An austere fugue subject here begins with a strange leap. To play this four-note opening on a keyboard is to outline a symmetrical structure, reminding us of the bare pillar that holds up the structure. Adorned on the structure are two faster, florid themes which enter later in this long piece. 

But our moment today is its ending -- a deceptive ending leads to a brief coda, but when it happens, its harmony strikes us with a surprising dissonance, feeling almost like the resolute major tonic triad that it wants to become. But a pesky A natural, the sixth scale degree, dashes this to pieces. 

Bertrand Cuiller plays the C# minor fugue (with prelude) for the Netherlands Bach Society

Today we bring you 24 repeated notes on the same pitch.  Can you think of any other Bach piece which features this special effect?  Certainly this is unique in the orchestrational context here: a high-pitched recorder, beeping out a digital-sounding alarm clock noise.  Or is it a bell ringing?  We explore what this all means -- because, of course, with Bach, it MEANS something.  

Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben (BWV 8) performed by the Netherlands Bach Society. Shunske Sato, conductor; Benny Aghassi, recorder solo

Yes -- the famous one!

One of Bach's most universal melodies, the melody in the strings opens a profoundly perfect setting of a verse of the hymn "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" in the central movement (4th of 7) in the beloved masterwork "Wachet auf" cantata. Here is the exceptional performance by the Netherlands Bach Society.

Why does this opening string melody stick with just about all listeners? There are secrets hidden in the very first few notes that we will dissect. Then there is the stately hymn tune which Bach seamlessly incorporates, with a text calling for longing, joy, love, and reverent magnificence.

PATREON for A Moment of Bach - always optional, always appreciated.

Huge thanks as always to the Netherlands Bach Society for allowing us to use their audio examples on our podcast.

Thanks also to Syndey LaCom for our podcast artwork.

To celebrate a milestone in downloads and a successful season wrap with Bachtoberfest, here is our last entry of the year: a blooper reel that we collected from a bunch of episodes in Season 1. 

Here's to the listeners who gave this little podcast ten thousand downloads. See you in Season 2 for more Bach!

In our season finale before we take a break and return early next year, we celebrate the first season’s wrap! For this "Bachtoberfest," we talk Coffee Cantata, German beer, and all things A Moment of Bach. We answer a bunch of listener questions about our own musicmaking processes and history with Bach, and we get deep into some listener ideas. 

Special thanks to YOU the listener for hearing 37 episodes! You made this a real thing. See you in Season 2!

We’ll drop one more bonus after this with the year’s blooper reel!

Artwork by Sydney LaCom

Musical examples provided by the Netherlands Bach Society

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en

Their All of Bach project: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach 

The “iceberg”: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicalMemes/comments/7gm1az/the_classical_iceberg/

Today we are joined by Dr. William Heide, longtime music minister at St. John's Lutheran Church, Orange, CA -- as well as a longtime Bach expert.  He has conducted over 60 full Bach cantatas in concerts spanning the three decades of his tenure at St. John's.

The three of us chat about the lasting power of this particular work, in which the soloist sings about welcoming his own passage from life to death, about closing his weary eyes to rest, about leaving the pain of the world behind.  The middle movement is a masterwork within a masterwork -- a stirring yet peaceful exploration of what it means to encounter death, replete with musical silences throughout.

We also feature Dr. Heide's own arrangement of "Abide with Me" for organ, which intersperses the main theme from the "Schlummert ein" movement.

This is our second-to-last episode of the season!  Please ask any question or make any comment -- we'd love to read and answer everything during next week's episode. You can use our website to interact with us at https://amomentofbach.com/ or simply email us at amomentofbach@gmail.com 

Next week: BACHTOBERFEST! The last episode of Season 1 of A Moment of Bach!

Netherlands Bach Society performance of "Ich habe genug (BWV 82)"; Lars Ulrik Mortensen, conductor; Thomas Bauer, bass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_5DG9BD-SU

Dr. Heide's arrangement of "Abide with Me" with melody from mvt. 3 of "Ich habe genug" was part of this concert of organ preludes (skip to 28:50 to see "Abide with Me"):

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=716469542277195

An article about the timelessness of "Ich habe genug" (shared with me by Carol Knox):

https://enewspaper.latimes.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=55b23eb4-c387-4805-b3d3-a4a5bf65d15c

Huge thanks as always to the Netherlands Bach Society for allowing the use of their high-quality performances as our audio examples. https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en

Thanks again to Dr. William Heide for joining us today!

Special thanks again to our artist, Sydney LaCom, for designing our cover artwork.

A short, simple piece for a solo instrument -- only 35 seconds long.  Yet it has captured the imaginations of so many people: musicians, philosophers, artists, mathematicians, and more.  It's all because of the unique cleverness of Bach -- showing us here that he can construct a piece that can be played forwards OR backwards... OR both at the same time!  Yes, this piece is actually for two instruments -- one playing it normally and the other playing it backwards in time.

Alex recounts the story of Bach composing this piece (and the rest of The Musical Offering), and our discussion turns to the monumental book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter (1979) as well as the recent Christopher Nolan film Tenet (2020).   All these works are the result of authors striving to understand profound mysteries of the universe -- all by asking one simple question: what would happen if you turned time backwards?

Video of Shunske Sato performing "Canon 1 a 2" as a duet with himself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29YwFjE2b1A

Overview of Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, the book we discussed in this episode: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/07/20/reviews/hofstadter-grodel.html

J. S. Bach's "Crab Canon" visualized on a Möbius strip (video by Jos Leys): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUHQ2ybTejU

Examples of M. C. Escher's art: https://mcescher.com/gallery/

Article about the philosophy of Tenet, the film we mentioned in the episode: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/plato-pop/202009/is-tenet-s-fatalism-excuse-do-nothing

More examples from The Musical Offering performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, all of which were played in the background of this episode:

Ricercar a 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv5A1gy2oys

Ricercar a 6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjxKy3pP41w

Canon a 4 "Quaerendo invenietis" ("Seek and ye shall find"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRqoP-NdkDg

The organ is an instrument built into a building. Selecting a variety of sounds for an organ composition which requires more than two is a new task on each different organ, and the varieties and combinations are essentially endless. In this chorale prelude in "trio" texture, three distinct organ sounds make up the musical texture, each with a distinct job.

Bach's mastery of organ composition was demonstrated not just by long showy fugues and toccatas. The Orgelbüchlein is a collection of short chorale preludes in artful style and with the theological purpose of spanning the themes of the liturgical church year. 

"Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" is unique in texture for the Orgelbüchlein and distinctly known as a passionate and desperate call in time of need. It proves that an instrument as old and architecturally fixed as the church organ has the emotional power to convey this human condition. 

Leo van Doeselaar plays: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-639/

Piano transcription, Tatiana Nikolayeva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0zw7CaplFY 

Alex spends one more episode excitedly leading us through some of his favorite music, this time from the "Et in terra pax" movement.  Picking up from where last episode left off, we talk about the beauty and simplicity of the main melody of "Et in terra pax", which Bach cleverly reuses as a fugue subject a bit later.  This is classic Bach -- elegant and sophisticated, joyful and heartfelt, deeply complex and yet effortlessly clear and beautiful.

"Et in terra pax" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1285

"Glory to God in the highest!"  The orchestra and choir burst with excitement and joy.  Alex and Christian talk about the beauty of the Latin language, the huge orchestra (which seems actually pretty small by today's standards), the Protestant Reformation, and somehow Christian even gets a tuba joke in there.  Alex talks us through his favorite moment -- the end of the instrumental introduction, where Bach uses a rhythmic trick to ramp up the excitement leading into the choral entrance.

"Gloria" from Mass in B minor, as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=1183

In the second half of a two-part mini-series, Christian picks up where we left off and covers moments from movements three through five of the cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir (BWV 131).  At the end of this episode, we play for you all five moments in order.  If you haven't listened to episode 30, you should start there. 

This very early work uses arcane sounds and woeful harmonies to call "out of the depths," but it also contains minute-for-minute some of the most varied experiments in voice-leading, rhythm, suspended harmonies, beat units, and final chord progressions (cadences) that Bach ever wrote. Are they attempts at an older style, or are they strangely new? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMWDxIkl1fc

For our thirtieth(!) episode, we celebrate by taking a five-movement cantata and giving you one moment from each. This will be a two-part series; this episode introduces the cantata and delves into Christian's moments from the first two movements, while next week we'll see his moments for movements 3-5. 

This very early work uses arcane sounds and woeful harmonies to call "out of the depths," but it also contains minute-for-minute some of the most varied experiments in voice-leading, rhythm, suspended harmonies, beat units, and final chord progressions (cadences) that Bach ever wrote. Are they attempts at an older style, or are they strangely new? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMWDxIkl1fc

What is the "flow state"? The answer can be heard in this performance of Bach's "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" by Menno van Delft.  So deeply "in the zone" of playing this piece, he demonstrates what so many professional musicians can do after practicing a piece for so many hours: the muscle memory kicks in and the piece just plays itself, with the performer able to fully express the musicality without worrying about the minutiae of notes and rhythms.

In this episode we talk about the flow state, as well as the meaning of "chromatic" and "fantasia".  Also -- this is our first episode featuring the clavichord, an unusual keyboard instrument.  We chat about its quirks, and the delightful sense of closeness it necessitates in a performance setting.

"Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue" performed by Menno van Delft for the Netherlands Bach Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38hgCCoGxgE

In four notes, Bach reframes our idea about what is possible in common practice harmony.  This is one of the weirdest moments of Bach, coming from one of the weirdest openings to a hymn tune.   But as always, it makes sense in the context of the text.  It even makes sense harmonically, as we see when the hymn tune closes on four much more normal-sounding notes... and Bach repeats these, adding closure to the text "es ist genung" (it is enough).   This little repetition at the coda, even more than the wildly inventive opening, shows the genius of Bach, the subtle choices that make him enduringly great.

Netherlands Bach Society performs the closing chorale of O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (BWV 60) under the direction of Shunske Sato

The harsh musical interval of the tritone, the "Diabolus in Musica" (devil in music), was strictly controlled in much of early music. So wouldn't it be striking and bold to make a melody out of two of them?  In this scary cantata opening, Bach does exactly this to set a terrifying fugue on the words "They have made their faces harder than a rock" to depict those who have gone astray from God. The music is appropriately harsh with tritones abounding, showing us that Bach's counterpoint can serve chaos just as well as order. These lawbreakers are lost, but not a lost cause; Bach shows in the closing chorale that they are in fact, just like us all, able to ask for forgiveness in the end.

Bach died on July 28, 1750, leaving behind a staggering 1,100 complete musical works, some comprised of many separate movements of music.  Today we honor the 271th anniversary of Bach's death -- by digging into the double choir motet Komm, Jesu, komm.  We talk about funeral music, Pascal's Wager, the "angry" interval of the diminished 7th, and the special emotionality of the German language.

Komm, Jesu, komm (BWV 229) as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society; conducted by Stephan MacLeod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boPBBgsnyiI

A helpful and concise biography on J. S. Bach: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/musicapp_historical/chapter/j-s-bach/

What is it that makes some magical moments of music feel like freefall or floating? What is it that makes some moments feel like firm, steady ground? The key is in the bass -- the lowest part of the music, which (by Bach's time) had developed a foundational role in all current musical styles. Listen here how Bach takes a firmly grounded bass line and toys with it -- pushes and pulls it. After a magical feeling of floating, Bach employs the wonderful trick of "dropping" the bass back in; this trick is going strong in the present day in musical styles like EDM.

In a second moment from this wonderful opening to the slow movement of this violin concerto, we hear a strange and sudden "cross relation." These two moments occur in just five measures of slow music!

Netherlands Bach Society performs the concerto under the leadership of the soloist Shunske Sato: https://youtu.be/VSwLeKWKtis?t=244

One of the most beloved arias of all time, "Erbarme dich" ("Have mercy on me") comes straight from the contrite heart of Peter, the disciple of Jesus, on Good Friday.  After denying Christ three times, he realized his sin, and "went out and wept bitterly".  The violin solo represents the anguish of Peter's soul at this moment.  Bach scores the emotion here, just like a movie composer would.  This is musical storytelling at its finest.

Thank you to listener Molly for the suggestion!

Hear "Erbarme dich" performed by the Netherlands Bach Society (Tim Mead, alto; Shunske Sato, violin solo; Jos van Veldhoven, conductor): https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=5179

Other music from the St. Matthew Passion: "O Mensch, bewein" (played in the background near the end of the episode): https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=3818

In our first episode about the monumental Goldberg Variations, Christian shows how to break down a canon (round). Unlike "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," the two parts in this canon do not start on the same note. But we can also learn about how this canon was written by using a different perspective entirely. The recipe is simple: start with a very simple melody; add harmony (at the sixth interval), making the melody into two parts; delay one part by a beat (it won't work without this part!), causing some momentary tensions; decorate everything with ornamentation. Because of the delay, you now have a ready-made canon. Now just add a bass line so it complements the rest of the Goldberg music and it's done! You now have three-part music where the top two parts are a canon at the sixth.

That may have been it for the instructions, but there is still artfulness in the execution. The way the leader of the canon predicts the follower is a way for us a glimpse into the immediate future -- this is one of the temporal tricks of music.

Jean Rondeau plays this variation in a performance of the entire work for the Netherlands Bach Society's All of Bach project: https://youtu.be/1AtOPiG5jyk?t=3141 

A solitary voice: "I believe in one God."

Then a second voice: "I believe in one God."

Then another, then another, then another: "I believe in one God..." soon the whole room is full of people confessing their shared faith.

Bach sets this simple text (the beginning of the Nicene Creed) to a simple seven-note tune, but spirals it out into a seven-voice fugue that ranks up there with the most complex pieces of harmonic work of the baroque era.  And yet, despite the remarkable density of the counterpoint, the music sounds effortless and light.

"Credo in unum Deum" from the Mass in B minor, Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Jos Van Veldhoven: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=3254

In this short bonus episode, we continue our discussion with Alec but go into greater technical detail. At the beginning Christian narrates the topics for discussion to come. To hear Alec play through the minuets uninterrupted, go to the main Episode 22 at 57:25. To get more context for this bonus episode, we recommend you first listen to Episode 22 in its entirety. 

Alec Santamaria is a violist, violinist, and teacher based in Los Angeles. He is the viola teacher at Renaissance Arts Academy and Wildwood Music Camp, and holds the Richard Rintoul Viola Chair at the American Youth Symphony, where he has played for eight seasons. He received his bachelor’s degree in music performance, with a minor in philosophy, from UCLA. You can watch his full recital of the Bach cello suites 1-4 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UL0P3-lRm4&list=PL2UoptuvHCJGD0MvF7cQUHTVP15oOYELH&index=1

Our second guest Alec Santamaria brings his viola to show us how violists can play the Bach cello suites! We delve into tuning for baroque music, perfect pitch, the viola and aspects of its technique when playing Bach, and Alec’s narration of his “moments” from the most famous part of any of the suites -- the G major prelude (and other topics too!).

Alec Santamaria is a violist, violinist, and teacher based in Los Angeles. He is the viola teacher at Renaissance Arts Academy and Wildwood Music Camp, and holds the Richard Rintoul Viola Chair at the American Youth Symphony, where he has played for eight seasons. He received his bachelor’s degree in music performance, with a minor in philosophy, from UCLA. You can watch his full recital of the Bach cello suites 1-4 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UL0P3-lRm4&list=PL2UoptuvHCJGD0MvF7cQUHTVP15oOYELH&index=1 

For a bit more of the interview, check out our bonus episode released shortly after this one. 

Join us as we uncover the complexity under the surface of the seemingly simple music of Bach's English Suite in A major.

The harpsichord is an elegant yet austere instrument.  It has only a fraction of the power and versatility of a pipe organ, and none of the soft/loud sensitivity of the piano, yet, it is elegant in its simplicity.  We remark on how the harpsichordist seems to activate the very core of this music in her interpretation, adding ornamentation and stretching time.  She proves here that the harpsichord can be wonderfully expressive.

Netherlands Bach Society video of the Sarabande from English Suite No. 1, played by Aline Zylberajch: https://youtu.be/GihzDys7Qpg?t=978

What is counterpoint? What’s a fugue, and why is that musical structure so tied to the idea of Bach’s work? The answer lies not only in the most towering and imposing works of fugue, but also the most simple and graceful. This early wedding cantata features a small moment of fugue so sublimely perfect that it seems like it must have always existed. As it flows along like an inevitable river, each of its parts begin separately but go through an identical natural progression of musical material as all the others. The words point to a blessing upon a newly formed family. 

https://youtu.be/YNjAHgMMsFs?t=140

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-196/

Hey! Are you still reading this episode description? Do you want to try and listen for each subject entry in the fugue? This fugue is perfect for it. From the beginning to the end of the fugue, the subject entries are in this order: 

• Soprano (solo; NBS uses soloists for the first batch of subject entries!)
• Alto soloist
• Tenor soloist
• Bass soloist
• Violin 2
• Violin 1
• Cello (in a rare case for Baroque music, this cello is separate from the main bass part)
• Alto singers WITH viola 
• Soprano singers with violin 2
• Bass singers with cello and other bass instruments
• Tenor singers with viola
• Soprano singers with violin 2
• By the time that last entry ends, everything from the fugue turns into concluding material until the end. 

You could also try sticking with ANY entry through all four (!) of its chunks of musical material (subject and following three “countersubjects”) up until near the end when they leave the pattern to start concluding the music. It’s worth a few repeated listenings. Try it!

• The fugue subject is the simple falling melody on the words "Er segnet das Haus Israel."
• Countersubject 1 begins with fast notes and has the words "er segnet das Haus Aron."
• Countersubject 2 is the most active, filled with all fast notes on mostly just the word "segnet."
• Countersubject 3 is a simple rising melody to complement the subject. Its text is "...das Haus Aron, das Haus Aron."

A textbook "moment" of Bach -- in a charming setting of the three verses of the German song "O Lamb of God, Most Holy," suddenly near the end of the third verse Bach finally heeds the text and shows us the strange despair we are praying for mercy to avoid. He employs several musical devices in this sudden moment: a change in meter, a suggestion of a distant tonality, and a barrage of harsh chromaticism (notes outside of the key).

First we learn the background and the tune "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" before showing how Bach introduces this Cantus Firmus (melody) in this organ prelude's beginning and first verse where it is heard on top. The Cantus Firmus moves lower in the second verse, and in the third it is down at the bottom in the organist's pedalboard. Here the text of the last line changes from "have mercy on us" to "grant us peace." Ending strong and firm, Bach gives us peace from that sudden harsh "moment."

Netherlands Bach Society: "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" as played by Wolfgang Zerer for All of Bach

Thank you to listener David for the excellent suggestion. 

Our first guest episode!  We chat about one of the greatest and most enduring pieces of music ever written, "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring."  Eric Clausen, a Lutheran pastor and Alex and Christian's brother-in-law, shares his perspective on church music and how this piece became so meaningful for him.  We talk about Bach's life as a church musician, how these cantata texts can have more in common with contemporary praise music than "traditional" hymns, and music's enduring power to enrich the soul.

Thanks to Eric for his guest appearance on A Moment of Bach! Check out his podcast, "The Faithful Forebearers" here: http://faithfulforebearers.com/

Cantata "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben" (BWV 147) performed by the Netherlands Bach Society: https://youtu.be/h97JE4--p84

Or, go straight to movement 10: https://youtu.be/h97JE4--p84?t=1633

The orchestra is full of countless sound combinations. In Bach's time, the orchestra was smaller and these new expressions mostly hadn't yet been explored. But in the "Wohl euch" aria from the Pentecost cantata O ewiges Feuer, o Ursprung der Liebe, Bach experimented with a new language in tone color with violins and flutes. The Pentecost story of the cantata is a sort of reverse Tower of Babel; apostles were given a gift of the Spirit's fire and could suddenly communicate in many languages. Bach, a Protestant, took advantage of writing the church's vocal music in the people's language of German rather than the obtuse Latin of traditions past. Similarly, his orchestration -- way ahead of its time -- points to a new way of "speaking" to us musically. https://youtu.be/-QA-Tc8Vw80?t=475 www.amomentofbach.com www.bachvereniging.nl/en

You will be humming this one for days!  Even if you didn't know of this particular aria before hearing this episode of A Moment of Bach, it's impossible not to be charmed by this sprightly tune on a first listen.  But there is also some fury and swift anger in the music -- the words are "Give me my Jesus back!" and they are shouted at the soldiers who have arrested Jesus on the night of His betrayal. 

"Gebt mir" aria (Sayuri Yamagata, violin; Sebastian Noack, bass): https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=5722

Let's call this one "How to Break a Chorale." A Bach chorale is a pure, simple expression of a hymn tune. Sometimes it contains complex harmony, but the harmony is always in support of a song that the people knew, and the texture is simple and chordal. This is why today's moment feels like a bolt of lightning from the blue! It's a chorale for a few seconds...before it stretches apart at the seams. Four separate, strange tones tear the fabric of the chorale at the word "death." The chorale reemerges happily and hopefully.

Chorale: https://youtu.be/5hFwikTsYs0

It's our third and last episode of the Brandenburg 3 miniseries.  The last movement of Brandenburg 3 is full of nonstop excitement and rhythmic drive.  Come with us as we talk about the complexity (and simplicity!) of the rhythmic layers, and the way that inverted chords breathe fresh life into the music, and the moment -- the moment we both picked -- Bach's own viola solo.

Netherlands Bach Society performing the third movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 3; Shunske Sato, artistic leader: https://youtu.be/qr0f6t2UbOo?t=370

Thank you for listening to A Moment of Bach!

For our second installment in the Brandenburg Concerto 3 miniseries, Christian describes the whole 20-second middle movement: chord 1, chord 2. Well...no, that isn't the whole story. We will uncover much more than meets the eye in this shortest of all Bach movements. It's an automatic "moment" -- no cutting or zooming in necessary. 

Brandenburg 3 mvt. 2: https://youtu.be/qr0f6t2UbOo?t=350

Welcome to our miniseries on Brandenburg Concerto No. 3!  In this first episode, we will talk about the first movement.

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are considered by many to be the pinnacle of instrumental Baroque music.  Come and join us as we explore why.

Alex's "moment of Bach" comes near the end of the first movement, when the music gets a little low and scary, and the cellos play some heavy metal music. Well, it sounds pretty metal!

Stay tuned for the next two episodes in this miniseries, as we continue to marvel at Bach's creativity, and the elegance of his musical construction. The Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 is truly one of the greats.  The Netherlands Bach Society performance of this piece is a great way to spend 11 minutes of your free time: https://youtu.be/qr0f6t2UbOo

Artwork for "A Moment of Bach" by Sydney LaCom

Don't you just "know" when someone has put good work into a product just from your first experience with it? We think this is why Bach never feels lazy. While Bach excels at portraying a shepherd's pasture with music, we hear how some contemporary examples from film and TV are so much more widely varied in quality. Bach's musical pasture is so idyllic that we can use it to de-stress from our modern lives!

Cantata BWV 104: https://youtu.be/eZaL8XakQLo

Freesound #183454 CC license

"Stay with us, for night is falling..."

Happy Easter Monday! Today's moment comes from the Easter Monday cantata "Bleib bei uns" ("Stay with us"). The music is inspired by the story of the two disciples who met a stranger along the road as night was falling. The twist ending of this story makes us look back on the moment a little differently. "Stay with us..." is given new meaning.

Alto aria (Tim Mead, countertenor; Yongcheon Shin, oboe da caccia): https://youtu.be/YOtAvqH_A9k?t=346

In our tenth episode, we celebrate the genesis of this podcast's main premise. Using a humble and unassuming bit of connecting music from the St. Matthew Passion, Christian shows how Bach portrayed the soul swimming in tears. Love emerges victorious in the last line, where the music reaches a shimmering conclusion. "How can we talk about moments like this?!" That was our question to each other, so that's why we've got a podcast now!

"Wiewohl" recitative: https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=1732

One of Bach's most famous works, and one of the greatest melodies of all time -- this comes to us by way of an almost impossibly good performance/recording by the Netherlands Bach Society.  By having the first violin part played by a section rather than a solo, they give Bach's wandering melody more purpose than it has in the famous version for solo violin, "Air on the G String", which is actually a re-arrangement of this original version -- and one which, we assert, does not stack up to the original version's greatness.  That greatness comes not only from getting the first violin part back in its proper higher register and key, but also from the interplay of the inner lines in the second violin and viola parts, as well as the famous walking bass line of the continuo part. 

Ultimately, though, it is that upper melody which enchants us most.  Is there any wonder that it has enchanted generations since Bach -- it seems to reach toward some meaning, something just out of grasp -- and will enchant generations to come? Yes, the melody wanders... but not all who wander are lost. 

See "Air" from Orchestral Suite No. 3 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen.

PATREON for A Moment of Bach - always optional, always appreciated.

Huge thanks as always to the Netherlands Bach Society for allowing us to use their audio examples on our podcast.

Thanks also to Syndey LaCom for our podcast artwork.

In our ninth episode, we take our first look at the beloved St. Matthew Passion.  Staggering in its emotional scope, this work tells the complete story of Jesus's suffering and death (from the Gospel of Matthew -- in German!), interspersed with personal reflections. Hearing this music, it is as if you are transported  -- you are there, at the cross. The St. Matthew Passion is a true masterpiece.

St. Matthew Passion last chorale: https://youtu.be/ZwVW1ttVhuQ?t=8543

In our eighth episode, a very young Bach employs old funereal recorders and viols for maximum heartstring-pulling effect in one of the most sublime few minutes of music: the opening sonatina of the cantata Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God's time is the very best time). The cantata, also known as Actus tragicus, is a masterwork from beginning to end. It's easy to see why Christian selected one of its many moments.

Full cantata: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXMUpqSyJJo&t=1083s

In our seventh episode, we find lots of remarkable moments from Bach's 11-movement choral masterwork "Jesu, meine Freude". Alex describes his favorite moment: the end of movement 9 ("Gute Nacht"), when all the wandering voices slow down and come to rest on a single, solitary note. We also explore some new ways to listen to music that has multiple voice parts, focusing on the beauty of the inner lines.

Jesu, meine Freude conducted by Christoph Prégardien: https://youtu.be/uN5Tt7SAhzg

In our sixth episode, we marvel at the simple beauty of the C major Prelude, one of the most recognizable pieces of all time. Why is this keyboard exercise pattern with apparently no melody so famous and captivating? Christian unpacks its structure by looking not for a moment in the middle, but instead where the end and beginning seem to touch. 

Prelude in C Major performed by Siebe Henstra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCqWH9bKzQE

In our fifth episode, the church organ comes alive! Alex guides us through the journey of the Passacaglia in C minor -- starting with a hushed, low tune, and expanding into an epic finale that could shake a cathedral.

Passacaglia played by Reitze Smits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzBXZ__LN_M

And played by Cathedral Bells: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t6xG9bsBA8

In our fourth episode, Christian introduces the opening of the Magnificat. No expense was spared in Bach’s triumphant and expressive Magnificat, including a force of three trumpets and timpani. Christian uses the Magnificat opening to introduce the baroque trumpet, an instrument very different from the modern-day version.

Magnificat: https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-243/

In our third episode, Alex introduces one of Bach's most beloved church cantatas: "Wachet auf" -- "Wake up!" The watchmen on the tower are calling! At a certain magical moment, Bach removes the bass instruments so we can hear the bright, ringing voices announcing that Christ is coming to the world. Alex also describes the beauty of the rest of the cantata, with audio examples from the Netherlands Bach Society's performance.

BWV 140 opening chorale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqZE54i-muE

In our second episode, Christian introduces the royal processional of the cantata Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland. We celebrate the launch of the podcast with this cantata for the new church year, an early Bach work. But the "moment" is hidden later on, where the young Bach uses an experimental sound: a knock at the door from plucked strings with an unresolved harmony. The voice of Jesus sings "Behold, I stand at the door and knock."

BWV 61 bass recitative: https://youtu.be/MzWJsRjanC4?t=571

In our first episode, Alex introduces a triumphant moment near the end of the "Dona nobis pacem" from the monumental Mass in B Minor, and we introduce the audio centerpiece of our podcast: the Netherlands Bach Society and their "All of Bach" project. But first, we discuss the question at the heart of the show's premise: "Why Bach?"

Dona nobis pacem: https://youtu.be/3FLbiDrn8IE?t=6315

Artwork: Sydney LaCom

Welcome to A Moment of Bach, where we break down our favorite moments from J. S. Bach's vast output. Join hosts Alex Guebert and Christian Guebert for weekly moments! Ep. 1 launches on 1/25/2021.

Recordings provided by the Netherlands Bach Society's All of Bach project.

https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach 

Artwork: Sydney LaCom

Did Bach write this? Many think not. It's brilliant nonetheless! 

We get into a talk about aspects of this motet which would or would not be hallmarks of Johann Sebastian.

BWV 230 as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

This delightful jig closes out our miniseries on Brandenburg 6.  Here we speak about the third movement's jumpy beats. and how these rhythmic anticipations give the whole piece a bouncy energy.  Bach, the expert violist among so many other things, gives the two viola parts the most intricate material, playing off each other and passing along the musical line.  Yet, in the ritornellos, he always doubles them, allowing for a rich, sweet viola tone to dominate in this delightful musical treat.

Netherlands Bach Society performs Brandenburg 6 (skip to 3rd movement); Shunske Sato, artistic director

Welcome back to our yearly miniseries on the Brandenburg Concertos of J. S. Bach! This is part two of three. Today we look at the languid and luscious slow movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.

Music is (often) a setup of expectations, and then the satisfying fulfillment of those expectations OR the clever subversion of those expectations. Bach is especially good at this principle. We focus first on the unusual written-out cello part, separate from the basso continuo, creating a new entity but bound to the bass still (heterophony). Then we look at Christian's two moments, both of expectation and then subversion.

Brandenburg 6 - movement 2 - Netherlands Bach Society

Welcome to our yearly miniseries on the Brandenburg Concertos of J. S. Bach!  Here we jump into Brandenburg 6, delighting in the weirdness that results when Bach decides to omit violins, preferring a dark, low sound of violas, violas de gamba, cello, and violone.  This brings us to some more examples across Bach's oeuvre, as well as some others by Brahms, Bruce Broughton, and John Williams.  As any creative person knows, setting limitations for yourself -- "no violins", for example -- is actually a good strategy for stimulating creativity, and results in a more unique creative output.  How fortunate for us, then, that Bach seems to agree.

Brandenburg 6 - movement 1 - Netherlands Bach Society

Other pieces that were used as audio examples:

BWV 18 (cantata with 4 violas and no violins) - Netherlands Bach Society

BWV 80 (Ein feste burg), middle movement (unison chorale) - Netherlands Bach Society

Brahms - A German Requiem - movement 1: University of Chicago Orchestra, University Choir, Motet Choir, Members of the Rockefeller Chapel Choir, James Kallembach, conductor (recording used under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives 3.0 license) - refer to the first entry on this IMSLP page

Other pieces that we talked about, but did not play as examples:

Bruce Broughton - score from Tombstone (1993) - Gunfight at the O. K. Corral (4 bassoons can be heard in the first minute of this scene)

John Williams - score from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) - Hogwarts Forever (French horn quartet) (can be heard from 0:00 - 1:50)