Religious transcendence in "Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae" by O. Narbutaitė

Tres Dei Matris Symphoniae (2003), a cycle of three symphonies by Onutė Narbutaitė, has remarkably confirmed the originality of composer’s worldview. It bears a testimony to the individuality and autonomy of her religious experiences, as well as her intimate relationship with the sphere of sacrum. Her subjective treatment of the religious subject (The Mother of God) reveals itself through various accompanying texts by Umberto Eco, Rainer Maria Rilke, Bruno Schulz and many others, compiled by the composer in the programme notes for the work’s premiere performance. She has chosen those texts by relating them associatively to the inner content of her music and some of the most important moments in the life of the Virgin Mary. In her work, Narbutaitė is somewhat distancing herself from directly articulated canons of religious music though employing such canonical texts as Stabat Mater, Ave Maria and Gloria. To enter that religious dimension, one must nevertheless resort to rituals, symbols, related to certain archetypes, which facilitate the comprehension of the sacred art. Narbutaitė at the beginning of the score drew a triangle, according to composer, "a symbol of the Holy Trinity - which at the same time represents symbolically the subject matter of the work’s three movements ("Angelus Domini", "Bethleem", "Mater Dolorosa"): a descending line - the Annunciation; a horizontal line - the Nativity; and an ascending line - the Crucifixion"