Alleluia

• This motet was commissioned by Serge Koussevitsky for the opening of the inaugural Tanglewood Festival, and it has been sung annually at the festival’s opening ever since.¹ 
• This work premiered on July 8, 1940.²
• The entire text of this motet consists of the word “alleluia” and a closing “amen.” Unlike some settings featuring the word hallelujah (Handel comes to mind), this work was not intended to be celebratory. France had just fallen to the Nazis, and Thompson explained that the work reflects his grief over this.  It was very important to Thompson that performers observe his tempo marking of lento.³

“The music in my particular Alleluia cannot be made to sound joyous…here it is comparable to the Book of Job, where it is written, ‘The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord’.” 

Randall Thompson, on his Alleluia⁴

• Thompson composed this work in only 5 days, and the scores were delivered only 45 minutes before the first performance. G. Wallace Woodworth, who conducted the premiere, is said to have quipped, “Well, text at least is one thing we won’t have to worry about.”⁵

1. Betsy Schwarm, “Alleluia,” Encyclopedia Britannica (April 21, 2015), accessed July 9, 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alleluia. 
2. Ibid.
3. Elliot Forbes, “Randall Thompson: Brief Life of a Choral Composer, 1899-1984,” Harvard Magazine (July 1, 2001), accessed July 9, 2021, https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2001/07/randall-thompson.html. 
4. Ibid.
5. Schwarm, “Alleluia,” Encyclopedia Britannica.