Christus, der uns selig macht
I'm still a little behind but plowing ahead nevertheless. Today I offer for your delectation our 66th Wednesday Chorale project; adding these to our 59 Madrigals (and the like) and our 59 Motets (and the like), the tally of repertoire projects now runs to 184! That's a whole lot of grist for the mill.
You'd think that at this point it'd be getting harder for me to find really great pieces to feature. Not at all! I don't think anything we've looked at so far has been second-best. And, taking the realm of chorales as an example, I find that there are plenty of great ones just begging for an airing.
Today's chorale is an example: The passion chorale 'Christus, der uns selig macht' is not exactly a wallflower. It was a staple in Lutheran services in Bach's time, a part of services for Holy Week. Bach featured it twice in prominent positions in the St. John Passion; it appears as one of the independent Bach chorales, probably part of a lost cantata or passion; it featured in Bach's Weimar performance of the 'St. Mark Passion' by Reinhard Keiser; and it is one of the chorales which Bach set in the Orgelbüchlein.
We'll take a look today at all five of these arrangements.
The chorale itself was written by Michael Weiße (c1484-1543), who based its text upon a 14th-century Latin poem for Good Friday, 'Patris sapientia, veritas divina', written by Eigido of Colonna (c1247-1316). The melody, probably based upon an earlier song, is unusual and very expressive. It begins at the top of its octave range, with several repeated notes, before venturing downwards. It then works its way to the bottom of its range, mounts an ascent to the top, and then slowly wends downward, exhausted, to the bottom note.
In Bach, the chorale is always given a super-expressive setting, with much use of chromaticism to limn the tragic and agitated context of the Passion lyrics. A close study of Bach's settings can be a great lesson in how Bach brings a tune and text to vivid life.
In the St. John Passion, our chorale appears twice: No. 15, at the beginning of Part Two, to introduce the trial before Pilate; and No. 37, which closes the Pilate sequence.
The independent setting BWV 283, as noted above, was probably part of a lost cantata or passion.
Bach produced three performances of Reinhard Keiser's St. Mark Passion. In the first of these, probably early in the 1710's when he was working in Weimar, he included two chorale settings which are usually attributed to him; one of these is of the last verse of 'Christus, der uns selig macht'.
Also during his Weimar period, Bach composed a powerful chromatic setting of our chorale, with the melody in canon at the double octave in the outer voices, while the middle voices provide serpentine accompaniment in 8th- and 16th-notes.
Scores for this cornucopia of settings are attached.
Take a look! Take a listen! Try some harmonic analysis! Sing! Explore! Immerse! Study! Dance! Live!
Or, as my mom used to say, flinging open the windows as she woke us up:
'Are you awake, alive, alert, joyous and enthuuuuusiastic?'
Or, as Rilke more elegantly phrased it:
'To all that is used-up, and to all the muffled and voiceless
creatures in the world's full reserve, the unsayable sums,
joyfully add yourself, and cancel the count.'
I'm still a little behind but plowing ahead nevertheless. Today I offer for your delectation our 66th Wednesday Chorale project; adding these to our 59 Madrigals (and the like) and our 59 Motets (and the like), the tally of repertoire projects now runs to 184! That's a whole lot of grist for the mill.
You'd think that at this point it'd be getting harder for me to find really great pieces to feature. Not at all! I don't think anything we've looked at so far has been second-best. And, taking the realm of chorales as an example, I find that there are plenty of great ones just begging for an airing.
Today's chorale is an example: The passion chorale 'Christus, der uns selig macht' is not exactly a wallflower. It was a staple in Lutheran services in Bach's time, a part of services for Holy Week. Bach featured it twice in prominent positions in the St. John Passion; it appears as one of the independent Bach chorales, probably part of a lost cantata or passion; it featured in Bach's Weimar performance of the 'St. Mark Passion' by Reinhard Keiser; and it is one of the chorales which Bach set in the Orgelbüchlein.
We'll take a look today at all five of these arrangements.
The chorale itself was written by Michael Weiße (c1484-1543), who based its text upon a 14th-century Latin poem for Good Friday, 'Patris sapientia, veritas divina', written by Eigido of Colonna (c1247-1316). The melody, probably based upon an earlier song, is unusual and very expressive. It begins at the top of its octave range, with several repeated notes, before venturing downwards. It then works its way to the bottom of its range, mounts an ascent to the top, and then slowly wends downward, exhausted, to the bottom note.
In Bach, the chorale is always given a super-expressive setting, with much use of chromaticism to limn the tragic and agitated context of the Passion lyrics. A close study of Bach's settings can be a great lesson in how Bach brings a tune and text to vivid life.
In the St. John Passion, our chorale appears twice: No. 15, at the beginning of Part Two, to introduce the trial before Pilate; and No. 37, which closes the Pilate sequence.
The independent setting BWV 283, as noted above, was probably part of a lost cantata or passion.
Bach produced three performances of Reinhard Keiser's St. Mark Passion. In the first of these, probably early in the 1710's when he was working in Weimar, he included two chorale settings which are usually attributed to him; one of these is of the last verse of 'Christus, der uns selig macht'.
Also during his Weimar period, Bach composed a powerful chromatic setting of our chorale, with the melody in canon at the double octave in the outer voices, while the middle voices provide serpentine accompaniment in 8th- and 16th-notes.
Scores for this cornucopia of settings are attached.
Take a look! Take a listen! Try some harmonic analysis! Sing! Explore! Immerse! Study! Dance! Live!
Or, as my mom used to say, flinging open the windows as she woke us up:
'Are you awake, alive, alert, joyous and enthuuuuusiastic?'
Or, as Rilke more elegantly phrased it:
'To all that is used-up, and to all the muffled and voiceless
creatures in the world's full reserve, the unsayable sums,
joyfully add yourself, and cancel the count.'