text: threni ( stravinsky ) threni : id est lamentationes jeremiae prophetae , usually referred to simply as threni , is a musical setting by igor stravinsky of verses from the book of lamentations in the latin of the vulgate , for solo singers , chorus and orchestra . it is important among stravinsky 's compositions as his first and longest completely dodecaphonic work , but is not often performed . it has been described as " austere " but also as a " culminating point " in his career as an artist , " important both spiritually and stylistically " and " the most ambitious and structurally the most complex " of all his religious compositions , and even " among stravinsky 's greatest works " . stravinsky composed threni in 1957 – 1958 for the venice biennale , and it was first performed there in september 1958 . a performance in paris two months later was a disaster , attributed to inadequate performers and insufficient rehearsals . it led to mutual recriminations between stravinsky , pierre boulez and robert craft . the work was first published in 1958 and first recorded in 1959 , in a recording conducted by the composer . as threni was intended for concert rather than liturgical use , stravinsky chose the text freely from the early chapters of the book of lamentations . it has three movements : the large central movement is surrounded by two much shorter ones . ernst krenek composed a setting of the lamentations in 1942 , and stravinsky acknowledged that it might have influenced him . he considered it less likely that works by renaissance composers , including tallis , byrd and palestrina , had influenced him , although he had studied such music . history stravinsky composed threni between the summer of 1957 and the spring of 1958 , beginning it on 29 august 1957 at the piano of the nightclub in the hotel where he was staying in venice , and completing it before 27 march of the next year . it was first performed on 23 september 1958 in the hall of the scuola grande di san rocco , venice . stravinsky dedicated the performance to alessandro , director of the venice biennale , who had recently died . the first paris performance , on 14 november 1958 , was disastrous . according to stephen walsh , pierre boulez failed to fulfil his undertaking to obtain adequate performers , and those that he could obtain broke down several times . the audience response was polite at first , but when stravinsky refused to return and take a bow , it gradually descended into jeers . stravinsky said he would never conduct in paris again . stravinsky felt humiliated by what he called a " scandalous concert " , writing in his diary immediately after the performance that it was the " unhappiest concert of my life " and blaming boulez for the result . robert craft adds that boulez had promised to rehearse threni , but failed to do so . stravinsky nevertheless had a share in the blame for not cancelling the concert despite the pleas of family and friends , including his wife and nadia boulanger . conceding that the performance was a " catastrophe " , boulez nevertheless insisted that he did in fact participate in the piano rehearsals , together with stravinsky , whom he had tried in vain to persuade to be more firm with the singers . he concluded that stravinsky " was not a good conductor ; he was a terribly lousy conductor " , and the problems with the singers were compounded because " the orchestra had been ill - prepared by craft " . while agreeing that the singers were " absolutely awful " , boulez protested they had been chosen not by himself , but by an agent in charge of the aix - en - provence festival . stravinsky himself conducted the first recording in january 1959 with the columbia symphony orchestra . this recording has been reissued several times since first being published on lp in 1959 , and forms part of the 2007 release of stravinsky 's works by sony . threni was first published by boosey & hawkes in 1958 . conducting from this score is difficult because of a shortage of bar lines . asked by robert craft about this , stravinsky said , " the voices are not always in rhythmic unison . therefore , any bar lines would cut at least one line arbitrarily " . he recommended the conductor to " merely count the music out as he counts out a motet by josquin " . however , a revised edition , with several changes to the barring as well as some corrections , was issued in 1965 . stravinsky had already used twelve - tone technique earlier in the 1950s , both in canticum sacrum ( 1955 ) and in agon ( 1957 ) . but neither of these is exclusively dodecaphonic , whereas threni is . orchestration threni is scored for one soprano , one contralto , two tenor and two bass soloists , chorus and an orchestra of 2 flutes , 2 oboes , cor anglais , 2 clarinets ( second doubling alto clarinet in f ) , bass clarinet , contrabass , flugelhorn , 4 horns , 3 trombones ( 1 alto , 1 tenor , 1 bass ) , tuba , timpani , , harp , celesta , piano and strings . ( the flugelhorn is actually listed as " bugle " by the publisher , though in the " orchestration " list at the head of the score the specification is for " bugle in b ♭ ( ) " , and in the score itself , where all the other instruments are named in italian , it is called in french and german , " bugle c - alto ( ) " . however , the part is played on the flugelhorn . the french word for flugelhorn is bugle à pistons , and the italian is . ) general attributes text stravinsky wrote threni for the venice biennale , not for liturgical use , and he chose the words himself to suit his musical purposes . the complete text is included in kuster 's analysis . the text includes the hebrew letters that begin the verses in some chapters of the lamentations of jeremiah . these are always set for chorus and have been likened to " a series of illuminated initials embellishing a manuscript " . musical style stravinsky himself described his treatment of pitch in threni as " a kind of ' triadic atonality ' " , contrasting this with the " tonality repetition " of his ballet scores . threni makes extensive use of canons . it also uses chanting in the choir – the first time stravinsky had done this . the score calls for a large orchestra , but never uses it in tutti , preferring small groups of individually selected instruments at any one time . the principal 12 - tone row for threni is d ♯ -g ♯ -g ♮ -a ♯ -c ♯ -a ♮ -d ♮ -b ♮ -e ♮ -c ♮ -f ♮ -f ♯ . stravinsky makes considerable use of the tonal – even diatonic – possibilities of this row . however , stravinsky does not really use twelve - tone technique in depth in this work , relying on free transposition and combination , selection , and repetition , so that the character of the music is actually not very different from his earlier works : the beginning of " sensus spei " , for example ( especially the many repeated notes in the alto solo , and the repeated response from the chorus ) , recalls renard and les noces , and the two short passages for strings and chorus near the beginning setting the hebrew letters and res are reminiscent of places in orpheus ( 1948 ) . influences the work most likely to have influenced stravinsky 's threni is the jeremiae , opus 93 , by ernst krenek , for 8 - part unaccompanied choir , composed in 1942 but only published in 1957 ( the year before threni ) . stravinsky himself said that he liked this work , that he had read a treatise by krenek on twelve - tone counterpoint , and that " perhaps my own threni shows contact with [ krenek 's ] lamentations . " stravinsky 's decision to rely on a beat rather than on in the " querimonia " section is one instance . edgar murray finds threni less expressive than the krenek , and more like the lamentationes of thomas tallis . stravinsky , however , while acknowledging that he had studied the tallis settings and works by william byrd and palestrina , did not believe that they had influenced his music . other resemblances have been observed – for example , the male - quartet episode in the " querimonia " was probably suggested by carlo gesualdo 's sum – though such things may be better characterized as " identifications " than " influences " . the series used by pierre boulez in his structures 1a is found in the sketches for threni , but it differs so fundamentally from the row stravinsky actually used that its relevance to threni is unclear . movements threni has three movements , corresponding to the three chapters of the lamentations of jeremiah from which the texts used in the work are taken . the following is a summary . a detailed musical analysis and the complete latin text , side by side with the english of the king james version of the bible , are available in the thesis by andrew kuster . 1 . de elegia prima after a short orchestral introduction , the movement begins with the words " incipit jeremiae prophetae " ( here begins the lamentation of the prophet jeremiah ) , after which the music sets lamentations chapter 1 , verses 1 , 2 ( first part ) , 5 ( first part ) , 11 ( last part ) and 20 . a hebrew letter precedes each verse used . 2 . de elegia tertia this movement uses text from chapter 3 of lamentations , with a hebrew letter preceding each block of three verses . it is much longer than the other two movements combined , and is divided into three sections : querimonia ( complaint ) uses verses 1 – 6 and 16 – 21 . sensus spei ( sense of hope ) uses verses 22 – 27 , 34 – 36 , 40 – 45 and 49 – 57 . ( solace ) uses verses 58 – 64 . 3 . de elegia quinta this is by far the shortest movement of the work . it begins with the words " oratio jeremiae prophetae " ( prayer of the prophet jeremiah ) , after which the music sets lamentations chapter 5 , verses 1 , 19 and 21 . no hebrew letters are associated with this text . discography stravinsky : threni , id est lamentationes jeremiae prophetae ( 1957 – 58 ) , igor stravinsky conducting . bethany beardslee ( s ) ; beatrice krebs ( contralto ) ; william lewis and james ( tenors ) ; mac morgan ( baritone ) ; robert oliver ( bass ) ; the schola cantorum ( hugh ross , dir . ) ; columbia symphony orchestra ; igor stravinsky conducting ( recorded 5 – 6 january 1959 , new york ) . lp recording , monaural . columbia masterworks ml 5383 . new york : columbia records , 1959 . reissued on stravinsky : choral works . igor stravinsky recorded legacy 14 . 2 - lp set . cbs – . [ n.p. ] : cbs , 1981 . reissued on igor stravinsky edition , vol . 11 . 2 - cd set . sony . [ n.p. ] : sony classical , 1991 . reissued on disc 21 ( - 21 ) , " sacred works vol . 2 " , of works of igor stravinsky . 22 - cd set . sony classical . new york : sony bmg music entertainment , 2007 . stravinsky vol . vi : symphony of psalms , les noces , lamentations of jeremiah . the philharmonia ; the simon joly chorale ; robert craft , . in les noces : international piano quartet , tristan fry percussion ensemble , alison wells ( soprano ) , susan bickley ( mezzo - soprano ) , martyn hill ( tenor ) , alan ewing ( basso ) ; in threni : julie moffat ( soprano ) , jennifer lane ( mezzo - soprano ) , martyn hill and joseph cornwell ( tenors ) , david wilson - johnson and martin robson ( basses ) . ( symphony of psalms recorded 5 & 6 january 2001 ; les noces recorded 8 & 9 january 2001 ; threni recorded 25 – 30 june 2001 ; all recorded at abbey road studio one , london , england . ) koch kic - cd - . new york : koch international classics , 2002 . stravinsky : threni , requiem canticles . collegium vocale gent ; royal flemish philharmonic ; philippe herreweghe , . christina ( soprano ) , ewa ( alto ) , maximilian schmitt ( tenor ) , magnus ( tenor ) , florian boesch ( bass ) , david soar ( bass ) , recorded 13 – 15 october 2014 . – . phi classics , 2016 .