Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Bach: Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40

This morning I listened to Bach's Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40.  This isn't that great a point, but I noticed something interesting in the seventh movement: Aria (Tenor): Christenkinder, freuet euch.  The "freuet"s all have melismas, which helps to portray the ebullience inherent in "freuen" (to be glad).

While each "freuet" has a melisma (some more elaborate than others), for an example here are measures six to eight of the vocal part:

(notation found here)