Jump to content

User:RoySmith/sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Movements

[edit]

The music of the arias and the closing chorus, Nos. 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 in cantata and oratorio, corresponds to movements 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 of the Shepherd Cantata, while new recitatives were composed for Easter.[1] Conductors John Eliot Gardiner and Yvonne Frindle pointed out that the sequence of arias resembles a dance suite.[2][3] While Bach dropped the assignment of Biblical figures to voice parts in the oratorio version, they are retained in the description of the music, for clarity of the narration. Schulze noted that the listener becomes immediately included in the action and reflection, called by the initial "Kommt, eilet und laufet".[4]

The oratorio opens with two contrasting instrumental movements, a Sinfonia, an Allegro concerto grosso of the full orchestra, and an Adagio, featuring a solo instrument and strings.[1] Frindle signified that the Allegro with trumpets and timpani meant the return of festive music after the "quiet time" of Lent.[2] It is dominated by the natural trumpets, with solo roles for a violin and a trio of violin, oboes and cello. The music stands for victory, similar to the opening chorus of Bach's 1715 Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31.[5] The Adagio is reminiscent of a Venetian slow movement, according to Gardiner,[3] with sigh motifs (Seufzermotive) in the strings.[1] The lament of the music may illustrate the mood at the burial of Jesus, connecting to the end of the St John Passion.[5]. Bach changed the solo instrument from oboe to flauto traverso in the oratorio version.[1] The two movements may come from a lost concerto from Bach's Köthen period;[1][6] the first movement is similar to the Brandenburg Concertos from that period. It had been suggested that Bach derived the third movement from the same concerto, but this was rejected on the grounds that no Bach concerto had three movements in triple metre.[1][6][3]

The third movement is the first to be sung, "Kommt, eilet und laufet" ("Come, hasten and run").[7] It has a double function: closing the concerto of the beginning in the same key and time as the first movement, and opening the dramatic section. Formally a da capo aria, it is dominated by fast runs in violins, oboes and the voices.[5] In the secular version, the music is always a duet, first of tenor and bass singing "Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen" (Flee, dissolve, fade away, you cares).[8] The middle section is full of coloratura that illustrate laughter and mirth in the secular work,[9] often in parallels of thirds to illustrate the harmony of the hearts mentioned in the text.[5] The beginning is repeated, now in response by soprano and alto.[8] The music for the Easter work began in the 1725 version as a duet of tenor and bass, depicting the two disciples Simon and John running to the tomb of Jesus. The upward runs now illustrate their motion. Bach retained this duet when he named the work an oratorio in 1738. In a 1740s version, Bach set its outer sections for choir, but leaving the middle section as a duet.[10][6]

A page of sheet music, an autograph of J.S. Bach, showing in 7 staffs the end of the first recitative, marked on top for four voices, and the beginning of an aria with an instrumental ritornello for a flute and basso continuo in the fourth staff, and the first phrases for the soprano voice in the sixths staff
A page of the 1738 autograph, of the end of the first recitative and the beginning of the first aria

In movement four, all the solo voices are involved in the first recitative, "O kalter Männer Sinn!" (O cold hearts of men!),[7] meeting at the empty grave.[11] The tone of the women throughout the oratorio represents the "mysticism of the bride" that shows in the Song of Songs.[4]

Movement five has the first of the arias. It is given to the soprano, originally as Maria Jacobe: "Seele, deine Spezereien" (O soul, your spices).[7] While the secular original talked about "Hunderttausend Schmeicheleien" (A hundred thousand pleasantries),[8] the woman at the grave reflects that now, told that Jesus was no longer there, the ointments they brought for the corpse are no longer needed, and she imagines a laurel wreath for the victor.[11] Gardiner compared the music with an obbligato flute to a minuit.[3]

Movement six includes the second recitative, "Hier ist die Gruft" (Here is the grave),[7][11] the alto (originally Mary Magdalene) shares with the disciples that an angel told her that Jesus is risen.[7]

The second aria is sung in movement seven by the tenor, originally as Simon: "Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer nur ein Schlummer, Jesu, durch dein Schweißtuch sein" (Gentle shall my death-throes be only a slumber, Jesus, because of your shroud).[7] In the secular aria, the topic was the sleep of the sheep: "Wieget euch, ihr satten Schafe, in dem Schlafe" (Rock yourselves, you contented sheep, into sleep),[8] The shroud relates to the story of Lazarus from the Gospel of John,[5][4] understood as an anticipation of the Resurrection.[4] Death is imagined as peaceful now that the shroud indicates that Jesus is risen.[11] The gentle music of muted strings and recorders over a bass with a pedal-like calm pulse is reminiscent of a cradle song.[9] Gardiner compared it to a bourrée and pointed out that recorders were also used in Bach's Actus tragicus funeral music.[3] Rathey noted that the mood again connects to the end of the St John Passion, "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine".[12]

Movement eight has the third recitative, a dialogue of a man and a woman in the secular work, the two women express their burning desire to see Jesus again,[5] "Indessen seufzen wir" (Meanwhile we sigh),[7][11] They sing in parallel lines or imitation. The motif of burning hearts is taken from the Road to Emmaus narrative.[5]

wood wind instrument

The alto (Mary Magdalene) expresses in the aria "Saget, saget mir geschwinde, saget, wo ich Jesum finde" (Tell me, tell me quickly, say where I can find Jesus),[7] her desire to find Jesus in the night movement. The expression and phrasing allude to mystic language in the Song of Songs,[1][5] namely 3:1–4.[5]. The scene narrated in the Gospel of John of Mary Magdalene searching for Jesus in the garden remains in the background. The aria has been described as a thrilling expression of unbridled longing for personal community with Jesus.[5] In the secular model, "Komm doch, Flora, komm geschwinde" (Come, Flora, come quickly), Flora is called to bless the fields so that the peasants can pay their duties to the dedicatee of the music, Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. The voice is accompanied by oboe and strings in the cantata version, but Bach replaced the oboe by an oboe d'amore in the 1938 oratorio. The piece opens with a concertante ritornello; the voice picks up the oboe's theme, while the oboe accompanies.[9] In the middle section of the Easter work the woman says that without her beloved, she is "ganz verwaiset und betrübt" (completely orphaned and desolate).[7] This passage is, deviating from the secular model, set as Adagio.[5][6] The words and emotions are close to those opening of Part Two of the St Matthew Passion. Gardiner, who compared the music to a gavotte, saw the Adagio phrase as "almost a blueprint of a Mozartian tragedienne's grief".[3]

In the last recitative, "Wir sind erfreut, daß unser Jesus wieder lebt" (We are delighted that our Jesus lives again),[7][11] is in movement ten. Here the bass (John) expresses joy that Jesus lives again; he calls for songs of joy. The vocal line for "Wir sind erfreut" recalls the trumpet fanfares from the first movement.[5]

In the eleventh and final movement the choir offers praise and thanks, "Preis und Dank bleibe, Herr, dein Lobgesang" (Praise and thanks remain, Lord, your hymn of praise).[7] In the secular work, the conclusion was a congratulation, beginning with "Glück und Heil bleibe dein beständig Teil!" (May Fortune and health remain your constant portion!).[7] The movement is structured in two contrasting sections, resembling the Sanctus composed for Christmas 1724 and later made part of the Mass in B minor;[5][6] both pieces feature in a first section dotted rhythm in common time and mostly chordal vocal parts.[9] The trumpets play a broken chord which the voices imitate with an marked "Glück und Heil" in the secular work and "Preis und Dank" for Easter. In both texts follows "bleibe", and the "remaining" is expressed in melismas. The following section, without the trumpets, is in B minor, for the text of victory over hell and devil.[5] Picander had closed his secular poetry with a dactyl. The corresponding Easter text is "Eröffnet, ihr Himmel, die prächtigen Bogen, der Löwe von Juda kommt siegend gezogen! (Open, O heavens, your magnificent drawbridges, the Lion of Judah approaches in triumph!), alluding to an image from Revelation 5:5.[5] Rathey noted that the same imagery had also been used in the middle section of the aria "Es ist vollbracht", in the St John Passion, immediately after the death of Jesus.[12] For this passage Bach returned to the metre and fanfare motifs of the opening Sinfonia,[1] which Gardiner compared to a gigue.[3] The work ends with a short fugato, "crowned" by the trumpets.[5]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Leisinger 2003.
  2. ^ a b Frindle 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Gardiner 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d Schulze 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Klek 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 274.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Dellal 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d Dellal 2 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 809.
  10. ^ Maul 2025.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 273.
  12. ^ a b Rathey 2016.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:RoySmith/sandbox&oldid=1287703306"