Sentencia del Tribunal Supremo 1084/2007

(Psalm 25: 16-18, 20)

Look toward me and have mercy on me; for I am desolate and distressed. The worries of my heart multiply themselves, from my anxieties bring me out, from my anxieties bring me out. Have mercy on me! See my affliction and my misery, and forgive all my sins. Protect my soul and deliver me, let me not be put to shame, for in You I hope, for in You I hope!

Psalm 25 is a prayer for help in the form of another acrostic poem.33 Most of the psalm is an affirmation of who God is, and how he relates to his covenant people, but towards the latter part of the psalm, the psalmist begins to focus on his/her current state of affliction. Dvořák singled out these anguish-filled verses for song eight, which is further evidence of a personal connection to the texts. The verses that he chose contain words such as ‘opuštěný’ [desolate], ‘úskostí’ [anxieties], and ‘bídu’ [misery]. They are inwardly focussed – here, the protagonist asks for God’s intervention in his desperate situation. Interestingly, bars 21-22 contain the only instance in the whole of the Biblical Songs where

Dvořák added a whole extra line of his own to the text, ‘Sumiluj se nade mnou!’ [Have mercy on me!], the effect of which is to further emphasise the protagonist’s distress. Once more there is a conspicuous omission here; of the verses selected by Dvořák, verse 19, which speaks of enemies, is left out of what would otherwise be a chain of verses from 16-20.

The four-note descending figure heard in the introduction, Ab-Gb-Fb-Eb, is of particular importance to the eighth of the Biblical Songs. As in the hurdy-gurdy

of Winterreise’s final song, the continuous use of this unresolved, descending

33 _{McCann, ‘The Book of Psalms’, p.777.}

motif enhances the notion that the protagonist is ‘stuck’, and in this case, estranged from God. In the first two bars, the motif is harmonised by the progression ˚ii-V, which makes for a rather tentative song opening (Example 3.15). However, when the protagonist enters with the same four-note motif in bar three, it is not harmonised, but is sung in unison with the piano, reflecting the desolation described in the text. This short motif reappears over and over again throughout the song.

Example 3.15 – Song eight, bb.1-4

Repetition is also evident on a larger scale in song eight. The song is basically strophic; Dvořák allocated one psalm verse to the first two sections, and two verses to the slightly longer third section of the song. Dvořák makes use of changes in the strophic form to convey increasing stress and intensity. Each of the three sections follows a similar basic pattern. First, the protagonist sings the four-note motif twice in consecutive bars, at a low dynamic. Following these statements of the motif, the protagonist breaks into some kind of loud outcry. In these outcries the singer manages to temporarily break away from the constraints of the repeated motif. However, as the song progresses, these moments grow in intensity, culminating in the words ‘forgive all my sins,

protect my soul and deliver me’, which are punctuated with diminished seventh, dominant seventh, and Neapolitan sixth chords (bb.25-29).

Dvořák’s variations of the four-note motif also reflect an increasing intensity over the course of the song. After statements of the motif’s original form in the song’s first section (Example 3.15), in bar 12 the words ‘rozmnožují se’ [multiply themselves] are emphasised when accents and increased rhythmic movement are applied to the motif – the notes of the motif are literally multiplied. At the beginning of the third section, however, these notes are multiplied even further, and the register of the motif moves wildly up and down, suggesting that the ‘worries of my heart’ mentioned in bars 10-11 are continuing to increase (Example 3.16).

Example 3.16 – Song eight, bb.23-24

In light of the anguished-filled text, and the increase in musical tension that occurs through successive verses, the conclusion of song eight is particularly striking. In bar 33, the four-note motif is finally resolved – not by Ab minor, but Ab major. As if to confirm this new major tonality, this chord is repeated in

varying inversions in the accompaniment, in the ascending and descending flourish of bars 33-34:

Example 3.17 – Song eight, bb.31-34

This flourish of tonic major harmony is particularly affecting after so many bars of dissonant harmony, or no harmony whatsoever, thus representing something of an ‘and there was light’ moment. Unlike the protagonist in Winterreise,

although the singer has been ‘stuck’ with this unresolved, repeated motif throughout the song, a happy conclusion has been achieved, and he or she can now move on from distressed lamenting. Furthermore, this sudden change has a significant impact on the way in which we hear the concluding words of the protagonist, ‘for in You I hope!’ Here, hope in God is the key by which the protagonist is released from anxiety and worry. The plagal cadence which closes the song reinforces the idea that it is God who provides consolation, and has the power to release the protagonist from struggles (in song five plagal movement was also used in conjunction with a text conveying great faith in God). However, a further implication of this plagal cadence is that there is no dominant-tonic cadence to confirm the new tonic of Ab major. Perhaps we could hear this chord as V/Db – an option which the opening of song nine leaves open.

Song Nine