About the creation

I began writing my work De Profundis for mixed choir and orchestra in the summer of 2010 in the pastoral village of Hundham in the German-Bavarian mountains. The work was later completed at home in Israel and at my second home at the time in Québec City. The emotional text for the two outer movements is taken from the biblical book of Psalms, sung in both Hebrew and Latin. The two middle movements are written to text by two known Israeli female poets, Lea Goldberg and Rachel. I kept the original Hebrew lyrics.    

The first movement - “Deus, meus respice me” is based on a motive from Monteverdi’s Madrigal “Lasciate mi morire” from his opera ‘L’Arianna’. It is known as Arianna’s Lament. Part of this 5-voice Madrigal can be heard at the end of the movement, sung backstage.

The second movement - “In my Dream”, describes a nightmare of a woman wondering alone in a strange city with baby in her hands. It is taken from a work I wrote for Choir a Cappella some 45 years earlier.

The third movement - “To my Land”, is a song of devotion to the motherland, serves as an intermezzo of tranquility between the other three distressing movements.

The fourth and last movement – “De Profundis” ("Out of the depths I have cried to Thee, O Lord") is based on two proverbs from the book of Psalms. At the beginning of the movement, the text of “De Profundis” is recited as a prayer in four different languages: Hebrew, Latin, French and English – to emphasize its universal contents and significance. The movement also uses music material from all previous movements. 

The work is dedicated to my father, Avraham Talmi, a painter and a musician who died in 2008 at the age of 95. He was my first music teacher, and it was under his conducting that I first encountered choral singing in my youth.

De Profundis was premiered in Canada in May 2011 with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and Choir. The performance was conducted by myself, as the orchestra’s Music Director for 13 years.

Yoav Talmi