A Moment of Bach

When assembling his Mass in B minor, Bach drew from many of his older works.  Here is one great example.  If you, like us, have always been mesmerized by the haunting sound of the "Qui tollis" movement from the Mass in B minor, you absolutely must hear the opening chorus to the cantata Schauet doch und sehet, which is the full version of the material, and which concludes in a twirling, twisting fugue. 

See the performance of Schaue...

We return to the Mighty Fortress cantata to do a deeper analysis on the theological counterpoint of this movement.  Bach combines two vocal parts -- one is Luther's hymn and the other is new poetry with Bach's own music -- and weaves both of those into a tapestry of staccato strings and marching bass.   Bach's theological profundity is what separates him from the other composers; when Bach weaves two separate texts together, he add...

What good is a centerpiece but to add to the pomp and pride and beauty of a ceremonial occasion? The Polonaise is historically such a centerpiece for such an elegant, lavish affair. Chopin is the natural figure for the Polonaise, a stately dance for pairs, but it was known much earlier to the Baroque composers. Bach was no stranger to Polish style, as shown in this centerpiece Polonaise to the Menuet of the Brandenburg Concerto No....

Oboe talk today! 

Mastering this instrument is almost unreasonably challenging, but the juice is worth the squeeze -- the baroque oboe, when played truly well, is one of the most rewardingly beautiful instruments.

Musical examples, as always, are courtesy of the Netherlands Bach Society.  Check out their "All of Bach" project.

Referenced in today's episode:

Brandenburg Concerto No. 1: Trio I (2 oboes and bassoon) - performance by N...

The three instrument families in this big baroque orchestra leads us to speculate that Bach represented three social classes: the royal elite (elegant strings, one leader), the aristocratic nobles (horns, for upper-class hunting expeditions), and the common people (reeds, as for outdoor bands or shepherding). Bach concludes the concerto with the elegant and grand menuet (note his spelling; not "minuet"). The French dance exudes cla...

"Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last." (J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King)

It's time for our yearly miniseries celebrating the famous Brandenburg Concertos!  This year: Brandenburg 1.

The horn call has an undeniable power.  Here, Bach uses it to great effect at the opening two measures of this rousing piece.  We explore the baroque h...

-The second part of our look into Cantata 78, where we look at the opening chorus. 

For an overview of this cantata and a deeper look at the wonderful duet and the rest of the parts, see the episode previous.

For this lamentation hymn about Christ's anguish used as ransom for our salvation, Bach chose to accompany the tune with a "lament bass." To start, he sets up this sad descending bass line as a repeated pattern under a varying...

In this year's Leaving Certificate for students in Ireland, the music exam consists of examples from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Irish composer Gerald Berry's Piano Quartet, and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Also in the exam is this chorale cantata composed in 1724 in Leipzig for a church service in which the biblical story of Jesus healing the lepers was read. 

The hymn Bach based this work on was flexible enough for a dramatic s...

Welcome to A Moment of Bach, where we sometimes zoom in so close that our targeted moment consists of only one note!  But Bach leaves us no choice but to pick this moment from BWV 4, where the music screeches to a halt, almost cartoonishly fast.  One thing's for sure: when ever the word "nichts" comes up, Bach can't resist giving us some interesting text-painting.

Performance of BWV 4 by Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Rene ...

Here is, almost certainly, Bach's last composition for voices.

"Et incarnatus est" is the short choral movement in the Mass in B minor which precedes and sets up the central "Crucifixus." Being not quite yet Christ's death, the "Et incarnatus est" depicts the sighing descent of Christ being made man. A mournful coincidence: this music also imminently preceded Bach's death. He likely finished it in 1750, the year of his death, to co...

This week's moment of Bach is a blissful ascending sequence in the fast final fugue movement of this keyboard toccata, which reminds us of the audacious repeating steps up and up (and down and down) of Monteverdi's "Si ch'io vorei morire." 

Does this fugue opening sound familiar? Its subject is ALMOST another much more famous one. The fugue's ending is no less spectacular.

Fugue from Toccata in E minor BWV 917 as performed by Bart ...

After witnessing Christ's death, we experience a frozen scene -- an aria -- which is a space for reflection that Bach so often gives us in his cantatas and passions. But this time we also experience some harsh tonal whiplash as first we hear Christ's head falling in death, then a dancing, hopeful aria. This aria with interspersed chorale is filled with questions, and the positivity of one final answer. 

Bach produces an innovative ...

"It is finished."  This falling melody, sung by Christ at the moment of His death, is followed by the pivotal alto aria "Es ist vollbracht".  We explore the musical texture, the dramatic contrasts, the foreshadowing of the "vivace" middle section, and the way that silence can speak louder than words or music.   We also uncover a truth about the word "finished" in this biblical passage. 

"Es ist vollbracht" as performed by Marine Fr...

Why, at number 25 of 30 variations mostly in sunny G major, is here one of the most profoundly sad things he ever wrote? This one gets at something deep. He certainly knew suffering; was it his personal experience? Bach's full range of expressions is at play in the Goldberg Variations, here including sorrow. 

Dubbed the "Black Pearl" by keyboardist Wanda Landowska, the long and wandering variation retains its structure, yet takes u...

"For me, Bach is the greatest of preachers. His cantatas and Passions tune the soul to a state in which we can grasp the truth and oneness of things, and rise above everything that is paltry, everything that divides us." -- Charles-Marie Widor, from the Preface to the biography J. S. Bach by Albert Schweitzer

We all know that Bach is a technical wizard.  Counterpoint might be what he's best known for.  But if you want to convince s...