My readers will have noticed that I am sensitive to the seasons of the church year, such as Lent, our current season leading up to Easter. We observe the 40 days of Lent from Ash Wednesday (February 18, 2021) to Easter (April 4, 2021), not counting Sundays, which are always miniature Easters. Our observance of these 40 days reflects on the 40 days of prayer and fasting Jesus Christ accomplished right after His baptism by John the Baptist, and these days, especially the last six days often called Holy Week, are appropriate to contemplate His suffering and violent death for us.
So why share On the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, a ten-minute soliloquy for solo piano which I composed in 1987, at this time? The Biblical narrative is necessarily complex, and so is this piece. Here’s how St. Luke tells this event, in the ninth chapter, verses 28-36:
28 About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. 29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure,[a] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. 32 Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him. 33 As the men were leaving Jesus, Peter said to him, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what he was saying.)
34 While he was speaking, a cloud appeared and covered them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” 36 When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone. The disciples kept this to themselves and did not tell anyone at that time what they had seen.
This moment of glory for Jesus gives three astonished disciples a glance at the Lord in all His heavenly power and authority. But where does it come in Luke’s Gospel? It comes immediately after Peter’s confession of Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Christ. Yet this wonderful revelation is clouded by Jesus’ first warning about His suffering and death (Luke 8:22), right before the Transfiguration. Not long after this event, Jesus teaches anew about His impending doom (Luke 9:44). So the Transfiguration is framed by premonitions of Jesus’ suffering and sacrificial death.
On the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus begins with mysterious broken chords conveying the Lord’s holiness and otherness. These chords grow out of an interval constellation 0157, sometimes called a pitch class set. To understand this sonority, play the notes E-F-A-B on the piano one by one and hold them down as you play. If E is the 0, F is 1 note higher, the A 5 notes higher (counting both black and white keys) and the B is 7 notes higher, hence the designation 0157. Now reorganize these notes like this: A-B-E-F. This is the sound you will hear throughout the opening. Yes, there are other notes sometimes added to these, but we will limit our focus to these. Because this interval constellation is not a triad or seventh chord, it sounds otherworldly, encompassing the universe, as it anticipates the unveiling of Jesus’ celestial glory. But not many seconds into the work, an ugly, searing, and jagged motive rips the piece apart like a bolt of lightning. This is the violence of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday culminating in the crucifixion. This jagged motive is always in the background of the work.
The mysterious opening chords now reappear much more prominently as the Lord’s holiness approaches us as Emmanuel, the God with us. Those cloudy chords and lightning strokes set the stage for the Transfiguration, as the music fades out and ascends from the depths to the heights, focusing on a single note in the heavens.
Emanating from the one thin note, perhaps a single star, comes a three-voice canon played in the stratosphere as quietly as possible. The music seems to be embracing a tonality at last as it abandons the opening interval constellation. The upper regions of the piano resonate with these thickening heavenly strands which finally focus on a clear triad, the triad of B major.
A gentle gesture, reminding us of the earlier jagged motive, brings the music down to the depths, as an undulation commences in the lowest reaches of the piano. Perhaps some will see the inspiration from Claude Debussy’s tenth prelude for piano, Book 1, La Cathédrale engloutie (The Sunken Cathedral) in its final “watery” section. The theme of the canon floats gently on top of the undulation. A massive crescendo then unveils the Transfiguration, completely in the key of B major, my favorite of the 24 major and minor keys, and the one in which I always depict the glory of Jesus Christ. Trumpets sound, invoking the spectacular scenes from the Revelation of St. John of the crowning of the King of Kings.
Perhaps the piece should have ended at this point. But a cloud comes as the work deteriorates into a somber B minor, just as a cloud enveloped the disciples and left them alone with Jesus Christ to walk down the mountain back into the troubled world. Some of the opening mystic sounds return, but now laden with sadness. Plodding upward and downward we hear Christ carrying the cross up Calvary’s hill. The piece, wounded and troubled, settles down into an ominous B minor chord and all is deathly still, shattered once again by the jagged lightning bolt of the crucifixion of Christ by the world He redeemed through this act. Now this gift of God to us is a part of the glory of the risen Christ.
Perhaps you will want to follow this blog as you listen to the work at http://waltersaul.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/04-On-The-Transfiguration-Of-The-Lor.mp3. To obtain a higher-resolution recording of this work and others, consider purchasing the CD at Walter Saul Sonatas and Meditiations for Piano | Walter Saul, Composer (square.site). The music is also available at On The Transfiguration Of The Lord Jesus | Walter Saul, Composer (square.site).