THE LIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS (1968)

OVERVIEW

The Light in the Wilderness is an oratorio with music by Dave Brubeck and texts from the Bible adapted by Dave and his wife Iola. Premiered at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1968, this oratorio was Dave’s first major “classical” composition, written after the “Classic” Dave Brubeck Quartet disbanded in 1967.

Two significant life experiences led Dave to write The Light in the Wilderness. First, his service in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II showed him the cruelty of man as he witnessed men in Christian cities “totally ignoring the commandments”. Dave spent many years contemplating the Ten Commandments, especially, “Thou shalt not kill”. He vowed to himself, “If I ever lived through this thing I want to write a major piece to try to remind humanity of what the essential teachings of what Jesus' life is all about.”

Then, in 1965, Dave’s sixteen-year-old nephew, Philip, tragically died of a brain tumor, and he wrote a fantasia on “Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled” to be played the memorial service. The “Fantasia” became the “Interlude” between Part I (“the temptations and teachings of Jesus Christ”) and Part II (“questions of faith and man’s place in the universe”) as a chance to “re-think”.

Dave intended the final composition to be a message of hope for his children and their generation growing up in 1960s America.

“When I see signs of the times in the streets, hear the songs of social protest, read the poetry of youth, they seem to portend a new era, perhaps even a new age. The Christian world had its Age of Faith in the dim past when faith is all we had. The Age of Hope was ushered in by the Enlightenment and the optimistic expansion of Western (hence, Christian) civilization. In the accelerated pace of history, will the 21st century be known as the Age of Love?”

–Dave Brubeck, 1968

DETAILS

(1968) 75 mins (with improvisation) / 60 mins (without improvisation)

INSTRUMENTATION

SSAATTBB chorus
Soloist: Baritone
Orchestration: 3(pic)2+ca.2+bcl.2+cbn/4331/perc/hpd.org/jazz combo/str

MUSIC

Dave Brubeck

TEXT

Text adapted from the Bible by Iola and Dave Brubeck

WORLD PREMIERE

January 9, 1968, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Peter Schuetz, baritone, Carolina Chorus, Chapel Hill Choral Club, David Matthews, organ, with percussion, Lara Hoggard, conducting.

SYMPHONIC PREMIERE

February 29, 1968, Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Miami University A Cappella Singers, George Barron, conductor, William Justus, baritone, Gerre Hancock, organ, Dave Brubeck, piano, Erich Kunzel, conducting.

PURCHASE & LICENSING

For more information contact Derry@BrubeckMusic.com