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- Karel Husa
Apotheosis of this Earth (for chorus and orchestra) (1972)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
- 4(pic).3+ca.3+bcl.2+cbn/4441/timp.perc/str
- SATB Chorus
- 26 min
Programme Note
Composer Note:
The composition of Apotheosis of this Earth was motivated by the present desperate stage of mankind and its immense problems with everyday killings, war, hunger, extermination of fauna, huge forest fires, and critical contamination of the whole environment.
In the first movement, "Apotheosis," the earth first approaches as a point of light in the universe. Our memory and imagination approach it in perhaps the same way as it appeared to the astronauts returning from the moon. The earth grows larger and larger, and we can even remember some of its tragic moments (as struck by the xylophone near the end of the movement).
The second movement, "Tragedy of Destruction," deals with the actual brutalities of man against nature, leading to the destruction of our planet, perhaps by radioactive explosion. The earth dies as a savagely, mortally wounded creature.
The last movement is a "Postscript", full of the realization that so little is left to be said: the earth has been pulverized into the universe, the voices scattered into space. Toward the end, these voices — at first computer-like and mechanical — unite into the words "this beautiful earth", simply said, warm and filled with regret…and one of so many questions comes to our minds: "Why have we let this happen?"
— Karel Husa
The composition of Apotheosis of this Earth was motivated by the present desperate stage of mankind and its immense problems with everyday killings, war, hunger, extermination of fauna, huge forest fires, and critical contamination of the whole environment.
In the first movement, "Apotheosis," the earth first approaches as a point of light in the universe. Our memory and imagination approach it in perhaps the same way as it appeared to the astronauts returning from the moon. The earth grows larger and larger, and we can even remember some of its tragic moments (as struck by the xylophone near the end of the movement).
The second movement, "Tragedy of Destruction," deals with the actual brutalities of man against nature, leading to the destruction of our planet, perhaps by radioactive explosion. The earth dies as a savagely, mortally wounded creature.
The last movement is a "Postscript", full of the realization that so little is left to be said: the earth has been pulverized into the universe, the voices scattered into space. Toward the end, these voices — at first computer-like and mechanical — unite into the words "this beautiful earth", simply said, warm and filled with regret…and one of so many questions comes to our minds: "Why have we let this happen?"
— Karel Husa
Media
Apotheosis of this Earth: mvt II, Tragedy of Destruction