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| A young Eastern Cottontail along the nature trail |
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| An Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly in the wetland |
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| A Cabbage White butterfly on some Canada Thistle on the banks of the north duck pond |
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| A Canada Goose posing on the pond |
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| A patch of Deptford Pinks in the meadow |
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| Milkweed blooming on the edge of the meadow |
Cantata BWV 24 is from Bach's first season in Leipzig. It is unusual in both shape and content. The cantata begins almost casually, with an appealing and bouncy alto aria with the violins and violas playing a tuneful and uncomplicated obbligato. The work is so lighthearted that the somewhat sinister equation of "truth" with "German" can be overlooked. There is an interesting palindrome structure to this work with the second and fourth numbers, the two recitatives in the work, providing rather lengthy meditations of the two polar ideas in the work, sincerity and hypocracy. In between these little sermons is a very intense, jittery choral setting of the biblical passage for the day, "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." The sternness, even preachiness, in Bach's reading of this passage is surprising. The warm and expressive tenor aria with two obbligato oboes d'amore is a wonderful calming influence after the chorus. Perhaps the most beautiful thing in the cantata is the ravishing setting of "O Gott, du frommer Gott" that ends the cantata.
© Craig Smith
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| Day Lilies along the Dykeman Walking Trail |
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| Due to all the rain we've been getting the trail is looking very lush and green |
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| St. John's Wort on the banks of the north duck pond |
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| Looking across the pond from my usual Sunday "pew" |
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| Daisy Fleabane in the still uncut section of the upland meadow |
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| Deptford Pinks in the same section of the meadow |
Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 - in two parts - is the longest and grandest of all the cantatas. It has a complicated history. The first nine movements may have constituted a cantata per ogni tempo [for any occasion] written in Weimar as early as 1713. There were many subsequent revisions, culminating in today’s 1723 version (minus the trombones!) which includes two additional movements.
Given the wide range of styles found in this cantata, it is a piece of remarkable dramatic cohesion. It moves progressively from darkness into light. The mysterious opening sinfonia is a dialogue between oboe and solo violin (accompanied by a halo of strings) which seems to lead directly into the first chorus.Almost all of the choruses of BWV 21 are based on psalm texts. In Part I, the choral writing is very text specific. Like the great motet composers of the previous generation, Bach finds a striking new character for each line of text. In some cases even a single word is given its own special color (the freeze-frame moment on the word aber [but] in the first chorus is one example). Bach was mocked by his contemporaries for the stuttering repetition of the first word (Ich, ich, ich…); today it seems a moment of breathtaking drama.The soprano aria “Seufzer, Tränen”, in spite of its overwrought text, is a marvel of stark simplicity, especially given the density of everything that surrounds it. The anguish of the text is mirrored in the tortured intervals found in the voice and oboe part. The tenor recitative and aria are on a different scale entirely. Bach’s response to this highly dramatic text is appropriately extravagant, with especially picturesque orchestra writing.Part II opens with a dialogue between the bass and soprano (Jesus and the Soul). Craig Smith wrote: “These dialogues are often associated with the erotic love poetry of the Song of Songs. A popular example of this genre [can be found] in the love duets in the cantata Wachet auf! Today’s cantata was one of the few Bach pieces in Baron von Swieten’s library in Vienna. Clearly Mozart saw the piece there, for the duet is inspiration both for “La ci darem”from Don Giovanni and the third act Susanna-Count duet from Le Nozze di Figaro.”
The monumental choral prelude “Sei nun wieder zufrieden” moves in yet another stylistic direction. The interpolated chorale text appears first in the tenor section surrounded by complex counterpoint in the solo voices. Later it is taken over by the sopranos upon the entrance of full chorus and strings.The intimate tenor aria that follows is scored only for continuo - its lightness and optimism providing a perfect bridge to the final brilliant chorus. The text of the closing chorus is the same as that which concludes Handel’s Messiah (‘Worthy is the Lamb’). The entrance of the trumpets and timpani is a thrilling moment. After a brief introduction, the piece concludes with one of the most viscerally exciting fugues that Bach ever wrote. It cranks along at an almost hyperventilating pace before exploding ecstatically heavenward.© Michael Beattie
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| The Whistler |
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| I love coffee, I love tea |
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| Stir it up |
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| Crown Vetch along the Dykeman Walking Trail |
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| Canada Thistle in the Dykeman Spring wetland |
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| Mama Mallard takes the kids out for a spin on the north duck pond |
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| A view across the meadow |
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| Another view across the meadow |
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| Let the first haying begin! |
Martin Luther's chorale version of Psalm 12 is the sole source for Cantata BWV 2. While the unnamed author of the text has arranged the various verses into chorus, recitative, and aria format, the sense and character of the Luther chorale remains unusually pure. It is characteristic of Bach when dealing with Luther that the ideas remain more or less unadulterated.Today's performance is by the Collegium Vocale Ghent under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Enjoy!
Bach treats the opening verse of the chorale in an archaic neo-Renaissance manner. A strict four-voice texture with independent continuo line is observed throughout. Of the five chorale-based choruses in this style, four are to Luther texts. It is clear that Bach associates this manner with bedrock Lutheran theology. By having the chorale in the alto voice rather than the usual soprano, Bach submerges the sinner in the texture, looked down upon from heaven by the sopranos. The harmony is of the densest sort. Phrygian melodies are among the most difficult to convert to tonality, but here Bach jumps into crabbed and ambiguous harmony from the outset. It must be a manner that he associates with this tune, for the organ setting in the Kirnberger collection is similar in density and unique in that collection for its harmonic daring.
It is interesting that the phrase structure remains quite clear and one could almost say simple. When we think of the elaborate phrase overlaps in the treatment of the previous week's chorale tune, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, these phrases seem very direct. One senses that the very complexity of harmony is enough for Bach here. Also there is an extraordinary economy of motive. The subject, derived from the tune and two counter-subjects, contains virtually all of the material in the movement. The doubling by the trombones emphasizes the archaic nature of the music.
A line of the chorale sung by the solo tenor with continuo sets off the following recitative. While this seems at first to be in Bach's familiar manner of chorale with tropes, no further musical reference to the tune occurs, so we must assume that Bach feels the need to make a transition to the more modern recitative style. The elegant alto aria with solo violin is in striking contrast to the severity of what has come before. Clearly the chattering violin part is meant to represent the Rottengeistern and the Ketzerei. There is a marvelous moment when the suave continuity comes to a stuttering halt at the words Trotz dem. A fragment of the chorale tune enters like a beacon bringing us back to the seriousness of the subject.
After the harshness of the harmony in the opening chorus and the elegance of the alto aria, Bach finds yet another color for the bass recitative. Here is a marvelous example of the variety to Bach's chromaticism, harsh dissonance and vertiginous progressions in the first chorus, melting and soft edged progressions for this recitative. The first two bars of recitative show how carefully Bach gauges his harmonic color. Notice the darkness at the word verstört; the stab of pain at the word Ach. This is not only a change from the brittle Bb major of the alto aria, but a transition to the radiance of the “alchemy” aria #5.
In a work such as this cantata one can be so amazed by the harmonic detail and astonished by the contrapuntal deftness, that the sheer melodic invention can be forgotten. Certainly a tune such as in the aria Durchs Feuer wird das Silber rein reminds one that the lessons learned by Bach in his transcription of Italian concerti were as important as his German contrapuntal heritage. The principal melody is worth looking at in some detail: notice how the eighth and two sixteenth note figure is turned upside down in bars 2-3. The beginning sequence of bars 2-3 is itself turned upside down in the 4th bar. This is yet another example of subtle changes in what could be a garden-variety sequence to create a varied and highly profiled melody. It is one of those tunes that once heard is never forgotten. Clearly, Bach found the metaphor of the refining of the silver as central to the message of the cantata.
The final chorale, while still very chromatic, has somehow lost the harsh language of the opening chorus. Bach never leaves the listener unchanged by his musical experience.
© Craig Smith
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| Main Street USA in the Window |
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| The Yarrow bushes are blooming along the Dykeman Walking Trail |
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| A Spring Azure butterfly and its shadow along the trail |
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| The red bridge over the creek appears out of the lush foliage |
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| Reflections in the north duck pond |
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| Daisy Fleabane in the upland meadow |
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| A panoramic view from the meadow |
Today's performance is from a recording by the Collegium Vocale Ghent under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Enjoy!Today’s cantata, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, exhorts the theme of loving one’s neighbor, allied with the parable of the rich man who, should he share that which he has with the less fortunate, will ensure his own grace in the eyes of the Lord. The plea for generosity in feeding the hungry is emphasized in the text of the opening chorus from today’s Hebrew Bible reading Isaiah 58: 7-8. Like many of the cantatas from Bach's third Leipzig cycle, the huge opening chorus dominates the work. The short notes from the recorders, oboes and strings can either be read to represent the breaking of the bread or, more compellingly, the teardrops of the hungry. In any case the orchestra is a stunning backdrop for what is at the beginning a deeply felt and emotional fugue and later on an energetic call to arms.The bass recitative takes the form of a sermon. The lovely alto aria with violin and oboe obbligati is an inward and stunningly pure vision of the touching words. The text speaks of imitation or reflection of the Creator’s goodness, concluding with the metaphor of sowing on earth those seeds that we will harvest after death. These two clear images are captured in the music: that of imitation (the oboe follows the violin throughout) and the scattering of fertile seeds (the melisma on the word ‘streuet’).The stern, preachy bass aria is a splash of cold water - Bach at his most severe and Lutheran. The sweet soprano aria with recorder breaks that mood with a touching child-like sweetness. The personal element continues in the penultimate movement, a recitative for alto accompanied by lush string chords. Almost working against the positive nature of the text, this recitative is set mostly in minor, perhaps reminding us of the challenge of faith. The final chorale setting, one of Bach’s simplest and most direct, provides a phrase structure that is symmetrical and predictable until the last two phrases. Each of these is two-and-a-half bars long, having the effect of extending outwards beyond ourselves.© Ryan Turner and Craig Smith
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