Recital by Associate Professor of Sacred Music Christopher S. Anderson
“Job,” by Petr Eben (1929-2007), Performed on Caruth Auditorium Pipe Organ
Christopher Anderson |
The recital, featuring a single work, “Job,” by Eastern European composer Petr Eben (1929-2007), will be performed on the Caruth Auditorium’s 51-stop, 3681-pipe C.B. Fisk Opus 101 organ. The music relates the story of the biblical book of Job in eight movements, each prefaced by readings from the Old Testament book (specified by the composer). John C. Holbert, Lois Craddock Perkins Professor of Preaching, will narrate the readings in Hebrew, with English text in the printed program.
According to Anderson, “Eben was one of the twentieth century’s best composers and improvisers for the organ. The musical language is absolutely modern, and he brings an ecumenical collection of pre-existing material to bear on the subject: a Jewish story, Gregorian chant, Lutheran chorale, Czech religious song.”
Eben, who grew up in Southern Bohemia and taught for most of his career in Prague, was a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald. Job grew out of the composer’s long-time and very personal interest in the subject of human suffering and the search for divine meaning. “The Book of Job interested me,” Eben wrote, "because of the social and theological revolution it represented in its time; until then every poor, sick or unfortunate being was regarded as forsaken and punished by God.” Anderson adds, “Eben is an intensively theological composer.”
The February 7 concert, co-sponsored by Meadows School of the Arts, Perkins School of Theology, and SMU Hillel, is presented in conjunction with the 2012 Perkins School of Theology Ministers Week. There is no cost for admission, and the public is invited.
The Caruth Auditorium is a 490-seat concert hall, located in the Owen Fine Arts Center at 6005 Bishop Boulevard on the campus of Southern Methodist University. Information about public parking at SMU, along with maps of the SMU campus, is available at smu.edu/maps.
For more information about this event, contact Professor Anderson at 214.768.3160.