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Shulamit Ran’s Credo/Ma’amin is laden with odes of various symbolisms throughout the work. The text of Credo/Ma’amin includes the first 4 of Maimonides’s 13 Principles of Jewish Faith: The belief in the existence of a creator, of God’s absolute and unparalleled unity, that God is unaffected by any physical occurences, and that God is eternal. Interestingly enough, Ran leaves out the nine other principles some of which include the imperative worship of only one God no other gods, the belief in God’s omniscience and providence, the belief in the divine origin of the Torah, and the belief in divine reward and retribution. By pairing this with the traditional Credo text from the Latin Mass and incorporating other writings from the Holocaust, Ran sets up an image of belief the God exists, that he is omniscient and omnipotent, but calls into question his supposed omnibenevolence. Ran essentially asks the same questions that philosophers have been arguing about for hundreds of years: The Judeo-Christian God is said to be all-powerful, allknowing, and all-loving, but how can we accept that he is all-loving if he allows evils such as the Holocaust to still happen in the world? The piece is configured for 3-part split for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and bass part, which create 12 independent voices in the texture. In Judaism, the number 12 is significant because there were 12 sons of Jacob in the Bible. There were also 12 tribes of Israel. The style of writing is very reminiscent of the structure of early music. All voices are independent and the texture is a very dense polyphony with some monophony. Ran separates phrases by giving chant-like solos that are continuously supported by the surrounding voices. When there is a polyphonic sound, one can even distinguish a cantus firmus in the work. Below is an excerpt from Tallis’s Credo from his Mass for 4 Voices compared to an excerpt of the Credo. Even though both examples are in 2 different time signatures, both pieces sustain the first note in unison in each respective split part and break into chordal polyphony on the most stressed word; Rans breaks the respective split-part unison on “One” and Tallis breaks on the “ten” of “Omnipotentem”. If one looks at both textures harmonically, both harmonic rhythms move at a similar pace. Even when glancing at both examples, both pieces look and sound very similar to each other. Both Credos are in relative key signatures to each other (Ran is in g minor and Tallis begins on a G major chord) and have similar melodic line contours. This is not out of the ordinary as Ran is quoted as saying that she considers her influences stemming from the “Renaissance and Baroque period.” In order to continue realizing Ran’s text painting techniques, it is important to define the following terms: Contrapuntal Voices, Contrapuntal Motives, and Hanging Pitches. When we read a piece of music, we see notes that move by step or leap, however, “to the ear, notes connect only by step, not by leap.” (Lasser, 4) Therefore, a Contrapuntal Voice is a single line of music that may only move by step. A single melody line may be comprised of multiple contrapuntal voices that may merge with each other at any time. If Contrapuntal Voices do not resolve or merge by step, these notes are left hanging and are appropriately called hanging pitches. A contrapuntal motive is a pattern that appears in every measure of the piece. This pattern is usually rhythmic. Observe the following example of the first measure from Bach’s F minor prelude (no.12). (Lasser, 12) On the top line of the first measure, we see an F minor I chord that is arpeggiated. If we follow the above guidelines, we would consider the F (CV1), A (CV2), C (CV3), and F (CV4) all as separate contrapuntal voices. During the next beat, the F moves by step to the G, then to the A, and then steps up to the B. Here is a depiction of how that CV1 would move: Because Bach repeats the 16th notes in the top line all throughout the piece, we would call that his contrapuntal motive. On measure 15, Ran begins a new phrase by having a soprano solo sing “I believe in the coming of the Messiah” (in Hebrew). The choir immediately begins to sing “I believe in one God visible” in latin. It is very interesting that she set both of these texts almost simultaneously with each other. As seen below, the solo ends on a D and if we follow the above principles, it becomes a hanging pitch that does not resolve until measure 20 on the word “visibilium”. It resolves, however with a C# which is completely uncharacteristic in the key of g minor. Ran uses this to create a harmonic painting. Because the chord on measure 20 is very unique in that it does not fit into the texture, the listener hears it more clearly. It becomes more “visible” in that way. Also, note that this texture also looks very similar to the beginning chant of Tallis and how it is then later supported by the rest of the choral voices in the work Generated by CamScanner The texture begins to change at measure 116 where a Tenor 2 narrator begins to read an excerpt from Lefkovits’s Jerusalem Post article accounting a woman from the holocaust and her recalling her parents last words of “Do not forget one thing: God is the father of everyone.” It is here that the texture goes from confused somewhat confident declarations to robot-like helplessness with all hope seemingly lost. At measure 130, Ran has all parts but sopranos chant text written by Wladislaw Szlengel where he questions God’s omnibenevolence when he asks whether he is still expected to pray while he is on the way to the gas chambers at a concentration camp. Ran sets a very dense structure by having all parts begin on a Bb major chord that chaotically unravels with accidentals until it just becomes loudly spoken text. Ran is known to use this technique in multiple other compositions. In her Fantasy Variations, Ran takes “A repeated pitch, bowed with increasing intensity as it accelerates and crescendoes, and introduces the piece. As this material spins itself out, double-stops progressively add depth, using wider and wider intervals. It is interesting that Ran has used not only harmony and pitch as her thematic guideposts, but also timbre and texture—employing such sounds as pizzicato, portamenti, and double stops as thematic in and of themselves.” Ran is quoted as saying “I really get into the depth of the instrument’s soul and try to tap it and find ways of making new music and the instrument come together in a manner that is meaningful and beautiful.” These cries become even more desperate on measure 140 as she has Sopranos sustain an F# while Altos and Tenors sing Pitch class set 5-10 [0,2,3,5,6] overlapping with pitch class set 4-10 [1,3,4,6] which are subsets of each other. The music becomes a cacophony of sound. Even though the F# is sustained in the Soprano, the texture does not sound tonal. These pitch class sets are inverted on the following page. At measure 146, Ran uses a minimalistic texture that shifts from c# minor to g minor in first inversion to C major harmonically. This motif repeats in the Soprano, Alto, and Tenor until measure 160. The time signature becomes 4/2 and we see the reappearance of the number 12 as each beat is grouped into triplets. There are 4 triplets per with 3 notes in each; the notes add up to equal 12 and we are reminded of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is interesting that Mourners Kaddish is spoken as these groupings Credo/Ani Ma’amin begins with a somewhat tonal beginning that is somewhat indicative of early renaissance music. During this style, the text is very general; it does not seem like there is a personal aspect to the text being spoken. It seems like it is being narrated. It is only