Christus der ist mein Leben - Melchior Vulpius
There's a little chorale, a trifle of a tune, called 'Christus der ist mein Leben' ('Christ, Who Is My Life'). It's by Melchior Vulpius (c1570-1616). Click this link for a quick look at how the melody appears in one of Bach's independent chorale settings: Four phrases of equal length climbing successively from do to high-do, then wending back to the tonic.
No big deal, eh?
Well, I guess that depends what you mean. It is a simple song. But that doesn't mean it's not rewarding to sing. It doesn't mean that the tune can't carry a message into our hearts. And it most definitely doesn't mean that it can't form the foundation for a more complex structure.
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Bach thought highly enough of the tune to enshrine it in a number of his polyphonic works, as we'll see below. But we'll start with a motet by Johann Michael Bach (a cousin of Bach's father), whose works form a major part of the 'Altbachisches Archiv', the collection of music by members of the Bach family in which J.S. himself was much interested and involved.
The J.M. Bach setting is titled 'Nun hab ich überwunden', the opening line of the third verse of the anonymous chorale text, which considers death as a release from affliction, distress and anxiety. The motet, scored for eight-part double-choir, first takes up the tune in the top voice of Choir 1, rather freely expressed and accompanied by a sort of dialogic texture, with choir 2 responding to each phrase by repeating it at a different pitch level.
After this opening section, we hear the same text verse again, but in a very different arrangement. The texture is reduced to a single five-part choir, and the top voice declares the melody in long notes. The lower voices perform a sort of fugato as an accompaniment, their lines either free or loosely based upon the chorale lines.
Like the melody itself, the motet seems simple and at the same time immensely satisfying. Here you'll find a wonderful recording by Vox Luminis. As usual, the score is attached hereto.
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We pause this message for a shameless promotion: In the second concert set of Sonoma Bach's upcoming season, 'Bach's World', we'll be featuring wonderful music from the 'Archiv', including 'Nun hab ich überwunden', as well as music by two other composers who were important influences upon the young Bach: Johann Pachelbel and Dieterich Buxtehude.
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Speaking of Pachelbel: He wrote a really nice organ partita (set of variations) on 'Christus der ist mein Leben'. I'm attaching the score, and here's a nice recording. And/or check out this alternate recording which uses so-called 'sampled sounds' (organ sound-sets in which each note in each rank of the instrument has been recorded and then mapped to an electronic keyboard for performance). This particular performance is pretty convincing!--and also includes a scrolling score.
---
As to Bach himself, as mentioned above, he incorporated our chorale in various ways into a number of his pieces over the years:
In Cantata 95: Christus der ist mein Leben, the melody appears (as one would expect) in the first movement. Here it is in triple time, carried by the choir, with the melody on top. You'll notice a striking expansion in the second phrase, on the word 'sterben' ('to die'), ending in a cadence complete with fermata. Apparently this is a tradition going back at least to Johann Hermann Schein (Bach's predecessor by a century at Leipzig). We'll see (and hear) it again in one of the independent settings.
Before we go on to Bach's other settings of today's chorale, I want to pause a moment on Cantata 95. It's most unusual and quite wonderful! There are four different chorales used in the course of the piece, while there is only one aria. Three of the chorales appear almost in a row at the beginning of the piece, while the fourth is at the end. Here's how they line up, with page numbers in the attached score and links to an excellent performance:
First movement (page 67): 'Christus der ist mein Leben', as noted above;
First movement (page 77): After a tenor solo which flows directly out of the opening chorale, Martin Luther's 'Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin' is heard in the choir, with accompanying instruments and a moto perpetuo bass line;
Third movement (page 85): The sopranos (or possibly a solo soprano, as in this recording) sing the melody 'Valet will ich dir geben' (familiar to many of us from its appearance in the St John Passion as 'In meines Herzensgrunde'), accompanied molto espressivo by a solo oboe and by the continuo section.
Seventh and final movement (page 103): As usual, Bach closes with a four-part chorale setting (in this case, with the addition of a decorative melodic line in the first violins which serves as a sort of 'crown'). The chorale melody is the beautiful 'Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist'. (Our Bach Choir explored this melody back in the fall of 2018, in our 'I Fear Namore the Night' concerts.)
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There are two independent Bach chorales on 'Christus der ist mein Leben'. (These are probably from lost cantatas or oratorios.) BWV 281 is fairly conventional, but you sure can't say that of BWV 281! Check out this remarkable live rendition by a small ensemble from the Netherlands Bach Choir. That amazing second phrase is part of the old tradition of stretching noted above in the opening movement of Cantata 95. But here the setting is even more dissonant and surprising. It's worth noting that in the first verse of the chorale, that second phrase is 'Sterben ist mein Gewinn': 'To die is my gain'. Scores for these two settings are attached.
---
And finally, we'll cap off our morning's exploration of 'Christus der ist mein Leben' with Bach's setting from the Neumeister Collection, a set of chorale variations for organ from a manuscript (re-)discovered in the 1980's in the library of Yale College. Many of them turn out to be by J.S. Bach, including BWV 1112, a straightforward setting of our tune in the top voice in half-notes, with (mostly) imitative accompanying lines in the lower voices. Again, a score for the piece is included in the attached materials.
---
So there you go! A slight and simple melody can inspire surprising complexity and deeply-felt expression; and as we wander amidst the broad landscapes built thereupon, the melody--our old friend--holds our hand and guides us.
There's a little chorale, a trifle of a tune, called 'Christus der ist mein Leben' ('Christ, Who Is My Life'). It's by Melchior Vulpius (c1570-1616). Click this link for a quick look at how the melody appears in one of Bach's independent chorale settings: Four phrases of equal length climbing successively from do to high-do, then wending back to the tonic.
No big deal, eh?
Well, I guess that depends what you mean. It is a simple song. But that doesn't mean it's not rewarding to sing. It doesn't mean that the tune can't carry a message into our hearts. And it most definitely doesn't mean that it can't form the foundation for a more complex structure.
---
Bach thought highly enough of the tune to enshrine it in a number of his polyphonic works, as we'll see below. But we'll start with a motet by Johann Michael Bach (a cousin of Bach's father), whose works form a major part of the 'Altbachisches Archiv', the collection of music by members of the Bach family in which J.S. himself was much interested and involved.
The J.M. Bach setting is titled 'Nun hab ich überwunden', the opening line of the third verse of the anonymous chorale text, which considers death as a release from affliction, distress and anxiety. The motet, scored for eight-part double-choir, first takes up the tune in the top voice of Choir 1, rather freely expressed and accompanied by a sort of dialogic texture, with choir 2 responding to each phrase by repeating it at a different pitch level.
After this opening section, we hear the same text verse again, but in a very different arrangement. The texture is reduced to a single five-part choir, and the top voice declares the melody in long notes. The lower voices perform a sort of fugato as an accompaniment, their lines either free or loosely based upon the chorale lines.
Like the melody itself, the motet seems simple and at the same time immensely satisfying. Here you'll find a wonderful recording by Vox Luminis. As usual, the score is attached hereto.
---
We pause this message for a shameless promotion: In the second concert set of Sonoma Bach's upcoming season, 'Bach's World', we'll be featuring wonderful music from the 'Archiv', including 'Nun hab ich überwunden', as well as music by two other composers who were important influences upon the young Bach: Johann Pachelbel and Dieterich Buxtehude.
---
Speaking of Pachelbel: He wrote a really nice organ partita (set of variations) on 'Christus der ist mein Leben'. I'm attaching the score, and here's a nice recording. And/or check out this alternate recording which uses so-called 'sampled sounds' (organ sound-sets in which each note in each rank of the instrument has been recorded and then mapped to an electronic keyboard for performance). This particular performance is pretty convincing!--and also includes a scrolling score.
---
As to Bach himself, as mentioned above, he incorporated our chorale in various ways into a number of his pieces over the years:
In Cantata 95: Christus der ist mein Leben, the melody appears (as one would expect) in the first movement. Here it is in triple time, carried by the choir, with the melody on top. You'll notice a striking expansion in the second phrase, on the word 'sterben' ('to die'), ending in a cadence complete with fermata. Apparently this is a tradition going back at least to Johann Hermann Schein (Bach's predecessor by a century at Leipzig). We'll see (and hear) it again in one of the independent settings.
Before we go on to Bach's other settings of today's chorale, I want to pause a moment on Cantata 95. It's most unusual and quite wonderful! There are four different chorales used in the course of the piece, while there is only one aria. Three of the chorales appear almost in a row at the beginning of the piece, while the fourth is at the end. Here's how they line up, with page numbers in the attached score and links to an excellent performance:
First movement (page 67): 'Christus der ist mein Leben', as noted above;
First movement (page 77): After a tenor solo which flows directly out of the opening chorale, Martin Luther's 'Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin' is heard in the choir, with accompanying instruments and a moto perpetuo bass line;
Third movement (page 85): The sopranos (or possibly a solo soprano, as in this recording) sing the melody 'Valet will ich dir geben' (familiar to many of us from its appearance in the St John Passion as 'In meines Herzensgrunde'), accompanied molto espressivo by a solo oboe and by the continuo section.
Seventh and final movement (page 103): As usual, Bach closes with a four-part chorale setting (in this case, with the addition of a decorative melodic line in the first violins which serves as a sort of 'crown'). The chorale melody is the beautiful 'Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist'. (Our Bach Choir explored this melody back in the fall of 2018, in our 'I Fear Namore the Night' concerts.)
---
There are two independent Bach chorales on 'Christus der ist mein Leben'. (These are probably from lost cantatas or oratorios.) BWV 281 is fairly conventional, but you sure can't say that of BWV 281! Check out this remarkable live rendition by a small ensemble from the Netherlands Bach Choir. That amazing second phrase is part of the old tradition of stretching noted above in the opening movement of Cantata 95. But here the setting is even more dissonant and surprising. It's worth noting that in the first verse of the chorale, that second phrase is 'Sterben ist mein Gewinn': 'To die is my gain'. Scores for these two settings are attached.
---
And finally, we'll cap off our morning's exploration of 'Christus der ist mein Leben' with Bach's setting from the Neumeister Collection, a set of chorale variations for organ from a manuscript (re-)discovered in the 1980's in the library of Yale College. Many of them turn out to be by J.S. Bach, including BWV 1112, a straightforward setting of our tune in the top voice in half-notes, with (mostly) imitative accompanying lines in the lower voices. Again, a score for the piece is included in the attached materials.
---
So there you go! A slight and simple melody can inspire surprising complexity and deeply-felt expression; and as we wander amidst the broad landscapes built thereupon, the melody--our old friend--holds our hand and guides us.