Events in the Church Year

Events in the Church Year
Part 5

Continue from Part 4

Trinity and Bach

Continue of discussion from: Cantata BWV 117 - Discussions Part 2

Peter Smaill wrote (May 27, 2008):
[To Ed Myskowski] One of my recent pastimes has been to observe the treatment of the Doxology in the Cantatas, which occur from time to time but are rarely the perfunctory affairs which Anglicans experience. The doctrine clearly meant a great deal to Bach: in the "Magnificat", as Robin Leaver has observed, he goes so far as to derive the representation of the Holy Spirit from the close canon of the Gloria phrase representing Father and Son, thus delineating the procession of the Holy Spirit from both.

Finally?I ?have come to BWV 69, for the inauguration of the Town Council in Autumn 1748. I may be wrong but I think therefore that the setting of the chorale then created , "Es danke Gott, und lobe dich" is the very last setting of a Chorale for?choir/orchestra??use made by him. By spring 1749 Bach's health was failing. (The keyboard work, the so-called "Sterb-chorale" is a different matter).

Hardly anyone seems to notice that Bach thus, if I am right, closes?his life-work in the ?genre of orchestrally-elaborated Chorales with an utterly brilliant setting in which the three trumpets? enter in full force at the Doxology , "Und segne Vater und der Sohn/Uns segne Gott,der Heilge geist" , with the upper trumpet trilling for over a minim. The Chorale, though basically in?D major, starts in F sharp major- all sharps- and modulates through adjacent keys. Quite unusually the timpani have a lively independent part accentuating what has been called the sense of? God "triumphant and glorious".

The beginning of the Leipzig Cantata sequence has the Trinity 1 Cantata BWV 75 in which the unique purely orchestral setting of "Was Gott Tut" for trumpet, and the chorale interspersions, are another high point in Bach's oeuvre and I find thus a wonderful symmetry in his Cantata writing?with Trinitarian references. Beginning and ending are illustrating the combination of the earthly chorus with the oversailing ethereal trumpet in two settings of especial exuberance even for Bach.

BWV 69 is rather neglected due to the existence of the earlier BWV 69a (which has a powerful Chorus) but is worth hearing for?its stunning Chorale alone.

Jean Laaninen wrote (May 28, 2008):
Peter Smaill wrote:
< One of my recent pastimes has been to observe the treatment of the Doxology in the Cantatas, which occur from time to time but are rarely the perfunctory affairs which Anglicans experience. The doctrine clearly meant a great deal to Bach: in the "Magnificat", as Robin Leaver has observed, he goes so far as to derive the representation of the Holy Spirit from the close canon of the Gloria phrase representing Father and Son, thus delineating the procession of the Holy Spirit from both. >
Although I have not made a study of the Doxology elements as you are doing, Peter, I have taken notice of Bach's incorporation of this doctrine from time to time. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Bach's 12 Days of Christmas

Douglas Cowling wrote (February 23, 2009):
I neglected to add Bach's working schedule for Christmas which was the most rigorous of the year. Below are Bach's schedules for the Christmas season for the three cantatas we've discussed so far.

The weekdays on which Christmas Day, New Year's Day (the Octave Day of Christmas) and Epiphany varied from year to year and dictated whether Christmas would be followed by Sunday after Christmas (or two) or a Sunday would occur between New Year's and Epiphany. As we will see, the schedule of a particular year dictated the shape of the Christmas Oratorio.

In addition to the first three days of Christmas, Bach faced back-to-back cantatas around New Year's in most years. Whether Bach considered these groups of cantatas as mini-cycles with connections really hasn't been discussed. Was the Christmas Oratorio really the first time that a composer created a Cantata Cycle for the Twelve Days of Christmas?

* Christmas Season 1723-24

NOTE: New Year's Day this year is a Saturday so there are two back-to-back cantatas.

Sat, Dec 25 1^st Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 63: łChristen Ätzet˛
Sun, Dec 26 2^nd Day of Christmas (St. Stephenšs)
Cantata BWV 40, łDazu ist Erschienen˛
Mon, Dec 27 3^rd Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 64, ˛Sehet Welch eine Liebe˛
Sat, Jan 1 New Yearšs/Circumcision
Cantata BWV 190, łSinget dem Herrn˛
Sun, Jan 2 Sunday after New Yearšs
Cantata BWV 153, łSchau, lieber Gott˛
Thu, Jan 6 - Epiphany
Cantata BWV 65, łSie Werden aus Saba˛

* Christmas Season 1724-25

NOTE: This year Christmas falls on a Monday so there is an extra Sunday before New Year's Day which didn't occur the previous year. Back-to back cantatas on Dec 31 & Jan 1, and Jan 6 & 7

Mon, Dec 25 1^st Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 91, łGelobet seist du˛
Tue, Dec 26 2^nd Day of Christmas (St. Stephenšs)
Cantata BWV 121, łChristum wie sollen˛
Wed, Dec 27 3^rd Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 133, łIch freue mich
Sun, Dec 31, Sunday after Christmas
Cantata BWV 122 łDas neugeborne Kindelein˛
Mon 1, Jan 1 New Yearšs/Circumcision
Cantata BWV 41, łJesu nun gepreiset˛
Sat, Jan 6 - Epiphany
Cantata BWV 123, łLiebster Emmanuel˛

* Christmas Season 1725-26

NOTE: Epiphany falls on a Sunday this year, yet Bach didn't provide a cantata. Do scholars suggest a lost cantata or a repeat of an existing work?

Tue, Dec 25 1^st Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 110, łUnser Mund˛
Wed, Dec 26 2^nd Day of Christmas (St. Stephenšs)
Cantata BWV 57, łSelig ist der Mann˛
Thu, Dec 27 3^rd Day of Christmas
Cantata BWV 151, łSüsser Trost˛
Sun, Dec 30, Sunday after Christmas
Cantata BWV 28, łGottlob nun geht˛
Tue, Jan 1 New Yearšs/Circumcision
Cantata BWV 16, łHerr Gott, dich loben˛
Sun, Jan 6 - Epiphany
Cantata ?

David Glenn Lebut Jr. wrote (February 23, 2009):
[To Douglas Cowling] Actually, I would argue that the Easter season would be as busy if not busier than Christmas season. After all, Bach was responsible for music for only 5 days out of the twelve (the Christmas season ends on 5 January), whereas with the Easter season, Bach was not only responsible for the music of Easter Sunday, he was responsible for the music for Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, Quasimodogeniti Sunday, Misericordias Domini Sunday, Jubilate Sunday, Cantate Sunday, Rogate Sunday, Ascension Day, and Exaudi Sunday. Plus, he was responsible for the music for both Palm Sunday and Good Friday, which would have been counted as part of Holy Week (which Easter concludes).

Douglas Cowling wrote (February 23, 2009):
David Glenn Lebut Jr. wrote:
< Actually, I would argue that the Easter season would be as busy if not busier than Christmas season. >
Some clarification is necessary here. Bach did not have to write a cantata for Palm Sunday or any of the other days of Holy Week. The only statutory requirement was the Passion music on Good Friday -- which we can all agree was a monumental task.

Easter week had three successive cantatas but then then the schedule returned to weekly offerings. All of the Sundays which you list were spread out over the next 6 or 7 weeks until Pentecost, the end of the Easter season.

Suffice to say that Bach's year revolved around the two festivals and he worked damn hard to provide superlative music for them.

Ed Myskowski wrote (February 23, 2009):
>Suffice to say that Ba's year revolved around the two festivals and he worked damn hard to provide superlative music for them.<
(1) Grammatically, should it not be damned hard?

(2) Spiritually, would not very hard (or equivalent) be more appropriate?

A paradox for all you boys out there: It is not as hard as it seems.

David Glenn Lebut Jr. wrote (February 24, 2009):
[To Douglas Cowling] Actually, Doug, Bach did have to write a cantata for Palmarum. The Tempus clausum periods were the 2^nd-4^th Sundays of Advent and Invocativ Sunday-Judica Sunday.

James Atkins Pritchard wrote (February 24, 2009):
[To [David Glenn Lebut Jr.] Glenn, I'm curious to know your source for your assertion that Bach had to write a cantata for Palm Sunday (I'm assuming you're talking about the Leipzig period).

My understanding is that Bach wrote only one cantata for Palm Sunday (BWV 182) and that it was a product of the Weimar period (though it was later used in Leipzig as an Annunciation cantata).

Douglas Cowling wrote (February 24, 2009):
James Atkins Pritchard wrote:
< My understanding is that Bach wrote only one cantata for Palm Sunday (BWV 182) and that it was a product of the Weimar period (though it was later used in Leipzig as an Annunciation cantata). >
Bach performed "Himmelskönig sei Willkommen" in the year that Palm Sunday and Annunciation fell on the same day, March 25. It's a brilliant intertwining of the two themes. But there are no other Palm Sunday
cantatas.

Ed Myskowski wrote (February 24, 2009):
>Actually, Doug, Bach did have to write a cantata for Palmarum.<
Presumably, Palmarum is what is more familiarly known as Palm Sunday?

According to Durr (Duerr), the only cantata for Palm Sunday, BWV 182, was written at Weimar, 1714.

John Pike wrote (February 24, 2009):
BWV 182 [was: Bach's 12 Days of Christmas]

[Douglas Cowling] think I am right in saying that he presented it at least 4 times altogether, one of the most performed cantatas according to the records we have; fully understandable given what a splendid piece it is. It is also my wife's favourite cantata.

greyzone topic Bach in Christmas season, Japanese music in New Year season...

Terejia wrote (January 7, 2009):
In Japan, the date Decemver 26^th is a kind of "dividing line " when our souls feel as if traveling from West to East.

From the November to December 25^th, the entire street is in Christmas mode. From the beginning of November, not from the Advent Sunday on, because in Japan, Christmas is more a civic festival for department stores than Christian liturgy event.

For me Christmas isn't Christmas at all without BWV 243a in particular( while other masterpieces, even BWV 248, even though I COULD somehow manage to do without them for Christmas season..). My first encountering of BWV 243a was when I was in junior highschool. I didn't understand latin nor German, I had no idea what Christmas was really about except that the entire street was somehow in festive mood, I had not been to church back then, but special atomosphere of Christmas felt very palpable from the music itself from the very beginning of delightful opening ritornello. Whenever I hear that joyous 1/16 notes in D-dur key I feel Christmas.

Later I learned there are some other masterpieces for Christmas like BWV 61 and of course BWV 248. I like Charpantier's Messe de Minuit pour Noel and Christmas Story of Heinrich Schütz, for Christmas, too.

However, on December 26^th, even though it is still Christmas in Church liturgy calendar, the pendlum of my soul swings back to Eastern culture mood.

These are the type of music I would love to listen to after December 26^th to new year season and after all these are the ones deeply ingrained into my soul(no Bach! ):
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=X0OYz3qz28A&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4N2wqp2CInM&feature=related

entirely different from BWV 248 Part 4-6 or New Year Concert's Johann Straus. (Hence I listen to entire BWV 248 before December 25^th instead of reserving Part 4-6 for new year). The music in these video are not dodecaphonic,probably not suitable to compose contrapunct out of it, if my understanding is correct.

Oh, by the way, there is one more shift from East to West on December 31th night, which is 9th Symphony by Beethoven, which became deeply rooted in Japanese culture somehow.

However odd it might seem, I enjoy my Christmas-New Year season the way it is.

Ed Myskowski wrote (January 8, 2009):
Terejia wrote:
>For me Christmas isn't Christmas at all without BWV 243a in particular<
Although I have known the Magnificat, BWV 243, almost all my life, this is the first year I have paid special attention to the Christmas interpolations of BWV 243a. It was a very happy coincidence that your leading the discussion of BWV 191 was about the same time as a radio broadcast of BWV 243a, and all at the appropriate Christmas Season. I especially enjoyed our discusssion of the Latin, BWV 243a and BWV 191/1,: Gloria in excelsis Deo, Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.

I ran across one analyis which justifies the translation:

Glory to God in the highest,
Peace on Earth,
Goodwill to men

based on the three part rhetoric, parallel structure. It seems to me, that breaks down if we go back to the Latin, especially if the text from Durr is precise, and there is no comma after <terra pax>

Either way, no increased abundance of goodwill for those who need it, nor peace for those of us who practice goodwill, whichever way one prefers the translation and the logic.

At the last minute, I recall that I overlooked the availability of Francis Browne on BCW, BWV 191/English 3:

No commma after <terra pax>, <men of goodwill> rather than <goodwill to men>. I found my way back, <longest way round is the shortest way home> (James Joyce, Ulysses). I had a lot of fun and a few laughs getting there.

I also enjoyed Terejias comments on the transition from West to East, for her, at Christmas. At some point I believe I made an analogy bewtween the two parts of the liturgical year, Advent to Trinity, and Sundays after Trinity, and the Asian Yin/Yang symbol. Slightly different calendar specifics, but the same idea and feeling.

Information about the different Sundays

Richard Burdick wrote (May 11, 2009):
Greetings, I not educated into the meaning or reason for the different names of the services such as this coming Sunday is:
Rogate (5^th Sunday after Easter)
Is there a reference where I can find out more about what "Rogate" and the others all mean?

Thanks

Douglas Cowling wrote (May 11, 2009):
Richard Burdick wrote:
< Rogate (5^th Sunday after Easter)
Is there a reference where I can find out more about what "Rogate" and the others all mean? >
The Latin title of a Sunday is taken from the first word of the Gregorian chant introit which accompanied the entrance of the clergy at the beginning of mass in both the Roman and Lutheran rites. It came a convenient identifier as singers flipped through their music books to find the proper introit for a particular Sunday. In the 'Hunchback of Notre Dame', Victor Hugo gives the foundling child the name, Quasimodo,because the introit on that day was "Quasi modo geniti."

Luther expected that choirs with music schools such as Leipzig would sing either the proper melismatic introit or a simpler Latin psalm. At the principal service in Bach's time, the choir replaced the chant introit with a seasonal polyphonic motet from the Bodenschatz collection of 16^th and 17^th century works. Large-scale double-choir motets by Schütz and Gabrieli were normal fare.

The Latin titles of Sundays in the Lutheran rite can be found on the BCML website at: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lutheran-Read.htm

The complete introit texts and translations can be found at any online edition of the Roman missal. The Musica Sacra website has online copies of the music of many historic chant books: http://www.musicasacra.com/sacred-music/

There are a few difference between the Lutheran and Roman chants because German pre-Reformation use differed somewhat from the Tridentine rite codified at the end of the 16^th century.

Bach to music (well sort of) & St. Michael

Kim Patrick Clow wrote (August 13, 2009):
Recently, Bach's music for the feast day of St. Michael was topic for few threads, with questions about the nature of the feast and it's importance in Baroque German sacred music.

In an effort to provide some context to that, I wished to point out that a new edition and recording of a long lost Telemann oratorio was recently published,"Der aus der Löwengrube erettete Daniel.". Steffen Voss, a German baroque specialist (mostly in Handel, Telemann), discovered the music and edited in a new performing edition. The liner notes are full of information about St. Michael's feast and apparently it was the 2nd most important feast day for Hamburg churches. The music dates from the late 1720s "oratorio" cantata cycle (large works were the trademark of this cycle apparently).

You can listen to sound clips on the CPO website here: JPC

Naxos of America will distribute the CD in the United States at the end of August or the first part of Sept.

Douglas Cowling wrote (August 13, 2009):
Kim Patrick Clow wrote:
< In an effort to provide some context to that, I wished to point out that a new edition and recording of a long lost Telemann oratorio was recently published,"Der aus der Löwengrube erettete Daniel.".
You can listen to sound clips on the CPO website here: JPC >
Thanks for this terrific link. Everyone should take the opportunity to listen through the audio clips here. It's an impressive work in a first-rate performance. What I found most interesting is that Telemann was Bach's principal rival and yet I heard very little which reminded me of Bach.

Lots of echoes of Handel and Vivaldi. The opening with its widely-spaced chords resembles the opening of the Utrecht Te Deum. The duet in Tract 25 uses the same violin figure without bass as "And suddenly there was with the angel" in Messiah! Track 3 had all the harmonic drive of a Vivaldi concerto movement.

And certainly matters of taste. The big bomba aria in Track 10 has a rafter-rattling riternello which sets up a huge expectation for the soloist. He launches into a coloratura aria which would have electrified an opera house with its bravura. Bach's electricity is no less impressive but it isn't so self-conscious (is that the word I want?)

And some very galant passages. The chorus in Track 20 sounds like Mozart.

In the final analysis, it was only the final chorus in Track 33 which reminded me of similar movements by Bach, and then only the closing homage choruses in the secular cantatas such as "Schleicht Spielenden Wellen".

I'm curious what other people thought.

I will be passing on the link to practical church musicians so they can hear the splendid setting of the chorale "Nun Lobt" in Track 16. Telemann sets the same version of the tune which is known as "Old 100^th" and sung in all churches as "All People That On Earth Do Dwell". Very unusual to hear a chorale that is popular outside the Lutheran tradition.

Bradley Lehman wrote (August 13, 2009):
Douglas Cowling wrote:
< I will be passing on the link to practical church musicians so they can hear the splendid setting of the chorale "Nun Lobt" in Track 16. Telemann sets the same version of the tune which is known as "Old 100^th" and sung in all churches as "All People That On Earth Do Dwell". Very unusual to hear a chorale that is popular outside the Lutheran tradition. >
FWIW, there's a nice setting of that by Pachelbel: three-part texture for organ (with the melody in the middle played by both thumbs!), or for more fun, have a tenor sing that part as a solo.

Douglas Cowling wrote (August 13, 2009):
Bradley Lehman wrote:
< FWIW, there's a nice setting of that by Pachelbel: three-part texture for organ (with the melody in the middle played by both thumbs!), or for more fun, have a tenor sing that part as a solo. >
Brad, do you know if it's online? It's not in any of my Pachelbel collections. Any chance you could scan it and send it to me? I need a REAL EEZEE anthem for my men. Thanks.

Liturgical correctness, Oct 30, 2009

Ed Myskowski wrote (October 31, 2009):
Larry King just began his nightly CNN show this way:

<Tonight is All Hallows Eve, tomorrow will be Halloween>

Not exactly, mon ami. CNN is no longer USA only, it is now international, non?

I think I will just put on my pig-snout costume (?!) and go for another stroll in downtown Salem (officially, The Witch City), where this Holiday approaches (slowly, but surely) Mardi Gras proportions.

For the Bach-ish (and/or Lutheran) crowd, Sunday Nov. 1 will be both All Saints Day (the day after All Hallows Eve, or Halloween) and the 21st Sunday after Trinity.

For Mexicans (and other simpatico souls, including me and my Cuban spouse), Mon., Nov. 2 (All Souls Day) is Dia de los Muertos.

Sounds like just another excuse for a four-day weekend to me. I will spare you OT posts, other than a recovery (or not) report. Input from the correspondents who are also directors of music at churches especially invited.

Aloha, Ed Myskowski (aka dED Pig & Whistle)

Ed Myskowski wrote (October 31, 2009):
I received a post off-list suggesting a New York City performance of BWV 106, on Nov. 1, for weekend enjoyment. In fact, there is also a Boston performance of BWV 77 the same day. These events, along with many other opportunities, are detailed on BCW: http://bach-cantatas.com/Concerts/Concert-2009-USA.htm

I am taking the trouble to post again because I overlooked the distinction of the Lutheran calendar (Oct. 31, Reformation Day) from the rest of Christianity (Oct 31, All Hallows Eve or Halloween; Nov. 1, All Saints Day; Nov. 2, All Souls Day or Dia de los Muertos).

Corrections invited, as always. One thing I am certain of: beginning yesterday, Friday, Oct. 30 (which is not All Hallows Eve, however, as I pointed out, correctly I believe), it is a four-day party this year, here in Salem MA, USA (officially and affectionately, The Witch City).

Does Oct. 30, the Eve of Reformation Day, have a designation in the Lutheran calendar?

Mary Vinquist wrote (November 1, 2009):
[To Ed Myskowski] The Lutheran Church calendar this year celebrated Reformation Sunday on October 25. The church in question did "Ein feste Burg" as the cantata of the day at their Bach Vespers service -- beautifully, I might add.

The BWV 106 is for remembrance of all who have died -- All Saints and All Souls. I'm going and will report back.

Mary Vinqu wrote (November 1, 2009):
[To Ed Myskowski] Today, Nov. 1, is All Saints Day in the Roman and Anglican traditions.
All Hallows (which became Halloween) is October 31 and that is the day Luther posted his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. A replica of same is still there (the church having burned down and been rebuilt in the 19^th Century). I was part of a group that sang "Ein feste Burg" lustily from the choir loft of that church last October.

Mary Vinquist wrote (November 1, 2009):
CORRECTION: October 31 is the Eve of All Hallows, All Hallows also being a name for All Saints.

William Hoffman wrote (November 21, 2009):
A reminder:

William Hoffman wrote (November 10, 2008):
Reformation Observances: All-Souls Day Cantata

Kalmus Vocal Score 6940, Cantata BWV 198, "Lass, Hoechster; new text by Wilhelm Rust, for All Souls Day, based on Gottsched's original text, English translation A. Kalisch; arrangement of Philipp Wolfrum, piano reduction Otto Taubmann; with Wolfrum's footnotes and Rust's footnotes and chorale interpolations: No. 3a, B&H No. 361 (BWV 248/59), "Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit"; No. 4a, BWV 179/6, "Ich armer Mensch; No. 7a, "Ich hab in Gottes Herz," BWV 92/6; No. 8a, "O wie selig," BWV 406; No. 10a, "Auf, mein Herz," BWV 145a. I beieve there is a recent editon from either B&H or Baerenreiter.

Cantata BWV 106

This afteroon at St. Francis Auditorium, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, Canticus Nova will perform an All-Souls Day concert of Cantata BWV 106, Faure's Requiem, Greene's Anthem, and Schubert's Song of the Spirits. It appears that Dia del Muerte south of the border has spread north.

Ed Myskowski wrote (November 1, 2009):
William Hoffman wrote:
< A reminder:
William Hoffman wrote (November 10, 2008):
Reformation Observances: All-Souls Day Cantata
Kalmus Vocal Score 6940, Cantata BWV 198, "Lass, Hoechster; new text by Wilhelm Rust, for All >Souls Day, based on Gottsched's original text >
Thanks for the reminder, I had overlooked the significance at the time. In fact, it was only the error on the CNN broadcast on Oct. 30 (now Halloween Eve, I suppose) which caught my attention. However, it does seem a significant detail in the interpretation of Bachs music in relation to the liturgic calendar, and the prior and subsequent evolution of the Lutheran sect of Christianity.

To be very brief, I infer that Luther abandoned observance of All Saints/Souls because of the connection with the commerce in indulgences, and this remained the case for Bach. In fact, Luther specifically chose Oct. 31 to hammer this point home (indeed, to nail it to the door)! Subsequently, this condition has relaxed somewhat. BWV 198 was later adapted for All Souls Day, which is now observed by at least some Lutherans, as well as All Saints Day.

WH:
< It appears that Dia del Muerte south of the border has spread north. >
EM:
First off, let me say, that is a good thing, IMO. It is a very respecful tradition in honor and memory of the departed, in my experience. I did try to be careful with my Spanish, so I checked *Dia del Muerte* with my consultant, who opined <That is not Spanish!. Perhaps New Mexican?> Whatever, it is not convenient for me to disagree with her. The meaning is perfectly clear to me.

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