May 15, 2019

  • Swiss Drama on Zwingli

    Swiss director Stefan Haupt is known for his many documentary films.  He explores the life of the founder of the Swiss Reformation, the priest and theologian Ulrich Zwingli, one of the many Renaissance reformers of the Catholic Church.  Though he would have many adherents to his way of thinking, his ideas did not spawn their own Protestant church.  The Reformer—Zwingli: A Life’s Portrait begins in Zurich in 1519 as Zwingli takes up his post there.  The film has been released in Switzerland but does not seem to have a wider release yet, though it has begun to garner some critical notice.  The score is by the award-winning composing sibling team of Baldenwegs (Zone Rouge).  There work in advertising and feature film has continued to garner numerous nominations and awards.  For this score, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra is accompanied by the violinist Daniel Hope.

     

    A warm thematic idea gradually enters into a gorgeously-scored “Prologus”.  The music is marked with a touch of Renaissance flavoring (this recurs in a few other spots like “Epistula Ad Fratrem”).  A vocalise adds a somewhat angelic quality against static string writing in “Pura”.  The melody is quite captivating here.  It is in the thematic ideas that the score really adds an extra emotional pull to the narrative.  The melodic lines sometimes take cadential turns that suggest Renaissance musical arrival points.  The often open quality of the writing also adds to this touch, though the music has a slightly more romantic tinge that helps bridge the period.  One can hear these elements explored well in “Adiuva Nos, Deus”.  The score helps navigate some of the religious backdrops by creating these connections musically with chorus and darker string writing.  A tough of Baroque string style also inserts itself in tracks like “Tempus Fugit” and “Agitatio”, taking on a post-minimalist vibe in other places like “Verbum Vivat”.  Chant also serves as another church reference in “MDXIX” which is a quite stunning blend of pedal points against rather modern choral harmonies that add an ethereal feel to the piece.  These components become the primary material that will be explored as the score progresses.  Often the choral lines will move to a blend of troubled eeriness, an almost spooky quality, that is made more so when string lines are added to this texture, or add extra dissonance.  Sometimes this moves into an interesting blend of the solo violin against these gorgeous harmonic motions in the orchestra (“Lux”).  “Crypta”, the penultimate track, introduces a brief moment of dissonance and ramps up the tension with the addition of strange sounds and a recessed pipe organ adding to the unusual quality of the score.  It is quite effective.  The score creates this sense of religious piety and connection with the divine that is expressed through a blend of vocalise, choral ideas, and a sense of reaching outward in some of its primary themes.

    On one level, Zwingli recalls the sort of modern romantic and contemporary quality of The Red Violin with a touch of Howard’s The Village, but it casts this into a darker, richer tapestry of string sound and adds an often angelic choral element and solo voice providing an often engrossing experience.  It is a beautiful score well worth tracking down.