Symphony No.3 - Liturgique

In 1945–46, ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892–1955) composed his Symphony No. 3 in Paris, at a time when the wounds of World War II were still fresh. Considered one of the great composers of the 20th century, Honegger was born and lived in France, though he came from a Swiss family. He was part of the famous Les Six, a group of six French composers known for their creativity. This symphony is one of a series of famous anti-war works that express the composer's devastation at the atrocities that shook the world. “In this work, I wanted to symbolize modern man's protest against barbarism, stupidity, suffering, and the bureaucratic machine that has been assaulting us for so many years,” says the composer in his extensive explanation of the idea behind the symphony. “It is a drama in which three characters play a part, either literally or symbolically: Suffering, Happiness, and Man. This is an eternal problem. And I tried to renew it...” Honegger called the symphony “Liturgical,” and each of the three parts of the work has a title-epigraph from texts of Catholic requiems and masses that explain his concept. The first is Dies irae (“Day of Wrath”): “I wanted to depict in it the horror of man in the face of divine wrath. To express the cruel, eternal feelings of mercilessly persecuted peoples, abandoned to the game of chance and vainly trying to escape the cruel blows of fate. Day of wrath! Rapid themes follow one after another, giving the listener no moment of respite. It is impossible to pause and catch your breath. The storm destroys everything, sweeps everything away—blind, raging. Only at the end of the first movement does a bird appear. But here it does not sing, it cries...” The theme of the bird runs like a unifying thread through all parts of the symphony. The second part, De profundis clamavi (“Out of the depths I cry to you,” from Psalm 130), is a stirring, pain-filled prayer. “At the end of this part, I reintroduce the theme of the bird,” notes Honegger. “A dove appears, this time in a clear, distinct melody. The message of the dove with an olive branch is a promise of peace amid the chaos.” The third part, Dona nobis pacem (“Give us peace”), revisits the grim image of war. Misfortune is a bad adviser, and Have you noticed how often a suffering person becomes evil and foolish? the composer asks. What could be more foolish than giving free rein to barbarism? At the beginning of the third movement, I wanted to express this: collective stupidity. I composed a clumsy march on a deliberately idiotic theme, first played by the bass clarinet: ‘Boom-boom-boom!’ This is a march of robots against civilized humanity, possessing both body and soul. It is the beasts’ reckoning with spiritual values. The rough march, with its ominous theme reminiscent of the invasion in Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, reaches its limit and the oppressed hearts seem to erupt in a piercing cry: ‘Dona nobis pacem!’ In the quiet coda, an earthly paradise of beauty unfolds before us, accompanied by the chirping of birds, as if a dove of peace were flying over the endless sea. Commissioned by the Swiss cultural foundation Pro Helvetia, Honegger’s Symphonie Liturgique No. 3 premiered in Zurich on August 17, 1946. The Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, conducted by Charles Munch, performed the piece, which Honegger dedicated to Munch. The audience’s reaction delighted the composer: they perceived the symphony not as concert music but as a spiritual experience. They did not applaud wildly; they remained silent. To me, that silence was the truest form of recognition—like the silence that follows a prayer. I did not expect so many people to feel the pain I put into this music. This is not a triumphant symphony. It is a symphony of human suffering.