Classical music is often slandered as "snobbish, elitist, and over the people's heads". Nothing could be further from the truth. One extremely important aspect of the Classical Principle in music, is that it always engages popular music, and elevates it to an unimagined level of beauty, through what the composer Dvorak called the "full cavalry" of classical symphonic, vocal, polyphonic, poetic, and harmonic resources. Bach, for example, is often slandered as an elitist, composing only for the court, which had the education to appreciate advanced counterpoint such as fugue. This is even further from the truth. (Ft1)
Bach sought to uplift every hymn known to the Lutheran Church. When we hear a known hymn set by him in advanced counterpoint, such as fugue, we discover that, with a little work, such counterpoint is indeed the very best way to reveal the hidden qualities of that hymn, as we shall see.
Bach composed his Cantata #140, "Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme" in 1731 (known in English as "Sleepers awake, for night is flying".) One hundred and thirty-two years earlier, in 1599, Phillip Nicolai composed the words and melody for that hymn.
He composed it at a time when the plague was striking hard in his area. It may seem incongruous to compose such exuberant music in the middle of a pandemic, but Nicolai wrote it as part of a larger text called: " A Mirror of Joy in the Eternal Life", in which he said:
“Day by day I wrote out my meditations, found myself, thank God, wonderfully well, comforted in heart, joyful in spirit, and truly content; gave to my manuscript the name and title of a Mirror of Joy... to leave behind me (if God should call me from this world) as a token of my peaceful, joyful, Christian departure, or (if God should spare me in health) to comfort other sufferers whom He should also visit with the pestilence.”
For Nicholai, joy was a mirror image. If he died of the plague, he could rejoice in leaving an inspiring body of work behind. If he did not, he could take joy in continuing to comfort the sick.
Our society recently experienced such a plague. The modern image of Nicholai's simple comforting of the sick, might be to take joy in correcting the errors that led to the pandemic, so that it might never happen again! Sadly, that still remains to be done. In any case, the message is clear: one can always find a wellspring of joy, in any situation, if you locate the essence of your life, not as a victim, but in using your creative abilities to fulfill a mission on behalf of humanity.
Nicolai did not create the music out of nowhere. It has precedents in "in Dulci Jubilo", and "Silberweise" by Mastersinger Hans Sachs (German Meistersinger, poet, playwright, and shoemaker, 1494-1576).
Silberweise
Bach stuck very closely to Nicolai's text and melody, as well as his Biblical inspirations.
In a Theme and Variations, the composer starts out with the unadorned simple theme. The variations then grow in complexity. Bach does the opposite. The final stanza of the poem, which becomes the final movement of the Cantata, is set by Bach as a simple 4- voice chorale. Though Bach's Chorales are famed for being, to this day, unsurpassed, it is still his most elementary setting of the melody.
We will examine the Cantata backwards. The Cantata ends with this 4-voiced setting of the final verse. Hear it at the end as Wachet 3.
3. Gloria sei dir gesungen
May gloria be sung to you
Mit Menschen- und englischen Zungen,
with the tongues of men and angels,
Mit Harfen und mit Zimbeln schon.
with harps and with cymbals.
Von zwölf Perlen sind die Pforten,
The gates are made of twelve pearls,
An deiner Stadt sind wir Konsorten
in your city we are companions
Der Engel hoch um deinen Thron.
of the angels on high around your throne.
Kein Aug hat je gespürt,
No eye has ever perceived,
Kein Ohr hat je gehört
no ear has ever heard
Solche Freude.
such joy.
Des sind wir froh,
Therefore we are joyful,
Io, io!
hurray, hurray!
Ewig in dulci jubilo.
for ever in sweet rejoicing.
The Fourth movement of the Cantata features a beautiful new melody in the strings. That melody is soon joined by a tenor rendition of the main theme, on the text of a middle stanza of the poem. Her at the end as Wachet 2.
2. Zion hört die Wächter singen,
Zion hears the watchmen sing,
Das Herz tut ihr vor Freuden springen,
her heart leaps for joy,
Sie wachet und steht eilend auf.
she awakes and gets up in haste.
Ihr Freund kommt vom Himmel prächtig,
Her friend comes from heaven in his splendour,
Von Gnaden stark, von Wahrheit mächtig,
strong in mercy, mighty in truth.
Ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf.
Her light becomes bright, her star rises.
Nun komm, du werte Kron,
Now come, you worthy crown,
Herr Jesu, Gottes Sohn!
Lord Jesus, God's son!
Hosianna!
Hosanna!
Wir folgen all
We all follow
Zum Freudensaal
to the hall of joy
Und halten mit das Abendmahl.
and share in the Lord's supper.
If the beautiful new melody in the strings is examined closely, you will see that it derives from various motives in the song itself.
Bach saves the most difficult for first. What? This is, after all, a song the congregation has known for more than a century, and has sung quite often. The challenge is to hear it, or maybe softly sing along with it, as it unfolds slowly in the soprano voice. Try it! If you don't get it at first, try again. Hear it on Wachet 1
1. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Wake up, the voice calls us
Der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne,
of the watchmen high up on the battlements,
Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem!
wake up, you city of Jerusalem!
Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde;
This hour is called midnight;
Sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde:
they call us with a clear voice:
Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen?
where are you, wise virgins ?
Wohl auf, der Bräutgam kömmt;
Get up, the bridegroom comes;
Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt! Alleluja!
Stand up, take your lamps! Hallelujah!
Macht euch bereit
Make yourselves ready
Zu der Hochzeit,
for the wedding,
The other four movements of the Cantata elaborate on Nicolai's theme of the parable of the Ten Virgins. The Cantata is a through-composed pedagogy in both musical and philosophical development. The effect at the end should be to make the listener want to hear the entire thing again..
We used an older recording, since our modern versions lack the majesty proper to the piece. However, we include a newer version for you to compare and make up your own minds. We said at one point that advanced counterpoint was the best way to reveal the hidden values of a hymn. That is because it corresponds to how the mind works. Humans don’t think in a linear way, one word at a time. We bounce different thoughts off one another, some moving slowly, some faster. We measure them against the past, as we contemplate the future, with both converging on the present.
The Thomaskirche in Leipzig was one of the greatest educational institutions ever, with elites and ordinary people learning from the great Bach.
Ft 1. The French enlightenment contributed to the removal of Bach's memory after his death. Jean Jacques Rameau, who was a trained musician, wanted to simplify music, and "bring it down to the people's level", with simple melody and accompaniment. Advanced counterpoint bothered him. "Playing two melodies at the same time for the sake of clarity, is like making two speeches at the same time for the sake of clarity", said he. Here is some of his boring music.
Here are the three movements using Nicolai's "Wachet auf" melody in Bach's Cantata # 140. They are movements 7 , 4 and 1.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/724p7o7a57h78la/wachet3.wav?dl=0
Here is another older recording from 1977 of movement 4:
Here’s a newer performance by Bach society of Netherlands: