Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit by J.S. Bach
Over the last couple of days, I've been working with an odd little chorale melody. It's called ' Ich hab mein Sach Gott heimgestellt' ('I've left my concerns up to God'). The melody is based upon a secular folksong dating back to at least 1500, 'Es ist auf Erd kein schwerer Leid'n' ('There is upon earth no greater suffering'), and the crabbed, tangled melody within a limited range seems to express that thought perfectly.
But why do I call it odd? Crabbed? Tangled? Take a look for yourself here. It's structured in five phrases, four of which are limited to a range of a tritone. (The third phrase breaks free to rise to C.) It emphasizes the peculiar interval of a diminished fourth (F# to Bb). It doubles back upon itself in strange ways. Its fourth phrase--'Nicht widerstreb'n' is oddly truncated, cut off before its time.
It's as if the tune is in prison, pacing back and forth while it ponders its past iniquities.
A variant of the early folksong tune was published in Nürnberg in 1589 with a new text by Johann Leon. You can read the twelve-verse poem here. As you'll see, it's structured in three broad strokes: First, a statement of surrender to the will of God; second, a bleak and extensive assessment of the evanescence and vanity of the things of this world; and finally a resolution to truly accept the way things are, and to go forth bravely with hopes of salvation.
Somehow all these three themes, each in their different way, are carried perfectly on the shoulders of the strange tune described above. It's one of the best examples of perfectly mated text and chorale melody which I've ever seen.
In his vocal works, Bach used the tune only twice. The link given in the second paragraph above is to BWV 351, one of the chorales probably from a lost cantata. You can listen to it here. Notice how the chromatic lines in the bass accentuate the dolorous aspect of the melody.
Bach's other use of the melody occurred in his early Cantata 106: 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit' ('God's time is the best time'). This sui generis funeral cantata, scored for two recorders, two violas da gamba and basso continuo, brilliantly combines old and new testament texts in a powerful statement--textual and musical--upon the very same three themes (given above) as our chorale.
In the fifth movement (marked 2d., page 18, in the attached score), Bach begins a serious, archaic-sounding fugue for the lower three voices on the the text 'It is the old law: Human, you must die'. This unfolds over a moto continuo bass line, and at first seems like plenty to occupy us. But Bach is playing a deeper game. Soon, in bar 146, a soprano enters ecstatically on the short text, 'Yes, yes, come Lord Jesus, come', floating ecstatically with her message of hope over the stern firmament of the fugue and the bass line. And finally, in one of the most subtly thrilling moments in all Bach, our chorale melody enters in bar 150, played by the recorders in unison, accompanied by the gambas.
Remember that Bach's congregation knew the chorales he used backwards and forwards. These songs had been an integral part from the cradle--one might almost say from the womb. And so the reference to and message of the chorale would not be lost upon the listeners, reinforcing and further enriching the message of the choral fugue--'You must die'--and that of the soprano soloist--'Save me!'.
You can listen to this amazing movement here. You might have to listen closely for those recorders--they sound almost ghostly. They enter at 09:33 in the recording. The amazing thing is that Bach doesn't just keep them in on the chorale; rather, like the fugue and like the soprano solo, they come in and out, intermixing freely over the basso continuo. Three interlocking messages--in the old style (the fugue), in the new style (the soprano solo), and in the musical language of the people gathered (the chorale)--fused over a walking bass.
Unforgettable.
I can't end this post without calling your attention to Heinrich Schütz' composition based upon 'Ich hab' mein Sach Gott heimgestellt'. It's called 'De vitae fugacitate' ('Upon fleeting life'). It's a setting of an 18-verse version of our chorale, for five voices and continuo. The chorale melody appears in the first verse, over a distinctive bass line; each succeeding verse presents a variation over that initial bass line, scored for various small vocal ensembles, and ending with a tutti. The score is attached; a very good recording is available here.
I hope some of you will log onto our Adventures in Sightsinging class tonight! Shawna and I are excited about it. We have specified that the class is for beginning to intermediate sightsingers, but I'll bet any of you would enjoy it, and would get a lot out of the wonderful collection of Scheidt chorale settings we'll be featuring.
Over the last couple of days, I've been working with an odd little chorale melody. It's called ' Ich hab mein Sach Gott heimgestellt' ('I've left my concerns up to God'). The melody is based upon a secular folksong dating back to at least 1500, 'Es ist auf Erd kein schwerer Leid'n' ('There is upon earth no greater suffering'), and the crabbed, tangled melody within a limited range seems to express that thought perfectly.
But why do I call it odd? Crabbed? Tangled? Take a look for yourself here. It's structured in five phrases, four of which are limited to a range of a tritone. (The third phrase breaks free to rise to C.) It emphasizes the peculiar interval of a diminished fourth (F# to Bb). It doubles back upon itself in strange ways. Its fourth phrase--'Nicht widerstreb'n' is oddly truncated, cut off before its time.
It's as if the tune is in prison, pacing back and forth while it ponders its past iniquities.
A variant of the early folksong tune was published in Nürnberg in 1589 with a new text by Johann Leon. You can read the twelve-verse poem here. As you'll see, it's structured in three broad strokes: First, a statement of surrender to the will of God; second, a bleak and extensive assessment of the evanescence and vanity of the things of this world; and finally a resolution to truly accept the way things are, and to go forth bravely with hopes of salvation.
Somehow all these three themes, each in their different way, are carried perfectly on the shoulders of the strange tune described above. It's one of the best examples of perfectly mated text and chorale melody which I've ever seen.
In his vocal works, Bach used the tune only twice. The link given in the second paragraph above is to BWV 351, one of the chorales probably from a lost cantata. You can listen to it here. Notice how the chromatic lines in the bass accentuate the dolorous aspect of the melody.
Bach's other use of the melody occurred in his early Cantata 106: 'Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit' ('God's time is the best time'). This sui generis funeral cantata, scored for two recorders, two violas da gamba and basso continuo, brilliantly combines old and new testament texts in a powerful statement--textual and musical--upon the very same three themes (given above) as our chorale.
In the fifth movement (marked 2d., page 18, in the attached score), Bach begins a serious, archaic-sounding fugue for the lower three voices on the the text 'It is the old law: Human, you must die'. This unfolds over a moto continuo bass line, and at first seems like plenty to occupy us. But Bach is playing a deeper game. Soon, in bar 146, a soprano enters ecstatically on the short text, 'Yes, yes, come Lord Jesus, come', floating ecstatically with her message of hope over the stern firmament of the fugue and the bass line. And finally, in one of the most subtly thrilling moments in all Bach, our chorale melody enters in bar 150, played by the recorders in unison, accompanied by the gambas.
Remember that Bach's congregation knew the chorales he used backwards and forwards. These songs had been an integral part from the cradle--one might almost say from the womb. And so the reference to and message of the chorale would not be lost upon the listeners, reinforcing and further enriching the message of the choral fugue--'You must die'--and that of the soprano soloist--'Save me!'.
You can listen to this amazing movement here. You might have to listen closely for those recorders--they sound almost ghostly. They enter at 09:33 in the recording. The amazing thing is that Bach doesn't just keep them in on the chorale; rather, like the fugue and like the soprano solo, they come in and out, intermixing freely over the basso continuo. Three interlocking messages--in the old style (the fugue), in the new style (the soprano solo), and in the musical language of the people gathered (the chorale)--fused over a walking bass.
Unforgettable.
I can't end this post without calling your attention to Heinrich Schütz' composition based upon 'Ich hab' mein Sach Gott heimgestellt'. It's called 'De vitae fugacitate' ('Upon fleeting life'). It's a setting of an 18-verse version of our chorale, for five voices and continuo. The chorale melody appears in the first verse, over a distinctive bass line; each succeeding verse presents a variation over that initial bass line, scored for various small vocal ensembles, and ending with a tutti. The score is attached; a very good recording is available here.
I hope some of you will log onto our Adventures in Sightsinging class tonight! Shawna and I are excited about it. We have specified that the class is for beginning to intermediate sightsingers, but I'll bet any of you would enjoy it, and would get a lot out of the wonderful collection of Scheidt chorale settings we'll be featuring.