Sunday, November 29, 2020

JS Bach's "Wachet Auf..."

 

One of my favorite organ pieces for the Season of Advent – J. S. Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme – opens our service this week. The German title is often translated “Wake, Awake, a Voice is Calling.” After all, isn’t that sentiment partly why we live so fully into Advent? We are urged to be alert and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ.

 

This chorale prelude of Bach’s comes from his collection known as the “Schübler Chorales,” so named for the engraver – Johann Georg Schübler – who published this set of six chorale preludes towards the end of Bach’s life (around 1747). None of the six pieces in this collection began their lives as organ pieces. Instead, they were movements from some of Bach’s many cantatas that he wrote during his tenure in Leipzig. Bach selected these six movements to be transcribed from their cantata (three musicians, often two instruments and a singer) to pieces for organ (one musician).

 

In Wachet auf..., you’ll notice a catchy, dance-like theme at the outset (played by the right hand) paired with a harmonic framework (played in the pedal). In the original cantata, this would have been high strings/violins and low strings/cello, respectively. The left hand remains unneeded until several measures into the piece and then only sporadically throughout. This is because the left hand is playing the part of the original cantata movement that would have been sung by a singer; in this case, a tenor, who would have sung the chorale melody phrase-by-phrase in the original cantata. So, when the chorale melody comes in, the left hand plays in the tenor register on a trumpet stop. No doubt Bach specified one of the loudest stops of the organ for this “voice” as a means of painting the text of the chorale: Wake up! A voice is calling!

 

I hope this piece helps you begin this season with a smile. I find it hard to listen to without doing so myself!

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