Singet frisch und wohlgemut by Hugo Distler
Well, I keep thinking the news can't get any stranger. And lo! It does!
As a small antidote to the barrage, listen to today's motet, 'Singet frisch und wohlgemut'. It's by Hugo Distler, one of my favorite 20th-century composers. Distler (1908-1942) was a German organist, teacher, choir director and composer. In the space of his short life--tragically cut short by suicide in the face of the horrors of the Third Reich--Distler wrote an incredible amount of wonderful music, much of it based directly upon the Lutheran chorales which have been the backbone of our Wednesday chorale series.
It wasn't just the old chorales, which were sung in his church (S. Jacobi in Lübeck): Distler was an early music nut through and through. Many concert programs and orders of service exist in which we can trace him performing many of the works which we know and love, by Michael Praetorius, Schütz, Buxtehude, Bach and many others. And these composers' techniques and aesthetics play roles in Distler's ouevre
Distler's Opus 12 is entitled 'Geistliche Chormusik', a clear tribute to Heinrich Schütz, whose 1648 publication of that name is a landmark in the development of the Baroque motet. Distler's Opus 12 motets range from the radical, fierce celebration of 'Singet dem Herrn' to the complex setting of the three verses of 'Wachet auf' to the 'Totentanz', a masterpiece of tiny meditations on life and death, connected with Lübeck's famous celebrations of the 'Dance of death'.
Today's motet, 'Singet frisch und wohlgemut' (Opus 12, Nr. 4), is a setting of a German version of 'Resonet in laudibus', one of the many Christmas-season songs in the 'Piae cantiones', along with 'Dies est laetitiae, our chorale two weeks ago. Like the more famous 'In dulci jubilo', 'Resonet' is set in a joyous triple meter. But 'Resonet' is a more extensive song than 'In dulci', with multiple sections and more melodic variety. Check out the chorale sheet attached.
Distler makes something wonderful from this three-verse song. In the first verse, he gives us an exciting, grand tutti which explores the chorale tune thoroughly. The second verse is set as an ebullient duet for women's voices.
And the third verse (undoubtedly my favorite) is an infinitely tender exhortation for us to 'sing with the dear angels' in celebration of the happy birth.
If you're one of those people who are dubious about 'modern music' (I can relate), try this piece on for size. It honors the past in its reliance on the joyful old chorale and in its take-no-prisoners contrapuntal orientation; while at the same time it pushes forward harmonically and expressively to a new realm.
Hope you like it--have a happy weekend (even amidst all the clamor)--
Well, I keep thinking the news can't get any stranger. And lo! It does!
As a small antidote to the barrage, listen to today's motet, 'Singet frisch und wohlgemut'. It's by Hugo Distler, one of my favorite 20th-century composers. Distler (1908-1942) was a German organist, teacher, choir director and composer. In the space of his short life--tragically cut short by suicide in the face of the horrors of the Third Reich--Distler wrote an incredible amount of wonderful music, much of it based directly upon the Lutheran chorales which have been the backbone of our Wednesday chorale series.
It wasn't just the old chorales, which were sung in his church (S. Jacobi in Lübeck): Distler was an early music nut through and through. Many concert programs and orders of service exist in which we can trace him performing many of the works which we know and love, by Michael Praetorius, Schütz, Buxtehude, Bach and many others. And these composers' techniques and aesthetics play roles in Distler's ouevre
Distler's Opus 12 is entitled 'Geistliche Chormusik', a clear tribute to Heinrich Schütz, whose 1648 publication of that name is a landmark in the development of the Baroque motet. Distler's Opus 12 motets range from the radical, fierce celebration of 'Singet dem Herrn' to the complex setting of the three verses of 'Wachet auf' to the 'Totentanz', a masterpiece of tiny meditations on life and death, connected with Lübeck's famous celebrations of the 'Dance of death'.
Today's motet, 'Singet frisch und wohlgemut' (Opus 12, Nr. 4), is a setting of a German version of 'Resonet in laudibus', one of the many Christmas-season songs in the 'Piae cantiones', along with 'Dies est laetitiae, our chorale two weeks ago. Like the more famous 'In dulci jubilo', 'Resonet' is set in a joyous triple meter. But 'Resonet' is a more extensive song than 'In dulci', with multiple sections and more melodic variety. Check out the chorale sheet attached.
Distler makes something wonderful from this three-verse song. In the first verse, he gives us an exciting, grand tutti which explores the chorale tune thoroughly. The second verse is set as an ebullient duet for women's voices.
And the third verse (undoubtedly my favorite) is an infinitely tender exhortation for us to 'sing with the dear angels' in celebration of the happy birth.
If you're one of those people who are dubious about 'modern music' (I can relate), try this piece on for size. It honors the past in its reliance on the joyful old chorale and in its take-no-prisoners contrapuntal orientation; while at the same time it pushes forward harmonically and expressively to a new realm.
Hope you like it--have a happy weekend (even amidst all the clamor)--