The Effect of the Lyrical and Musical Reciprocation in Bach Cantatas 106 and 80

The interesting fact about this composition is that the tempo is expressive of “religious solemnity” (Pilich). Obviously one can comprehend the fact that music contains not only mere words but can foster certain emotions that are associated with a particular piece of music.

The poet incorporates a unique heroic treatment of the crucifixion of Christ, giving us the image He is a warrior king. He boldly battles and defeats sin through his death. Lines 39-40 tells us of how Jesus willingly stripped himself of his clothes and climbed onto the cross ready and eager to redeem mankind from their sins. It’s almost as though He knew His journey for redemption would be victorious. These lines give us the sense of Christ’s heroism as they exploit him as a Germanic warrior. Also, lines 68-70 are inviting us to see Jesus as a warrior by having His followers take His body and sing songs- just as the Anglo-Saxons did to warriors in respect, loyalty and honour. When Jesus is resurrected, He returns to His own country as the Eternal King (156).

“That hymn is more than a piece of music; it is an event in European history,” says a church historian. But at a more personal level, it also reflects some of

I chose to do my listening analysis on the work Illuminare Jerusalem(Jerusalem rejos for joy) by Judith Weir. The song was written in 1985 for the choir of King’s College, Cambridge. It was first performed by them in the Festival of Nine lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve and has remained a seasonal favorite in their concerts. This medieval Scottish Christmas carol is based off an anonymous 16th century poem about the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The poem is preserved in one manuscript source called the Bannatyne Manuscript which was compiled by George Bannatyne, a young Edinburgh merchant. It is located at the National Library of Scotland with a collection of hundreds of other poems that Bannatyne collected.

A great contrast was found in the second movement, a hymn-like happy mediation of andante. Three phrases of the tune which was given to clarinets and bassoons, has its cadence echoed by low strings. Passages developed from the first theme then led gradually to its return in its original calm mood after a brief climax. A brief coda was made by a new and happy melody referring to the main theme.

As his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, recalled about his father, “when he listened to a rich and many-voiced fugue, he could soon say, after the first entries of the subjects, what contrapuntal devices it would be possible to apply, and which of them the composer by rights ought to apply… In counterpoints and fugues no one was as happy as he in all kinds of taste and figuration, and variety of ideas in general.” (C.P.E. Bach, p. 249) This mastery of contrapuntal technique, most commonly associated with Bach’s organ compositions, can be found throughout his canon, even in prélude to his sixth suite, which is perhaps the closest a cello can come to imitating an organ. In parts, the music is almost divided into two parts, much like a left and right hand on a keyboard would be. The effect is that the cello harmonizes with itself, the low notes hitting counterpoints to the high ones to create a sense of homophony. Strategically placed chords only further this effect, making the piece sound simultaneously wild and magnificent. The piece is mostly in a major key, though sections slip into a foreboding, minor key. This extremely advanced use of musical technique sets Bach apart from his predecessors. There is no reasonable way to characterize his work as ancient, and analysis of the music reveals several points of departure from liturgical chant music and medieval

As a result, his whole life was based around music. From an eight year old boy who attends gigs his dad arranges to a man who created his own work. His life was rounded by support from his family and his church people. They created a boy to be humble and passionate about his music. His musical styles consist of chamber, keyboard, choral, symphony, and vocal. In his work “Violin Sonata in A Major”, it is a keyboard and chamber music. His work was inspired by his marriage, which it was first performed at his wedding celebration. A violin and piano are used, which have a low and high beat throughout the song. Due to it being in Romantic musical period, and him getting married, this song is perfect. In the first movement on the song, it has a slow medieval start. As if love could be dangerous and he is on the verge to find out. Dynamically, it is at speaking voice and goes up higher then lower every time. The beat start off simple, with one by one keys. The second movement, the keys progress faster. Suddenly, a pause occurs in the song and again, keys start to go crazy fast and start off

the weight of the fabric. I looked ahead, where I was greeted with a smile from Kinga Augustyn. She sat under a poster-sized copy of the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No.2 in D major. An open violin case on a stool was beside her. Little did I know that the violin would change my life.

Some of these instrumentally guided recitatives even contain arioso segments, melodious passages that may seem out of place in a standard recitative. Two such recitatives that Buelow does not mention are the intriguing movements 3 and 5 of Cantata No. 78. In the first of these two examples, the arioso section lasts for the last four and a half bars of the piece and helps show the shift from the sinner's inner monologue to an outward presentation of his grief to Christ. In the second, the arioso spans the last dozen "andante" bars of the piece and illustrates a similar shift from the text's discussion of Christ's strengthening of mankind through his suffering to an individual's placement of his own suffering heart before Christ.

Johanna Sebastian Bach was a composer of the Baroque era, the most celebrated member of a large family of northern German musicians. Although he was admired by his contemporaries primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building. Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of church and instrumental music. Appearing at a propitious moment in the history of music, Bach was able to survey and bring together the principal styles, forms, and national traditions that had developed during preceding generations and, by virtue of his

The musical offering was keyboard canons, fugues and another genre of Bach’s music. All of them dedicated to Frederick the Great or Frederick II of Prussia, who brought a one-line musical theme to Bach. Frederick knew that Bach had good improvising skill, so he wanted him to do it. In addition, Bach had improvised three parts of a voice fugue, but Frederick did want to make it harder than Bach did. He told Bach to make it done by writing

It starts with two quatrains, followed by a sestet and ended with a couplet. The rhyme scheme of this poem is used to contrast the idea of death with the happy mood of rhyming. The poem has a theme of death, but to get across the tone that the speaker has accepted his fate and is looking forward to heaven, the author uses rhyme to add a more upbeat feeling to what could be a sad moment. The genre of this poem is Christian poetry which greatly influences the themes of the poem, which are death, Christianity and judgement day. This poem is also grammatically complete, using comas to naturally break a sentence while still maintain one idea.

During the Baroque era, Bach compositions represented unity because he maintained to keep melody through rhythm. Furthermore, Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007 has 6 parts. Kouyoumdjian stated, “ Prelude has 3 layers, the bass, then the melody which is the treble and the middle” (Kouyoumdijan commentary). Afterwards, the rest of the composition. When Kouyoumdjian transcribed Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BMV, he used the violin and harpsichord as a source to transcribe the composition for the guitar. Fuga in the composition is an imitation from the previous composition, Andante is the poetic moment and Allegro shows “fiery.”

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in the town of Eisenach located in Thuringia, Germany. This was an urban district with many cities each with its own musicians and musical director. Not all of the composers were German, some were French, English, or Polish. There were probably many different styles of music to be heard. The church where Bach was born is still standing, and the font where he was baptized is still inside of it. Eventually Bach will turn into an amazing musician and composer. He was a genius from a very young age and it showed in his music early on in his life.

Rarely in the documented history of music can we found a collection of compositions more perfectly tied to an instrument, than that of the Baroque school of French organ composition. Looking at the earliest examples of music from this period (which stem from even earlier vocal polyphony), one will find forms and techniques indubitably connected to the organ. By the start of the sixteenth century, the establishment of colloquial categories of organ composition, and independent vocal forms, were finally acknowledged. For the following two centuries the technical progression of the organ in conjunction with musical development, resulted in every stop on Baroque French organs being given a standardised function. This function was almost always outlined at the beginning of a score by the composer.