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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
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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