Lobe den Herren
When I was growing up, we went to St Mark's Episcopal Church, on Bancroft Street in Berkeley. I sometimes think that the primary motivation for us four boys was the post-worship doughnuts. In fact, a number of years ago we found an old church bulletin on which was written in our mom's hand, next to the sermon: 'BEHAVE--OR NO DOUGHNUTS!'
My brother John claims that still every time he eats a doughnut he has a religious experience.
Nevertheless, church had various salutary effects upon me, one of which derived from the singing which was an important part of the services. I was a pretty enthusiastic singer of hymns, and one of my favorites was 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation'. In case you don't know (or have forgotten) this old chestnut,
here are a few links:
--The British royal family (and a few other people) warbling it out in Westminster Abbey;
--A Covid-time rendition by a small male choir with some adorable boys on the descant at the end;
--A Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance with a big orchestra, complete with dramatic half-step modulation.
Now that the tune is firmly affixed (or reaffixed) in your mind and ear, let me introduce Bach's Cantata 37: Lobe den Herren, based upon our chorale. It's part of Jahrgang II, the monumental cycle of chorale cantatas for the 1724-25 liturgical year.
Unlike many of these which we have looked at and/or sung over the years, Cantata 37 is an 'omnes versus' setting, in which the chorale tune and verses appear in each movement. This is in contrast to the more common approach Bach and his librettists took, which was to present the chorale tune and verses explicitly for only the first and last movements; the middle movements were arias, duets, recitatives and so on, all based upon paraphrases of the middle verses of the chorale.
Bach does take some liberties and uses his imagination magnificently in this piece. Here are some details of the five movements and how the chorale is expressed:
--First verse: The full orchestra--trumpets, timpani, oboes, strings and continuo--plays a bright concerto, joined eventually by the choir sopranos, who line out the chorale tune bravely over moving voices in the lower parts.
--Second verse: The alto soloist sings an ornamented version of the chorale melody, accompanied by basso continuo and a florid violin solo.
--Third verse: The two oboes accompany a duet of soprano and bass soloists whose imitative lines are loosely based upon the chorale melody, though in a minor key.
--Fourth verse: An acrobatic continuo line supports a tenor soloist singing a complex and wide-ranging solo, with many runs, leaps and other alarums and excursions. A single trumpet (or oboe, as per Bach's indication) intermittently lines out the unadorned phrases of the chorale.
--Fifth verse: A conventional four-part homophonic setting for winds, strings and voices is much enriched by a separate choir featuring the brass and timpani.
It's just a delightful piece! Here's a link to an excellent live performance conducted by Rudolf Lutz. (Check out the bass at the top-right of the risers. He's fun to watch.) Here's a link to the text-translation on the wonderful website maintained by Emmanuel Music in Boston; and attached you'll find the full Bärenreiter score.
As an additional treat, here's a link to a very nice recording of Hugo Distler's setting of 'Lobe den Herren', just brimming over with love and joy. The score of this piece is also attached herewith.
When I was growing up, we went to St Mark's Episcopal Church, on Bancroft Street in Berkeley. I sometimes think that the primary motivation for us four boys was the post-worship doughnuts. In fact, a number of years ago we found an old church bulletin on which was written in our mom's hand, next to the sermon: 'BEHAVE--OR NO DOUGHNUTS!'
My brother John claims that still every time he eats a doughnut he has a religious experience.
Nevertheless, church had various salutary effects upon me, one of which derived from the singing which was an important part of the services. I was a pretty enthusiastic singer of hymns, and one of my favorites was 'Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation'. In case you don't know (or have forgotten) this old chestnut,
here are a few links:
--The British royal family (and a few other people) warbling it out in Westminster Abbey;
--A Covid-time rendition by a small male choir with some adorable boys on the descant at the end;
--A Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance with a big orchestra, complete with dramatic half-step modulation.
Now that the tune is firmly affixed (or reaffixed) in your mind and ear, let me introduce Bach's Cantata 37: Lobe den Herren, based upon our chorale. It's part of Jahrgang II, the monumental cycle of chorale cantatas for the 1724-25 liturgical year.
Unlike many of these which we have looked at and/or sung over the years, Cantata 37 is an 'omnes versus' setting, in which the chorale tune and verses appear in each movement. This is in contrast to the more common approach Bach and his librettists took, which was to present the chorale tune and verses explicitly for only the first and last movements; the middle movements were arias, duets, recitatives and so on, all based upon paraphrases of the middle verses of the chorale.
Bach does take some liberties and uses his imagination magnificently in this piece. Here are some details of the five movements and how the chorale is expressed:
--First verse: The full orchestra--trumpets, timpani, oboes, strings and continuo--plays a bright concerto, joined eventually by the choir sopranos, who line out the chorale tune bravely over moving voices in the lower parts.
--Second verse: The alto soloist sings an ornamented version of the chorale melody, accompanied by basso continuo and a florid violin solo.
--Third verse: The two oboes accompany a duet of soprano and bass soloists whose imitative lines are loosely based upon the chorale melody, though in a minor key.
--Fourth verse: An acrobatic continuo line supports a tenor soloist singing a complex and wide-ranging solo, with many runs, leaps and other alarums and excursions. A single trumpet (or oboe, as per Bach's indication) intermittently lines out the unadorned phrases of the chorale.
--Fifth verse: A conventional four-part homophonic setting for winds, strings and voices is much enriched by a separate choir featuring the brass and timpani.
It's just a delightful piece! Here's a link to an excellent live performance conducted by Rudolf Lutz. (Check out the bass at the top-right of the risers. He's fun to watch.) Here's a link to the text-translation on the wonderful website maintained by Emmanuel Music in Boston; and attached you'll find the full Bärenreiter score.
As an additional treat, here's a link to a very nice recording of Hugo Distler's setting of 'Lobe den Herren', just brimming over with love and joy. The score of this piece is also attached herewith.