On 7 November the Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Sydney Conservatorium perform Carl Vine’s Choral Symphony alongside the premiere of The 440 Seasons, conducted by Elizabeth Scott.
The Choral Symphony is a 26-minute work that tells the story of Creation using the myths of ancient Babylonia. Scored for large orchestra, SATB chorus, and organ, it follows in the tradition of grand choral-orchestral music of Beethoven and Vaughan Williams. Vine is Senior Lecturer in Composition at the Conservatorium.
The symphony follows a four-movement pattern that proceeds without a break. Enuma Elish is a creation myth describing the creation of the world from primeval chaos. Although generally described as ‘Sumerian’ or ‘Babylonian’ and possibly originating before 2000 BC, this version of the myth is taken from a cuneiform tablet in Semitic Akkadian, 1300-1250 BC. The remaining three texts are Eis Gên, Eis Selênên, and Eis Hêlion – hymns to the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. These are taken from the Homeric Hymns (circa 400 BC), written in the centuries following Homer’s death as introductions to public readings of his great epics.
Vine says of the piece,
I wanted this work to revel in the power of human community. There should be no soloists, and the text should relate to our basic need for religion without being overtly religious. To focus on this ‘inner’ humanity, I selected four hymns from religions long-dead, in languages that have not been spoken for thousands of years. Although there are only a handful of scholars in the world who could plumb the depth of both these languages, the sequence of phonemes, the rhythm and intent of the sounds, still resonate with our primal need to create order from chaos.
The symphony premiered in 1996 at Perth Concert Hall with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Collegium Choir conducted by the composer. It appeared in 2024 as part of Vine’s 70th birthday celebrations with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, conducted by Andrew Wailes. It was recorded for ABC Classics in 2000 by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir conducted by Edo de Waart and reissued in 2005 alongside Vine’s complete symphonies.
It will be prefaced by the premiere of The 440 Seasons. The minute-long orchestral work was written as Vine’s contribution to the SCM 110 Staff Miniatures, a collection of pieces by the staff celebrating 110 years of the institution. The only stipulations for each composition were that each work lasts no more than a minute and include the motif E♭-C-E (eS - C - Mi).