instant out of the infinite depths of longing, which delivers the
soul from the oppression of the will, which diverts our attention
from all that is importunate, showing us things divested of all the
influences of anticipation, of every personal interest, becoming
objects of disinterested contemplation, and not of covetousness;
thus this repose, vainly sought along the open paths of desire, but
which has always eluded us, appears to us, as it were, of its own
volition, and vouchsafes the realization of peace in plenty. This
free condition of sadness Epicurus pronounced the chief of all good,
the happiness of the gods."[120]
[Footnote 120: Schopenhauer. _Lichtstrahlen aus seinen Werken._ J.
Frauenstädt, Leipzig, 1874.]
To the six greater preludes and fugues also belong the prelude in
_C_ major[121]--which, reproduced in an altered form by Bach himself
upon another occasion, recalls in both its forms the beginning of
the Concerto in _C_ major for two clavecins--and the prelude in _C_
minor,[122] the fugue of which (as we have already seen) must be
earlier in date. Otherwise the great fugue in _A_ minor,[123] the
prelude of which, included with the fugue in this series, is still
replete with souvenirs of Buxtehude, and would thus revert to the
Weimar period.
[Footnote 121: P. ii, 1.]
[Footnote 122: P. ii, 6. B.-G. xv, p. 218. Here are noticeable
reminiscences from the _Recordare_ in the _Dies Irae_ of Legrenzi,
for eight-part chorus, three _violes_ and organ.]
[Footnote 123: P. ii, 8. B.-G. xv.]
Finally, we would mention the prelude in _C_ major in 9-8 time[124];
it recalls in its movement a fantasia by Froberger.
[Footnote 124: P. ii, 7. B.-G. xv, p. 228.]
It is curious to observe that the fugue which follows it played a
part in the inspiration of _Die Meistersinger_, in its analogous
figures, and in resuming the subject at the close, this time in
augmentation, like a chorale melody.
Is it not of some interest to see brought together, in a work of
Bach's, these extremes in music? Froberger, with all his inheritance
of past centuries; Wagner, proclaiming the dawn of a new art?
THE CHORALE
PRELUDES (_VORSPIELE_)--TRIOS--FANTASIAS--FUGUES
We have seen to what an early period of Bach's life his first free
compositions revert; perhaps of still earlier origin are the works
which the Chorales inspired in him.
Liturgical in character, and thus all the more closely identified
with the popular sources from which he sometimes drew his own
inspirations in order to idealize them mystically in a sort of
"_procession en Dieu_," the chorale is the soul of Lutheran religious
music. Far more; this universal prayer, the spiritualized communion
of the faithful (their sole participation, really, in a dogma freely
interpreted), passed from the inner temple to the outer court, like
the reading of Holy Writ; the Bible was the book of the family, the
volume of chorales its musical breviary.
The very first arrangements of chorales made by Bach convey a little
of that intimate charm, of that impression of "home" and its domestic
circle, where in the evening the hymns are sung between the reading
of two chapters from the Evangelists; it would seem as though the
young man, an orphan, in imparting to them their expression of quiet
sympathy, desired that they should take the place of those same
intimate pleasures which had been denied him.
In fact, the "_Partite_," these two sets of variations upon "_Christ,
der Du bist der helle Tag_" and "_Gott, Du frommer Gott_,"[125] lend
themselves but poorly to the somewhat formal solemnity of a public
service.
[Footnote 125: These variations are contained in the fifth volume of
the Peters edition (Part ii, 1 and 2).]
The influence of the style of G. Böhm, which betrays itself from
one end to the other of these compositions, and their resemblance
to clavecin pieces, would seem to indicate that they belong to the
Lüneburg period, when Bach had but rarely, at best, an organ at his
disposal. Here we find heavy, solid chords, undoubtedly intended to
augment the tone of the weak instrument, as the profuse ornaments
were to prolong it. They are written without pedal, or, at most, in
one variation, for the pedal of a clavecin; for the pedal part of
this last variation of _Christ, der Du bist der helle Tag_ cannot
be played upon the organ as it is written; the whole design of
the sixteenth-notes in the left hand would be covered up. On the
contrary, entrusted to the basses of the clavecin, which do not
prolong the tone, they merely serve to accentuate the rhythm.
The chorale _Christ lag in Todesbanden_[126] is analogous in
character, and doubtless belongs to the same period.[127]
[Footnote 126: P. vi, 15.]
[Footnote 127: This also must have been written for the clavecin; the
right hand passing over the left in order to strike the bass note
_e_, held meanwhile by the pedal, clearly indicates the intention of
thereby prolonging the sound.]
Among the chorales of the earlier years should be included a prelude
in _G_ major upon _Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern_.[128] This
work dates, perhaps, from Arnstadt; three other chorales, published
by Commer,[129] and similar to those of Christopher Bach, are of
still earlier origin.
[Footnote 128: Published by Ritter: _Geschichte des Orgelspiels_,
part ii, p. 181.]
[Footnote 129: _Musica Sacra_, vol. i, p. 5.]
Aside from these chorales, which are separate, and a few others
equally isolated, of which we shall speak in their proper place,
the greater part of the Bach chorales have been brought together in
various collections, although some have been published separately.
I
In chronological order, the first of these collections is the
_Orgelbüchlein_.[130]
[Footnote 130: _Orgelbüchlein Worinne einem anfahenden Organisten
Anleitung gegeben wird, auff allerhand Arth einen Choral
durchzuführen, anbey auch sich im Pedal Studio zu habilitiren, indem
in solchen darinne befindlichen Choralen das Pedal gantz obligat
tractiret wird. Dem Höchsten Gott allein zu ehren, Dem Nechsten,
draus sich zu belehren. Autore Joanne Sebast. Bach p.t. Capellae
Magistro S.P.R. Anhaltini-Cotheniensis._
The chorales of the _Orgelbüchlein_ are published in the fifth
volume of the Peters, and in the twenty-fifth year of the
_Bach-Gesellschaft_ edition. W. Rust, in the latter volume, has
preserved the order adopted by Bach in the succession of these
chorales, which is according to the church year.]
Because this collection was made at Cöthen, it must not be supposed
that the chorales which it comprises were composed only during the
period of Bach's service to Prince Leopold of Anhalt; Bach rather
made a practical arrangement of them, whereby they might serve as a
useful work for his pupils.
It comprises forty-five chorales, of which a goodly portion
undoubtedly belong to the years in Weimar--perhaps to a still earlier
period.
These chorales are generally written after the models furnished by
Pachelbel; but where Pachelbel is merely calmly devout, or placidly
harmonious, Bach, with a more exalted piety and distinctly more
poetic, lends to them whatever of mystic character he could derive
from the text of the hymns; in addition, he imbues them with all the
picturesqueness suggested by the sense of the words.
And what variety in the choice of means to be employed! Sometimes
there are progressions which fairly chill us, simply the result of
a note purposely prolonged, or a succession of chords strikingly
disjointed, which seem to clash with incompatible harmonies, as at
the close of _Alle Menschen müssen sterben_; or a false relation
seems fraught with fatality, as well as with complete desolation,
as in _O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde gross_. At other times will be
found motives whose symbolic character is not the result of chance;
for example, all the irreparability of the primeval fall of man[131]
is symbolized by diminished sevenths, pitching obliquely downwards,
as if in a veritable vertigo; or the gliding of scales in opposite
directions depicts the balancing of a flying object hovering in
space--skimming over the earth, and already out of range, while, in
the repetitions, the flapping of wings emphasizes the rhythm.
[Footnote 131: _Durch Adam's Fall ist ganz verderbt._ Buxtehude
employed fifths to symbolize this descent.]
Certain rhythms also assist Bach in his task; to express the fulness
of joy in the chorale _In Dir ist Freude_, Bach constructed his
prelude upon a _chaconne_ movement, a _carillon_ theme, repeated
unceasingly by the bass; the sole subject perceptible, of which the
other parts are but an indistinct reflection; even the melody of
the chorale is lost sight of in the vibrations of the bass, but,
nevertheless, it presents itself in the voices, which repeat it
in fragments, sometimes with elaboration, like the hum of a great
people celebrating a festival, who emerge in vast throngs from the
church whence the final reverberations of the organ still voice its
rhythm,[132] and who betake themselves, thenceforth busy with their
pleasures, to the sunny square now invaded by the sound of the bells
ringing their full peals.
[Footnote 132: Organists often played the _sortie_ (postlude)
in the form of a _chaconne_, with full organ (see Mattheson:
"_Der vollkommene Capellmeister_," and Becker, "_Rathgeber für
Organisten_"). The prelude to the chorale "_Heut' triumphiret Gottes
Sohn_" is conceived in the same manner.]
Certain chorales are expressive enough to pass as paraphrases;
Bach did not err in judgment, and reserved for them a discreet
accompaniment, which is sustained very softly, asserting itself only
to provide for the melody a "breathing space," as it were, after
which it may reappear with increased breadth.
This is exemplified in _Herzlich thut mich verlangen_, a favorite
chorale with Bach, with its gloomily suspensive ending, expressive
of desire or of doubt in its employment of the Phrygian mode, which
supports the harmonies, delicately ambiguous in the irresolution of a
petition.
This mystical fervor, intensified by Bach, was foreign to the
conception of the composer of this melody; Hans Leo Hassler, as he
wrote it, saw in it nothing of a chorale, still less of a hymn, but
designed it simply for the words of a five-part madrigal:[133] _Mein
G'müth ist mir verwirret_, a poem dedicated to a certain "Maria," the
initial letters of the five verses forming the acrostic of her name.
[Footnote 133: In the collection _Lustgarten neuer teutscher Gesänge,
Balletti, Galliarden und Intraden mit 4, 5, 6, 7, und 8 Stimmen.
1601, Nürnberg, bei Kaufmann_.]
Meanwhile, the producers of religious songs soon laid hold of this
one; to this secular music was adapted, in 1613, the translation
made by Paul Gerhardt of the _Salve caput cruentatum_,[134] written
by St. Bernard; it thus became the hymn of Holy Week. During the
century, certain publishers (Rhamba-Görlitz) still further distorted
its meaning; it was henceforth heard at funerals, expressing the
longing to leave the earth, whereas formerly it had served to salute
the bloodstained face of the Saviour, while, in the by-ways, amorous
lute-players languished to its tones in "courtly diminutions."
[Footnote 134: _O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden._--_Cf._ chorale in St.
Matthew Passion.]
But had not Luther said, "Why should the Devil have all the best
tunes?"
The canon form inspired Bach to compose some curious arrangements of
chorales. He commanded so many artifices, could devise such ingenious
counterpoints with which to create interest, to overcome the rigidity
of scholastic practices, and in addition could clothe the composition
in so rich an "orchestration," that it becomes a pleasure to play
something so erudite, so natural does it sound to the ear. This
double interest offered to the mind and to the ear is exemplified
in a canon upon _Hilf Gott, dass mir gelinge_, where, interlacing
itself amid the imitations in the fifth, a sustained movement in
triplets runs through the entire compass of the keyboard. In _In
Dulci Jubilo_, similar triplets, liquidly intangible, imperceptibly
disintegrate the rhythm, soften its somewhat harsh character. This
chorale recalls Bach's stay in Cöthen by the unusual compass of its
pedal part, which extends upward to _F_ sharp; so, for the same
reason, does the chorale _Gottes Sohn ist kommen_, also written in
canon.
Of the other chorales in the _Orgelbüchlein_, a small number, it is
true, recall chorales by the organists of the North German school;
as examples of this style we would cite _Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen
sein_ and _Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten_, both, in the
ornamentation of their melodies, characteristic of the Reinkens and
Buxtehudes.
Finally, we would call attention, in _Ich ruf' zu Dir, Herr Jesu
Christ_, to a form of writing truly instrumental, at the same time as
analogous to the style of the _Adagio_ (in _A_ minor) of the Toccata
in _C_ major, as the repetitions of notes are characteristic of G.
Böhm.[135]
[Footnote 135: Compare that chorale with this fragment of a chorale
by Böhm, _Vater unser im Himmelreich_:
[Music]]
II
The chorales of the Orgelbüchlein were compiled by Bach for
purposes of instruction, as we have seen. It is not known
whether it was his intention to publish them, or the eighteen
_Choralvorspiele_[136]--sixteen autographs and two copies in
Altnikol's hand--the MSS. of which are preserved in Berlin. In any
case, these latter would have been rather for personal use than to
serve as exercises for his pupils.
[Footnote 136: P. vi, and vii. B.-G. xxv, vol. ii, 3rd part.]
In this collection a form of chorale arrangement is found which we
did not encounter in the _Orgelbüchlein_, the _trio_.[137] From a
subject taken from a chorale melody, Bach forms a figure, which
he develops in three parts in the style of the sonatas for two
manuals and pedal; fragments of the _cantus firmus_ recur in these
arabesques, sometimes repeated upon one after another of the manual
keyboards, as an echo; or perhaps the pedal finally lays hold of
them, entirely reconstructing the chorale--a stately cadence.
What Bach calls a "Fantasia"[138] is of analogous character; the
difference being, that the parts are more numerous, and no longer
confined to a strictly continuous design.
[Footnote 137: For example, upon the melodies "_Allein Gott in der
Höh' sei Ehr'_" (several versions), "_Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland_"
and "_Herr Jesus Christ, dich zu uns wend_."]
[Footnote 138: _Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland._]
A fusion of Pachelbel's style with that of the organists of the
North, although modified, furnishes a new type: the melody is
figured, it is true, but very discreetly; and the phrases of which
it is composed are treated separately, each being preceded by a
counterpoint derived from itself. The chorale _An Wasserflüssen
Babylons_[139] (_super flumina Babylonis_), for example, is thus
written. The _cantus firmus_ is sustained by the tenor, almost
without elaboration, supported by rich polyphonic imitations of these
various motives.
[Footnote 139: Various arrangements by Bach of this chorale are in
existence; we would cite in particular the one which he made with
double pedal, upon the same harmonic bass as the one already referred
to. It was probably composed for the journey to Hamburg (in 1720),
when Bach drew from old Reinken the avowal of an admiration which
the latter was not wont to lavish, for his improvisations upon this
theme. Reinken had also composed a prelude upon it. It is interesting
to compare the profusion of ornaments by which he renders the melody
almost unrecognizable, with the elegant design in which Bach clothes
it. Reinken thus distorts the beginning:
[Music]
With a Toccata and another _Choralvorspiel_, this arrangement is all
that remains to us of Reinken's works.]
In the same style of composition, born of a poetic imagination, is
the chorale-prelude _Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele_.
"_Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele!_" Adorn thyself, O dear soul; be
full of virtue, to please God; yet, however pure, may thy virtue
be natural and effortless! Be full of grace, and may thy virtue be
a very beautiful thing; doubtless thou hast never sinned, and thus
there is no question of repentance ... that would evoke some feeling
of sadness, and no sadness whatsoever can exist here; thou art
already very noble, and thou must become still more noble; already
very limpid, thou must become still more limpid; although far from
the earth, arise now towards the heavens.... Sublime as thou art,
thou must become divine. Let thy virtue be a very beautiful thing!
"_Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele!_" Adorn thyself, O dear soul! And
Johann Sebastian treats a single line of the very calm and too
austere chorale. Its robes of sackcloth being somewhat too severe, he
bedecks it with simple and suave ornaments, like lilies which would
live on a plain and naked altar. So might a learned and holy priest
speak those words which at once charm and sanctify; and his hands do
not remain crossed upon his breast, but his gesture mounts upwards
towards God, scarcely saddened by a separation which soon will cease
... virtue is a joyful thing!
"_Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele!_" Adorn thyself, O dear soul. And
now, suddenly, upon a distant manual, the calm and less severe
chorale is heard. Do those voices mount towards God, or do they call
from heaven? Is it a prayer which rises, or the dew of a grace which
softly falls like the rain? And the suave ornaments of a simple
melody thus live like lilies, and breathe no sadness. For virtue
is beautiful and joyous.... "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele!" Adorn
thyself, O dear soul!
* * * * *
Bach wrote this chorale on a Sunday, as a pious man conceives in his
heart a beautiful and childlike prayer, for the heavens are very pure
on that day, and one's soul is wholly sincere.[140]
[Footnote 140: Schumann said of this prelude, by which he himself was
influenced in certain compositions (Cologne): "Thou didst play, Felix
Meritis (Mendelssohn), a prelude upon one of those figured chorales:
'_Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele_,' was the text; the melody seemed
interlaced with garlands of gold, and the work breathed forth such
happiness that you inspired in me this avowal: 'Were life deprived
of all trust, of all faith, this simple chorale would restore all
to me.' I fell into a revery; then, almost unconsciously, I found
myself in the cemetery, and I felt poignant grief at not being able
to cover with flowers the grave of the great Bach."--Letters, vol.
i. Mendelssohn had played this chorale at a concert given, in St.
Thomas' Church, to further the erection of a monument to the memory
of J.S. Bach.
The melody of this chorale is found in choral-books since 1649.]
At the end of this volume are the variations in canon form upon
the Christmas hymn _Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her_.[141] The
combinations in which Bach involves this chorale melody, already
often treated by him, might well dismay a contrapuntist; we wish
to note here only that original melodic richness, often touching,
under which is concealed such arduous labor leading to inconceivable
results. Fatigued in following their intricacy, powerless to unravel
the inextricable network, the mind clings to these threads, though
still indefinite--music now superhuman in the swishing of invisible
wings as they fold, or rustle like silk in their contact;--or
gliding, rather, without conjuring up any special sound, but leaving
to the fancy the whole halo of harmonies; or like an echo, as if
fragments caught here and there repeated the song which spirit-voices
pray--the white souls of the pure in heart--these voices in peaceful
chords, strangely sustained, or so gently persistent that the saints
must hear them, in ecstasies which one feels as in a dream; the song
which the stars revealed, murmured to the Child, who was lulled by
the incommensurable rhythm of the universal concert emanating from
God.[142]
[Footnote 141: Einige kanonische Veränderungen über das
Weihnachtslied: _Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her_.]
[Footnote 142: These variations were published separately. Bach had
them engraved about 1746 by Balthasar Schmidt in Nuremberg, in order
to present them as the work for admission which the "Society for
Musical Sciences" founded by Mizler in 1738 imposed upon each of its
candidates. Bach was elected in 1747. He must have composed them,
however, some years previously. The MS. and the engraved edition
present numerous differences of editing.]
III
The Third Part of the _Clavierübung_ contains twenty-one arrangements
of chorales.[143] The "Hymns of the Catechism" and the Creed furnish
twelve of them, each melody treated twice, with or without pedal.
These chorales may be cited as examples of certain well-defined
types; it is unnecessary to identify each one of them separately,
rather will we leave to the reader the task of such a classification.
Some of them, however, are deserving of special mention; the
_Vater unser im Himmelreich_ (treated in canon), for its extended
proportions, for the fulness of its harmony; the _Aus tiefer Noth_
(_de Profundis_) in six parts, with double pedal, noteworthy in that
it appears to have been written for two pedal-keyboards of different
intensity, the melody dominating by its power, crying out amidst the
symbolical chaos of this gigantic polyphony.
[Footnote 143: P. vi, and vii. B.-G. iii.]
We shall not again touch on that faculty which Bach possessed
of translating into music the words of the chorales, whether in
their most obscure meaning, or in their most obviously picturesque
significance. _Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott_, "A mighty fortress
is our God," sings Luther, and Bach emphasizes the suggestion of
impregnability by supporting the melody upon the deepest basses of
the organ; but this firmness reveals itself only after the repulse of
an attack, after the warring of the counterpoints below the ramparts.
It is the same procedure as in the Reformation Cantata _Und wenn
die Welt voll Teufel wär'_, "And were the world of devils full," as
Luther's song runs; "on a sudden, figures of infernal aspect, issuing
from unknown depths, rush to the assault upon the noble melody of the
chorale."[144]
[Footnote 144: Cart. _Un maître deux fois centenaire._]
But such agencies partake rather of an instrumental style,
interesting in an organ prelude, where they are more in place; in
the cantata these counterpoints are entrusted to a bass voice; while
putting the singer out of breath, they impress upon the audience a
sort of wearisome anxiety; "without doubt," says Hanslick, "Bach
obeys a fine symbolic instinct in entrusting the calm and steadfast
melody of the chorale to one voice, while the other, in elaborate
design, creeps about it; but not everything of symbolic significance
must, for that reason, be beautiful in itself."
It is known that the last work of Bach was a chorale-prelude upon
the melody of _Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein_, or _Vor deinen
Thron trete ich_,[145] which he dictated upon his deathbed to his
son-in-law, Altnikol. This composition was added to the plates of
_Die Kunst der Fuge_ (the Art of Fugue), unfortunately lost, which
Bach had had prepared at the time.
[Footnote 145: P. vii, 58. B.-G. xxv.]
"To replace the unfinished portion of the last fugue, the work has
for a supplement a four-part chorale, _Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen
sein_, which Bach dedicated some days before his death to his
son-in-law, Altnikol. I will not dwell on the art which he displays
here, for the profound science of music had been so mastered by the
author that he could exercise it even in illness; but the expression
of pious resignation and devotion with which it overflows has touched
me deeply every time I have played it; and I cannot say which I would
rather do without, this chorale, or the ending of the fugue."[146]
[Footnote 146: Forkel.]