and Health at the University of Tasmania. She has published widely in historical musicology, focussing on twentieth-century British and Australian music, sacred music and performativity.

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Title: Heart's Ease