Questions by Natalia Semiletopoulo to Lera Auerbach
I read that someone from the Bremen Orchestra had said to you: “How about composing a requiem?” and so the idea was born. I suppose that it was your idea to focus on Russia. But had you ever thought about writing a big requiem or oratorium on Russia?
The Bremen Festival (Thomas Albert) asked at the beginning of my residency what would be my choice of work. Prof. Albert gave me a blank canvas. The idea of a Russian Requiem was my choice. Sometime later, an informal conversation took place with Barbara Grobien of the Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen. The subject was “Ein Deutsches Requiem” and its premiere in Bremen. During this conversation, the concept of a Russian Requiem to be written during my residency in Bremen was fully solidified. Yes, there was a direct connection to the role of the Philharmonische Gesellschaft Bremen with “Ein Deutsches Requiem”. Later, it was agreed for the Festival de Música Religiosa in Cuenca, Spain, to become the third co-commissioner of the work.
Where did you work on it, and how long did it take? Did you already compose some parts before and thought now that fits in this Requiem? If you stayed some month in Bremen (or even if not), did Brahms kind of influence you? Also, “Ein Deutsches Requiem” was premiered in Bremen, and the German people have a very close relationship to Brahms. Was this a special challenge for you?
This work was conceived primarily in Bremen but also during my travels that year. All the main material of the Requiem was completed in an intense period of about three months. My wish to use the Bremen Dom bells, together with Russian bells in the introduction of the premiere, is an acknowledgment and bow to Bremen and its history with “Ein Deutsches Requiem”.
Btw Brahms: On the title page of the score, everybody says “Russian Requiem”, but above the first page of the score is written “A Russian Requiem” – so I am again thinking of any relation to Brahms “Ein Deutsches Requiem” because of the article. What do you think?
As in the Russian language, there are no articles “the” or “a”; this was left unspecified in its translation.
Did you work on the text and the music in parallel, or did you first compile the text and then compose the music?
The text came first. Then, the music.
I think there is a Requiem mass in a figurative sense hidden behind the chosen text. So Nos. 1-9 can conform to Introitus, Kyrie, Gradual, and Tractus as an Invocation of God and Request for Absolution, the Dies Irae I see in Nr. 10 and 11, and in the following movements I see Offertorium, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Communio, Libera me and In Paradisum as hope of mercy and resurrection. (I have worked this out in more detail in my paper, but I just wanted to let you know – maybe you do not think like this.)
I believe it to be important to allow for different interpretations of a work. Many connections exist that may or may not have been originated intentionally by the composer. There is no set structure in the ‚Panihida’ of the Russian Orthodox tradition; however, certain parallels can be made. One thing I can share with you is that the Hebrew word for “life” is חי (khai), and it has a numerical value of 18.