creation : 21.12.2002, Guebwiller, Chr de ch. & Les Percussions de Strasbourg
commission : Noël en Alsace
musicians : 12 mixed voices and 6 percussionists
duration : 23’
publishing : Jobert
“Au comment était le verbe”, the first work of a religious nature by Suzanne Giraud.
Guebwiller (Upper Rhine). Dominicans. 21XII2002. Suzanne Giraud, Au commencement était le Verbe (world premiere) (+ works by FB Mâche, J. Cage, and F. Poulenc). Strasbourg Chamber Choir; Percussions de Strasbourg. Conductor: Catherine Bolzinger. This same programme was repeated in Mulhouse, Temple SaintEtienne, on 22XII2002].
For her first work of religious inspiration, Suzanne Giraud set to music the Prologue of the Gospel according to Saint John. This famous passage had been submitted to her by the theologian Jean-Louis Hoffet, a member of the board of the Noël en Alsace association, which commissioned the score. Particularly beautiful and strong in itself, this text had never been set to music, at least in all of its most recent known verses, Hoffet having subtracted those of probably earlier origin relating to John the Baptist. The initial verse gave the work its title: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was turned to God, / and the Word was God. …] And the Word was flesh / and he dwelt among us / and we saw his glory…”. It is a brilliant return to the very sources of Christianity that the composer paints in this large, twenty-five-minute page combining two rarely-heard ensembles, mixed choir and percussion. The raw material of percussion, which can also sing, combined with the human voice through which the divine Word that each of us carries within us expresses itself, and which can be as raw as primitive instruments, forms an unusual alloy that Suzanne Giraud has melted with remarkable mastery to create a profound and lyrical score with dazzling contrasts of light and life. But it is above all a matter of grace, mystery and accomplishment, with this taut and compact harmony that creates a silky fabric that is constantly shifting with the constant and natural use of the quarter-tone.
Bruno Serrou