Four items by Bach, isn't that too much? Well, no - for it was by systematically listening to Bach's cantatas that I started to like choral music, now almost 11 years ago. Originally, I didn't like music with words, neither opera nor Lieder, but I had (and basically still have) a preference for instrumental music, chamber music and symphonic music - I mean, music without text, pure abstract music. It is still my idea that pure music without words is what makes European classical music great and special. In all other cultures, and also in contemporary popular music, the music consists only of "songs", which are accompanied by instruments. Songs are different from for example a sonata which has its own structural rules - not from outside the music, but from the inside. This emancipation of instruments only occurs in European music, somewhere in the 17th century. The music becomes pure and abstract and only obeys its own rules, not those of a text. So what about choral masterworks? Well, the words do certainly influence the music, but at the same time the music has its own internal rules as well, as these are after all large pieces of music. And Bach does interesting things with words and music in his cantatas...
So here is my favorite Bach cantata: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, "Awake, calls the voice to us." The text is based on the Biblical parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They wait throughout the night with burning lamps for the arrival of the bridegroom. Five of them have brought along extra oil to keep their lamp burning. The others run out of oil and go off to buy some more. The bridegroom arrives while they are away. This is of course an allegory. The wise virgins symbolize faith and vigilance. The arrival of the bridegroom stands for the return of Christ. This moment comes at the precise middle of the cantata, in the famous chorale sung by the tenor, which Bach later transcribed for organ.
The cantata is based on the Lutheran hymn
"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" by Philipp Nicolai (1599), which
appears unchanged in movements 1, 4 and 7. As love poetry, the other
movements of the cantata were based on the Song of Songs. Now the poems in the Song of Songs are unashamed love poetry, even rather erotic, but the Church in its wisdom also deemed that to be an allegory, of Christ and the Church as bridegroom and bride.
Both the
arias in the cantata are dialogues, the soprano and bass soloists representing the
bride and bridegroom respectively. The first duet is
accompanied by an embellished siciliana line in the violin, perhaps
inspired by the "flickering oil lamps" of the text. The two vocalists
sing their own text here, but in the second duet they join in parallel
lines, symbolizing their union, a technique common in operatic love duets in Bach's time. The second strophe of the chorale, at the center of
the cantata, is sung by the tenor against a ritornello theme in the
strings, which supposedly reflects the nightwatchmen's joy.
Cantata BWV 140 is
one of Bach's best known and loved pieces and
surely stands among the greatest of his works. It was one of the first
Bach cantatas to be printed in the 19th century.
Bach also made an chorale arrangement for organ (BWV 645) and that is again possibly his best-known organ work, after the Toccata and fugue in D minor BWV 565. It is more or less a literal copy of ‘Zion hört die Wächter singen’, the fourth movement of the present cantata. The viola and violin parts are played in unison in the right hand and the bass parts in the pedal, while the chorale ends up in the tenor. The arrangement is simple - the lack of harmony above the now stark bass is hidden by extra suspensions and other ornaments.
Listen to the Netherlands Bach Society:
Here is the chorale prelude BWV 645 based on the same material, played by Wolfgang Zerer: