Daffodils at the Flower Dome, Gardens By the Bay
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Johann Sebastian Bach completed the h-Moll-Messe, an extended version of the Mass ordinary, in 1749, the year before his death. As usual for its time, the composition is formatted as a Neapolitan mass, consisting of a succession of choral movements with a broad orchestral accompaniment and sections in which a more limited group of instrumentalists accompanies one or more vocal soloists. Among the more unusual characteristics of the composition is its scale: a total performance time of around two hours, and a scoring consisting of two groups of SATB singers and an orchestra featuring an extended winds section, strings and continuo. Its key, B minor, is rather exceptional for a composition featuring natural trumpets in D, although far more of the work is in this key than B minor. The background to this composition began on 1 February 1733, when Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony, died. Five months of mourning followed, during which all public music-making was suspended. Bach used the opportunity to work on the composition of a Missa, a portion of the liturgy sung in Latin and common to both the Lutheran and Roman Catholic rites. His aim was to dedicate the work to the new sovereign Augustus III, a convert to Catholicism, with the hope of obtaining the title "Electoral Saxon Court Composer." Upon its completion, Bach visited Augustus III in Dresden and presented him with a copy of the Kyrie–Gloria Mass BWV 232 I (early version), together with a petition to be given a court title, dated July 27, 1733; in the accompanying inscription on the wrapper of the Mass he complains that he had "innocently suffered one injury or another" in Leipzig. The petition did not meet with immediate success, but Bach eventually got his title. He was made court composer to Augustus III in 1736. In the last years of his life, Bach expanded the Missa into a complete setting of the Latin Ordinary. It is not known what prompted this creative effort. In Bach's day, Masses composed for Lutheran services usually consisted only of a Kyrie and Gloria. Bach had composed five such Kyrie–Gloria Masses before he completed his Mass in B minor: the Kyrie–Gloria Masses, BWV 233–236, in the late 1730s, and the Mass for the Dresden court, which would become Part I of his only Missa tota, in 1733. The Mass in B minor was likely never performed in its entirety during Bach's lifetime. Its earliest documented complete performance took place in 1859. It is among Bach's most popular vocal works. In 2015, Bach's personal handwritten manuscript of the mass held by the Berlin State Library was included in the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, a project to protect and preserve culturally significant documents and manuscripts. Bach did not give the Mass in B minor a title. Instead, he organized the 1748–49 manuscript into four folders, each with a different title. That containing the Kyrie and Gloria he called "1. Missa;" that containing the Credo he titled "2. Symbolum Nicenum;" the third folder, containing the Sanctus, he called "3. Sanctus;" and the remainder, in a fourth folder he titled "4. Osanna | Benedictus | Agnus Dei et | Dona nobis pacem." John Butt writes, "The format seems purposely designed so that each of the four sections could be used separately." However, the first overall title given to the work was in the 1790 estate of the recently deceased C.P.E. Bach, who inherited the score. There, it is called "Die Grosse Catholische Messe" (the "Great Catholic Mass"). The first publication of the Kyrie and Gloria, in 1833 by the Swiss collector Hans Georg Nägeli with Simrock, refers to it as "Messe." Finally, Nageli and Simrock produced the first publication in 1845, calling it the "High Mass in B Minor" (Hohe Messe in h-moll). It soon fell from common usage, but the prepositional phrase "in B Minor" survives. The Mass in B minor is widely regarded as one of the supreme achievements of classical music. Alberto Basso summarizes the work as follows: “The Mass in B minor is the consecration of a whole life: started in 1733 for "diplomatic" reasons, it was finished in the very last years of Bach's life, when he had already gone blind. This monumental work is a synthesis of every stylistic and technical contribution the Cantor of Leipzig made to music. But it is also the most astounding spiritual encounter between the worlds of Catholic glorification and the Lutheran cult of the cross.” Scholars have suggested that the Mass in B minor belongs in the same category as The Art of Fugue, as a summation of Bach's deep lifelong involvement with musical tradition—in this case, with choral settings and theology. Bach scholar Christoph Wolff describes the work as representing "a summary of his writing for voice, not only in its variety of styles, compositional devices, and range of sonorities, but also in its high level of technical polish ... Bach's mighty setting preserved the musical and artistic creed of its creator for posterity." It was described in the 19th century by the editor Hans Georg Nägeli as "The Announcement of the Greatest Musical Work of All Times and All People" ("Ankündigung des größten musikalischen Kunstwerkes aller Zeiten und Völker").Despite being seldom performed, the Mass was appreciated by some of Bach's greatest successors: by the beginning of the 19th century Forkel and Haydn possessed copies. The piece is orchestrated for two flutes, two oboes d'amore (doubling on oboes), two bassoons, one natural horn (in D), three natural trumpets (in D), timpani, violins I and II, violas and basso continuo (cellos, basses, bassoons, organ and harpsichord). A third oboe is required for the Sanctus. The work consists of 27 sections. Tempo and metrical information and parodied cantata sources come from Christoph Wolff's 1997 critical urtext edition, and from George Stauffer’s Bach: The Mass in B Minor. Details of the parodied movements and their sources are given here: Kyrie and Gloria ("Missa")
Credo (“Symbolum Nicenum”)
Sanctus
Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and Dona Nobis Pacem
Here are four albums: Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. Masaaki Suzuki with Carolyn Sampson (soprano I), Rachel Nicholls (soprano II), Robin Blaze (alto), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 29 Oct 2007. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD170102. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Awards: Diapason d’Or de l’Annee, 2008. Gramophone Awards, 2008, Finalist – Baroque Vocal. Presto Recording of the Week, 20 October 2007. Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. John Eliot Gardiner with Hannah Morrison (soprano), Esther Brazil (mezzo), Meg Bragle (alto), Kate Symonds-Joy (alto), Peter Davoren (tenor), Nick Pritchard (tenor), Alex Ashworth (bass), David Shipley (bass), and Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists. Release Date: 30 Oct 2015. Label: SDG. Catalogue No: SDG722. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 96 kHz, 24 bit). Awards: Gramophone Awards, 2016, Shortlisted – Baroque Vocal. Gramophone Magazine, Editor’s Choice. Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2015. Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. Peter Dijkstra with Christina Landshamer (soprano), Anke Vondung (mezzo-soprano), Kenneth Tarver (tenor) & Andreas Wolf (bass-baritone), and Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Concerto Köln. Release Date: 27 Jan 2017. Label: BR Klassik. Catalogue No: 900910. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 48 kHz, 24 bit). Award: International Classical Music Awards, 2022, Nominated – Symphonic Music. Bach J.S.: Mass in B minor, BWV232. John Butt (director) with Susan Hamilton (soprano), Cecilia Osmond (soprano), Margot Oitzinger (alto), Thomas Hobbs (tenor) & Matthew Brook (bass), and Dunedin Consort & Players. Label: Linn. Catalogue No: CKD354. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 88.2 kHz, 24 bit). Award: Gramophone Magazine, August 2010, Editor’s Choice. Reference:
Mass in B minor. (2024, October 21). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor
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Note: Peter Wollny (Director of the Bach Archive), Michael Maul (Director of BachFest), and Sir Eliot Gardiner (President of the Bach Archive) have selected the most famous sacred cantatas composed by J.S. Bach in December 2018. I shall highlight all 33 of them by their consecutive BWV numbering in the following months. The final series of five cantatas are listed today. BWV 127: Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und GottJohann Sebastian Bach composed the chorale cantata Lord Jesus Christ, true Man and God in 1725 in Leipzig for the Sunday Estomihi, the Sunday before Lent. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "praise of love" (1 Corinthians 13:1–13), and from the Gospel of Luke, healing the blind near Jericho (Luke 18:31–43). The Gospel also announces the Passion. The text is based on the funeral song "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott" in eight stanzas by Paul Eber (1562). The hymn suites the Gospel, stressing the Passion as well as the request of the blind man in the final line of the first stanza: "Du wollst mir Sünder gnädig sein" (Be merciful to me, a sinner). The song further sees Jesus' path to Jerusalem as a model for the believer's path to his end in salvation. An unknown librettist kept the first and the last stanza and paraphrased the inner stanzas in a sequence of recitatives and arias. Stanzas 2 and 3 were transformed to a recitative, stanza 4 to an aria, stanza 5 to a recitative, stanzas 6 and 7 to another aria. Bach first performed the cantata on 11 February 1725. The cantata in five movements is richly scored for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, trumpet, two recorders, two oboes, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
The opening chorale is structured by an extended introduction and interludes. These parts play on a concertante a motif derived from the first line of the chorale, but also have a cantus firmus of the chorale "Christe, du Lamm Gottes," the Lutheran Agnus Dei, first played by the strings, later also by the oboes and recorders. It appears in a similar way to the chorale as the cantus firmus in the opening chorus of his later St Matthew Passion, "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig." Its request "erbarm dich unser" (have mercy upon us) corresponds to the request of the blind man. A third chorale is quoted repeatedly in the continuo, "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden." Bach chose a rare instrumentation for the first aria, the oboe plays a melody, supported by short chords in the recorders, in the middle section Sterbeglocken (funeral bells) are depicted by pizzicato string sounds. Movement 4 illustrates the Day of Judgement. On the text "Wenn einstens die Posaunen schallen" (When one day the trumpets ring out), the trumpet enters. The unusual movement combines an accompagnato recitative with an aria, contrasting the destruction of heaven and earth with the security of the believers, the latter given in text and tune from the chorale. The closing chorale is a four-part setting with attention to details of the text, such as movement in the lower voices on "auch unser Glaub stets wacker sei" (also may our faith be always brave)[1] and colourful harmonies on the final line "bis wir einschlafen seliglich" (until we fall asleep contentedly). BWV 140: Wachet auf, ruft uns die StimmeAwake, calls the voice to us , also known as Sleepers Awake, was composed in Leipzig for the 27th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 25 November 1731. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, be prepared for the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13). It is based on Philipp Nicolai's Lutheran hymn in three stanzas, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme," which is based on the Gospel. Published in Nicolai's FrewdenSpiegel deß ewigen Lebens (Mirror of Joy of the Life Everlasting) in 1599, its text was introduced: "Ein anders von der Stimm zu Mitternacht / vnd von den klugen Jungfrauwen / die jhrem himmlischen Bräutigam begegnen / Matth. 25. / D. Philippus Nicolai." (Another [call] of the voice at midnight and of the wise maidens who meet their celestial Bridegroom / Matthew 25 / D. Philippus Nicolai). The text of the three stanzas appears unchanged and with the melody in the outer movements and the central movements (1, 4 and 7), while an unknown author supplied poetry for the other movements, twice a sequence of recitative and duet. He refers to the love poetry of the Song of Songs, showing Jesus as the bridegroom of the Soul. Bach structured the cantata in seven movements. The text and tune of the hymn are kept in the outer choral movements and the central movement, set as two chorale fantasias and a four-part closing chorale, which frame two sequences of recitative and aria. Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, (SATB) and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn, two oboes, taille, violino piccolo, two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon. The duration is given as 31 minutes. The first movement, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" ("Awake", we are called by the voice [of the watchmen]), is a chorale fantasia based on the first verse of the hymn, a common feature of Bach's earlier chorale cantatas. The cantus firmus is sung by the soprano. The orchestra plays independent material mainly based on two motifs: a dotted rhythm and an ascending scale "with syncopated accent shifts". The lower voices add in unusually free polyphonic music images such as the frequent calls "wach auf!" (wake up!) and "wo, wo?" (where, where?), and long melismas in a fugato on "Halleluja.” "Er kommt" (He comes), is a recitative for tenor as a narrator who calls the "Töchter Zions" (daughters of Zion). In the following duet, "Wann kommst du, mein Heil?" (When are You coming, my Salvation?), with obbligato violino piccolo, the soprano represents the Soul and the bass is the vox Christi (voice of Jesus). In a slow siciliano, the violino piccolo illustrates "the flickering of lamps 'lit with burning oil'" in arabesques. The fourth movement, "Zion hört die Wächter singen" (Zion hears the watchmen singing), is based on the second verse of the hymn. It is written in the style of a chorale prelude, with the phrases of the chorale, sung as a cantus firmus by the tenors (or by the tenor soloist), entering intermittently against a famously lyrical melody played in unison by the violins (without the violino piccolo) and the viola, accompanied by the basso continuo. The fifth movement, "So geh herein zu mir" (Then come in to me), is a recitative for bass, accompanied by the strings. It pictures the unity of the bridegroom and the "chosen bride." The sixth movement, "Mein Freund ist mein!" (My Friend is mine!), is another duet for soprano and bass with obbligato oboe. This duet, like the third movement, is a love duet between the soprano Soul and the bass Jesus. The closing chorale, "Gloria sei dir gesungen" (Let Gloria be sung to You), is a four-part setting of the third verse of the hymn. The high pitch of the melody is doubled by a violino piccolo an octave higher, representing the bliss of the "heavenly Jerusalem." BWV 159: Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem Behold, let us go up to Jerusalem was composed in Leipzig for the Sunday Estomihi, the last Sunday before Lent, and probably first performed it on 27 February 1729. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "praise of love" (1 Corinthians 13:1–13), and from the Gospel of Luke, healing the blind near Jericho (Luke 18:31–43). The gospel reading includes Jesus announcing his suffering in Jerusalem. While Bach's earlier cantatas for the occasion also reflected the healing, this work is focused on reflecting the Passion. The text was produced by Picander, who also wrote the text for the St Matthew Passion. He published it in his collection Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage (Cantatas for the Sundays and feast days) of 1728. The poet focused on the announcement of suffering, which is regarded as tremendous (movement 1), as an example to follow (2), as a reason to say farewell to earthly pleasures (3), finally as a reason to give thanks (4, 5). In movement 2 the poet juxtaposed his recitative by stanza 6 of Paul Gerhardt's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden," a hymn that appears in the St Matthew Passion in this and four other stanzas. The beginning of movement 4, "Es ist vollbracht" ("It is accomplished," John 19:30), appears literally in the Gospel of John as one of the Sayings of Jesus on the cross, and is announced in the Sunday's gospel reading: "... all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished" (Luke 18:31). Bach's St John Passion contains an alto aria beginning with this line, as a summary immediately after the death of Jesus. The closing chorale of the cantata is the last of 33 stanzas of Paul Stockmann's "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod" (1633). Bach structured the cantata in five movements. He scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of oboe, two violins, violaand basso continuo. The first movement is a dialogue of the bass as the vox Christi who sings a quotation from the gospel, and the alto representing a follower, named a "faithful Soul" by Durr. The second movement is a dialogue of the alto, and the soprano singing a stanza from Paul Gerhardt's hymn. The soprano part can be sung by a soloist or the soprano section of the choir. The third and to fifth movements are more the usual sequence of recitative, aria and four-part closing chorale. The duration of the cantata is given as 17 minutes. Without any choral opening, the first movement is a dialogue of two characters. A line that Jesus says in the gospel reading is sung by the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ). The alto represents a follower, expressing the reaction to the announcement. Bach achieves dramatic contrast, setting the words of Jesus as an arioso, accompanied by the continuo, while the alto answers in a recitativo accompagnato, with the strings. The line from the gospel is broken in three parts, interrupted by the alto. Sehet ("Behold", literally: see!) is expressed in a long melisma. After an intervention of the alto, the move uphill in illustrated by an upward scale. After another reply of the alto, the destination is named: Jerusalem. The phrase is repeated several times, accenting different words each time, to present different aspects of its meaning following the principle of monody. In the second movement, the expressive melodic lines of the alto are juxtaposed to the chorale on the melody of "Befiehl du deine Wege". The Soul begins "Ich folge dir nach" ("I follow after You"), while the first line from the chorale states: "Ich will hier bei dir stehen" ("I will stay here with You"). The process, with the alto voice beginning sooner and ending later than the chorale line, is repeated for the other lines of the chorale, in the end combining the alto's "Und wenn du endlich scheiden mußt, sollst du dein Grab in mir erlangen" ("And if You must depart at last, You shall find Your grave in me"), to the choral's "Alsdenn will ich dich fassen in meinen Arm und Schoß" ("Then I will hold You fast in my arm and bosom"), The melodic treatment is described as powerful and expressive. A secco recitative of the tenor expresses first sorrow about the way to death, "Nun will ich mich, mein Jesu, über dich in meinem Winkel grämen" ("Now, over You, my Jesus, I will grieve in my corner"), and finally turns to the expectation for an ultimate union with Jesus: "... bis ich durch dich erlöset bin; da will ich mich mit dir erquicken" ("... until I am redeemed through You; then I will be refreshed with You"). The cantata culminates in the fourth movement, with the vox Christi reflecting the completion of the Passion, "Es ist vollbracht." The oboe introduces a meditative motif. The bass picks it up, and both rest on long sustained string chords. The middle section illustrates the words "Nun will ich eilen" ("Now I will hasten") in runs of the voice, oboe and now also the violins. A quasi da capo resumes the first motif, now on the words "Welt, gute Nacht" ("World, good night"). The aria was described by a reviewer as a "hauntingly affective reflection on Jesus's last words from the cross," with a "wrenchingly beautiful oboe line," "rich suspensions," and an "unusually contoured melody." In Picander's printed cantata text, another recitative, "Herr Jesu, dein verdienstlich Leiden" introduced the closing chorale. It is unclear if Bach intentionally did not compose it, or if it got lost. The closing chorale is a four-part setting of Stockmann's hymn which summarises the Passion: "Jesu, deine Passion ist mir lauter Freude" ("Jesus, Your passion is pure joy to me"). BWV 161: Komm, du süße TodesstundeCome, you sweet hour of death was composed in Weimar for the 16th Sunday after Trinity, and was probably first performed on 27 September 1716. The prescribed readings for that Sunday were from the Epistle to the Ephesians, about the strengthening of faith in the congregation of Ephesus (Ephesians 3:13–21), and from the Gospel of Luke, about the raising from the dead of the young man from Nain (Luke 7:11–17). In Bach's time the story pointed at the resurrection of the dead, expressed in words of desire to die soon. Franck's text was published in Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer in 1715. He included as the closing chorale the fourth stanza of the hymn "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" (1611) by Christoph Knoll. Franck wrote a libretto full of biblical references, including (in the first movement) "feeding on honey from the lion's mouth," based on Judges 14:5–9. Dürr summarizes that Franck wrote "a deeply felt, personal confession of longing for Jesus." The Bach scholar Richard D. P. Jones notes that the cantata is "one of the most richly inspired of all Bach's Weimar cantatas" and sees the text as a part of the inspiration, with its "mystical longing for union with Christ." The cantata is structured in six movements: a series of alternating arias and recitatives leads to a chorus and a concluding chorale. As with several other cantatas based on words by Franck, it is scored for a small ensemble: alto soloist, tenor soloist, a four-part choir and a Baroque chamber ensemble of two recorders, two violins, viola, organ and basso continuo. The title page reads simply: "Auf den sechzenden Sontag nach Trintatis" (For the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity). The duration is given as 19 minutes. A Phrygian chorale melody, well known as the melody of "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden," provides the musical theme of the cantata, appearing in movement one in both its original form and the alto line derived from it. The themes of the two other arias are taken from the same melody, providing formal unity. The same melody appears five times in chorales of Bach's St Matthew Passion. The opening aria for alto, "Komm, du süße Todesstunde" ("Come, o sweet hour of death" or "Come, thou sweet hour of parting") is accompanied by the recorders. They move in the ritornello in parallel thirds and sixths. The organ serves not only as a bass instrument but supplies the chorale melody. In Weimar, Bach seems to have expected the congregation to know the words of the first stanza of Knoll's hymn. In a later performance in Leipzig, a soprano sang the stanza with the organ. The tenor recitative, "Welt, deine Lust ist Last" (World, your pleasure is a burden), begins as a secco recitative, but ends in an arioso as the words paraphrase a biblical verse from Philippians 1:23, "Ich habe Lust abzuscheiden und bei Christo zu sein" to "Ich habe Lust, bei Christo bald zu weiden. Ich habe Lust, von dieser Welt zu scheiden" (I desire to pasture soon with Christ. I desire to depart from this world). The aria for tenor, "Mein Verlangen ist, den Heiland zu umfangen" (My longing is, to embrace my Savior), is the first movement with the strings, adding depth to the emotional expression. It returns to the hope for union with Jesus of the first movement, expressed in an agitated way, with syncopies for "longing" and flowing motifs for "embracing." The middle section is mostly accompanied by the continuo only, but at times interjected by the strings playing the "longing"-motifs. The alto recitative, "Der Schluß ist schon gemacht" (The end has already come), is accompanied by all instruments, creating images of sleep (in a downward movement, ending in long notes), awakening (in fast movement upwards), and funeral bells in the recorders and pizzicato of the strings. The first choral movement 5,"Wenn es meines Gottes Wille" (If it is my God's will), is marked aria by Franck. Bach set it for four parts, using song-like homophony. Wolff compares the style to Thuringian motets of around 1700. The first part is not repeated da capo, in keeping with the last words "Dieses sei mein letztes Wort" (May this be my last word). The closing chorale, "Der Leib zwar in der Erden" (The body, indeed, in the earth), is illuminated by a fifth part of the two recorders playing a lively counterpoint in unison. The "soaring descant" of the recorders has been interpreted as "creating the image of the flesh transfigured." Wolff summarizes: "Cantata 161 is one of the most delicate and jewel-like products of Bach's years in Weimar. The writing in up to ten parts is extraordinarily subtle. ... The recorders additionally contribute in no small way to the spiritualised emotion and positive feelings associated with the 'sweet hour of death.'" BWV 182: Himmelskönig, sei willkommenKing of Heaven, welcome was composed in Weimar for Palm Sunday, and first performed on 25 March 1714, which was also the feast of the Annunciation that year. The prescribed readings for the day were from the Epistle to the Philippians, "everyone be in the spirit of Christ" (Philippians 2:5–11), or from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, "of the Last Supper" (1 Corinthians 11:23–32), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–9). The poetry was written by the court poet Salomon Franck, although the work is not found in his printed editions. Bach's biographer Philipp Spitta concluded this from stylistic comparison and observing a lack of recitatives between arias. The poetry derives from the entry into Jerusalem a similar entry into the heart of the believer, who should prepare himself and will be given heavenly joy in return. The language intensifies the mystical aspects: Himmelskönig (King of Heaven), "Du hast uns das Herz genommen" (You have taken our hearts from us), "Leget euch dem Heiland unter" (Lay yourselves beneath the Savior). The chorale in movement 7 is the final stanza 33 of Paul Stockmann's hymn for Passiontide "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod" (1633). The cantata in eight movements is scored for alto, tenor, and bass soloists, a four-part choir, recorder, two violins, two violas and basso continuo.
The cantata is intimately scored to match the church building. An instrumental Sonata in the rhythm of a French Overture depicts the arrival of the King. (In his cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, for Advent that same year on the same reading, Bach went further and set a chorus in the form of such an overture). The recorder and a solo violin are accompanied by pizzicato in the divided violas and the continuo. The first chorus is in da capo form, beginning with a fugue, which leads to a homophonic conclusion. The middle section contains two similar canonic developments. The following biblical quotation is set as the only recitative of the cantata. It is given to the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ) and expands to an arioso. The instrumentation of the three arias turns from the crowd in the Biblical scene to the individual believer, the first accompanied by violin and divided violas, the second by a lone recorder, the last only by the continuo. The chorale is arranged as a chorale fantasia in the manner of Pachelbel; every line is first prepared in the lower voices, then the soprano sings the cantus firmus, while the other voices interpret the words, for example by fast movement on "Freude" (joy). The closing chorus is, according to conductor John Eliot Gardiner, "a sprightly choral dance that could have stepped straight out of a comic opera of the period." Here are four albums: Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 34 – Cantatas 1, 126, 127. Masaaki Suzuki with Carolyn Sampson (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 26 Feb 2007. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD1551. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Award: Penguin Guide, Rosette. Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 52 – Cantatas 29, 112, 140. Masaaki Suzuki with Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 2 Jan 2013. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1981. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 49 – Cantatas 156, 159, 171, 188. Masaaki Suzuki with Rachel Nicholls (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 26 Sept 2011. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1981. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 5 – Cantatas 18, 143, 152, 155, 161. Masaaki Suzuki with Midori Suzuki (soprano), Ingrid Schmithüsen (soprano), Yoshikazu Mera (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Sept 1997. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD841. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 3 – Cantatas 12, 54, 162, 182. Masaaki Suzuki with Yumiko Kurisu (soprano), Yoshikazu Mera (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass) and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Jul 1996. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD791. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). References:
Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott, BWV 127. (2024, August 5). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr_Jesu_Christ,_wahr%27_Mensch_und_Gott,_BWV_127 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140. (2024, November 27). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wachet_auf,_ruft_uns_die_Stimme,_BWV_140 Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159. (2024, May 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sehet,_wir_gehn_hinauf_gen_Jerusalem,_BWV_159 Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161. (2023, May 19). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komm,_du_süße_Todesstunde,_BWV_161 Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182. (2023, February 18). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelskönig,_sei_willkommen,_BWV_182 Note: Peter Wollny (Director of the Bach Archive), Michael Maul (Director of BachFest), and Sir Eliot Gardiner (President of the Bach Archive) have selected the most famous sacred cantatas composed by J.S. Bach in December 2018. I shall highlight all 33 of them by their consecutive BWV numbering in the following months. The seventh series of four cantatas are listed today. BWV 103: Ihr werdet weinen und heulen Johann Sebastian Bach composed You shall weep and wail for the third Sunday after Easter, called Jubilate, and first performed it on 22 April 1725. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle of Peter, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man" (1 Peter 2:11–20), and from the Gospel of John, Jesus announcing his second coming in the so-called Farewell Discourse, saying "your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:16–23). For this occasion Bach had already composed in 1714 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, which he used later as the basis for the movement Crucifixus in his Mass in B minor. The librettist begins with a quotation from the Gospel, verse 20, and concludes with the ninth stanza of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn "Barmherzger Vater, höchster Gott" (1653). Her own poetry reflects, in a sequence of recitatives and arias, in two movements sadness at the loss of Jesus, and in two others joy at his predicted return. Bach edited her writing considerably, for example in movement 4, excising two lines of four and rephrasing the others. Bach contrasts music of sorrow and joy, notably in the unusual first movement, where he inserts an almost operatic recitative of Jesus in the fugal choral setting. The architecture of the movement combines elements of the usual concerto form with the more text-related older form of a motet. Bach scores an unusual flauto piccolo (descant recorder in D) as an obligato instrument in an aria contemplating the sorrow of missing Jesus, who is addressed as a doctor who shall heal the wounds of sins. Bach scores a trumpet in only one movement, an aria expressing the joy about the predicted return of Jesus. The cantata in six movements is scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, trumpet, flauto piccolo (descant recorder in D), two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and continuo.
The cantata begins in B minor, illustrating sorrow, but in movement 4 shifts to the relative major key of D major, illustrating the theme of consolation in Ziegler's text. The opening chorus has an unusual structure, which includes an arioso passage for the bass voice. All instruments except the trumpet play a ritornello, after which a choral fugue pictures the weeping and wailing of the text in unrelated musical material, rich in chromaticism. In great contrast the following line, "aber die Welt wird sich freuen" (But the world will rejoice), is conveyed by the chorus embedded in a repeat of the first part of the ritornello. The sequence is repeated on a larger scale: this time the fugue renders both lines of the text as a double fugue with the second theme taken from the ritornello, then the ritornello is repeated in its entirety. The bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ) sings three times, with a sudden tempo change to adagio, "Ihr aber werdet traurig sein" (But you will be sad) as an accompagnato recitative. Musicologist Julian Mincham notes: "This recitative is a mere eight bars long but its context and piteousness give it enormous dramatic impact. Bach's lack of respect for the conservative Leipzig authorities' dislike of operatic styles in religious music was never more apparent!" BWV 105: Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht Lord, do not pass judgment on Your servant was composed in Leipzig for the ninth Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 25 July 1723. The musicologist Alfred Dürr has described the cantata as one of "the most sublime descriptions of the soul in baroque and Christian art." The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Corinthians, a warning of false gods and consolation in temptation (1 Corinthians 10:6–13), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1–9). The theme of the cantata is derived from the Gospel: since mankind cannot survive before God's judgement, he should forswear earthly pleasures, "the mammon of unrighteousness," for the friendship of Jesus alone; for by His death mankind's guilt was absolved, opening up "the everlasting habitations." That part of the libretto covers the fourth and fifth movements (the second recitatives and arias). The alto recitative draws from biblical allusions in Psalms 51:11—"Cast me not away from thy presence"— and Malachi 3:5—"I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers." The text of the soprano aria is borrowed from Romans 2:15—"while accusing or else excusing one another." There is a reference to Paul's epistles in the second recitative, Colossians 2:14—"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us" and "nailing it to his cross." The closing chorale is the eleventh verse of the hymn Jesu, der du meine Seele, written by Johann Rist in 1641. The cantata in six movements is scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, corno, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
The cantata opens with a chorus in two parts, a form of prelude and fugue, corresponding to the first two phrases of Psalm 143, "Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant / for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." The monumental first part, marked adagio, starts in G minor with a sombre harmonically complex orchestral eight-bar ritornello. The throbbing repeated quaver beats of the figured bass play ceaselessly in the prelude. The ritornello has a penitent mood, its slow canon full of tortured chromatic modulations and suspended sevenths, which develop into sighing, mournful motifs in the violins and oboes. Similar chromaticism has been used elsewhere by Bach to illustrate the crucifixion, for example for the Crucifixus section of the Credo in the Mass in B minor and for the last stanza, "trug uns'rer Sünden schwere Bürd' wohl an dem Kreuze lange", in the choral prelude O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, BWV 622. After the first ritornello, the instruments remain silent except for the pulsating basso continuo; the chorus sings in canon for six bars with new independent material in polyphonic motet style. First the alto starts singing a detached crotchet "Herr" followed by semiquavers motifs for "gehe nicht ins Gericht;" two beats later the tenor starts similarly, then the soprano and then the bass. The four voices continue singing the musical phrase "Herr, gehe nicht in Gericht" in an outpouring of imitative diminutions, until reaching a cadence on "mit deinem Knecht. There is then a reprise of the solemn eight-bar ritornello, now in the dominant key with the upper parts interchanged. The six-bar chorus episode is repeated, with the alto responding to the soprano, and then the bass to the tenor. The chorus is now accompanied by the orchestra in double counterpoint, employing motifs derived from the first episode for chorus. After a cadence in the chorus, the orchestra briefly continues the double counterpoint, until there is a third freely composed episode for chorus. Now the sopranos lead the altos, and then the tenors lead the basses. The third episode lasts twelve bars and is richly scored, combining all the musical ideas from the chorus and orchestra: after less than three bars into the episode, in a moment of pathos, the original orchestral ritornello is played in counterpoint with the chorus for the first time. The prelude concludes gracefully on a pel point, with a coda similar to the brief orchestral interlude. The second part of the first movement is a spiritrd permutation fugue, marked allegro, initially scored for only the concertante singers and continuo, but eventually taken up by the whole ripieno choir, doubled by the orchestra. The tone of the text is condemnatory: "Denn vor dir wird kein Lebendiger gerecht"—"For in thy sight shall no man living be justified." The subject of the fugue theme commences resolutely with detached crotchets for "Denn," sung initially by the tenor accompanied by the basso continuo. The following fugal entry is sung by the bass, with the tenor now taking up the countersubject derived partly on the continuo quaver figures at the very beginning of the fugue. The lower voices are joined by successive fugal entries in the soprano and alto. After 21 bars of tightly scored choral singing, the tutti entries begin commencing with the basses doubling the continuo, followed by the tenors doubling the violas, the altos the second violins and oboe and the sopranos the first violins, oboe and corno. The extended fugue, with its increasingly fraught mood of denunciation, draws to a close after a further 50 bars. The short but expressive alto recitative is followed by one of Bach's most original and striking arias, depicting in musical terms the anxiety and restless desperation of the sinner. The movement has been described as "one of the most impressive arias ever composed by Bach. The aria starts with an extended ritornello played eloquently on the oboe. The fragmented phrases in the oboe, anguished and mournful, are accompanied only by repeated semiquavers in the tremolo violins and steady quavers in the violas: the absence of a basso continuo and the amassing sevenths increase the feeling of anxiety and hopelessness. The ritornello concludes with a continuous semiquaver passage of lamentation—musical material heard several times later on the oboe but never the voice. Taking up the detached motifs of the ritornello, the soprano starts the A section, singing the first couplet of the aria, "Wie zittern und wanken, Der Sũnder Gedanken," with the oboe following in canon one crotchet later: their duet is followed by a repetition of the semiquaver passage for oboe. The soprano and oboe repeat the music for the couplet, but at that point the soprano suddenly sings the second couplet, "Indem sie sich unter einander verklagen ... ," accompanied only by the violas, with completely new musical material. The continuous remarkable melodic line of the soprano, with its frenetic upward semiquaver and semi-demi-quaver runs, are developed in canon with the oboe, as if "each makes complaints about the other." Together the two soloists interweave two highly ornate but tortuous melodic lines, their their melismas and disturbing dissonances representing the troubled soul. After a free reprise of the A section for soprano and oboe, there is shorter B section for the third couplet. More sustained then the A sections, it is derived from the musical material in the ritornello. The aria concludes with a reprise of the ritornello. The canonic voice leading, with the oboe echoing the soprano one crotchet later, is similar to the beginning of the sixth Brandenburg Concerto. The mood becomes hopeful in the following accompanied bass recitative: Jesus' assurance that the sinner will attain salvation through His death on the cross. The bass solo is accompanied by the violins and violas playing gentle semiquaver figures; and by the basso continuo playing repeated pizzicato quaver octaves. In Bach's musical iconography, these repeated quavers represent the death knell, when—in the record of goods, body and life—judgement on the soul is passed by God. The recitative leads to a strict da capo aria for tenor, corno and strings, which brings a new rhythmic energy, ecstatic and animated. The ritornello introduction in the corno solo of the aria is initially doubled by the first violins, but then transformed to more rapid and filigree passagework in demi-semi-quavers. The tenor part has a remarkable dance-like quality, similar to a gavotte, which results in the off-the-beat division of phrases into a half-bar--Kann ich nur—or a bar--Jesum nur zum Freunde machen). The angular writing in the tenor part for the phrase So gilt der Mammon nichts bei mir is particularly spirited, with successive upward leaps for the word nichts. There is a contrasting mood in the middle section of the aria, when the corno does not play, "as if reluctant to reflect the comparison." In the middle section, although the melodic material for the tenor is independent, the string accompaniment is derived from the theme of the original ritornello as well as the garlands of demi-semi-quavers. BWV 110: Unser Mund sei voll Lachens May our mouth be full of laughter is a Christmas cantata composed in Leipzig for Christmas Day and first performed on 25 December 1725. The text has no recitatives alternating with arias. The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle of Titus, "God's mercy appeared" (Titus 2:11–14) or from Isaiah, "Unto us a child is born" (Isaiah 9:2–7), and from the Gospel of Luke, the Nativity, Annunciation to the shepherds and the angels' song (Luke 2:1–14). The librettist began with a quotation of two verses from Psalm 126 which deals with the hope for delivery of Jerusalem, "When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream" and the joyful reaction (Psalms 126:2–3). The poet included for a recitative a verse from the Book of Jeremiah, praising God's greatness (Jeremiah 10:6), and he quoted from the Christmas story in the Gospel of Luke the singing of the angels (Luke 2:14). In this early text, three biblical quotations alternate with arias. The closing chorale is the fifth stanza of Caspar Füger's mn "Wir Christenleut." Bach structured the cantata in seven movements. An opening chorus and a closing chorale frame a sequence of arias, a recitative and a duet. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets and timpani, two transverse flutes, three oboes (also oboe d'amore and oboe da caccia), two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon. The duration is given as 27 minutes. The opening chorus is "Unser Mund sei voll Lachens" (May our mouth be full of laughter). It calls for all instruments to perform. The text "concludes with acknowledgement that the Lord has achieved great things for his people." He followed the format of the French overture by instrumental slow sections framing the fast choral section. When Bach performed the work again later, he added ripieno vocal parts, achieving even more variety in the "concerto." A tenor aria, "Ihr Gedanken und ihr Sinnen" (You thoughts and musings), is accompanied by two transverse flutes. Dürr interprets the choice of the flutes as a symbol for the "lowly birth." A bass recitative, "Dir, Herr, ist niemand gleich" (There is no one like You, Lord), is accompanied by the strings, which accompany the expressive line of the bass voice by "upward-pointing gestures." The alto aria, "Ach Herr, was ist ein Menschenkind" (Ah, Lord, what is a human being), is accompanied by a solo oboe d'amore that "expresses wonder about the nature of man" and God's interest in him. The aria, as the first one, is not a da capo aria, but in two parts. The idea of man in a sinful condition which is presented first, is changed to redemption. The duet "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe" (Glory to God in the highest), combines two high voices over a simple continuo accompaniment, singing of God's glory in the highest and peace on Earth. The music is based on the Virga Jesse floruit from the Magnificat, changing the vocal lines to the different text but retaining the "essentially lyrical character." The bass aria "Wacht auf, ihr Adern und ihr Glieder" (Awaken, veins and limbs), is a final call to wake up and join the praise of the angels. Trumpet and oboe add to energetic music. The oboes double the strings or rest, for more dynamic effect. Virtuoso passages in the trumpet are reminiscent of the first movement. The first triad call of the trumpet is of martial character, and imitated by the voice. When the text refers to the strings, the winds have a rest. The closing chorale, "Alleluja! Gelobt sei Gott" (Alleluia! Praise be to God), is a four-part setting of the tune by an anonymous composer. Bach set the same tune again to close Part III of his Christmas Oratorio with another stanza from the hymn, "Seid froh, dieweil" (Be glad, therefore). BWV 123: Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen Bach composed Dearest Emmanuel, duke of the pious in Leipzig for Epiphany and first performed it on 6 January 1725. The prescribed readings for the feast day were taken from the Book of Isaiah, the heathen will convert (Isaiah 60:1–6), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the Wise Men From the East bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the newborn Jesus (Matthew 2:1–12). The cantata text is based on the chorale in six stanzas by Ahasverus Fritsch (1679). The unknown poet kept the first and the last stanza, and paraphrased the inner stanzas to a sequence of as many recitatives and arias. The text has no specific reference to the readings, but mentions the term Jesusname(name of Jesus), reminiscent of the naming of Jesus celebrated on 1 January. The poet inserts "Heil und Licht" (salvation and light) as a likely reference to the Epiphany, and alludes to Christmas by "Jesus, der ins Fleisch gekommen" (Jesus who came into flesh). Otherwise, the cantata text follows the idea of the chorale: hate and rejection in the world cannot harm those who believe. The cantata in six movements is scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, two flauto traverso, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
In the opening chorus Bach uses the beginning of the chorale melody as an instrumental motif, first in a long introduction, then as a counterpoint to the voices. The soprano sings the cantus firmus. The lower voices are set mostly in homophony with two exceptions. The text "Komme nur bald" (come soon) is rendered by many calls in the lower voices. The text of the final line is first sung by the bass on the melody of the first line, which alto and tenor imitate to the soprano singing the text on the melody of the last line, thus achieving a connection of beginning and end of the movement. The prominent woodwinds, two flutes and two oboes d'amore, and the 9/8 time create a pastoral mood. The tenor aria, accompanied by two oboes d'amore, speaks of "harte Kreuzesreise" (harsh journey of the Cross), illustrated by a chromatic ritornello of four measures in constant modulation. When the ritornello appears again at the end of the first section, it is calmer in the melodies, with the chromatic theme in the continuo, perhaps because the singer claims he is not frightened. In the middle section, thunderstorms are pictured "allegro" in "exuberant passage-work" of the voice, calming to "adagio" on "Heil und Licht," the reference to the Epiphany. The bass aria is one of the loneliest arias Bach ever wrote. The voice is only accompanied by a single flute and a "staccato" continuo. The cantata is closed by an unusual four-part chorale. The Abgesang of the bar form is repeated, the repeat marked piano. The reason is likely the text which ends "bis man mich einsten legt ins Grab hinein" (until one day I am laid in the grave). Here are four albums: Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 36 – Cantatas 6, 42, 103, 108. Masaaki Suzuki with Yukari Nonoshita (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), James Gilchrist (tenor) & Dominik Wörner (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 28 Aug 2007. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD1611. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 10 – Cantatas 105, 179, 186. Masaaki Suzuki with Miah Persson (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Makoto Sakurada (tenor), Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Jun 1999. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISCD951. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 43 – Cantatas 57, 110, 151. Masaaki Suzuki with Hana Blažíková (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 1 Jun 2009. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1761. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 32 – Cantatas 111, 123, 124, 125. Masaaki Suzuki with Yukari Nonoshita (soprano), Robin Blaze (counter-tenor), Andreas Weller (tenor) & Peter Kooij (bass), and Bach Collegium Japan. Release Date: 28 Aug 2006. Label: BIS. Catalogue No: BISSACD1501. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). References:
Ihr werdet weinen und heulen, BWV 103 (2024, January 12). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ihr_werdet_weinen_und_heulen,_BWV_103 Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105 (2024, July 15). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herr,_gehe_nicht_ins_Gericht_mit_deinem_Knecht,_BWV_105 Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110 (2024, September 29). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unser_Mund_sei_voll_Lachens,_BWV_110 Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123 (2022, August 31). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebster_Immanuel,_Herzog_der_Frommen,_BWV_123 Heinrich Schultz wrote the sacred funeral music Musikalische Exequien in 1635 or 1636 for the funeral services of Count Henry II, Count of Reuss-Gera, an early patron, who died on 3 December 1635. It is Schütz's most famous work of funeral music. The work was first performed on 14 February 1636 in the Johanniskirche in Gera. The work was the first requiem in the German language and Schulz is widely regarded as the greatest German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1599 he became a chorister at Kassel, where the landgrave of Hesse-Kassel provided him with a wide general education. In 1608, Schütz entered the University of Marburg to study law, but in 1609 he went to Venice, where for three years he studied music at the landgrave’s expense; his chief teacher there was Giovanni Gabrieli. In Venice Schütz wrote his first known works, a set of Italian madrigals for five voices (published 1611). In 1613 he returned to Germany and went to Leipzig to resume his legal studies. Shortly afterward the landgrave offered him the post of second organist at the court in Kassel. In 1614 he went to Dresden to supervise the music for the christening of the son of the elector of Saxony, and in 1617 the landgrave gave him a permanent post in the electoral chapel. In 1628 Schütz again visited Venice, where Claudio Monteverdi was now the chief musical figure; it is possible that Schütz studied with him. Three years after his return to Dresden, Schütz left the elector’s court, which was being seriously affected by plague and by the turmoils of the Thirty Years’ War. From 1633 to 1635 he was chapel master to the royal court of Copenhagen. From 1635, apart from one further visit to the Danish court, he remained, in spite of his frequent pleas for dismissal, in the elector’s service at Dresden. After the early set of madrigals, almost all of Schütz’s known works are vocal settings of sacred texts, with or without instruments. Of his known secular works, Dafne (performed 1627), the first German opera, and compositions for the marriage of Johann Georg II of Saxony in 1638 were lost. Schütz’s special achievement was to introduce into German music the new style of the Italian monodists (as typified in Monteverdi’s work) without creating an unsatisfactory hybrid. His music remains extremely individual and German in feeling. After the Latin of Symphoniae sacrae I (published 1629), he used the vernacular. The first German requiem was his Musikalische Exequien, published 1636. Other principal works from the middle of his life are two sets of Kleine geistliche Konzerte (published 1636, 1639) for solo voice and continuo, Geistliche Chormusik (published 1648), and Symphoniae sacrae II and III (published 1647, 1650) for various combinations of voices and instruments. In all of these works, Schütz’s strong dramatic sense has been noted. Henry II had planned the service himself and chose the texts, some of which are scriptural and others of which are from 16th-century Lutheran writers, including Martin Luther himself. He commissioned Schütz to compose the music on the occasion of his death. The Exequien is endlessly fascinating, not least because from these texts Schütz fashions a musical form for which there appears to have been no precedent. It comprises three sections:
Part I, by far the longest part of the work, is scored for SSATTB (2 sopranos, alto, 2 tenors, bass) chorus alternating with small ensembles of soloists. Part II is scored for double choir SATB SATB, and Part III is written for SATTB choir and a trio of soloists. All movements are accompanied by basso continuo. There are clear indications that Schütz thought carefully about the relationship of texts and form: for example, the precise composition of the favoriti in Part 3 (two high voices and one low) is prefigured in a section of Part 1 that dwells likewise on the souls of the righteous (‘Die Gerechten Seelen’). Probably because this form of funeral music had no precedent, Schütz included performance suggestions in the prefatory note to the printed score. For Part 1, the choir may consist of up to 12 singers, including the favoriti, and the continuo section should consist of a ‘quiet’ organ with capped, wooden pipes, supported by a deep bowed bass (‘violone’). Schütz states that the organ may be omitted in Part 2, consistent with his preference (stated elsewhere) for double-choir music to be performed a cappella – a stipulation adhered to in fewer than a handful of recordings; and for Part 3, the favoriti (named in the score to represent Heinrich’s departing soul and two seraphim) should be not only audibly distanced from the choir but preferably invisible to the congregation – an exceptional prescription for the time and magical in effect. The work was known to Brahms, as it is thought that he owned a copy of the score;his German Requiem is remarkably similar in content. Here are four albums: Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Lionel Meunier with Masato Suzuki (organ), and Vox Luminis. Release Date: 13 Jun 2011. Label: Ricercar. Catalogue No: RIC311. Hi-Res FLAC (Lossless, 44.1 kHz, 24 bit). Awards: Gramophone Awards, 2012, Recording of the Year. Presto Recording of the Week, 1 October 2012. Radio 3, Building a Library, December 2021, Also Recommended. Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Hans-Christoph Rademann with Anja Zügner (soprano), Marie Luise Werneburg (soprano), Dorothee Mields (soprano), David Erler (countertenor), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Jan Kobow (tenor), Andreas Wolf (bass (vocal)), Tobias Mäthger (tenor), Alexander Schneider (countertenor), Matthias Lutze (bass), Ludger Rémy (organ), Matthias Müller (violone), Stefan Maass (theorbo), and Dresdner Kammerchor. Release Date: 1 Mar 2011. Label: Carus. Catalogue No: CAR83238A. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). Heinrich Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Sigiswald Kuijken and La Petite Bande. Release Date: 18 Sept 2015. Label: Accent. Catalogue No: ACC24299. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). Schultz: Musikalische Exequien. Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale.Release Date: 9 Nov 1992. Label: Harmonia Mundi. Catalogue No: HMC901261. FLAC (CD Quality, 44.1 kHz, 16 bit). Reference:
Fitch, F. (2024). Schütz’s Musicalische Exequien: the best recordings. Gramophone. Musikalische Exequien. (2024, September 27). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musikalische_Exequien The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. (2024). Heinrich Schultz. Britannica. |
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