David Lang won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his work "The Little Match Girl Passion", which was inspired by Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" but replaced the Christian elements. Lang, a Jewish composer, had previously felt uneasy with the anti-Semitic texts in the Bach work. For his Pulitzer-winning piece, Lang incorporated the story of the tragic match girl from a Hans Christian Andersen tale, interspersing the text with passages from the Book of Matthew and Andersen's words. The 35-minute work premiered in 2007 and was performed by the vocal group Theatre of Voices.

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Monday, April 07, 2008
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Audio Writer
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NEW YORKÂ --Â
David Lang had often loved Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion." Nevertheless like a Jewish composer,
playing certainly 1 of classical music's greatest works often gave him pause.
"It's any strange factor as getting a Jewish artist in order to listen to this music, since we're the
actual enemy in this, we are the bad guy, yet the music will be fantastic," he said with the orchestral
and also choral piece, written regarding Easter as well as considered in order to involve some anti-
Semitic text.
So when coming up with just about all the concept for the particular purpose in Monday became his
Pulitzer Prize-winning perform _ "The Small Match Girl Passion" _ he made a determination to use
the revered "St. Matthew's Passion" as his base, nevertheless eliminate the Christian element of the
piece.
"When I got this commission, I believed maybe there's the way to heal this wound, to repair this,
thus I imagined what it could be comparable to to consider some regarding the story in the 'St.
Matthew's Passion' along with take Jesus from the particular jawhorse and place inside the story
involving this some other individual who furthermore suffers along with that additionally dies," he
advised The Particular Related Press on Monday right after winning his prize.
So he employed the tale in the tragic little one who was the particular focal point associated with
Hans Christian Andersen's "Little Match Girl" and also wrote text that was interspersed with almost
all the book associated with Matthew inside the Bible, Andersen's phrases along with others. The
Particular 35-minute piece, that debuted from Carnegie Hall in October 2007, had been performed
from the vocal group Theatre of Voices.
"It's a really emotive piece. ... it's really a really heartbreaking story," he said. "It's a bizarre
sensation as a composer to be happy to get had thus many people inside the audience miserable."
Lang, who is co-founder along with co-artistic director involving the audio activity collective Bang on
the Can, admits he was feeling rather miserable himself on Monday morning. He had been creating
a poor day as well as was within the studio. His mood didn't brighten until he got any call from
National Public Radio telling him had won the particular Pulitzer.
"I feel a little better, (but) I'm certain I'll be miserable tomorrow," he joked.

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