Advent Sunday. All over the
world, in ‘Quires and Places where they Sing’, organists will be playing J.S.
Bach’s ‘Wachet Auf’ – Sleepers Awake. Or, to give the work its ‘Sunday’
title, ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, BWV 645. This translates as ‘Wake,
awake, for night is flying’. This is the
first number in The Six Schübler Chorales. The history of this work is relatively
straightforward. Around 1746, Bach decided to select six chorales from his
cantatas and arrange them for organ. (There is some argument about the source of
the second piece: no extant cantata exists for this). The Chorale Preludes were
engraved by a former pupil, Johann Georg Schübler, resident of Zella in
Thuringia. They were published in 1747/8. It has been noted that the score
contains several printing errors, which may suggest that the composer did not
proof-read it.
The great polymath and Bach
scholar Albert Schweitzer raised some doubts about the effectiveness of these
pieces. He considered that they do not go ‘particularly well’ on the organ.
Most organists and listeners would tend to (respectfully) disagree with him.
‘Wachet Auf’ is based on a melody
by Philipp Nicolai (1556-1608). Nicloai was a German Lutheran pastor, poet and
amateur musician. In 1599 he published a hymnbook, Freuden Spiegel deß
ewigen Lebens (The Joyful Mirror of Eternal Life) which included the tune.
Bach first used this tune in his
Cantata BWV 140. Here the chorale melody is heard as written in the 1st,
4th and 7th movements. This was composed whilst he was
residing in Leipzig. It was devised for the 27th Sunday after
Trinity and was first performed on 25 November 1731. The Gospel of the Day was the parable of the
Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13). The
coming season of Advent was being anticipated. The tune is first heard in the
opening movement sung to the words ‘Wachet Auf’:
"Wake, awake, for
night is flying,"
the watchmen on the
heights are crying;
"Awake,
Jerusalem, arise!"
Midnight hears the
welcome voices
and at the thrilling
cry rejoices:
"Where are the
virgins pure and wise?
The Bridegroom comes:
Awake!
Your lamps with
gladness take!
Alleluia!
With bridal care and
faith's bold prayer,
to meet the
Bridegroom, come, prepare!"
Translated Catherine
Winkworth (1827-78)
In the fourth movement of the
cantata this melody is now sung by the tenors in unison (or solo tenor) with
the strings providing the well-loved obligato accompaniment and the continuo
which was figured in the customary manner.
This imagery may well imply the
bridal procession alluded to in the Gospel. Charles Hubert Hastings Parry has written
colourfully: ‘that this singular and delightful passage has the intention of a
dance tune; by which is indicated that Bach had in his mind the procession of
the betrothed and the joyous attendance of the virgins, whose gestures have a
wayward grace which is suggestive of Botticelli. At first the quaintness of the
suggestion rather balks acquiescence. But when the extraordinary vivacity of
Bach's imagination is taken into account, it may be admitted that among the
many things which influenced the product, the idea of the virgins of allegory
participating in the welcome of the heavenly Bridegroom may have had a share’.
Another more prosaic
interpretation of this music was made by C. Stanford Terry, who insisted that
the it illustrates:
[Zion hört die Wächter singen]
Zion hears the
watchmen singing,
and in her heart new
joy is springing.
She wakes, she rises
from her gloom.
For her Lord comes
down all-glorious
and strong in grace,
in truth victorious.
Her star is risen,
her light is come!
Now come, O Blessed
One,
Lord Jesus, God's own
Son.
Sing hosanna!
We answer all in joy
your call;
we follow to the
wedding hall.
Translated Catherine
Winkworth (1827-78)
These words come from the fourth
movement of the Cantata. This interpretation is more appropriate for its
current use as an Advent chorale prelude.
The organ transcription in the Six
Schübler Chorales is virtually note for note derived from the cantata,
however ‘the figures which indicate chords to be used as accompaniment’
(figured bass) are omitted.
The pedal part is more awkward
that Bach may have wished. This is because it is an almost direct transcription
from the ‘orchestral’ setting of the original cantata.
Peter Williams (The Organ
Music of J.S. Bach, Cambridge University Press, 1980, 2003) has made
several pertinent comments on this chorale prelude. He notes that the ornaments
in the obligato line are ‘different, (more generous but inconsistent)’ to the
original. Secondly, the chorale melody itself is more ‘decorated’. As noted
above, the ‘figured-bass’ has not been realised. And finally, the forte/piano
dynamics have been omitted from the ‘cantus’ (melody) entries.
‘Wachet Auf’ can be played on any
two-manual organ with pedals, providing it has two octaves of pedals and a light
touch on the keys. Stainton B. Taylor suggests that the tenor part is played by
the left hand on an 8ft stop, whilst the obligato is played on another manual
by the right hand with an 8ft diapason stop. The characteristic bass is heard
on the pedal. This represents only the foundation stops. Higher pitch stops can
be used. In a performing study of this chorale preluded written by Anne Marsden
Thomas she advises that ‘you might choose for the left hand: reed or principal
8' (no louder than mf ); for the pedal: flute 16', principal 8'; right hand:
flute 8', principal 4'.’
A good performance of the organ
prelude ‘Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’, BWV 645 can be heard on YouTube. Tom
Koopman plays the organ at Saint Mary
Cathedral in Freiberg, Saxony, built by Gottfrried Silbermann. Accessed
03/11/2019)
3 comments:
Never knew that J.S. Bach is considered to be BRITISH music!
I think that I am allowed to step out beyond the parameters of hard and fast rules! Besides the clue is in the opening paragraph...What could be more British than the concept of 'Choirs and Places where they Sing?.
I have often prefaced a post with "It's Not British But..."
J
It seems to me that the easiest way to play Wachet Auf is to play the bass part with the left hand and the chorale part with the pedals. It's an especially attractive idea for me because I'm not so hot on the pedals, and there is a nice 4' trumpet stop for the pedals, but nothing quite as nice to carry the melody on the swell keyboard. Is this too weird? I can't imagine why nobody would have tried this before, because the chorale melody is much easier to play with the pedals instead of the bass part, which jumps all over the place.
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