The Latvian-born American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was a representative of Abstract Expressionism. He is best known for his Color Field paintings, which depict irregular and painterly rectangular areas of color, which he produced from 1949 to 1970. Later in his career, Rothko created several canvases for three different mural projects - one of which was the octagonal "Rothko Chapel," a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, to which he contributed 14 large canvases in red, black, and purple tones for a permanent installation (visitors have commented that the chapel is a dark space, with the very dark Rothkos on the walls, so it feels more like a crypt than a chapel).
American composer Morton Feldman (1926-1987) was attracted to abstract expressionist painting and counted Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollack, and Robert Rauschenberg among his friends and collaborators. While in Houston for the opening of the Rothko Chapel in February 1971, he was asked by the chapel's donors to compose a tribute to Rothko, who had committed suicide in 1970.
Feldman accepted and wrote "Rothko Chapel" for soprano, alto, mixed chorus and instruments, a contemplative score that was premiered in the chapel in April 1972.
"Rothko Chapel is the most accessible of Feldman's compositions. It sounds like Debussy, with spare, lyrical strings (including an alto solo), chimes, vibraphone, brief wordless solos for alto and soprano, and a humming chorus. It is, in fact, a series of short pieces, two to nine minutes long, five in all, that somehow evoke the sense of fullness, of colors both static and in (very, very slow) motion, in Rothko's paintings. The piece has many of the same ethereal effects as Rothko's paintings, right down to the almost melodic apotheosis of the final movement.
It is a motionless procession, not unlike the friezes on Greek temples, as Feldman himself has noted. The composer also remarked: "My choice of instruments (in terms of forces used, balance and timbre) was largely influenced by the space of the chapel and the paintings. I wanted the music to permeate the entire octagonal space and not be heard from a certain distance".
The exquisite, lyrical music could be described as an "environmental soundscape" that releases a quiet grandeur marked by simplicity, solemnity, and stillness, giving a new connotation to the word minimalism.
Listen to: SWR Vokalensemble; Dirigent: Marcus Creed
Choral Masterworks