For large choir, brass sextet, organ and percussion

(Also known as Antifon)

Eternity has been identified by Paul Stanhope as the earliest indication of Ross Edwards’ interest in ritual as an artistic intention and it can be seen today as a model for such monumental works as his Symphony No. 1 ‘Da Pacem Domine’ and his Symphony No. 4 ‘Star Chant’. It was composed in 1973, a crucial year for Edwards in which he also produced the evanescent orchestral work Mountain Village in a Clearing Mist, and both new pieces were premiered at the 1974 Adelaide Festival. Each, in its own way explores an incipient new language which marks a clear break with that of Edwards’ earlier music, which he rejected as being ‘neurotic and self-indulgent’. His stated aim, in composing the new pieces was, ‘to get back to something essential.’
This intention is also manifested by the choice of text: “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”, from the Gospel of St. John, which Edwards interprets as communicating a universal need for spiritual renewal. It is broken down into cellular formations which are repeatedly intoned by the singers in long breaths over a cumulative texture of brass canon and organ drone, punctuated at regular intervals by two tam-tams. Stanhope observes that “the element of repetitious chant has an obvious ritual association, perhaps more with the Buddhist idea of a mantra than with Christian chant. The tam-tams (‘gongs’) are symbols of Eastern religion, whilst the organ is the instrument of the Christian church.” Edwards’ intention that the singers should process holding candles, another ceremonial gesture, was quashed by the Fire Department at the first performance.

Whereas Mountain Village in a Clearing Mist surprised its composer by winning immediate acceptance at its first performance, the response to Eternity was dramatic, its vociferous audience roughly divided between enthusiasm and derision. Radical for its time, and more of a musical contemplation object than a concert work, the score also contains impracticalities concerning the spatial arrangement of the forces which have thwarted attempts to revive it for thirty years. Recently, however, a solution has been found and the work has been splendidly recorded by Cantillation for ABC Classics.

 

Score:

Available through the Australian Music Centre
View a sample of this score.