The first movement (chorale fantasia), “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” is based on the first verse of the hymn, a common feature of Bach’s earlier chorale cantatas. The cantus firmus is sung by the soprano, while the orchestra plays independent material chiefly based on two motifs: a dotted rhythm and an ascending scale with syncopated accent changes. The lower voices contribute unusually free polyphonic music images, including the frequent calls “wach auf!” (wake up!) and “wo, wo?” (where, where?).
Klaus Hofmann, the revered Bach scholar, declared the cantata to be one of Bach’s “most beautiful, most mature and, at the same time, most popular sacred cantatas”. Fellow scholar Alfred Dürr described it as an expression of Christian mysticism in art, while William G. Whittaker called it “a cantata without weakness, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order”.
A translation of the first chorus is provided below:
Awake, calls the voice to us
of the watchmen high up in the tower;
awake, you city of Jerusalem.
Midnight the hour is named;
they call to us with bright voices;
where are you, wise virgins?
Indeed, the Bridegroom comes;
rise up and take your lamps,
Alleluia!
Make yourselves ready
for the wedding,
you must go to meet Him.
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The first page of the autograph
The first page of the score
Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608) was a German Lutheran pastor, poet, composer and hymnodist.
St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig
The location of the church in the eighteenth century
Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248
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Composed in 1734, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 is regarded as one of the choral masterpieces of the Baroque era, yet the composer took all of its tunes from other works. Towards the end of his career, Bach composed three large-scale choral works for major feasts - the Christmas Oratorio, the Ascension Oratorio and the Easter Oratorio. His Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest – a performance lasting almost three hours - and the most complex of the works. It was incorporated within services of the two most important churches in Leipzig, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. Bach took the majority of the choruses and arias from earlier secular works, this time giving them new words.
It is not an oratorio in the usual sense; instead, the format is that of a cantata. Similar to the Matthew and John Passions, it includes a tenor Evangelist that narrates the story of the birth of Christ as it appears in Luke 2:1–21 and Matthew 2:1–12. The oratorio is formed of six parts, each being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period. The first part, intended for Christmas Day, describes the Birth of Jesus; the second part – for the following day – concerns the annunciation to the shepherds; the third deals with the adoration of the shepherds; the fourth – intended for New Year’s Day – describes the circumcision and naming of Jesus; the fifth – written for the first Sunday after New Year – details the journey of the Magi; and the sixth and final part – written for Epiphany, 6th January – concludes with the adoration of the Magi. Although conceived in parts, the oratorio is presented as a united whole, through the use of key signatures. Parts I and III are written in the keys of D major, Part II in its subdominant key G major. Parts I and III are similarly scored for exuberant trumpets, while the Pastoral Part II (referring to the Shepherds) is, by contrast, scored for woodwind instruments and have no opening chorus. Part IV is written in F major (the relative key to D minor) and marks the furthest musical point away from the oratorio’s opening key, scored for horns. Bach then embarks upon a journey back to the opening key, via the dominant A major of Part V to the jubilant reprisal of D major in the final part, giving an overall arc to the piece. To reinforce the connection between the beginning and end, Bach re-uses the chorale melody of Part I’s Wie soll ich dich empfangen? in the final chorus of Part VI, Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen – a melody previously used five times in the St Matthew Passion.
The structure of the narrative is largely defined by the particular requirements of the church calendar for Christmas 1734. Bach abandoned his usual practice of writing church cantatas, no longer solely basing the content upon the Gospel reading for that day to achieve a coherent narrative structure. If he had followed the calendar, the story would have resulted in the Holy Family fleeing before the Magi had arrived, which was unsuitable for an oratorio planned as a coherent whole. Bach removed the content for the Third Day of Christmas (December 27), John’s Gospel, and split the story of the two groups of visitors — Shepherds and Magi — into two. This resulted in a more comprehensible telling of the Christmas story:
The Birth
The Annunciation to the Shepherds
The Adoration of the Shepherds
The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus
The Journey of the Magi
The Adoration of the Magi
The oratorio incorporates music from three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a now lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The first performance date of 1734 is confirmed in Bach’s autograph manuscript. The next performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander.
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The first page of the autograph
The opening page of the score
The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in 1843
‘Adoration of the Magi’ by Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1460 — a key event of the oratorio
Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor, BWV 1060R
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For many years the manuscript of this beautiful concerto was lost. However, a reconstruction was made possible due to Bach’s 1736 arrangement of the piece as the Concerto for two harpsichords and orchestra in C minor, BWV 1060, the score of which had survived and served as a model for the original, Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C Minor, BWV 1060R. Although the recent reconstruction is not the precise work of the composer, it is without doubt an authentic treatment of the music, in keeping with Bach’s composing practice.
The piece is formed of three movements, with the opening Allegro welcoming a sense of joy in its rhythmic vibrancy and memorable melody. After the striking main theme is introduced by the string orchestra, the delightful second subject and related material are delivered by the oboe and solo violin. Unusually, the oboe seldom takes up the main theme, but is instead occupied with its contrapuntal commentary and other colourful additions.
The second movement is at once familiar, offering a dreamy serenity of the main theme, which is introduced by the oboe, before being taken up by the violin. Once more, Bach imbues the piece with a rich fabric of contrapuntal innovation, deftly imagined throughout. Even though the strings are subdued in their accompaniment of the gentle movement, when reaching the finale they resume a more integral role to the balance of the concerto.
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The first page of the score
Classical oboe, copy by Sand Dalton of an original by Johann Friedrich Floth, c. 1805
Harpsichord Concerto No. 4, BWV 1055
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Among the first concertos for keyboard instrument ever written, Bach’s seven complete harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1065, are scored for harpsichord, strings and continuo. Most of the pieces are thought to be arrangements made from earlier concertos for melodic instruments, most likely written during Bach’s tenure at Köthen. Unlike the other six, Harpsichord Concerto No. 4, BWV 1055 has no known precursors, either as an instrumental concerto or as a movement with obbligato organ in a cantata. Critic
s have identified how the concerto is one of the most concentrated and mature of Bach’s works, praising the detailed harpsichord textures and seamless design of the composition. The concerto is set in three movements:
Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro ma non tanto
Offering a light and nimble impression, the first movement opens with a 16 bar ritornello, broken up into two halves, each eight bars long. The ritornello design of the opening Allegro is firmly in the Corelli and Vivaldi tradition that Bach admired so much. In the first solo episode, the harpsichord introduces its own more sustained thematic material, including semiquaver passagework derived from the end of the second half of the ritornello. All of the harpsichord solo passages are based on or develop this thematic material. The two bar “motto” opening the ritornello, consisting of rhythmic spiccato quaver figures in the strings and cascading broken chord semiquavers in the harpsichord, recurs throughout the movement, before introducing solo episodes for the harpsichord.
The slow movement is a highly expressive Larghetto in F sharp minor and 12/8 time. Although it lacks the dotted rhythms of a siciliano, it is close in spirit to this melancholy dance-form. The movement is pervaded by the chromatic fourth — both falling and rising — which is associated with the lamento. It is first heard in the descending bass line of the opening two bar ritornello, framing the work. The material between the opening and closing the ritornellos is freely developed, yet reveals several elements of sonata form, most significantly a division into two parts with the second part starting in the relative major key.
The final movement, marked Allegro ma non tanto, is in A major with the lively tempo of 3/8 time. Lightly scored and written in a similarly compact style to the first movement, it both begins and ends with an orchestral ritornello. The opening 24-bar ritornello is rhythmic and dance-like, featuring a variety of thematic material. The main theme is played by the first violin part, which the harpsichord doubles in the right hand, while playing the continuo bass in the left hand. After the ritornello, the harpsichord enters in the first of its solo episodes, 16 bars long. Its new melodic material contrasts with the ritornello, with sustained notes and graceful ornamentation typical of the gallant style.
In section B the thematic material from section A is developed more freely in the harpsichord part with semi-demiquaver figures modified to semiquaver triplets. There is further dialogue between harpsichord and orchestra followed by an extended episode with semiquaver triplet passagework in the relative minor key, F sharp minor. The movement concludes with a complete reprisal of the opening ritornello.
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The first page of the autograph score
Miniature score of start of first movement
This harpsichord is the work of two celebrated makers: originally constructed by Andreas Ruckers in Antwerp (1646), it was later remodelled and expanded by Pascal Taskin in Paris (1780).
Goldberg Variations, BWV 988
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Composed for harpsichord, The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 consist of an aria (a piece of instrumental music modelled on vocal music) and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form. The variations are named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, believed to be their first performer. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach’s biographer, records the tale of how they came to be composed:
“We have to thank the instigation of the former Russian ambassador to the electoral court of Saxony, Count Kaiserling, who often stopped in Leipzig and brought there with him the aforementioned Goldberg, in order to have him given musical instruction by Bach. The Count was often ill and had sleepless nights. At such times, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the night in an antechamber, so as to play for him during his insomnia.… Once the Count mentioned in Bach’s presence that he would like to have some clavier pieces for Goldberg, which should be of such a smooth and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights. Bach felt best able to fulfil this wish by means of Variations, the writing of which he had until then considered an ungrateful task on account of the repeatedly similar harmonic foundation. But since at this time all his works were already models of art, such also these variations became under his hand. Yet he produced only a single work of this kind. Thereafter, the Count always called them his variations. He never tired of them, and for a long time sleepless nights meant: ‘Dear Goldberg, do play me one of my variations.’ Bach was perhaps never so rewarded for one of his works as for this. The Count presented him with a golden goblet filled with 100 louis-d’or. Nevertheless, even had the gift been a thousand times larger, their artistic value would not yet have been paid for.”
Forkel’s biography appeared in 1802, more than sixty years after the events related, so its accuracy has been questioned. The lack of dedication on the title page also makes the tale of the commission unlikely. Goldberg’s age of only fourteen years at the time of publication has also been cited as grounds for doubting Forkel’s tale, although he was known to be an accomplished keyboardist and sight-reader.
Unusually for Bach’s works, The Goldberg Variations were published in his own lifetime. The publisher was the composer’s friend Balthasar Schmid of Nuremberg. Schmid printed the work by making engraved copper plates, rather than using movable type; therefore, the notes of the first edition are in Schmid’s own handwriting. Nineteen copies of the first edition survive today. Of these, the most valuable is the “Handexemplar”, discovered in 1974 in Strasbourg by the French musicologist Olivier Alain and now kept in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. This copy includes printing corrections made by Bach as well as additional music in the form of fourteen canons on the Goldberg ground. On the title page, Bach specifies that the work was intended for harpsichord and it is widely performed on the instrument today, though there are also a great number of performances on the piano. The latter instrument was rare in Bach’s day and there is no indication whether he would have approved of performing the variations on the piano.
The thirty variations do not follow the melody of the aria, but rather use its bass line and chord progression. Every third variation in the series of thirty is a canon (a compositional technique employing a melody with imitations of the melody played after a given duration), following an ascending pattern. Thus, variation 3 is a canon at the unison, variation 6 is a canon at the second (the second entry begins the interval of a second above the first), variation 9 is a canon at the third, and so on until variation 27, which is a canon at the ninth. The final variation, instead of being the expected canon in the tenth, is a quodlibet (a light-hearted musical composition that combines several different melodies in counterpoint). The variations that intervene between the canons are genre pieces of various types, including three Baroque dances (4, 7, 19); a fughetta (10); a French overture (16); and two ornate arias for the right hand (13, 25). The variations located two after each canon (5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, and 29) have been described as “arabesques” — variations in lively tempo with much hand-crossing. All the variations are in G major, apart from variations 15, 21, and 25, which are composed in G minor. At the end of the thirty variations, Bach writes Aria da Capo e fine, indicating that the performer is to return to the beginning (da capo) and play the aria again before concluding.
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Title page of the first edition
Opening page of the autograph
The first page of the score
Count Hermann Karl von Keyserling (1697–1764) was a Russian diplomat from the Keyserlingk family of Baltic German nobility, based in the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia.
Bach in 1746, holding the riddle canon
Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651-668
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During his final decade at Leipzig,
Bach prepared his collection of Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, BWV 651–668 for organ, using much material from his earlier works composed in Weimar, where he was court organist. A chorale prelude is a short liturgical composition for organ using a chorale tune as its basis. The form was predominant in the German Baroque era, reaching its culmination in Bach’s works. The Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes present an encyclopaedic collection of large-scale chorale preludes, in a variety of styles harking back to the previous century, which Bach had spent time perfecting. They are judged to be among his finest work for solo organ.
Delphi Masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach Page 4
