| The Lamb | |
|---|---|
| Choral music byJohn Tavener | |
 | |
| Genre | Choral anthem[1] |
| Occasion | Third birthday of Tavener's nephew |
| Text | "The Lamb" byWilliam Blake |
| Composed | 1982 |
| Publisher | Chester Music |
| Scoring | SATB choir |
| Premiere | |
| Date | 22 December 1982 |
| Location | Winchester Cathedral |
The Lamb is a choral work written in 1982 by British composerJohn Tavener (1944–2013). It is a setting of music to theWilliam Blake poem "The Lamb" from Blake's collection of poemsSongs of Innocence and of Experience (1789). It is one of Tavener's best known works. Written for unaccompaniedSATB choir, the music is minimalistic and combineschromaticism with more conventional harmony.
The Lamb was premiered inWinchester Cathedral on 22 December 1982. It was also performed at theFestival of Nine Lessons and Carols inKings College Chapel,Cambridge, onChristmas Eve of the same year. This gave the piece widespread exposure, and it has since become a common part of church services, especially aroundChristmas.The Lamb featured in the soundtrack forPaolo Sorrentino's filmThe Great Beauty and has been a set work for theEdexcelA level music examination.
John Tavener was a composer of religious works. His early education centred aroundavant-garde techniques, but his musical language developed into a moreminimalistic style.[2] Tavener often composed pieces of music for family and friends, one of which wasThe Lamb. It was written in 1982 as a birthday present for his three-year-old nephew, Simon,[3][4] without the intention of commercial success.[5] He wrote the piece during a car journey from SouthDevon toLondon. Tavener said that the work came to him "fully grown so to speak, all I had to do was to write it down".[1] He completed the piece within 15 minutes.[6] The composition sets the text ofWilliam Blake's poem "The Lamb" to music for choir.[4]
After finishing the composition, Tavener sent the piece to his publisher Chester Music and asked if they could share it withKing's College, Cambridge, for inclusion in theirNine Lessons and Carols service that year. Upon seeing the piece,Stephen Cleobury—the Director of Music at King's College—decided it would be included.[6] The premiere ofThe Lamb took place inWinchester Cathedral on 22 December 1982, and onChristmas Eve two days later it was performed in the Nine Lessons and Carols service.[3]
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"The Lamb" is a poem by William Blake from his poetry collectionSongs of Innocence and Experience (1789).[4] The poem draws on religious symbolism, primarily theAgnus Dei and the concept of Jesus as theLamb of God.[7] Blake believed that Jesus and God were two different but related entities, and this duality is depicted in the poem:[8] the text highlights various binaries, including the contrast between youthful innocence and older age,[9] and the pairing of lamb the animal with the Lamb of God.[7] Blake himself set the poem to music, but no known copies have survived.[10] Inspired by 'The Lamb' while reading Blake's poetry, Tavener said "I read the words, and immediately I heard the notes."[3]
The Lamb is written for unaccompaniedSATB choir.[4] The choral writing ishomophonic throughout, with largely syllabic word-setting.[1][4] A performance direction instructs the singers to be "flexible" and "always guided by the words".[1] The melody largely consists ofquavers at ♩=40.[11]
The piece combines simple harmony withdissonance.[4] It is a minimalist piece[12] based on variations of a singlemotif:[4] the music in bars 1-2 is expanded upon and used throughout the rest of the piece, demonstrating Tavener's interest inserialism.[1] In the first bar, a tonally-ambiguous melody in eitherG major orE minor is sung by the sopranos. The altos enter in the second bar with an exactinversion (ormirror image)[13] of the soprano's melody in bar 1.[14] This inversion results in unconventional harmony:[15] interlocking melodic lines,chromatic harmony, and bitonality betweenE-flat major andG major.[1] The soprano line in bar 3 utilises notes from the alto and soprano parts from the previous two bars. Bar 4 is aretrograde of bar 3, and the final bars of the A section (bars 5-6) also consist of notes from the previous melody.[14] Bars 7-10 are a B section in E minor[15] and feature all voices singing homophonically in more conventionalaeolian harmony.[1][14] The texture in the B section is similar to achorale.[15]
The chordal verses ofThe Lamb feature a musical device which Tavener called the "joy-sorrow chord", sung on the word "Lamb".[8] The chord is used in other pieces by Tavener, includingFuneral Ikos andIkon of Light.[16] From the bass upwards, it consists of the notes A-C-G-B:[8]
Since its first performances in 1982,The Lamb has been a popular piece of church music.[3][7] It is one of Tavener's most commonly-performed pieces,[4] and is often sung in Christmas services due to the text's focus on Jesus as a baby.[1] Music presenter and journalistTom Service wrote thatThe Lamb is "music that's once heard, never forgotten, its delicate radiance realising a rapt timelessness".[5] As well as being a popular piece sung throughout the Christmas season,[17] it has been used in a phone commercial[13] and in the soundtrack to the filmThe Great Beauty.[18]The Lamb has been a set work for theEdexcelA level music examination.[19]
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