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Cantata
Jesu, der du meine Seele (bwv 78)
Recitative
Die Wunden nägel…
It speaks to the richness of this cantata that this recitative is not even the best movement. The music dissolves into a chorale of exquisite beauty (1:19): Dies mein Herz, mit Leid vermenget… geb ich dir ("This my heart, crowded with sorrows… I give to you"). If more grace and tenderness can be captured in a simple melody, I haven't heard it yet. |
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Mass in Bm
Die h-Moll Messe (bwv 232)
Chorus
Kyrie
That the Lutheran Bach would write a catholic Mass should not raise eyebrows. As Jaroslav Pelikan pointed out, Bach's theology was supple and nonsectarian. In any event, the Kyrie and the Gloria of the Bm Mass were part of a job application with the new Elector of Saxony, who being a Catholic would not have looked too kindly to a Passion. Bach thought that a Court appointment would raise his standing with the ruling doofuses of the Leipzig council. Sadly, crafting one of the crown jewels of Western civilization didn't quite cut it and Bach was turned down—though he did get the job three years later. After three kyrie (for the trinity) and an eleison ("have mercy"), Bach segues into a long five-part fugue. At 0:37, the first oboe and the flute introduce the theme. After an interlude, the theme is reintroduced successively by the lines of tenor (2:25), alto (2:36), soprano (2:57), and bass (3:33). The rest is a typically Bachian fugal development with a staggering number of melodic motifs vying for attention. |
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Cantata
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (bwv 76)
Recitative
So läßt sich Gott…
If you have in you such a well of musical genius that you can spare a melodic gem and toss it in the middle of a recitative, then surely your initials must be JSB. In Daß sich die Himmel regen ("so that the heavens move") you feel the word painting at "RE-gen" at 0:33. Likewise in Geist und Körper sich bewegen ("Spirits and bodies stir themselves") the melismatic be-WE-gen (0:47) bobs up and down on the ocean between body and soul. Not enough attention is given to recitatives. While Mozart's seem little more than random sequences of notes that try hard not to intrude, Bach's recitatives are extraordinary works of art in and of themselves. I'll admit to having been slow to grasp this fact, which only repeated exposures to his sacred music made increasingly "obvious." |
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St Matthew Passion
Matthäus-Passion (bwv 244)
Chorus
Kommt ihr Töchter…
My nomination for the greatest seven minutes in the history of written music. Featuring a double orchestra & choir, the opening movement is set to an Agnus Dei that begins at the end: Jesus is dead and the title, "Come, you daughters, help me lament," is an injunction to the Church (aka the daughters of Zion). In the key of Em, the organ holds a low droning pedal tone E for five measures (0:24). The two orchestras play together until (1:14) the most rousing vocal entry ever heard this side of the Milky Way sees the chorus spell the Em chord in rising thirds and climb up to the root, followed by a brief modulation to E major at the next measure, then right back to the key. Now you know where Herr Wagner got the idea for his blitz modulations. The melody culminates (1:41) on a descending line from G to E that is sustained over nearly two measures by the sopranos. In parallel, the bass marks the chromatic descent from C to B to A# (1:46) with dotted rhythms (actually, quarter+eighth notes) in striking fashion. Herreweghe rightly highlights this syncopated bass line, which other conductors too often neglect. This is followed by a repeated call-and-response between the two choirs (1:56): sehet—WEN?—den bräutigam, sehet ihn—WIE?—als wie ein Lamm ("Behold—WHOM?—the bridegroom [Jesus], Behold him—HOW?—as a lamb"). The ending consists of an immensely rich counterpoint, perhaps the most complex music ever written. The SMP is one composition over which Bach gushed with pride. |
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St Matthew Passion
Matthäus-Passion (bwv 244)
Chorale
Herzliebster Jesu…
This chorale follows the opening to the St Matthew Passion. I've come to regard the two movements as inseparable, so there it is. The melody on which it is based is also used in the St John Passion. |
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St Matthew Passion
Matthäus-Passion (bwv 244)
Chorus
Sind Blitze, sind Donner…
Upon the capture of Jesus, his disciples wait for "someone" to do something. When nothing happens (0:35), they get mad! The piece is in Em but the theme is introduced by the bass starting over Bm and then proceeds along the cycle of fourths (tenor over Em, alto over A, soprano over D) to end on a G chord, the key's relative major, with the flutes and oboes making their entrance. The time signature of 3/8 gives each voice three eighth notes per measure—as in Blit-ze-sind, with each voice switching to sixteenth notes for urgency as soon as it's done with the words. The sense of rising anger is amplified by the presence of two choirs. The Picardy third on the final blut (minor-to-major modulation caused by the G#) ends the piece on a note of hope, a common device in liturgical music. |
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Mass in Bm
Die h-Moll Messe (bwv 232)
Chorus
Credo: Et incarnatus est
This 5-part chorus in Bm, one of the Credo's nine movements and one
of the few original to the Mass (and last one to be added), begins with
the violins playing a series of descending runs in unison.
After going through a i-iv-V7 run (with A#dim7 subbing for the V7),
the voices come in one at a time
at the 4th bar (0:13)—alto,
second sopranos, first sopranos, tenor,
and bass—to form a 5-voice counterpoint
starting at the 8th measure (0:28);
during all that time, the continuo holds the root as a pedal note.
The voices reenter canonically at 1:28, this time in the order: T, A, S2, S1, B.
The piece ends on an imperfect cadence—the V chord is
played in its first inversion, with the bass set to A#, the third of the chord
and the leading tone of the key.
This detail matters because,
despite the final Picardy third,
it contributes to the weak sense of resolution.
Mozart's Requiem was heavily influenced by Handel
and the Bach lineage, and it shows.
After Gardiner's, here is Rilling's slower version in modern-era tuning.
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St Matthew Passion
Matthäus-Passion (bwv 244)
Chorale
Erkenne mich…
The most important chorale in the SMP, it appears no fewer than six times. This defensive request from the disciples, Erkenne mich, mein Hüter ("Acknowledge me, my guardian"), brings out this stern response from Jesus: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." It won't be long before a remorseful Peter is reduced to singing Erbarme dich (see above). Bach composed chorales by taking old melodies and making them his own. So did Paul Simon, paring down Bach's chorale to lovely effect. |