O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf by Johannes Brahms
As of this past Sunday, we're in the period of Advent, a season of reflection and preparation. To introduce a few weeks of Advent-related chorales, I offer for your singing and listening pleasure 'O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf'.
The genesis of this chorale is a sort of object lesson in how these things take shape over (in this case) many centuries. The poem, probably by Friedrich Spee (1592-1635) first appeared in 1622 in an anthology of hymn-texts called 'Das allerschönste Kind in der Welt' ('The most beautiful child in the world'). [See attached scan.] It's grounded in two passages from the book of Isaiah (8th-century BC): 45:8 ('Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain down the just'); and 64:1 ('Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence').
Spee's poem would probably have originally been sung to the tune of the 7th-century Advent hymn, 'Conditor alme siderum'. [See attached melody sheet.] In 1666, in the 'Rheinfelsisches Gesangbuch', an alternate tune by an unknown composer was published [see attachment], and this has ever since been the melody associated with the tune.
For reasons unknown--the poem is excellent and the tune strong, idiomatic and definitely catchy--the chorale did not catch on as a basis for Baroque compositions. But it did have an afterlife as a standard of German hymnals, and was used by Johannes Brahms in the 19th-century and by Hugo Distler in the 20th.
Brahms' setting, from his Two Motets (Opus 74, 1878), apparently has roots back into the 1860's, when the composer made several separate arrangements of single verses. He later compiled these (no doubt introducing improvements) and wrote a spectacular 'Amen' to create the published setting. It's a great piece! Brahms uses each of the five verses of the chorale, taking a different contrapuntal approach in each.
Verse 1: The soprano has a very straightforward version of the melody while lower voices, moving mostly in half-notes, imitate and accompany the soprano.
Verse 2: The soprano again has the tune, while lower voices, at times imitative, operate on the quarter-note level, evoking the image of the dew from heaven raining down.
Verse 3: A vigorous, rather athletic variation in which the tenor carries the tune, while the other voices move in quarter-notes against it. A triplet motif is introduced, and the voices sweep upward for a strong ending..
Verse 4: Marked 'Adagio, espressivo', and in the key of C dorian rather than the prevailing F-dorian, the fourth verse is adapted to the ideas of suffering and of appealing to God for deliverance therefrom contained in the text. The bass has a somewhat decorated version of the melody, while the other voices move mostly in quarter-notes with lots of 'sigh motives', especially at the beginning. Brahms introduces plenty of expressive chromaticism in this variation.
Verse 5: Marked 'Allegro', the fifth verse gives the soprano a decorated version of the melody, while the bass consists mainly of inversions. The alto plays with both normal and inverted forms of the tune, and the elaborate tenor line, moving mostly in quarter notes, provides sometimes thematic, sometimes free counterpoint.
Amen: Brahms closes with a moving (in both senses of the word) 'Amen', almost exclusively in eighth-notes, and using chromaticism and several suspensions as he aims toward an expressive IV (minor)-V-I cadence.
A nice rendition is attached, along with the score and other materials.
This one's very singable, so tune up and lift up your voices!
As of this past Sunday, we're in the period of Advent, a season of reflection and preparation. To introduce a few weeks of Advent-related chorales, I offer for your singing and listening pleasure 'O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf'.
The genesis of this chorale is a sort of object lesson in how these things take shape over (in this case) many centuries. The poem, probably by Friedrich Spee (1592-1635) first appeared in 1622 in an anthology of hymn-texts called 'Das allerschönste Kind in der Welt' ('The most beautiful child in the world'). [See attached scan.] It's grounded in two passages from the book of Isaiah (8th-century BC): 45:8 ('Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the clouds rain down the just'); and 64:1 ('Oh, that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence').
Spee's poem would probably have originally been sung to the tune of the 7th-century Advent hymn, 'Conditor alme siderum'. [See attached melody sheet.] In 1666, in the 'Rheinfelsisches Gesangbuch', an alternate tune by an unknown composer was published [see attachment], and this has ever since been the melody associated with the tune.
For reasons unknown--the poem is excellent and the tune strong, idiomatic and definitely catchy--the chorale did not catch on as a basis for Baroque compositions. But it did have an afterlife as a standard of German hymnals, and was used by Johannes Brahms in the 19th-century and by Hugo Distler in the 20th.
Brahms' setting, from his Two Motets (Opus 74, 1878), apparently has roots back into the 1860's, when the composer made several separate arrangements of single verses. He later compiled these (no doubt introducing improvements) and wrote a spectacular 'Amen' to create the published setting. It's a great piece! Brahms uses each of the five verses of the chorale, taking a different contrapuntal approach in each.
Verse 1: The soprano has a very straightforward version of the melody while lower voices, moving mostly in half-notes, imitate and accompany the soprano.
Verse 2: The soprano again has the tune, while lower voices, at times imitative, operate on the quarter-note level, evoking the image of the dew from heaven raining down.
Verse 3: A vigorous, rather athletic variation in which the tenor carries the tune, while the other voices move in quarter-notes against it. A triplet motif is introduced, and the voices sweep upward for a strong ending..
Verse 4: Marked 'Adagio, espressivo', and in the key of C dorian rather than the prevailing F-dorian, the fourth verse is adapted to the ideas of suffering and of appealing to God for deliverance therefrom contained in the text. The bass has a somewhat decorated version of the melody, while the other voices move mostly in quarter-notes with lots of 'sigh motives', especially at the beginning. Brahms introduces plenty of expressive chromaticism in this variation.
Verse 5: Marked 'Allegro', the fifth verse gives the soprano a decorated version of the melody, while the bass consists mainly of inversions. The alto plays with both normal and inverted forms of the tune, and the elaborate tenor line, moving mostly in quarter notes, provides sometimes thematic, sometimes free counterpoint.
Amen: Brahms closes with a moving (in both senses of the word) 'Amen', almost exclusively in eighth-notes, and using chromaticism and several suspensions as he aims toward an expressive IV (minor)-V-I cadence.
A nice rendition is attached, along with the score and other materials.
This one's very singable, so tune up and lift up your voices!