MUSIC : Honegger’s ‘King David’ to Be Heard in Fullerton Tonight

For those who think that Handel wrote the last biblical oratorios, consider Arthur Honegger’s “King David.”

Composed in 1921, “King David” traces the life of David--from boy-hero to great king and death--through solo arias, choruses and straight narration. In short, it is an oratorio.

Though one of Honegger’s most popular works in his lifetime, “King David” has not received many local performances.

David Thorsen, a member of the department of music at Cal State Fullerton since it was founded in 1960, will conduct the work at the college tonight. Unfortunately, his concert site will be the Little Theater. Space is limited, and one should call beforehand for ticket availability.

Thorsen chose “King David” through a stream of associations.

“In the planning, we were made aware of a gift to our campus from Forest Lawn Cemetery,” he said. “They donated the broken fragments of the (reproduction of Michelangelo’s statue of) David. These fragments from the 1987 earthquake were installed on the campus, on the lawn. They will be dedicated (today) at 4:30 p.m. . . .”

“It was through that that I got the idea to do the ‘King David.’ And my name is David,” he laughed. “People thought I was up to something.”

The concert is part of the Distinguished Artists Forum, an annual event sponsored since 1985 by the chancellor’s office of the California State University system. The purpose is “to bring together the arts programs of the Cal State University campuses to share expertise and to stimulate the exchange of ideas among the faculty and other distinguished artists and arts advocates,” Thorsen said.

The event, which rotates among the campuses, is a first for Fullerton and also a first in offering a musical performance. “We’ve just had lecturers before,” Thorsen said.

The soloists will be soprano Marni Nixon, a well-known opera and concert singer and a four-time Emmy winner; mezzo-soprano Su Harmon, a professor of voice on the faculty at Fullerton, and tenor Larry McCorkle, a graduate student in the department of music. Thurl Ravenscroft will be the narrator. The 100-member chorus will be drawn from California State University campuses at Fresno, Northridge and Fullerton.

“When Honegger wrote the work in 1921, he was limited in the size of the orchestra he could use by the size of the hall (the Theatre du Jorat at Mezieres, near Lausanne, Switzerland) it was written to be performed in,” Thorsen said. “The original orchestra is for 18 instruments, excluding strings except for one double bass.

“He put together a very interesting sound. It does have, at least in my opinion, a very archaic quality. . . . Think of the prophets, the desert battles, the hand-to-hand combat with the Philistines. All of this lends itself to a rather dry kind of orchestration rather than the lush string family.”

The composer re-orchestrated the work in 1923 for full orchestra “because so many orchestras wanted to do it,” Thorsen said. “It was quite popular in the ‘20s. (But) I’m using the original instrumentation.”

Won’t there be a problem balancing 100 singers and 18 instrumentalists?

“Not when you have wind instruments,” Thorsen said. “He’s orchestrated in a very careful manner. . . . I still have to keep the orchestra down even with the 100 voices.”

In the original, Honegger set the French text by poet Rene Morat in an unusually accentuated style.

“That doesn’t apply for us,” the conductor said. “We’re doing it in the English translation . . . The poet drew the text from the Old Testament, but in a poetic form. The translation loses that poetic quality but is closer to the biblical (text). In fact, I went back to the Bible for some of the language, even though I had the translation that came with the score.”

“It’s hard to compare this piece with anything else,” he added. “For that particular period--when we have Stravinsky and (the French group) ‘Les Six,’ most all of whom were really . . . disciples of a strong, progressive style--Honegger did not write in that style.

“This piece was not written in a very contemporary style. It is quite a part of the 19th Century, but it doesn’t represent the music of the 19th Century, either, certainly not the music of Mendelssohn or Brahms.

“In some ways, it draws upon the oratorios in the Baroque period. At times there are even indications of Bach chorale melodies and imitative counterpoint that is very reminiscent of the ‘Passions’ of Bach. . . .

“But I think it speaks very straightforwardly to the listener. The music and the spoken text are very straightforward, and the story can be followed. There is a very strong message.”

David Thorsen will lead three Cal State University campus choirs--from Fresno, Fullerton and Northridge--in Honegger’s “King David” at 8 p.m. today at the Little Theater at Cal State Fullerton. Soloists will include soprano Marni Nixon, mezzo Su Harmon and tenor Larry McCorkle. Thurl Ravenscroft will be the narrator. Tickets: $5. Seating is limited. Call for availability. Information: (714) 773-3371.

SPOTLIGHT ON CONTEMPORARY COMPOSERS: William Kraft plans to discuss how art mirrors its time as he kicks off a six-part Contemporary Composers series tonight at the Laguna Art Museum.

“I’ll say a little bit about how that has been in history and how I think it is now,” Kraft said in a phone interview from his home in Altadena. “It’s always important for a composer or artist of any discipline to share his intentions and his whole outlook on the world, whether it’s just on art or also involves society or nature, whatever it may be. In my case, I am concerned about society.”

Currently a visiting professor-in-composition at UCLA, Kraft has been affiliated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for more than 25 years, as composer-in-residence, assistant conductor and principal timpanist. He also was composer-in-residence at Chapman College in Orange from 1984-86.

His “Of Ceremonies, Pageants and Celebrations” was commissioned for the opening of the Orange County Performing Arts Center in 1986 and will be one of three works he will play during his talk. The other two are “Contextures II: The final Beats” and “Gallery 83.”

“I hope the audience will like my music and appreciate what I have to say, that the music will have some significance to them,” Kraft said.

“The other reason we need to do this sort of thing is so people can have a chance to understand what a composer is about and what 20th-Century music is about. The visions which they may have about contemporary music may be narrow because of limited experience. . . .

“If they’ve come to a performance of a particular piece that they didn’t like, I would not want them to generalize from that and think that all contemporary music is like that. They would see there are many ways we look at things. There are a lot of different viewpoints in the world.”

Composer William Kraft will give a lecture-demonstration of his music at 7:30 p.m. today at the Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, in Laguna Beach. Kraft’s talk is the first in a series of six co-sponsored by the museum and the School of Fine Arts at UC Irvine. The other speakers in the series are Barney Childs, on Dec. 13; David Raksin, Jan. 11; Nicolas Slonimsky, Feb. 15; Morton Subotnick, March 14, and Steven Stucky, April 11. Tickets for Kraft’s talk: $6. Information: (714) 494-8971.