Music for November 29, 2020 + The First Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• Pieta, Signore! – Alessandro Stradella (1645?-1682?)
• Richard Murray, baritone

Instrumental Music

• Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 533 – J. S. Bach (1685-1750)
• “Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us, BWV 645 – J. S. Bach
• Introduction and Fanfare on “Helmsley” – Bruce Neswick (b. 1956)
• Hope – Joel Raney (b. 1946)
• Prelude in G Major, BWV 568 – J. S. Bach

This Sunday we begin our four-week journey through Advent to Christmas. The themes are all about watching for Christ. This Sunday's Gospel come from the Gospel according to Mark:

Mark 13:24-37

“But in those days, after that suffering,

    the sun will be darkened,

    and the moon will not give its light,

    and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.  Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

“But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.”

Music for this Sunday draws heavily on this passage, and especially the thoughts that are highlighted in bold type. Beginning with the opening voluntaries. First you'll hear the Prelude and Fugue in E Minor of Bach. It's nicknamed "The Cathedral Prelude and Fugue, with the fugue also nicknamed Nachtwächterfuge (The Night Watchman Fugue). More on that later.

It's a work from his youthful period, when Bach was still in his twenties. He had just got his first real job in Arnstadt. This position as a highly paid organist had fallen into his lap in 1703, after a brilliant performance when testing the new organ. But a couple of years later, it was actually criticism of his organ playing that was given as one of the reasons for letting him go. He was supposed to have used too many curious variationes and strange notes in his chorale preludes. The church council believed that this confused the congregation.

In this concise Prelude and fugue, we hear both sides of the coin. In the prelude, there are short pedal solos, shaking tremolos for both hands, and series of full chords for keyboard and pedal simultaneously – all exciting musical elements which can also be used, if necessary, to test an organ’s sound and speed of response.

These elements return in the fugue, which opens with a moving theme which gives it the Night Watchman sobriquet. It begins modestly and almost hesitantly, but later with increasing assurance. Towards the end, there is a passage where Bach makes the left hand stand out rather dissonantly against the right hand, in opposition to the rules of composition. This is precisely the sort of “frembde Thone” (strange notes) to which people later objected in Arnstadt. Here, we see a youthful and rather impetuous Bach. On the one hand, an excellent job application, and on the other a reason for dismissal.

The second voluntary before the service is the wonderful organ setting of the aria from Cantata 140, "Wachet Auf!" It's a transcription of the tenor solo (Zion hears the watchmen singing) that Bach himself arranged for the organ. It is one of his most famous pieces. It consists of only three melodic lines: unison violins and violas play a graceful melody over the chorale tune sung by the tenors and a basso continuo. (One the organ, the right hand plays the violin part, while the left hand plays the tenor part on a trumpet stop. The basso continuo is just the bass line, played on the pedal.) It is an example of Bach’s counterpoint at its elegant and imaginative best, all the more remarkable in the knowledge it was part of a frenetic cantata output, written during a period when he had grown disillusioned with his social and musical position in Leipzig.

What I love about the piece is how the beautiful, flowing melody, casually proceeding, is at once interrupted by the cry of the watchman on the blaring trumpet (a perfect instrument of warning.)

During communion, Richard Murray will sing of staple of Italian art song, Pietà, Signore.  It is a religious song, also known as Aria di chiesa, Air d'église and Kirchen Arie. It is often attributed to the Italian Baroque composer Alessandro Stradella, but there is every reason to believe that it was composed by a 19th century composer, either François-Joseph Fétis, Abraham Louis Niedermeyer, or Gioachino Rossini.

The closing voluntary is another work from Bach's early Arnstadt period. It opens with a descending G Major scale. This glorious main theme is split between statements in big chords and scale-like runs down the keyboard, but the two elements are often imaginatively presented in combination.