Sunday Bach - Trinity 25

 Bach wrote two cantatas for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, and I chose the later one - BWV 116, Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ, Leipzig 1724). This is a chorale cantata about the Second Coming. Musically, it's magnificent; the opening chorale, the trio in the fourth movement, and following alto recitative are absolutely brilliant, and the rest of the cantata matches up. Theologically, it's schizophrenic, but then that's 18th Century Lutheran theology when it comes to the second coming - the event itself will be glorious, but Augustinian guilt makes Bach and his contemporaries wail that they don't deserve it, and the chaos surrounding the event (wars, persecution, etc., see Revelation!) is the result of that lack in humanity. Heh, heh! I give you the late Craig Smith's essay as a perfect example of the 20th Century mind's perplexity at 18th Century theology:

Cantata BWV 116 Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ was composed in Leipzig in 1724. The section from Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians is one of the most radiant passages from all of the Epistles, a vision of paradise that comes to the blessed. Bach chooses the perfect chorale to illustrate these two points of view, for the text of “Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ” is remarkably of two minds about the Last Judgment. In the very first verse the joyful and positive picture of the Prince of Peace degenerates into a cry for help. Is there something disappointing about this chorus? It is a musically euphonious and wonderfully energetic piece. There is great profile and an interesting shape to it, with simple block statements of the chorale phrases alternating with fugal settings of the bottom three voices underpinning the long notes of the sopranos in the 3rd and 4th phrases. All of this would seem fine if the rest of the cantata didn’t live up to a much higher standard. In fact with the trio at the end we have one of the loftiest peaks of Bach’s inspiration, a major theological statement that separates him from virtually all other artists. Why does this opening chorus not measure up? One possible answer that the character of the opening chorus is not what it seems. If one sees those block chorale phrases and the general energy as militaristic – Christ as the soldier, not always the comforter – then the progression of isolation in the alto aria to supplication in the trio becomes more understandable. 

The alto aria, with oboe d’amore obbligato, begins with a tortured, jagged melody all the more painful because it is circular and seemingly in a never-ending series of sequences. The continuo seems to ratchet up the thumbscrews. When the voice enters with “Ach” it is unable to finish its sentence. Gradually the horror is spoken and the first 2 lines of text are declaimed. It is interesting that Bach keeps the same kind of declamation for the next lines of text, as if the “Ach” was always in the back of his mind. 

Bach reminds us that the chorale described the “Prince of Peace” by using the first phrase as a bass in the tenor recitative. It has the inadvertent effect of reminding us of the “traveling” music that Mozart often introduces into his Italian recitatives to denote a passage of time. This has the same effect here, for there is an enormous spiritual gulf between the stuttering, horrified alto aria and the unearthly calm of the trio. 

All three of the trios written for the cantatas in the 2nd Jahrgang have a special quality. They are obviously ensembles, but they have no sense of dialogue or love duets that we find in the duets. At the same time they are more personal than the choruses. Our trio here begins calmly, six rhythmically identical phrases each without a downbeat, each like a soft breath of air, followed by a cadence. The three voices enter one by one. One notices that the tenor part is actually identical to the continuo introduction except that it provides downbeats. It actually makes phrases out of a neutral pattern of notes. The imitation of the three voices is very sophisticated. The text underlay is interesting. Bach seizes upon the word “Geduld” ‘patience’ and repeats it over and over. The third line of text intensifies the longing and the melancholy of the music and makes a modulation to the dominant. After a relentlessly contrapuntal texture, the very personal and heartbreaking confession that our sins broke your (Jesus) heart, and that the pain of Adam made you come into this world, is set in blocks. Very close and rich faux bourdon harmony personalizes this whole middle section. The work is in a very complex da capo form. The whole first 39 bars are repeated and a long section using the third line of text is newly composed to end the work in the tonic. The emotional distance traveled from the alto aria to this point is almost unequaled in all of Bach. The renewed ferocity of the string entrance in the alto recitative almost makes the trio seem like a circumscribed event. The effect is very like the renewing of the action after the soprano aria “Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben” in the St. Matthew Passion. The final chorale has the same strange emotional neutrality of the opening chorus. 

© Craig Smith, adapted by Ryan Turner

Today's performance is a magnificent one just released on YouTube by the J.S. Bach Foundation of Trogen, Switzerland, under the direction of Rudolf Lutz. Enjoy!

Photo © 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

First Snow!

WHEEEEEE! We got our first snow of the season today! It's a tad early, but I'm not complaining. It's also more than we expected; it seems that a wedge of cold air stalled over us as the precipitation moved in and stubbornly stayed put. It's transitioned to sleet and freezing rain now, but it happened later than first expected. And despite the current sleet and rain, after midnight it'll return to snow and give us another couple of inches.

Of course, this had an impact on work for me. I was supposed to work this evening, but my boss texted about 1:30 and announced she was closing the store early and the two of us on the closing shift didn't have to come in. Heh, heh! Anybody who knows me knows that I immediately made plans to head out into the storm, camera in hand. Nothing, absolutely nothing, makes me happier than walking in the woods in snow, especially if the snow is still falling. So I headed out for Dykeman Park around 2:30 to wrap myself in Mama Gaia's white Winter cloak.

The gazebo across the street from me

Branch Creek at King St.

Entering the park on the Dykeman Walking Trail

Snow on the trail

A scene in another part of the park

The creek looking south on the red bridge

The creek looking north on the new bridge

Waiting for Spring

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

This Week's Sunday Walk in the Park

You'd think that after a week's worth of photography last week while I was on vacation I'd take a break from the Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park this week. Nope, I still need my meditative wander and sit in my local refuge. And there are always things to see and take note of, no matter how frequently I wander through. We had a very heavy frost overnight, and the temps were still in the mid 20s (about -4º C) as I walked this morning, all of which has an effect on the landscape. The woods still have some autumnal color, but after some stiff wind the last few days the foliage is starting to look a little ragged and bare, which has a peculiar charm of its own. And a young (probably hatched this past Spring) female Northern Flicker sat still long enough for me to do a mini shoot of five photos. It was definitely a good walk!

The woods are starting to look a little ragged

A stand of Maples up by the railroad tracks

Along the Dykeman Walking Trail

This pretty little girl seemed to want to have her picture taken

A Maple sapling by the north duck pond

Timber Hill seems to loom over the neighborhood on Mainsville Rd. Taken from up on the meadow.

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sunday Bach - Trinity 24

Laurel Lake, Gardners, PA

Bach wrote two magnificent cantatas for the 24th Sunday after Trinity. We played BWV 60 last year, so this year we move to the other - BWV 26, Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig (Ah how fleeting, ah how insignificant, Leipzig 1724). This chorale cantata is glorious! Billowing clouds, bubbling brooks, all kinds of musical metaphors in this short but potent cantata. And the irony is that despite the joyous uprush of the music, the cantata and the chorale hymn it's based on is all about how insignificant humans are; the hymn by Michael Franck says: "Ah, how fleeting, ah how insignificant/ is the life of mankind!/ As a mist suddenly appears/ and then quickly disappears again,/ behold! so is our life." And yet it's sung so joyously. Yup, those old Lutherans back then were definitely an odd bunch! But then, look at the music that came out of that oddness. Here's the late Craig Smith of Emmanuel Music on this magnificent music:

BWV 26 is a short, yet compelling masterpiece with a strong sense of “last things.” The chorale tune, “Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig,” is unusual. In six phrases, the tune is boxy, limited to one melodic register and magnificent. There is something so eminently right about the character of the tune with its content. The first verse goes thus: “Ah how fleeting, Ah how nothing, is the life of mortals! Like a mist that quickly rises, and is quickly vanished. So is our life. Behold!” Bach is remarkably consistent in his treatment of this text. In the Orgelbüchlein setting, running chords punctuated by an angry and repetitive bass line underpin the short punchy phrases. Those same scales are found in the opening movement of the cantata, but are here made even more aggressive with the punched eighth notes of the winds and strings. Virtually no bar is without the scale passages. In addition another little figure is passed around, further punctuating the scales. The bass line is either limited to the scales or creates aggressive sequences that further underpin the anger. For all of its speed, this is an extremely weighty movement with three very active and honking oboes. The chorus part is equally impressive. The soprano punches out the little phrases in half notes the other three voices shout eighth notes underneath, sometimes in block chords, but as often or not in octaves. The whole chorus is about 2 minutes and 15 seconds long.

The tenor aria, as befits the text, is more liquid, but if anything, even speedier than the opening chorus. It is one of the most virtuoso arias in all of Bach. If the melismas in the A section seem fleet, look at what happens in the B section as rapid repeated sixteenth notes of the ‘separating drops of water plunge in to the abyss.’ The orchestra sonority is ingenious, solo violin with flute, often playing in unison, often playing in canon. The resultant sound is glassy and harmonically slippery. The secco recitative for the alto begins with an elaborate melisma, as if Bach has some compunction to keep the speed going. 

In the bass aria the first effect is of anger, not speed, although the voice part goes into hair-raisingly fast divisions. The ‘searing lusts’ and ‘earthly treasures’ of the text call to mind Jesus’ warning in today’s gospel reading from Mark. At the end of the B section there is a jackbooted, stomping quality to the three oboes tooting out their square theme. It is hard to think of any Bach piece that rails against its fate quite as much as this. The little soprano recitative tries to give a note of benediction, but the foursquare, loud harmonization of the final chorale effectively squelches that. Yet the final line of the chorale offers some thread of consolation. 

© Craig Smith, adapted by Ryan Turner

Today's performance is from a recording by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Ton Koopman. Enjoy!

Photo © 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Visit to a Covered Bridge

Yesterday I hiked up to the covered bridge over Conodoguinet Creek in Newburg. Heh, heh! Fourteen miles round trip, and I'm still hobbled up today, although it's loosening up as the day progresses. I think my days of marathon hikes may be over. But the trip was worth it. It was the perfect Fall day, and while the trees may be getting somewhat barer, there's still color going on, which makes the scenery along the way photogenic. Plenty of farms and woods and country roads, and North/Blue Mountain always looming over the landscape, and a covered bridge - perfect!

The typical Central PA farm scene along Britton Rd

More scenery along Britton Rd., with Fall foliage and the mountain

An interesting "tree garden" along East Creek Rd.

Approaching the bridge

The bridge's bones revealed in the interior

A very scenic decorative pond on a farm on Fox Hill Rd.

A scene along Fox Hill Rd.

The last stretch - heading home on the Rail Trail

Today is the last day of my vacation; it's back to work tomorrow. It's raining and cool, so it's a good day to kick back with a mug of coffee and show pictures of my vacation. Enjoy!

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Up on South Mountain

Today I went up on South Mountain with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. We went up to Laurel Lake in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park and then on to King's Gap, a site that overlooks the whole Cumberland Valley from atop the mountain. We had some adventures along the way, due mostly to the car's GPS being a tad wonky and leading us over the top of the mountain on a gravel fire road, and telling us we'd arrived at King's Gap when we were obviously in the middle of nowhere. But despite that it was worth the adventure for the photos that resulted. Come take a look.

Looking across Laurel Lake from the beach on the north shore

Looking across the lake from the south shore

Another south shore view

Looking east toward the dam

Looking west from the dam

Looking north across the Cumberland Valley from King's Gap

Another view across the valley

One more look across the valley

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

A Rainy Election Day 2018

After voting this morning I went to the local CVS to pick up some refills, and despite the rain I decided to take pictures along the way.

Branch Creek is running fast and full with all this rain

Fall foliage brightens a rainy day on King St. near CVS

Burd Run is also pretty full

Heading east out of town on Rt. 11

Shadowfax has the perfect rainy day music!

Photos © 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

An Autumnal Sunday Walk in the Park

The weekly Sunday walk in the Dykeman Spring Nature Park takes on a much more colorful look now that the leaves have changed in earnest.

Fall color comes to the wetland

More Fall color in the wetland

The creek, looking north from the new bridge

Timber Hill seen from the meadow

Looking north to the mountains from the top of the meadow

Trees along the south edge of the meadow

Leaving the park at the east end of the meadow

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Sunday Bach - Trinity 23

Autumn Gold

Bach wrote three cantatas for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity. For this year I've chosen BWV 139, Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott recht kindlich kann verlassen (Blessed be the one who upon his God can place a truly childlike trust, Leipzig 1724). This chorale cantata is light and gentle, yet lush and complex, and perfectly fitting for the glorious Autumnal weather and scenery in these parts (Central PA) this weekend. Here's the late Craig Smith of Emmanuel Music on this lovely piece of music:

The Weimar cantata for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity, BWV 163, used Christ’s metaphor about money in the reading from the 22nd Chapter of Matthew as its central theme. In Cantata BWV 139 the Gospel is less directly influential upon the text. The Epistle from Philippians particularly the rejection of earthly things for the world of heaven, is the main argument. Much of the cantata text although verbally quite emphatic is rather gentle in tone, even the alto recitative that speaks of the wolves’ anger is fairly mild in tone. The last aria, finally takes up the tone of the words and is something indeed very violent. 

The chorale tune is, like “Liebster Gott’ and”Mache dich mein Geist bereit” a rather recent chorale. It is a nice melody but rather bland in character. Bach makes up for the lack of profile by writing an orchestration of unusual richness. This richness is achieved not by a particularly colorful combination of instruments but by the fact that all of the lines are almost without exception never doubled. The scoring is for two oboes d’amore and strings. It is likely that a flute, probably doubling the chorale tune is lost. In any texture like this Bach almost invariably will double the oboes and the strings, with occasional passage of independence for each set of instruments. Here from the outset, there is a five voice (2 oboes,2 violins,and viola) texture above the continuo. Even with the entrance of the chorus, the orchestral parts usually remain independent. This gives a lush rich singing texture. The chorale tune itself is pitched rather low in the sopranos. Not only a flute at the octave, as in BWV 101 and 78, would help it be heard, but maybe a horn doubling is missing also. The cantata survives only from an incomplete set of parts in Leipzig, no score has been found. The clue to the warm and gentle character can be found in the opening two lines that plead for the soul to abandon himself with childlike trust. All of the later lines about sin and the devil go uncharacterized.

From the outset it has been known that one obbligato is missing from the tenor aria #2. The Bach scholar Robert Levin thinks that there are two missing obbligati and has written a reconstruction with two additional parts, The work as it comes down to us is a light-hearted da capo aria with much agreeable fortspinnung in both the voice and the one remaining violin part. It may seem unfair to judge the work in its incomplete state, but it doesn’t seem to go very deep. The alto recitative declaims its rather hair-raising text with a strange calm. The explosion that happens in the bass aria is therefore all the more surprising. 

The aria #4 is one of the most structurally inventive things in all of Bach. In fact in every way the work is sui generis. We are used, in this Bach’s most creative period, to startling innovation, but nothing before has prepared us for this piece. The orchestration is unusual. The two oboes d’amore play a clangerous and jarring dotted rhythm figure in unison against that the solo violin plays agitated arpeggios. The continuo plays a dotted rhythm figure but twice as fast as the oboes. The oboes in unison create a special wailing sound that is almost like a human cry. The violin clearly is illustrating the “hundredweight chain” of the text. As unusual as the scoring is it is the structure that is unique. There are three tempi. The first is an allegro 4/4. This goes segue into a vivace 6/8 with the eightth note unit remaining equal. The third tempo is a 4/4 andante approximately half the speed of the allegro. There are eleven tempo changes in the aria. The over-all effect is that of a dacapo with the andante with allegro interludes functioning as the B section. But the actual da capo is quite irregular and containing many more vivace episodes than the first A section. The overall effect is chaos and pandemonium. The racheting of up of the tempo in the transition between the 4/4 allegro and the 6/8 vivace is terrifically exhilarating . This is an aria that got the notice of the very first Bach scholars, Spitta writes excitedly about it. The soprano recitative reverts to the beginning strange calm, and the cantata ends with a rich, unusually beautiful harmonization of the chorale melody.

© Craig Smith

The performance for this week is from a 1977 recording by the Bach Orchestra and Choir of Munich under the direction of Karl Richter. Enjoy!

Photo © 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger 

Welcome to Scenic Shippensburg, PA

I'm on vacation for the next week, but rather than going off to foreign parts I'm staying home and aiming the camera at places and things in the area, in effect turning my town into a vacation destination as far as this blog is concerned. Hence the (ironic) title. It is very scenic, though. There will be a hike up to a covered bridge up Newburg way later this week, as well as a trip to Laurel Lake in Pine Grove Furnace State Park and then up to King's Gap. 

The best part about this week is that the leaves have finally burst into their autumnal glory. Today I had an errand to run, and I stretched it into a wander through town to capture all the wonderful color, ending up at the Peace Garden in the Shippensburg Memorial Park, which is usually spectacular this time of year. It didn't disappoint! Take a look.

Branch Creek at King St. is finally starting to look autumnal

Episcopal Row (church and low-cost housing) on Prince St.

Color along King St.

More color, with pumpkins, along King St.

Japanese Maples on Morris St.

Looking out Morris St. toward Witter's dairy farm

The Peace Garden in all its autumnal glory

The essence of Autumn - a gloriously bright orange-gold Maple on King St.

© 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger