Page 114 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 6.6
Movements in cantata
Wachet auf
Movement
1234567
chorus chorale 1st stanza
recitative
aria (duet)
chorus chorale 2nd stanza
recitative
aria (duet)
chorus chorale 3rd stanza
Bach uses the chorale Wachet auf to create a clear, large-scale structure for his cantata. Notice the formal symmetry across all seven movements of the can- tata, as shown in Figure 6.6. The chorale is sung three times to three different stanzas of text, and these presentations come at the beginning, middle, and end of the work. Between statements of the chorale tune are linked pairs of recitative and aria, each joyfully announcing the divine love that Christ will bring to the Christian community.
With an overview of the structure of cantata Wachet auf now in mind, we turn to the crucial fourth movement (see Listening Cue). Here the text of the chorale speaks of the meeting of Christ and the daughters of Zion (true believers); they enter the banquet hall to share the Lord’s Supper. For this spiritual vision, Bach constructs a musical tapestry for chorus and orchestra. The main thread is the chorale tune Wachet auf, which Bach places in long notes in the tenor voice of his choir. The tenors represent the watchmen of Jerusalem (Leipzig) calling on the people to awaken. Around the chorale tune Bach weaves a second, exquisitely beautiful melody, one of the loveliest that he or any other composer ever created (Example 6.3). Here again we see a late-Baroque melody that starts haltingly, but gathers speed and force as it moves ever forward. All the violins and violas play in unison—their togetherness symbolizing for the spiritually attuned the unifying love of Christ for his people.
Beneath both this melody and the chorale tune the bass plays regularly re- curring quarter notes on the beat as it moves up and down the scale. This is called a walking bass, one that moves in equal note values step by step to neigh- boring pitches. The walking bass in this movement enhances the meaning of the text, underscoring the steady approach of the Lord. This movement was one of Bach’s own favorites and the only cantata movement that he published—all the rest of his Leipzig cantata music was left in handwritten scores, generally deemed worthless, immediately after his death.
92 chapter six late baroque music: bach and handel
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LiSTeN TO . . . Example 6.3 online.
Example 6.3 > melody from wachet auf
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