A Moment of Bach

Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe (BWV 156): soprano/tenor duet

"All's well that ends well." It's an old adage, perhaps best known as the title of a Shakespeare comedy... but for Bach, and in the context of his church life, "all's well that ends well" took on a much more serious meaning.  In this cantata, his librettist, Picander, used the phrase to mean that a life well-lived in the service of the Lord will find its end in the peace of earthly death.

The title of the cantata means, literally, "I stand with one foot in the grave." But there is no winking irony nor intentional macabre-ness to the presentation of this work; instead, it's an expression of faith and preparedness -- the sentiment that "I have put my house in order; only let my end be a blissful one!"

Cantata "Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe" (BWV 156) performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drFcH_WwK7Y

The Netherlands Bach Society's "All of Bach" project:

http://allofbach.com/en/

Fugue in D major (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1)

"Bach's music is for many people, as it is for me, daunting. I must be wrong there, because he must have wanted his music to be played...without all this awe and respect. Bach has proven that in the time between him and us, there is little or nothing better than his work." The paraphrased words of the harpsichordist for this recording show us how Bach doesn't need to be overly serious and pompous.

 

In this delightful fugue, the theme evokes the overly prim and proper gestures of aristocrats meeting one another, and perhaps pokes fun at it. Uncomplicated beauty shines through, and this recording shows that just because it's a perfect composition does not mean we should take it too seriously. We talk through what it means to preserve the "Bach-ness" of the fugue -- letting Bach be Bach. 

 

Fugue in D major played by Guillermo Brachetta: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZpop0EPey0

Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565)

Possibly the most famous organ work ever written, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor is instantly recognizable by its first few notes.  But... are those the notes that Bach wrote?  The answer might surprise you... 

In fact, this cornerstone of the organ repertoire has flummoxed so many musicians and music scholars through the generations, it's no wonder that it gets so much attention -- and that's not including the notoriety it began to develop as a piece of stock music for horror films in the silent film era.  It found a wide audience in 1940 when it was featured in Walt Disney's Fantasia, in an orchestral transcription by Leopold Stokowski, and since then, it has enjoyed more mainstream success than most classical pieces ever see. 

We dive into the mysteries at the heart of the piece, as we move from thrilling cadence to thrilling cadence, toward the very end of the work, where Alex's favorite moment hits: a surprise ending that would have given the audiences of the 1700's just as much of a delighted shock as it gives us today. 

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, performed by Leo van Doeselaar for the Netherlands Bach Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi0IuyTS_ic

Orchestral version by Leopold Stokowski featured in Disney's Fantasia (1940):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4MQ7GzE6HY

Article which theorizes that this work (BWV 565) and the Chaconne from Violin Partita no. 2 (BWV 1004) are arrangements of lute pieces: 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30044126

Violin piece featured in this episode as an example of bariolage technique: "Partita no. 3" by J. S. Bach (BWV 1006), performed by Shunske Sato for the Netherlands Bach Society:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYT1JUq0k04

An informative (if a little snarky) video essay, aimed at non-musicians: "Why Pipe Organs Sound Scary":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT934eTbmuY

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 61): Overture

As our second season is beginning, we revisit the masterwork Christian selected for his first moment, but this time we look at the very beginning. The cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland is the regal music for the first week of the liturgical year, but its overture is more than just pomp and circumstance. If we delve into the first few seconds, we will find that the music is all shaped by the Advent theme of preparation and the divine coming down to be human. Advertisers blast Christmas music at us every year -- why not prepare for the yearly holiday season with this Advent cantata instead?

BWV 61 Overture: https://youtu.be/MzWJsRjanC4

Violin Partita No.2 in D minor: Chaconne

Welcome back!  For our first episode of Season 2, we dive into one of the great violin solo pieces. And there is a rich well of musical material here in the Violin Partita No. 2. Alex's moment features the technical prowess of the soloist, Shunske Sato -- a bravura section of flurrying fast arpeggiated figures.  But even more profound is the structure of the Chaconne: a cyclical theme that moves from minor to major to minor, and seems as if it could circle around and around, into eternity.

Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor (BWV 1004) as performed by Shunske Sato, Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnK6R5ej6Hg

We now have over 20,000 podcast downloads!  Thanks to all our new and continuing listeners!  And thanks as always to the Netherlands Bach Society, who are in their 100th season this year. Cheers!

BONUS: Blooper reel Season 1 (BACHTOBERFEST continued)

To celebrate a milestone in downloads and a successful season wrap with Bachtoberfest, here is our last entry of the year: a blooper reel that we collected from a bunch of episodes in Season 1. 

 

Here's to the listeners who gave this little podcast ten thousand downloads. See you in Season 2 for more Bach!

BACHTOBERFEST season closer & Coffee Cantata BWV 211

In our season finale before we take a break and return early next year, we celebrate the first season’s wrap! For this "Bachtoberfest," we talk Coffee Cantata, German beer, and all things A Moment of Bach. We answer a bunch of listener questions about our own musicmaking processes and history with Bach, and we get deep into some listener ideas. 

 

Special thanks to YOU the listener for hearing 37 episodes! You made this a real thing. See you in Season 2!

 

We’ll drop one more bonus after this with the year’s blooper reel!

 

Artwork by Sydney LaCom

Musical examples provided by the Netherlands Bach Society

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en

Their All of Bach project: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach 

The “iceberg”: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicalMemes/comments/7gm1az/the_classical_iceberg/

Ich habe genug (BWV 82): ”Schlummert ein” aria (with Dr. William Heide)

Today we are joined by Dr. William Heide, longtime music minister at St. John's Lutheran Church, Orange, CA -- as well as a longtime Bach expert.  He has conducted over 60 full Bach cantatas in concerts spanning the three decades of his tenure at St. John's.

The three of us chat about the lasting power of this particular work, in which the soloist sings about welcoming his own passage from life to death, about closing his weary eyes to rest, about leaving the pain of the world behind.  The middle movement is a masterwork within a masterwork -- a stirring yet peaceful exploration of what it means to encounter death, replete with musical silences throughout.

We also feature Dr. Heide's own arrangement of "Abide with Me" for organ, which intersperses the main theme from the "Schlummert ein" movement.

This is our second-to-last episode of the season!  Please ask any question or make any comment -- we'd love to read and answer everything during next week's episode. You can use our website to interact with us at https://amomentofbach.com/ or simply email us at amomentofbach@gmail.com 

Next week: BACHTOBERFEST! The last episode of Season 1 of A Moment of Bach!

Netherlands Bach Society performance of "Ich habe genug (BWV 82)"; Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor; Thomas Bauer, bass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_5DG9BD-SU

Dr. Heide's arrangement of "Abide with Me" with melody from mvt. 3 of "Ich habe genug" was part of this concert of organ preludes (skip to 28:50 to see "Abide with Me"):

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=716469542277195

An article about the timelessness of "Ich habe genug" (shared with me by Carol Knox):

https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=55b23eb4-c387-4805-b3d3-a4a5bf65d15c

Huge thanks as always to the Netherlands Bach Society for allowing the use of their high-quality performances as our audio examples. https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en

Thanks again to Dr. William Heide for joining us today!

Special thanks again to our artist, Sydney LaCom, for designing our cover artwork.

Crab Canon (Canon 1 a 2 from The Musical Offering, BWV 1079)

A short, simple piece for a solo instrument -- only 35 seconds long.  Yet it has captured the imaginations of so many people: musicians, philosophers, artists, mathematicians, and more.  It's all because of the unique cleverness of Bach -- showing us here that he can construct a piece that can be played forwards OR backwards... OR both at the same time!  Yes, this piece is actually for two instruments -- one playing it normally and the other playing it backwards in time.

Alex recounts the story of Bach composing this piece (and the rest of The Musical Offering), and our discussion turns to the monumental book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter (1979) as well as the recent Christopher Nolan film Tenet (2020).   All these works are the result of authors striving to understand profound mysteries of the universe -- all by asking one simple question: what would happen if you turned time backwards?

Video of Shunske Sato performing "Canon 1 a 2" as a duet with himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29YwFjE2b1A

Overview of Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, the book we discussed in this episode: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-grodel.html

J. S. Bach's "Crab Canon" visualized on a Möbius strip (video by Jos Leys): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHQ2ybTejU

Examples of M. C. Escher's art: https://mcescher.com/gallery/

Article about the philosophy of Tenet, the film we mentioned in the episode: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/plato-pop/202009/is-tenet-s-fatalism-excuse-do-nothing

More examples from The Musical Offering performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, all of which were played in the background of this episode:

Ricercar a 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv5A1gy2oys

Ricercar a 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjxKy3pP41w

Canon a 4 "Quaerendo invenietis" ("Seek and ye shall find"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRqoP-NdkDg

 

Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 639 (Orgelbüchlein)

The organ is an instrument built into a building. Selecting a variety of sounds for an organ composition which requires more than two is a new task on each different organ, and the varieties and combinations are essentially endless. In this chorale prelude in "trio" texture, three distinct organ sounds make up the musical texture, each with a distinct job.

Bach's mastery of organ composition was demonstrated not just by long showy fugues and toccatas. The Orgelbüchlein is a collection of short chorale preludes in artful style and with the theological purpose of spanning the themes of the liturgical church year. 

"Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" is unique in texture for the Orgelbüchlein and distinctly known as a passionate and desperate call in time of need. It proves that an instrument as old and architecturally fixed as the church organ has the emotional power to convey this human condition. 

 

Leo van Doeselaar plays: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-639/

Piano transcription, Tatiana Nikolayeva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0zw7CaplFY