A Bach Family Christmas
Conductor’s Note

Talk  about good genes! While it’s not exactly news that the Bachs were an exceptionally talented musical dynasty, many of us know this more as a matter of historical anecdote than of direct experience. Those of us who may have encountered “other” Bachs within the extended Bach clan have most probably come across his sons Carl Philip Emmanuel and Wilhelm Friedmann, strikingly inventive composers both.

Few listeners are likely to know the relatives whose music we’re presenting this evening – in addition to the magister JS – namely Johann Ernst and Johann Christoph Friedrich. Both wrote music that is abundantly communicative, consummately pleasing, and skillfully made. 

JS Bach’s son Johann Christoph Friedrich must have been a singularly happy character, one of those baffling individuals who are not ever in a bad mood, whom you simply cannot imagine walking through the door and manifesting grouchiness or impatience with the dog. His advent cantata Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme treats an iconic sixteenth-century hymn (by Philipp Nicolai) that was also set by his father, whose glorious chorale harmonization JCF quotes in admiring, uncomplicated tribute. JCF’s setting emphasizes the buoyantly anticipatory mood of the pre-Christmas season with nary a tincture of the mysticism, awe and even foreboding that can characterize this repertoire. 

The work opens with a unison fanfare, and immediately takes off in a galloping stampede of anapests. Notable moments in the first movement include the spooky treatment of “Mitternacht” (“midnight”) and the upwardly surging lines (“Ihr musset ihn entgegen gehn”) that herald the return of the opening music. The middle movement is pure serenade, among whose highlights are a lyrical chain of suspensions on “singen”, a percolating sequence of melismas on “Freuden” (“joys”), and another rising stretto (closely timed imitation) on “Wir mussen ihm entgegen gehn.” The third and final movement opens with a chorale-like setting, segueing to the quotation from JS; a striking, luminous finale offers imitation on a neon-lit chromatic motif: “O When the Saints” with the third note sharped. 

Johann Ernst was a cousin of JS, who was also one of his godparents. JE was an organist and church musician who left to posterity just twenty or so cantatas. His music is characterized by contrapuntal deftness, harmonic edginess, and a theatrical handling of text and narrative. In his dark and soulful response to the German-language Magnificat – which is, like Wachet auf, an advent text – the Italianate, operatic inflections of the counter-baroque are everywhere in evidence, the searching for maximal dramatic impact unmistakable. Lines writhe chromatically up and down; rhythms syncopate. The string writing, borrowing from Vivaldi, is extravagant, colorful, virtuosic, impassioned; its gestures include fast repeated notes, spiky rhythms, and flashy arpeggios. The cantata’s many highlights include the tender solo quartet “Die Hungrigen” that follows the jagged aggressions of the fugal “Er ubet Gewalt.” JE did not get the happy gene: his joy is, decidedly, in a minor key. 

JS Bach’s Magnificat must be one of the most beloved works in the repertoire, and deservedly so. As we return to it this season, we are struck anew by the inexhaustible genius of its invention. There is so much variety. No movement resembles another. Solo voices are characterized with lavish imagination; the orchestral palette is multi-hued, the textures richly layered. Among the many attributes of this music that overwhelm us: the feeling it imparts of noble designs unfurling majestically in the forwardly striding medium that is musical time, like a fast-action film of a cathedral being built. Its grandeur and radiance remind us all of that is best in the human imagination.

***

Jonathan Breit has written his own program note for Der Zippelfagottist. What a pleasure to collaborate again with this talented musical humorist.

© Mark Shapiro 2016