A Moment of Bach

Mass in B minor: Et in terra pax

Alex spends one more episode excitedly leading us through some of his favorite music, this time from the "Et in terra pax" movement.  Picking up from where last episode left off, we talk about the beauty and simplicity of the main melody of "Et in terra pax", which Bach cleverly reuses as a fugue subject a bit later.  This is classic Bach -- elegant and sophisticated, joyful and heartfelt, deeply complex and yet effortlessly clear and beautiful.

"Et in terra pax" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1285

Mass in B minor: Gloria in excelsis Deo

"Glory to God in the highest!"  The orchestra and choir burst with excitement and joy.  Alex and Christian talk about the beauty of the Latin language, the huge orchestra (which seems actually pretty small by today's standards), the Protestant Reformation, and somehow Christian even gets a tuba joke in there.  Alex talks us through his favorite moment -- the end of the instrumental introduction, where Bach uses a rhythmic trick to ramp up the excitement leading into the choral entrance.

"Gloria" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1183

PART 2: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich...: moments from mvts. 3-5

In the second half of a two-part mini-series, Christian picks up where we left off and covers moments from movements three through five of the cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir (BWV 131).  At the end of this episode, we play for you all five moments in order.  If you haven't listened to episode 30, you should start there. 

This very early work uses arcane sounds and woeful harmonies to call "out of the depths," but it also contains minute-for-minute some of the most varied experiments in voice-leading, rhythm, suspended harmonies, beat units, and final chord progressions (cadences) that Bach ever wrote. Are they attempts at an older style, or are they strangely new? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMWDxIkl1fc

PART 1: Aus der Tiefen rufe ich...: moments from mvts. 1-2

For our thirtieth(!) episode, we celebrate by taking a five-movement cantata and giving you one moment from each. This will be a two-part series; this episode introduces the cantata and delves into Christian's moments from the first two movements, while next week we'll see his moments for movements 3-5. 

This very early work uses arcane sounds and woeful harmonies to call "out of the depths," but it also contains minute-for-minute some of the most varied experiments in voice-leading, rhythm, suspended harmonies, beat units, and final chord progressions (cadences) that Bach ever wrote. Are they attempts at an older style, or are they strangely new? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMWDxIkl1fc

Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue

What is the "flow state"? The answer can be heard in this performance of Bach's "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" by Menno van Delft.  So deeply "in the zone" of playing this piece, he demonstrates what so many professional musicians can do after practicing a piece for so many hours: the muscle memory kicks in and the piece just plays itself, with the performer able to fully express the musicality without worrying about the minutiae of notes and rhythms.

In this episode we talk about the flow state, as well as the meaning of "chromatic" and "fantasia".  Also -- this is our first episode featuring the clavichord, an unusual keyboard instrument.  We chat about its quirks, and the delightful sense of closeness it necessitates in a performance setting.

"Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" performed by Menno van Delft for the Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38hgCCoGxgE

Herr, deine Augen sehen... BWV 102: chorus (Sie haben ein härter Angesicht...)

The harsh musical interval of the tritone, the "Diabolus in Musica" (devil in music), was strictly controlled in much of early music. So wouldn't it be striking and bold to make a melody out of two of them? 

In this scary cantata opening, Bach does exactly this to set a terrifying fugue on the words "They have made their faces harder than a rock" to depict those who have gone astray from God. The music is appropriately harsh with tritones abounding, showing us that Bach's counterpoint can serve chaos just as well as order. These lawbreakers are lost, but not a lost cause; Bach shows in the closing chorale that they are in fact, just like us all, able to ask for forgiveness in the end.

Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229): 1st movement

Bach died on July 28, 1750, leaving behind a staggering 1,100 complete musical works, some comprised of many separate movements of music.  Today we honor the 271th anniversary of Bach's death -- by digging into the double choir motet Komm, Jesu, komm.  We talk about funeral music, Pascal's Wager, the "angry" interval of the diminished 7th, and the special emotionality of the German language.

Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229) as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society; conducted by Stephan MacLeod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boPBBgsnyiI

A helpful and concise biography on J. S. Bach: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicapp_historical/chapter/j-s-bach/

Violin Concerto in A minor: II. Andante (opening)

What is it that makes some magical moments of music feel like freefall or floating? What is it that makes some moments feel like firm, steady ground? The key is in the bass -- the lowest part of the music, which (by Bach's time) had developed a foundational role in all current musical styles. Listen here how Bach takes a firmly grounded bass line and toys with it -- pushes and pulls it. After a magical feeling of floating, Bach employs the wonderful trick of "dropping" the bass back in; this trick is going strong in the present day in musical styles like EDM.

In a second moment from this wonderful opening to the slow movement of this violin concerto, we hear a strange and sudden "cross relation." These two moments occur in just five measures of slow music!

 

Netherlands Bach Society performs the concerto under the leadership of the soloist Shunske Sato: https://youtu.be/VSwLeKWKtis?t=244

St. Matthew Passion: "Erbarme dich" aria (mvt. 39)

One of the most beloved arias of all time, "Erbarme dich" ("Have mercy on me") comes straight from the contrite heart of Peter, the disciple of Jesus, on Good Friday.  After denying Christ three times, he realized his sin, and "went out and wept bitterly".  The violin solo represents the anguish of Peter's soul at this moment.  Bach scores the emotion here, just like a movie composer would.  This is musical storytelling at its finest.

Thank you to listener Molly for the suggestion!

Hear "Erbarme dich" performed by the Netherlands Bach Society (Tim Mead, alto; Shunske Sato, violin solo; Jos van Veldhoven, conductor): https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=5179

Other music from the St. Matthew Passion: "O Mensch, bewein" (played in the background near the end of the episode): https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=3818

 

Goldberg Variations: 18 (canon at the sixth)

In our first episode about the monumental Goldberg Variations, Christian shows how to break down a canon (round). Unlike "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," the two parts in this canon do not start on the same note. But we can also learn about how this canon was written by using a different perspective entirely. The recipe is simple: start with a very simple melody; add harmony (at the sixth interval), making the melody into two parts; delay one part by a beat (it won't work without this part!), causing some momentary tensions; decorate everything with ornamentation. Because of the delay, you now have a ready-made canon. Now just add a bass line so it complements the rest of the Goldberg music and it's done! You now have three-part music where the top two parts are a canon at the sixth.

That may have been it for the instructions, but there is still artfulness in the execution. The way the leader of the canon predicts the follower is a way for us a glimpse into the immediate future -- this is one of the temporal tricks of music.

Jean Rondeau plays this variation in a performance of the entire work for the Netherlands Bach Society's All of Bach project: https://youtu.be/1AtOPiG5jyk?t=3141