ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
anguish. With this the idea is accentuated: only through suffering is the human being
able to rise to the cognition of real happiness. With his oratorio Kapp followed the
grand line of Tobias. The chosen theme expressed, to a certain extent, Kapp’s own
1
Kakskümmend aastat Eesti muusikat: 1918-1938 (Twenty Years of Estonian Music: 1918-1938), ed.
Karl Leichter (Tallinn: Tallinna Eesti Kirjastus-Ühisus, 1938) 70-72.
suffering in Astrakhan, where he witnessed the communist deprecations. Having lost all
he owned he was lucky to return to Estonia in 1920. His own hardships are reflected in
the final chorus, based on the leitmotif, (a triple fugue): “Blessed is the man who is
afraid of God.”
The first performance took place in Tallinn, on March 1st, 1931, in the Estonia
Concert Hall. Besides the best Estonian soloists, the mixed choir of the Estonia Music
Department, the Male Song Society Choir, and an enlarged Estonia Theatre orchestra
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