Iman Habibi’s ‘Every Tree Speaks’ inspired by nature, via a prism of Beethoven

Composer Iman Habibi calls his Jeder Baum spricht (Every Tree Speaks}, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra as part of the worldwide celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, “an unsettling rhapsodic reflection on the climate catastrophe, written in dialogue with Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies. The work shifts focus rapidly and attempts to achieve its goal again and again through different means, only to be faced with similar obstacles.”  

The Civic Orchestra of Chicago launches its season-opening concerts, led by Principal Conductor Ken-David Masur, on Oct. 26 (at Senn High School) and Oct. 27 (at Symphony Center) with Habibi’s work, on a program also featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber.

In his program note, Habib writes: "Like much of Beethoven’s music, this piece accompanies an unspecific narrative and imagery, and ends with a sense of resolve, one that I hope can drive our collective will toward immediate impactful change. Beethoven perceived nature as an image of the divine, if not divinity itself. Jeder Baum spricht durch dich (every tree speaks through you) is a phrase I encountered in his writings, leading me to wonder how Beethoven, clearly an activist himself, would have responded to today’s environmental crisis.

"Given that both the Fifth and Sixth symphonies were likely, at least in some capacity, inspired by nature, I am hoping that Jeder Baum spricht can allow us to listen to these monumental works with a renewed perspective: that is, in light of the climate crisis we live in, and the havoc we continue to wreak on the nature that inspired these classic masterpieces."

The title Jeder Baum spricht comes from a note Beethoven jotted in a sketchbook devoted to his walks through the parks and countryside around Vienna: “Almighty in the forest! I am blessed, happy in the forest! Every tree speaks through you!” (jeder Baum spricht durch dich!).

Beethoven biographer Maynard Solomon commented on the curious inversion in that phrase: "It would have been more usual, more obvious, for Beethoven to exclaim to God, ’You speak through every tree!’ Instead he finds the opposite: every tree speaking through God. Although Beethoven’s own perspective was that of Romanticism, in modern terms, he might be described as an environmentalist.

From there, Habibi wondered how Beethoven would respond to the issue of climate change. Both Beethoven’s Fifth and Sixth symphonies have ties to nature — most explicitly, of course, in the Pastoral Symphony, but the Fifth Symphony’s opening theme was once associated with birdsong, in addition to its now-famous association with fate. “I am hoping that it can allow us to listen to these monumental works with a renewed perspective,” Habibi writes, “that is, in light of the climate crisis we live in, and the havoc we continue to wreak on the nature that inspired these classic masterpieces.”

Scored for the same instruments as Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, Jeder Baum spricht opens with a rising sweep that culminates in an angular climax. “The piece shifts focus rapidly,” Habibi says, “and attempts to achieve its goal time and time again through different means, only to be faced with similar obstacles.”

He develops the angular material in a section marked “Relentless and unsettling” between the strings and timpani, before mournful horns lead to lighter, cascading pizzicato in the strings. Fragments of longer melodic lines emerge, but are thwarted, eventually reaching a passage marked “Drowning in sound,” where a heavy bed of strings lie under rippling woodwinds. A shimmering clarinet comes to the fore, as the second half of the piece increasingly contrasts different choirs — woodwinds alone, then strings, and back again.

“Like much of Beethoven’s music, this piece begins ambiguously and unsettlingly, but offers a vision of hope toward the end,” Habibi says. “I am panicking about the climate crisis, but at the same time I want to convey a message of hope, one that can drive our collective will toward immediate impactful change.”