Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn
The text for the Easter chorale 'Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn' first appeared in 1591, in a song collection entitled 'Kinderspiel' ('Child's-Play'). Its text may or may not have been written by Kaspar Stolzhagen, the publisher of the collection. The poem was again published a decade later, this time by Bartholomäus Gesius, who almost certainly composed the melody then and now associated with the text.
You can check out the joyful poem, with its ebullient cries of 'Alleluia', at this link. A melody sheet for the chorale is attached. As you can see, the tune is in triple-time, wide-ranging and enthusiastic.
Here's a link to a (rather slow) rendition for brass ensemble of J. H. Schein's setting of the piece from his Cantional.
Bach set today's chorale only twice (to our knowledge). BWV 630 is from the Orgelbüchlein. As you can hear (and see on the attached score), the melody appears on top of the texture, boldly stated. The middle voices join together to create a continuous matrix of 8th-note activity. And the bass has a distinctive bold rhythmic pattern which is iterated and reiterated many times. In sum, a festive piece worthy of Easter Sunday!
BWV 342 is one of the many so-called 'independent chorales'. These were compiled mostly from cantatas and oratorios which are now lost. Some musicologists believe that the chorale was originally part of a cantata which Bach wrote for Easter Monday of 1729. Here's a good recording; again, the score is attached hereto.
-----
This is the hundredth and final (for now, anyway) installment of our 'Chorale of the Week', a series begun in the wake of the pandemic shutdown in the spring of 2020. It has been such a pleasure to explore these many chorales in some detail! We've dug into many of the best-known chorales, of course, but also have encountered many with which I (for one) was not already familiar. They are such staunch and beautiful melodies, and have formed the foundation for so many wonderful larger works. And they sort of rattle around pleasingly in the brain, called up occasionally by who-knows-what stimulus. Life is mysterious.
Next week we will round off the larger series--which has included chorales, motets and other sacred forms, and plenty of secular music--with our 300th installment: An exploration of several settings of the opening verses of Psalm 84, a text best known to many of us from its appearance in the middle movement of Brahms' 'Ein deutsches Requiem': 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen'.
The text for the Easter chorale 'Heut triumphieret Gottes Sohn' first appeared in 1591, in a song collection entitled 'Kinderspiel' ('Child's-Play'). Its text may or may not have been written by Kaspar Stolzhagen, the publisher of the collection. The poem was again published a decade later, this time by Bartholomäus Gesius, who almost certainly composed the melody then and now associated with the text.
You can check out the joyful poem, with its ebullient cries of 'Alleluia', at this link. A melody sheet for the chorale is attached. As you can see, the tune is in triple-time, wide-ranging and enthusiastic.
Here's a link to a (rather slow) rendition for brass ensemble of J. H. Schein's setting of the piece from his Cantional.
Bach set today's chorale only twice (to our knowledge). BWV 630 is from the Orgelbüchlein. As you can hear (and see on the attached score), the melody appears on top of the texture, boldly stated. The middle voices join together to create a continuous matrix of 8th-note activity. And the bass has a distinctive bold rhythmic pattern which is iterated and reiterated many times. In sum, a festive piece worthy of Easter Sunday!
BWV 342 is one of the many so-called 'independent chorales'. These were compiled mostly from cantatas and oratorios which are now lost. Some musicologists believe that the chorale was originally part of a cantata which Bach wrote for Easter Monday of 1729. Here's a good recording; again, the score is attached hereto.
-----
This is the hundredth and final (for now, anyway) installment of our 'Chorale of the Week', a series begun in the wake of the pandemic shutdown in the spring of 2020. It has been such a pleasure to explore these many chorales in some detail! We've dug into many of the best-known chorales, of course, but also have encountered many with which I (for one) was not already familiar. They are such staunch and beautiful melodies, and have formed the foundation for so many wonderful larger works. And they sort of rattle around pleasingly in the brain, called up occasionally by who-knows-what stimulus. Life is mysterious.
Next week we will round off the larger series--which has included chorales, motets and other sacred forms, and plenty of secular music--with our 300th installment: An exploration of several settings of the opening verses of Psalm 84, a text best known to many of us from its appearance in the middle movement of Brahms' 'Ein deutsches Requiem': 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen'.