A Moment of Bach

Coffee Cantata (with Emily Wood)

Our guest Emily Wood shares her Bach fandom with us as we explore the unexpectedly funny "Kaffeekantate." Though Bach never wrote an opera, this was perhaps the closest he got. And though accused by contemporaries for being stuck in the old heavy contrapuntal style, Bach absolutely could write in the newer, lighter Italian style. Emily shares with us her favorite points from the Coffee Cantata, including the characterization of opera voice types used by Bach, and a surprising fact about the ending. 

 

Emily Wood is an accomplished soprano, composer, and educator, and also a self-described Bachophile. emilywoodmusic.com

 

The Coffee Cantata as staged and performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr (organ chorale prelude, BWV 662)

The Baroque era was defined by eloquent sophistication.  All art from this period aimed to adorn and decorate the subject.  Bach's music is no exception -- this chorale prelude is based on a simple hymn tune, but he loads it up with ornaments, creating something completely unique.  If Bach were a baker, hymn tunes would be his flour -- the all-important base to his art -- but he would use so many other ingredients to such great capacity that the finished product, a magnificent cake, would be more elaborately designed and decadent than any cake you would find on any cooking show!

This chorale prelude performed by Reitze Smits for the Netherlands Bach Society

Resource from bach-cantatas.com -- cantus firmus notes isolated (this is the resource we mentioned during the episode)

"J. S. Bach's Leipzig Chorale Preludes: Music, Text, Theology by Anne Leahy (see page 179)

 

Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit: soprano solo ending

"Es ist der alte Bund: Mensch, du musst sterben!" (It is the old covenant: humankind, you must die!) What force could stand against this? A lone soprano prays "Yes, come, Lord Jesus, come." The old covenant is absolved and fulfilled by the coming of "Herr Jesu." Death is silenced. 

We explore Bach's stunning single musical setting of these two opposite texts, and we linger on one of the most stunning Bach moments of them all -- the lower voices come together then disappear, the bass dies away, and then the soprano sings of Jesus, truly alone.

The moment Christian chose for this episode comes from a suggestion by listener Talin.

In Season 1, we recorded an episode on this masterwork cantata on the opening sonatina. 

Netherlands Bach Society: entire movement recording from the Gottes Zeit video

Text translation used by the Netherlands Bach Society

Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf (BWV 226)

An outlier of a piece in an outlier of a category -- Bach didn't write very many motets compared to his other types of works, and this is the only one which is fully scored for choirs throughout AND had specific instrument parts written which all double the choral parts.  It's also a double choir, which adds to the uniqueness -- 8 separate choral parts, each with an instrument doubling.  Alex's favorite moment involves a jumpy syncopation, which is set up by one of Bach's favorite motifs, the "sighing" motif.  This little dessert of a piece is so sweet and light and fun, it might surprise you to hear that it was written for a funeral!

Performance of this motet by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Stephan MacLeod

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5: movement 3

In our final episode in the miniseries on Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, we use the wonderfully resplendent recording of the last movement by the Netherlands Bach Society to explore three key moments. The music is a festive jig with an aggressively happy character. The twists and turns are rapid and numerous.

 

Recording link

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5: movement 2

In the middle episode of our Brandenburg 5 series, we explore the ponderous and affectionate-sounding second movement, scored for an intimate trio of violin, flute, and harpsichord.  The harpsichord again takes a role of heightened importance, though it's more subtle here than it was in the first movement.  And here, in Alex's favorite passage, another lone C-natural inspires our performers to make a creative choice: to hang on to a certain, special moment, for just a little longer.  

Watch the video of Brandenburg 5, mvt.2, artfully staged by the Netherlands Bach Society

 

Brandenburg Concerto No. 5: movement 1

Welcome to our traditional yearly miniseries, where we take moments from the three movements of one of the six beloved Brandenburg Concerti. In this first of three episodes, we look at the grand, gallant opening movement. We explore the exuberant refrain theme (ritornello), and the wild and bizarre harpsichord solo. We also follow and hunt for a rogue C natural through this piece where we expected C sharps. 

The moment for today comes just before one ritornello, when the Netherlands Bach Society ensemble chooses to take some extra time before building back to it. 

 

Performance (with special thanks to the Netherlands Bach Society for permission to use this audio in our podcast)

 

Three beautiful melodies in 12/8

It's almost unfair to other composers that Bach was not only the greatest fugue writer to ever live, but he also was... maybe one of the very best melodic writers to ever live?  And he wrote... (checks notes)... HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of absolutely perfect melodies, like it was no big deal? Come on, Bach.  Leave some for the rest of us.

Today Alex brings us three of the most beautiful instrumental intro melodies from arias.  These are all in 12/8 time, a meter that lends itself to peaceful, lilting beauty.   And, Alex connects Bach and "Texas hold 'em" poker, somehow.

Opening aria from BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust (alto solo cantata), Netherlands Bach Society, Jos Van Veldhoven, dir.

"Et misericordia" alto/tenor aria from BWV 243 Magnificat, Netherlands Bach Society, Jos Van Veldhoven, dir.

Soprano/oboe aria from BWV 21 Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, Netherlands Bach Society, Shunske Sato, dir.

An interesting dissertation by Kayoung Lee, about Bach's use of 12/8 meter: The Role of the 12/8 Time Signature in J. S. Bach's Sacred Vocal Music

Mass in F major: Qui tollis

A host of wonderful surprises are in store for the listener of the lesser-known mass in F major. Bach's giant mass in B minor overshadows all of his other Latin choral works, but we should not miss out on this one. Christian and Alex take a listener suggestion from Riley for this week's episode where we explore the pained pleading of the interweaving oboe and soprano in the movement "Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis" (Who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us). We hear a powerful paragraph from Schweitzer's writing on the religiosity of Bach, even if we laugh a bit about how extravagant and inflated it is. 

 

As performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

 

Recording of Concerto in Bb major for bassoon and orchestra (K. 191): Arthur Grossman, bassoon; U.S. Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra, Ling Tung, conductor. Bordeaux, France, 1956; The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet archive

Prelude no. 15 in G major (Well-Tempered Clavier Book 2)

Today we talk about clever twists, whether in music or in stories, and how these twists can be delightful in their subversion of our expectations -- when done well.  In this less-than-famous little prelude from the famous compilation The Well-Tempered Clavier, Bach uses deceptive cadences to add flavor to the music without sacrificing the form, in such a way that the music feels inevitable.

Prelude No. 15 from WTC Book 2, performed on harpsichord by Christine Schornsheim for the Netherlands Bach Society

Thanks as always to Netherlands Bach Society for the use of their excellent recordings as our musical examples!

Excerpt from Mozart's Symphony no. 40 in G minor, mvt.4, from Das Orchester Tsumugi, Fukuoka, Japan; public domain recording (Creative Commons Attribution 3.0)