Peter Reulein Peter Reulein (born 1966) is a German composer, organ improviser, academic teacher and church musician, from 2000 at the church Liebfrauen in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016 he composed for the Catholic Diocese of Limburg the Franciscan oratorio ''L ...

's is a choral composition completed in 2018, a setting of the

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

. It is scored like Palmeri's '' Misatango'', for four-part choir (

SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...

bandoneon The bandoneon () or bandonion is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, it is held between the hands, and played ...

, piano and

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

; it also uses Latin-American dance rhythms.

History

was written by

, the director of music at

Liebfrauen, Frankfurt Liebfrauenkirche ("Our Lady", literally "Dear Lady") is a Gothic-style Catholic parish church, located in the centre of Frankfurt, Germany. It was built in several phases from the 14th to the 16th century and serves today as a monastery church. ...

, since 2000. On a specific commission from

Leichlingen Leichlingen (; officially Leichlingen (Rheinland); Ripuarian: ''Lëijchlinge'') is a town in the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Leichlingen is a centre for apple and berry growing in the region. Geography Leichling ...

, he wrote it as a possible companion piece to the popular '' Misa a Buenos Aires'' (''Misatango''), a 1996 mass composition by the Argentinian composer Martin Palmeri. Reulein used the same scoring for four-part choir (

, piano and

, and also employed Latin-American dance rhythms,

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

, habanera and

huapango is a family of Mexican music styles. The word likely derives from the Nahuatl word that literally means 'on top of the wood', alluding to a wooden platform on which dancers perform dance steps. It is interpreted in different forms, the most ...

. Reulein added percussion instruments to the scoring. The work was published by the

Dehm Verlag Patrick Dehm (born 1962) is a German Catholic theologian, supervisor and clinical Gestalt therapist. He and his brother founded the Eugen Dehm foundation, supporting a holistic health concept, in memory of their father. Dehm is director of the D ...

in 2018. The world premiere was given on 29 April 2018, coupled with Palmerí's ''Misatango'', in an ecumenical choral concert in the church St. Johannes Baptist in Leichlingen, sung by the Protestant chorale, the Catholic church choir and an Italian choir, Ludus Vocalis from

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

. The Italian choir performed the Italian premiere at the Basilica di San Francesco in Ravenna in a Christmas concert on 26 December 2018, conducted by Stefano Sintoni.

Music

The composition is structured in four movements: # Te Deum laudamus # Te gloriosis Apostelarum # Tu, Rex gloriae, Christe # Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine The first movement begins with a quotation of the Gregorian melody of the Te Deum in the bandoneon. The hymn of praise "Te Deum laudamus" (We praise Thee, oh Lord) is set in Tango rhythm. The second movement contains the praise of apostles and martyrs. It is interpreted as a canon in the rhythm of the African-Cuban habanera, a precursor of the tango. In the third movement, Christ is praised, "Tu Rex gloria, Christe" (Christ, you King of glory). It is set in the rhythm of the Mexican

with a characteristic alternation between measures with three times two eighth-notes, and two times three eighth-notes. The opening line returns several times as a

ritornello A ritornello (Italian; "little return") is a recurring passage in Renaissance music and Baroque music for orchestra or chorus. Early history The earliest use of the term "ritornello" in music referred to the final lines of a fourteenth-century ...

. The forth movement collects prayers for mercy and salvation, "Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine" (Make your people whole, Lord), ending with the line "In te, Domine, speravi" (For you, Lord, I hope). The prayers are intensified by the hymn in German "Gott, wir sind deine Kinder" (God, we are your children), Its four stanzas, with the melody in different voices, are followed by a recapitulation of the beginning, Te Deum.

References

External links

* ecumenical international concert at St. Martin, Idstein, on 6 May 2023 * First performance in Italy, conducted by Stefano Sintoni at the Basilica di San Francesco, Ravenna, on 26 December 2018. {{authority control Reulein 2018 compositions Neues Geistliches Lied