Unit 4+2's "I Will"

I've been making my way through a box set of Bach works, and this afternoon I listened to some of the partitas for solo violin.  A section in one of the movements (BWV 1006: III.) sounded familiar to me, and - while I had to restart it a couple times - I eventually placed it as a song by Unit 4+2 (although - obviously - the Bach partita is older).  I had to reference a few songs before I found which one specifically though.  It's the introductory guitar figure in "I Will" (after about four measures of drums).

The phrase starts at measure twenty five in Partita No. 3 for Violin in E major, BWV 1006: III. Gavotte en Rondeau:

(notation found here)

(click the image to enlarge it)

"I Will" is in F major where this partita is in E major, and while the quotation isn't exact, it's certainly close enough to recognize.

Bach: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51

Yester-day I listened to Bach's Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51.  This is just a small point, but I noticed that almost all of the "jauchzet"s in the first movement have melismas.  "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen" translates to "Exult God in all lands," so those melismas on "jauchzet" ("exult") provide a sense of the ebullience in that praising.

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)

Bach: Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?, BWV 27

This morning I listened to Bach's Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?, BWV 27.  A couple musical phrases at the beginning of the third movement sounded familiar:

(notation found here, although there seem to be some problems accessing it now; if you're that interested, you might have to search through the revision history)

The first eight notes in the oboe da caccia part are what first caught my attention (the same phrase is also in the vocal part later in the movement).  It took some research, but I eventually found the other work I knew this from; it's in the first movement of Vivaldi's Spring concerto from The Four Seasons (Concerto No. 1 in E major, RV 269).  Specifically the phrase that bridges the seventh and eighth measures, starting at the forte marking:

(notation found here)

I did some research, and Vivaldi's concerto is from 1723 where Bach's cantata is from 1726, so it seems that Bach took that phrase from Vivaldi.

There's also a six-note phrase in Wer weiß... that sounded familiar to me.  It's the one that bridges measures four and five in the oboe da caccia part.

I didn't recognize this immediately (because that part in BWV 27 is in alto clef), but that phrase is actually the exact same (save for the rhythm of the last two notes) as a phrase in Bach's Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645.  In that work, it bridges measures seven and eight:

(notation found here)

The only date I could find for BWV 645 is 1748, so it seems that the seven-note phrase there is derived from the six-note phrase in BWV 27.

Bach: Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16

This is a very small point, but I just listened to Bach's Herr Gott, dich loben wir, BWV 16 and noticed a significant grammatical inversion in the first movement (also in the title).  It's "Herr Gott, dich loben wir," not "Herr Gott, wir loben dich."  Translated, "Herr Gott, dich loben wir" is "Lord, you praise we," which sounds odd because English doesn't really have different forms for different cases.  In a smoother translation, it's "Lord, you we praise."  Through that inversion, the focus is placed on God because He comes first in that phrase.*

---
*"Phrase" in a loose grammatical sense because "Herr Gott, dich loben wir" has a subject and a verb.  Technically, a grammatical phrase has - at most - only one of those.

Bach: Es ist Heil uns kommen her, BWV 9

This morning I listened to an-other Bach cantata (I've been listening to one a day since 1 February, and I'll be doing that until early August).  This time it was Es ist Heil uns kommen her, BWV 9.  In the second movement, I heard the word "Spiegel," which is German for mirror.  Because of that, I thought I knew the Biblical text used, but first I lookt up the notation so I could see the rest of the text for that section:

(notation found here)

It's not the best translation, but I translated

Wir sollten in Gesetze geh'n
Und dort als wie in einem Spiegel seh'n
Wie unsere Natur unartig sei
Und dennoch bleiben wir dabei

as

We were supposed to go into the laws
And there as in a mirror see
How our nature be ill-behaved
And nevertheless we stay with it

This wasn't the text I was expecting after I heard that "mirror."  I'd thought I would find the text from 1 Corinthians 13:12 - "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."

To some degree, both texts have the same contrasting ideas of seeing perfectly and seeing imperfectly.  In the cantata, there's the perfect seeing of sinful nature through the law (what "We were supposed to... see") and the imperfect seeing involved with "nevertheless we stay with it."  It's the same notion as turning a blind eye.  In the 1 Corinthians text, there's perfect seeing in knowing God "face to face" and imperfect seeing of knowing Him only partly.

So while this Bach cantata doesn't use that 1 Corinthians text, by using the same image of a mirror, it seems to hint at it.

Bach: Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?, BWV 8

This morning I listened to Bach's Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?, BWV 8, and I noticed something in the second movement.  There's a section of the text that recurs a few times; here it is in measures 60-69:

(notation found here)

I translated "Mein Leib neigt täglich sich zur Erden" as "My body daily bends to the earth."  To musically demonstrate this bending to the earth, the melody is descending.

Bach: Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 5

This morning I listened to Bach's Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 5.  I thought I noticed something in the third movement, but I had to look up the notation and the text to make sure.

Part of the text for the third movement is "Ergieße dich reichlich du göttliche Quelle" ("Flow amply, you divine spring").  There's a leap of almost an octave (Bb to Ab, if I'm reading the notation correctly) for the first part of "Quelle" ("spring"), and a full octave (Ebs) in the bass part:

(notation found here)

That leap sort of musically represents the flowing or springing of the source.

Bach: Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4

This morning I listened to Bach's Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4.  I noticed that at the word "nichts" ("nothing") in the fourth movement, the instruments drop out, but - after this feature seemed familiar - I did some research and discovered that I actually made a note of that when I listened to this cantata last summer.  I still intended to write about it (on a different blog) this afternoon, so I lookt up the notation, but then I found something else.

Leading up to that "nichts," there are double, triple, and quadruple stops in the violin part:

(notation found here)

Purely as a musical feature, those multiple stops set up a contrast with the rests after "nichts," but I think there's also an extra-musical intent.  The text for this movement includes:

Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn, an unser Statt ist kommen,
Und hat die Sünde weggethan, damit dem Tod genommen
All' sein Recht und sein' Gewalt,
Da bleibet nichts denn Tod'sgestalt,
Den Stach’l hat er verloren.

Which I've translated as:

Jesus Christ, God's Son, has come in our stead
And has put away sin and with it taken death
All its [death's] authority and its power
There remains nothing because death
Has lost its sting.

The Biblical text is from 1 Corinthians 15:

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:  "Death is swallowed up in victory."  "O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?"  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  (1 Corinthians 15:54-57)

After "sein' Gewalt" ("its power") the triple and quadruple stops occur, as if to demonstrate that power, and then they're absent once "da bleibet nichts" ("there remains nothing").

"Gewalt" can also be translated as "violence," which those triple and quadruple stops could also represent.

Bach: Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2

This morning I listened to Bach's Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2.  At the beginning of the fourth movement, there's a wrenching accidental on the second syllable of "verstört" and the accompanying violin part:

(notation found here)

I had to look up "verstört" to understand the reason behind that accidental though.  "Die Armen sind verstört" translates to "The poor [people] are distraught."  Those tonally-abrupt accidentals audibly demonstrate that agony.

Dave Brubeck's "Fare Thee Well Annabelle"

I'm still making my way through the CDs I got for Christmas.  All I have left are some Dave Brubeck albums.  To-day I listened to the first disc of a two-disc set that combines three albums.  It's just a small thing, but I noticed that at about 5:44 in "Fare Thee Well Annabelle" from Jazz: Red Hot and Cool, Brubeck quotes Bach, specifically the chorale movements (VI and X) of Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147.  It's not an exact quote, but it's enough to recognize.

The Beatles' "Sea of Monsters"

I just listened to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine.  The second half of this is the soundtrack to the Yellow Submarine movie, which I've never seen, and I think this is only the second time I've listened to it, but I still found something to say about it.

At about 2:22 in the track "Sea of Monsters," there's a fairly lengthy quotation of the opening of the second movement of Bach's third orchestral suite (BWV 1068).  It lasts until about 2:36.  Judging by the recording I have of the third orchestral suite (by the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields directed by Neville Marriner), the quotation is pretty accurate too.  The only major differences I can find are that the accompaniment in "Sea of Monsters" is pizzicato where in the original it's done with the bow and that there are a few extra notes in the descending melody in "Sea of Monsters" before the quotation ends.

Because I haven't seen the movie, I don't know how or if that Bach quotation relates to it, but now I'm curious.

Mendelssohn's Prelude and Fugue in G major, Op. 37, No. 2

I'm staying up late listening to some Mendelssohn organ works performed by Peter Hurford.  I noticed in the fugue part of his Prelude and Fugue in G major, Op. 37, No. 2, he sneaks in the B-A-C-H motif... sort of:

(notation found here)

In the second measure here, (skipping the first note) it's G to F# and then C to B.  While this isn't the Bb A C B of the B-A-C-H motif, it's still the same sort of paradigm.  He has a half-step from G to F# and then a half-step from C to B.  Two sequential half-steps are also heard in other places in the work (assuming I'm hearing them correctly), although I didn't look those up in the notation, so I don't know if they're also G to F# and C to B or if they're comprised of other notes.

Among the little I know of Mendelssohn is that he promoted Bach's music and was something of a Bach revivalist, so it makes sense that Bach's musical signature would - in some form - find its way into his music, especially his organ works.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion

I’m still in the midst of listening to all of the music I have by Bach.  Currently, it’s the St. Matthew Passion.  What I’ve found interesting while listening to this is that there are melodies that I recognize because they’re still used in church.  I had the same experience while listening to some of Bach’s organ music (in particular the chorale prelude “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”).  But, without researching, I don’t know if these are melodies that Bach wrote or merely melodies that he used and arranged for his own devices (judging by the attributions in the hymnal, he did arrange some older melodies for hymns).  Either way, it’s pretty interesting that the same melodies (or variations of them) are still used in churches three hundred years later.

Bach's Partitas for Solo Violin

I usually do this alphabetically by album, but I’ve been straying a bit from that this year.  Currently, I’m in the midst of listening to all of the music I have by Bach.  This includes listening to a 10-CD set of his that I got for Christmas last year.

I’m currently listening to the partitas for solo violin.  I’ve heard the first one before, but it was the version that Chris Thile did on mandolin.  So I’m fairly familiar with this music, but not in this form.

While it may be just because I’d heard the mandolin versions first and I’m prone to stick with the first version of something I listen to, I think I actually like the partitas better on mandolin just because they’re on mandolin.  In an interview with PBS News Hour, Thile briefly mentions the differences between mandolin and violin.  In order to play double, triple, or quadruple stops on a violin, the player has to put in more effort because of the curved bridge, but this is not the case on mandolin.  Listening to the first partita - especially the beginning of the tempo di borea, the difference in emphasis because of the instrumentation is clear, and the violin seems to over-emphasis the notes purely because of the way in which its played.  While the mandolin is more precise, I think it also allows for more subtlety.