Music for the Third Sunday
after Pentecost

Proper 6, Year C, June 13, 2010

Today's cantor and soloist:
Robin Smith

Mass Setting:
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena Healey Willan

Voluntary

Opening Hymn 495:
Hail, thou once dispisèd Jesus, In Babilone

Psalm 5:1-8
The congregation chants each half-verse of the psalm beginning at the asterisk

At the Offertory—
Cantata 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (mvt. 1), J.S. Bach

Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!
Was der Himmel und die Welt
An Geschöpfen in sich hält,
Müssen dessen Ruhm erhöhen,
Und wir wollen unserm Gott
Gleichfalls itzt ein Opfer bringen,
Dass er uns in Kreuz und Not
Allezeit hat beigestanden.

Exult in God in every land!
Whatever creatures are contained
by heaven and earth
must raise up this praise,
and now we shall likewise
bring an offering to our God,
since He has stood with us
at all times during suffering and necessity.

Text: attributed to J. S. Bach himself

Offertory Hymn 573:
Father eternal, Ruler of creation, Langham

During Communion—
Cantata 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen (mvt. 3), J. S. Bach

Höchster, mache deine Güte
Ferner alle Morgen neu.
So soll vor die Vatertreu
Auch ein dankbares Gemüte
Durch ein frommes Leben weisen,
Dass wir deine Kinder heißen.

Highest, renew Your goodness
every morning from now on.
Thus, before this fatherly love,
a thankful conscience shall display,
though a virtuous life,
that we are called your children.

Text: attributed to J. S. Bach himself

Communion Hymn 574:
Before thy throne, O God, we kneel, St. Petersburg

Closing Hymn 410:
Praise, my soul, the King of heave,n Lauda anima

Voluntary

Music Notes:

With Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) Cantata BWV 51, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, we embark upon a summer of unique musical offerings! Over the next thirteen weeks, we will present over a score of individual arias from the Bach cantatas for solo voice. These works represent some of the most breathtakingly beautiful—uplifting as well as heart-breaking—sacred effluence from one of the greatest masters of Western Music. It also affords us the opportunity to hear, individually, from just about every single member of our choir.

We usually think of Bach’s cantatas as typically containing arias, duets, recitatives, and choruses, capped by a Lutheran chorale. However, the cantata was originally an Italian invention, usually for a solo voice with accompaniment, and a form Bach is known to have studied with considerable interest. So it could be argued that Bach’s solo cantatas are his only real cantatas—and some of the most exquisite contributions to the genre.

Within this output, Cantata 51 is something of an anomaly. Only boy sopranos (trebles) were allowed to sing in the Thomaskirche services in Leipzig. However, the work is simply too virtuosic for most trebles. One must assume therefore that the cantata was written for some private function in which a female soprano, perhaps Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena herself, sang.

The work opens with a bravura aria for soprano trumpet and strings (heard today at the offertory). The soprano and trumpet writing is of the most brilliant sort, challenging both singer and instrumentalist to the utmost. The third movement, the beautiful and introspective aria, Höchster, mache deine Güte, (offered today during communion) is scored for cello, organ, and soprano. Here the gorgeous cantalena and plastic phrasing demand a different kind of virtuosity from the singer.

In an era mired with increasing class distinctions and socioeconomic inequity, a decade dominated by an increasingly unsophisticated popular-culture and a time in which our political leaders choose to wage war around the world without prejudice, the human race needs every possible opportunity to have a passion for a higher level of the human experience.

Throughout Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, in live performance, we can experience first-hand a sublime sense of joyful urgency. Through this music we see that Bach’s concept of death comes with an almost fervent sense of expectation. Though difficult to understand in modern society, as one examines the context of Bach’s life, (losing his first wife in 1720 and ten of his children to premature death), the composer’s keen hope for peaceful finality is understood. This essence of spiritual reflection, central to all of Bach’s sacred music, is manifested throughout these masterpieces and is essential for the soul of human existence.

-- Owen Burdick

Music for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

Music Notes:

Music for the Third Sunday
after Pentecost