Merk auf, mein Herz, merk auf - Johann Christoph Bach
As, with the celebration of Candlemas this past Tuesday, we finally step away from the Christmas Season, I want to share a spectacular nativity motet with you. Or is it a chorale partita? Or is it just a whopping musical party?
Well, it's all three. The piece is entitled 'Merk auf, mein Herz, merk auf', and it's by Johann Christoph Bach, a first-cousin-once-removed (or something like that) of the more famous Johann Sebastian. But the latter highly respected and even venerated the former, copying several of his works, performing some of them well into the Leipzig period of his career, and referring to JC Bach as 'the profound composer'.
One of the works so honored by J.S. Bach is today's motet. It is based upon the simple children's Christmas song by Martin Luther, Vom Himmel hoch, but it is anything but simple. The composer has selected seven of the chorale's 15 verses, placed them in a different order, and created thereupon a set of variations for four to eight voices.
No two verses are set the same, and there is a remarkable variety of textures and musical ideas employed throughout. In each case, the words act very much as the mistress of the music, as the composer reaches deeply into his bag of tricks to discover vivid ways to portray the thoughts and images in each verse.
1) The first verse is like a call to arms, with the melody mainly on the top of the texture, and lower voices supplying punctuations and acclamations. Near the end of the verse, the composer lingers tenderly on the words, repeatedly stated, 'das liebe Jesulein' ('the beloved little Jesus').
2) The second verse breaks free of strict adherence to the melody with a fugal subject, tossed back and forth between sections, which culminates in a 2-note pattern--almost a vocalise--repeated by the alto.
3) In the third voice, the ensemble is expanded from a 4-part chorus to an 8-part double chorus. The meter changes here to 12/8, and the two choirs jubilantly toss the melody and its harmonization back and forth until the line 'seinen lieben Sohn' ('his beloved Son') engenders a lingering and loving descent to a final cadence.
4) JC Bach's setting of the fourth verse is in a more stately triple time, and includes extended fantasies upon two primary words: 'Willkommen' ('welcome'), and 'immer' ('always'). It's amazing!
5) No less amazing, though completely different, is the sixth verse. It begins with commanding statements on 'Ach Herr', with all the powers of the double-choir joining to portray the heavenly grandeur; and it ends with a homely evocation of the ox and the ass, complete with a minor-seventh donkey's bray.
6) The sixth verse, with words adapted from the third verse of 'Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, O Herr', begins in stately fashion, but soon becomes preoccupied with the words 'and rest in the shrine of my heart', elongating the central word 'ruhn' (rest) with gentle pulsations. Near the end, the line 'so that I may never forget you' prompts outbreaks of 'nimmer' ('never'), similar to those in verse 4 on 'immer'.
7) And finally, we have a large eight-part setting of the final acclamatory verse, complete with a clear long-note statement of the melody in the unified soprano parts, and long joyful cadenzas in the two alto parts to complete the celebration.
What a romp! It's pretty much unbelievable, and even more so in this amazing performance under the direction of Paul Hillier. Attached are a full score and a text-translation sheet.
As, with the celebration of Candlemas this past Tuesday, we finally step away from the Christmas Season, I want to share a spectacular nativity motet with you. Or is it a chorale partita? Or is it just a whopping musical party?
Well, it's all three. The piece is entitled 'Merk auf, mein Herz, merk auf', and it's by Johann Christoph Bach, a first-cousin-once-removed (or something like that) of the more famous Johann Sebastian. But the latter highly respected and even venerated the former, copying several of his works, performing some of them well into the Leipzig period of his career, and referring to JC Bach as 'the profound composer'.
One of the works so honored by J.S. Bach is today's motet. It is based upon the simple children's Christmas song by Martin Luther, Vom Himmel hoch, but it is anything but simple. The composer has selected seven of the chorale's 15 verses, placed them in a different order, and created thereupon a set of variations for four to eight voices.
No two verses are set the same, and there is a remarkable variety of textures and musical ideas employed throughout. In each case, the words act very much as the mistress of the music, as the composer reaches deeply into his bag of tricks to discover vivid ways to portray the thoughts and images in each verse.
1) The first verse is like a call to arms, with the melody mainly on the top of the texture, and lower voices supplying punctuations and acclamations. Near the end of the verse, the composer lingers tenderly on the words, repeatedly stated, 'das liebe Jesulein' ('the beloved little Jesus').
2) The second verse breaks free of strict adherence to the melody with a fugal subject, tossed back and forth between sections, which culminates in a 2-note pattern--almost a vocalise--repeated by the alto.
3) In the third voice, the ensemble is expanded from a 4-part chorus to an 8-part double chorus. The meter changes here to 12/8, and the two choirs jubilantly toss the melody and its harmonization back and forth until the line 'seinen lieben Sohn' ('his beloved Son') engenders a lingering and loving descent to a final cadence.
4) JC Bach's setting of the fourth verse is in a more stately triple time, and includes extended fantasies upon two primary words: 'Willkommen' ('welcome'), and 'immer' ('always'). It's amazing!
5) No less amazing, though completely different, is the sixth verse. It begins with commanding statements on 'Ach Herr', with all the powers of the double-choir joining to portray the heavenly grandeur; and it ends with a homely evocation of the ox and the ass, complete with a minor-seventh donkey's bray.
6) The sixth verse, with words adapted from the third verse of 'Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, O Herr', begins in stately fashion, but soon becomes preoccupied with the words 'and rest in the shrine of my heart', elongating the central word 'ruhn' (rest) with gentle pulsations. Near the end, the line 'so that I may never forget you' prompts outbreaks of 'nimmer' ('never'), similar to those in verse 4 on 'immer'.
7) And finally, we have a large eight-part setting of the final acclamatory verse, complete with a clear long-note statement of the melody in the unified soprano parts, and long joyful cadenzas in the two alto parts to complete the celebration.
What a romp! It's pretty much unbelievable, and even more so in this amazing performance under the direction of Paul Hillier. Attached are a full score and a text-translation sheet.