The third Sunday after Easter is traditionally known as “Jubilate Sunday,” because the Introit — from Psalm 66 — begins with the words Jubilate Deo, “Be joyful in God.” Joy also shows up in the Gospel reading for this day from St. John 16, part of the “farewell discourse” of Jesus, his rich and enigmatic description of (among many other things) his coming departure from the disciples. In verse 20, Jesus says to them “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.” Johann Sebastian Bach wrote three cantatas…
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J. S. Bach, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers Awake) BWV 140
This may be the best-known of all of Bach’s cantatas. Written for the 27th Sunday after Trinity (which is rarely observed, since it requires that the date of Easter be as early as possible), the text to Wachet auf develops the eschatological themes inspired by both the Gospel and Epistle reading for that Sunday. The Epistle for Trinity 27 is 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11, in which St. Paul urges his readers to be watchful and sober-minded, anticipating Christ’s return with the knowledge that “the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.” The Gospel reading — St. Matthew 25: 1-13 is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins,…
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Bach to basics
Why “Lutheran Mass” is not a contradiction in terms by Ken Myers [This article originally appeared in the September/October 2014 issue of Touchstone magazine.] When the words “Bach” and “mass” appear in proximity, the subject at hand is usually the magisterial Mass in B Minor. Composed during the last two years of his life as the last great project of his musical career, the Mass in B Minor is an aural textbook of forms of musical expression that Johann Sebastian Bach had explored and mastered for decades. Bach scholar and biographer Christoph Wolff has observed that, “just as theological doctrine survived over the centuries in the words of the Mass, so Bach’s…
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Bach’s Advent cantatas, part 2: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland II (BWV 62)
In Lutheran Germany in the early 18th century, the first Sunday in Advent was the last time until Christmas when any elaborate music would be heard in church services. The relative austerity of the second, third, and fourth Sundays in Advent served to focus attention on the prospect of Christ’s return in judgment. It also gave church musicians an opportunity to concentrate their energy on preparing for the grueling demands of the Christmas season. Advent of 1724 was J. S. Bach’s second season as Kapellmeister at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. For the first Sunday in Advent that year he wrote a second cantata based on Luther’s Advent hymn, Nun…
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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Works by J. S. Bach in theAll Saints Choir repertoire Christ lag in Todesbanden (chorus from Cantata BWV 4) Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt (aria [duet] from Cantata BWV 4) From Deepest Woe I Call to Thee (chorale from Cantata BWV 38 w/text from BWV 131) Gute Nacht, o Wesen (from Jesu meine Freude, BWV 227) Lobe den Herren, der alles so herrlich regieret (aria from Cantata BWV 137) O little one sweet, O little one mild (O Jesulein suss, o Jesulein mild, BWV 493) Wie freudig ist mein Herz (aria from BWV 199) Wir eilen mit schwachen (aria [duet] from Cantata 78) Other works byJohann Sebastian Bach Passions and Oratorios St. Matthew Passion…
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Bach’s Advent cantatas, part 1: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland I (BWV 61)
In 1714, while he was a court musician in Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach composed a cantata for the first Sunday in Advent. It was first sung on December 2 of that year. The text for the opening chorus was from a very early Lutheran hymn, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, “Now come, savior of the Gentiles.” This cantata — as do all of Bach’s cantatas — takes its name from that opening line. There is sometimes a Roman numeral I at the end of the title, to distinguish it from a later cantata with the same opening text and hence the same name. (N.B.: This cantata is also known as Cantata #61, or…
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Bend down thy gracious ear
by Ken Myers [This article originally appeared in the January/February 2017 issue of Touchstone magazine.] The Reformation’s lasting influence on the music of the Church begins with the publication in early 1524 of Etlich Cristlich lider Lobgesan, the first Lutheran hymnbook. Also known as the Achtliederbuch, the Hymnal of Eight, it contained the German texts for just eight hymns (four of which were by Luther) and only five tunes. One of the texts — printed under the heading “Der Psalm de Profundis” — was Luther’s paraphrase of Psalm 130. Better known by the first several words in the German, “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu Dir,” this hymn has been translated…