Oceana (1996) by Osvaldo Golijov

Duration:
27 minutes

Scoring:
Vocalist, mezzo soprano, Brazilian jazz style
Boy soprano or small boy’s chorus, can be done with small group of sopranos
Double SATB chorus, with double SSAATTBB divisi in fnal movement
2 flutes
1 alto flute, doubles on piccolo
3 percussionists: talking drums/ocean drum, dumbek/rain stick, shekere/maracas
2 guitars (amplifedd
harp
Strings (65432 minimumd

Background information:
Commissioned by the Oregon Bach Festival for its 1996 concert series, “Cantatas
of the Americas” where four composers were commissioned to write modern
choral works in the spirit of Johann Sebastian Bach. Premiered on June 27, 1996
by Luciana Souza, New World Guitar Trio, Schola Cantorum of Caracas, Oregon
Bach Festival Orchestra, and Maria Guinand conducting. Recorded in 2006 on
DG by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Luciana Souza, John
Dearman and Scott Tennant, guitarists, members of the Gwinnett Young Singers,
and Robert Spano conducting.

Text:
Taken from the poem "Oceana" in Neruda's 1961 collection Cantos Ceremoniales.
Neruda's verses invoke the presence of an ocean goddess, evoking the concept of
the pachamama, the great mother of indigenous Andean religion. The mystery
and passionate journey of this poem parallels the spiritual journey that one may
fnd in Bach’s sacred cantatas invoking God’s grace.

Note from the composer:

My aim in Oceana was the transmutation of passion into geometry. This is, in my
mind, the clue to both Bach's and Neruda's work. One hopes that the emotion
evoked by the work is the emotion of hearing order, inevitable and full of light:
every note in its place, as in Bach, every word in its place, as in Neruda. Giants
such as Bach are fated to be used as mirrors by composers and performers of
every era, who will see their own image reflected there. In their own ways they
were all correct in their fruitful misreadings of Bach's music, and I feel that
Oceana is my own misreading. Neruda is our Latin American Bach. Like Bach, he
is Midas, able as if by magic to transform everything on this Earth into poetry. I
think I have discovered the clue to setting his poems to music: Neruda's voice is a
chorus, too powerful for a single voice to handle. I do hope that water and
longing, light and hope, the immensity of South America's nature and pain, are
here transmuted into pure musical symbols, which nevertheless should be more
liquid than the sea and deeper than the yearning that they represent. And if I
have misunderstood Bach, then so be it, in the spirit of Picasso, who could see
only a dove when everyone else saw clearly that it was the number two.

Movements and large-scale structure:

Oceana is through-composed, with a chiastic pattern that mirrors structures
commonly found in Bach’s sacred cantatas. It begins with “Call”, a free-form
movement that plays the role of a recitative. This is followed by three choral
movements titled “Wave”, separated by an “Interlude” and a second “Call”. These
three movements are reminiscent of large-scale choral fugal movements from
Bach’s cantatas, with the intermissions functioning as episodes. They are
connected by thematic material and texture, increasing in intensity culminating
in an extended “Aria”, which includes the use of a boy soprano or small group of
singers reminiscent of the use of chorale themes to accompany arias in many
Bach cantata movements. The work ends like most Bach cantatas, with an
unaccompanied chorale, “Coral del Arrecife”. The work is full of Easter eggs,
references to Bach cantatas, and puns, such as the musical notes B-A-C-H, the
extensive use of the cross motif, and the ambiguity of the words “coral” and
“chorale”.

I. Call —
II. First Wave — Rain Train Interlude —
III. Second Wave —
IV. Second Call —
V. Third Wave —
VI. Aria —
VII. Coral del Arrecife (Chorale of the coral reefd

Overview of each movement:

I. Call
The vocalist intones the word “Oceana” repeatedly, as if beginning a ritual. The
accompaniment only consists of harp and the two guitars, playing aleatoric
sequences where the performers repeat small melodic cells. For the premiere
recordings, the percussionists improvised sounds reminiscent of the ocean or an
“ancient ritual” using ocean drums, shakers, and similar instruments. This
movement builds in intensity gradually, leading into the First Wave.

II. First Wave & Rain Tree Interlude

The string orchestra generally only plays with the chorus in the Wave
movements, and the flutes and guitars rarely play with the chorus, generally
associated with the soloist. The chorus responds enthusiastically to the “call” of
the frst movement. Golijov calls for an unrefned sound, for an “open voice, like
pirates at sea calling their goddess.” The choruses begin in unison but gradually
break apart. The string orchestra is entirely independent of the chorus,
seemingly existing in a separate metric plane, and with complex rhythms
evoking the churning of water. The chorus, is frmly rooted in 3/8 meter while
the orchestra seemingly attempts to disloge it from this rhythmic foundation.
This is interrupted suddenly by a “Rain Tree Interlude”, where two flutes and
piccolo, joined by the guitars and harp, play in close harmony in block chords
reminiscent of traditional Andean pipe music. The rain tree thrives when
surrounded with water and is associated with the belief that it exudes water from
its leaves. It is also tremendously signifcant in South American culture,
particularly in reference to the famous tree Samán de Güere which has stood for
more than 500 years in Venezuela, predating the colonization of Latin America.

III. Second Wave

The second wave begins with the chorus singing in unison. However, at the
indication “rocking the boat”, the eight choral parts begin to move
independently, sharing notes but using diferent texts, dynamic markings, and
rhythms, gradually moving upward in half steps, exploring particularly the range
A-Bb-B-C-C# (spelling Bach’s name numerous times in the processd, creating a
dizzying efect of water swirling.

IV. Second Call

The soloist returns, vocalizing with no text. This section is more structured than
the frst “Call” movement, reminiscent of samba and using alto flute, the two
guitars, and a solo double bass playing pizzicato.

V. Third Wave
The third wave is the most intense. It begins with the themes of the frst wave but
almost immediately presents these in canons between the two choruses. For the
frst time, the chorus becomes dislodged from the constant 3/8 pulse,
culminating in an extended, disorienting homophonic passage that constantly
changes meter, with various combinations of 5/16, 7/16, 3/8, 3/16, etc. that lead to
a climax.

VI. Aria
Having achieved their goal of invoking the presence of Oceana, the ocean
goddess, the strings and chorus break away and a solo movement follows. The
soloist is accompanied by guitars, harp, and Latin and African percussion. As in
many of Bach’s works, the soloist is doubled in unison by an alto flute. According
to Golijov: “In this movement I tried to write a melody that, like Bach's own,
'reinvents itself' continually, that is always reborn — of course my style is
diferent and I'm a fly next to Bach, but the idea is the same.” Towards the end of
this movement, a boy soprano or small group of singers provides counterpoint to
the soloist, with text referring to the ocean giving birth to new lands as lava cools
and is carved by the sea.
VII. Coral del Arrecife
The soloist and her instrumental ensemble gradually fade away, accompanied by
the strings. This introduces the fnal movement, a hypnotic unaccompanied
chorale where the word Oceana echoes between both choruses. The divisi
gradually becomes more complex, and the harmony oscillates between moments
of unison and consonance and highly chromatic sonority. The movement ends
on an unresolved chord that fades away.

Performance considerations:
- Amplifcation and balance will be an issue, particularly considering the
changing voicing and divisi. Furthermore, the range of the solo and the
amplifcation necessary for classical guitars and solo double bass will need to be
considered carefully.

- The Spanish pronunciation is particularly difcult, especially when combined

with constantly changing rhythm and text stress.

- The fnal movement presents considerable challenges of tone, intonation, and

blend, especially due to its start contrast with the vocal production required for
the three “Wave” movements.

- The string parts are especially difcult, include extensive divisi, and require
players experienced with modern and contemporary technique. The two guitar
parts should be treated as prominent solo parts due to their prominent role and
constant pairing with the vocal solo, in many ways equivalent to the basso
continuo and obbligato instruments in Bach’s cantatas.
Text (all text is sung by the chorus):

First Wave
Oceana nupcial, cadera de las islas, Oceana, bridal Oceana, thigh of the islands
Aquí a mi lado, cántame los desaparecidos Sing to me here, by my side, the vanished
Cantares, signos, números del río deseado. Chants, signs, numbers of the desired river.

Second Wave
Quiero oir lo invisible, lo que cayó del tiempo
Al palio equinoccial de las palmeras.
Dame el vino secreto que guarda cada sílaba:
Ir y venir de espumas, razas de miel caídas
Al cántaro marino sobre los arrecifes.
Third Wave
Oceana, reclina tu noche en el Castillo
Que aguardó sin cesar pasar tu cabellera
En cada ola que el mar elevaba en el mar
Y luego no eras tú sino el mar que pasaba,
Sino el mar sino el mar
I want to hear the invisible, that which fell
From time to the equinoctial mantle of the
palm trees.
Give me the secret wine contained in each
syllable
The coming and going of foams, of races of
honey
Fallen to the marine vase over the reefs.
Oceana, recline your night in the castle
That awaited forever your mane coming
In each wave that the sea elevated in the sea
And then it wasn't you the one coming
But the sea but the sea

Aria
Tengo hambre de no ser sino piedra marina I'm craving to be nothing but marine stone,
Estatua. Lava, terca torre de monumento Statue, lava, a stubborn monumental tower
Donde se estrellan olas ya desaparecidas Where the waves that crash have
Mares que fallecieron con cántico y viajero disappeared:
Seas that died with chant and traveler.
Chorale of the Reef
Oceana, dame las conchas del arrecife Oceana, give me the shells of the reef
Parta cubrir con sus relámpagos los muros, To cover the walls with their lightning
Los Spondylus, heroes coronados de espinas, The Spondylus, heroes crowned with thorns
El esplendor morado del murex en su roca: The splendor of the murex on the rocks:
Tú sabes como sobre la sal ultramarina You know how, over the ultramarine salt,
En su nave de nieve navega el argonauta. In his vessel of snow, the Argonaut sails.
IPA of OCEANA:

oseana nupsjal kadeɾa de las islas

aki a mi lado kantame los desapaɾesidos
kantaɾes signos numeɾos del ri:o deseado

kjero oiɾ lo inβisiβle lo ke kajo del tjempo

al paljo ekinoksjal de las palmeɾas
dame el βino sekɾeto ke gwaɾda kada silaβa
iɾ i βeniɾ de espumas rasas de mjel kaidas
al kantaɾo maɾino sobɾe los aresifes

oseana reklina tu not͡ʃe en el kastiʝo

ke agwaɾdo sin sesaɾ pasaɾ tu kaβeʝeɾa
en kada ola ke el maɾ eleβaβa en el maɾ
i lwego no eɾas tu sino el maɾ ke pasaβa

oseana dame las kont͡ʃas del aresife

paɾa kuβɾiɾ kon sus relampagos los muɾos
los spondilus eɾoes koɾonados de espinas
el esplendoɾ moɾado del muɾeks en su roka
tu saβes komo soβɾe la sal ultɾamaɾina
en su naβe de njeβe naβega el aɾgona:uta