According to Luther, an analogy of interpretation of the Scripture must involve the notions of descent and ascent, which in Lutheran theology refer to the recognition of sin in the Old Testament which plunges sinners in to Hell, and the promise of salvation in the Gospel which lifts souls to Heaven. “With the aid of the analogy of faith Luther related scripture to the faith experience of the believer.”[3]
Luther also argued that "[t]he conviction that God's Word, as laid down in the Bible, is dead and ineffectual unless it is proclaimed, that everything depends on making it current, [which] increasingly resulted in a new orientation for church music.”[4] For this purpose, writers and composers like Erdmann Neuemeister and Nicolai Phillipp wrote texts consisting of biblical verses, strophic arias, occasionally single chorale strophes which would include the Scripture as well as new text that emphasized the content of the parable or other biblical text to bridge the gap between faith and Scripture.
The foremost of those intentions was that the cantata mirror what might be described as the dynamic character of the faith experience in terms of an unfolding sequence of affections and forms. Since that process was widely conceived as one of increasing understanding of the part of the believer, the cantata was basically a form of internalized paysage moralise, a term referring to the third of the traditional four senses of hermeneutics, the moral or topological sense, which normally focused on the faith concerns of the individual.[5]
Such is the case of the German writer of the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme text, the Lutheran Pastor Philipp Nicolai mentioned above, who based the cantata on text from the Gospel of Matthew 25:1-13. The text tells the story of ten virgins who are waiting for the bridesgroom to come to Zion, five are smart and bring enough oil for their lamps to last all night, and the other five are fools who do not bring enough. When they run out of oil, the fools ask the others for help, but they are told to go get more themselves and, when they leave, the bridegroom arrives and they are left outside the doors. The adaptation of the parable and the text written by Nicolai explains to the congregation that this is an allegory for the Second Coming of Christ for which everyone should be prepared.
In the same way that the cantata text is meant to bridge the gap between Scripture and faith, the goal of J.S. Bach when composing the music was to illustrate the parable of the ten virgins and the text so that the congregation could better understand the Gospel.
He closely follows Lutheran theology with his choices of voice and instrument combinations in each movement of the cantata. For instance, he opens the cantata with a SATB chorale tune to introduce the excitement for the promised Second Coming of Christ. He then uses a recitative with a tenor voice to move forward with the narration of the text, which is the traditional use of recitative in Italian operas. For the third movement he uses a bass soprano duet that represent a conversation between Jesus and the believer’s soul, depicted as the spiritual couple.
The use of a bass-soprano duet for the third movement ties back to Luther’s emphasis on each persons individual connection with God. This individual connections is represented by the duet, versus the other choral movements representing the voice of the congregation or that of the people of Zion. The soprano in this case represent the individual voice and asks questions and says things that individuals in the congregation would identify with like “When will you come, my Savior?”. Once again, the purpose of the cantata was to support with music the texts of the the Scripture, and allow individuals to have a personal understanding of the texts and a close individual relationship with God.
Bach then transitions to a choir piece with only tenors singing in unison as the voices of the sentinels announcing the Coming of Christ, and then the fifth movement is a solo recitative where a bass representing Christ sings to the individual believer again about his unconditional love. It then again goes to a duet between the spiritual couple, and ends with the entire SATB choir, and orchestra. This last piece is meant to include also the congregation.
In the first movement the chorus sings to the virgins of Zion, which is an allegory for Humanity, in particular, for the members of the congregation to wake up and prepare themselves for the coming of Christ. The whole first movement has a powerful and cheerful feeling with its high ascending lines and a rhythmic theme (dotted eighth, sixteenth) that begins in all the instruments and it is kept in the continuo throughout the movement. The rhythmic theme gives the impression of moving forward, and of the imminent coming of Christ, while the first violin and the oboe start a fugue like passage with ascending lines that lead to the SATB choral section.
This first movement is one of the two SATB choral pieces which represent the crowds of followers and the excitement because of the news of Christ’s Second Coming. In the chorus the melody of Nicolai’s Wachet auf Chorale is clearly heard in the soprano line throughout the movement, while the three lower voices begin a busy counterpoint with ascending lines that represents the idea of “ascent”.
As mentioned above in the section on Lutheranism there is a strong emphasis on the personal relationship between the individual and God, which is also known as the spiritual couple. The third movement, as mentioned above, is a duet between a soprano and a bass. The soprano represents the individual soul or daughter of Zion, and the bass represents Christ. Both celebrate a spiritual marriage, and Christ promises her eternal love.
The purpose of the third movement from a theological perspective is to focus on the individual and his or her faith, as Jesus speaks to someone directly in this piece. The melodic theme is repeated and restated throughout the piece with variations played by the violin and the voices, supporting or affirming the idea of the Lord’s return mentioned in their exchanges in the text. Also throughout the movement, the melody lines have an ascending feeling, and especially by the end of the piece where the soul calls for Jesus to come “Komm Jesu”, the repetition of the text ascends each time around.
It is worth mentioning that in the sixth movement, the second duet of the spiritual couple the union between the believer’s soul and Christ is emphasized and in a way completed with this love duet that by the end of the piece ends in a canon. This sixth movement is also the only movement of the cantata to be in a key other than E flat Major, instead it is in B-flat major, the dominant of E flat, which highlights the importance of this union of the soul with that of Christ.
In contrast with the chorale in the first movement, the recitatives and duets, the fourth movement is a tenor chorale in unison. In this piece Bach’s known Prelude in E flat major BWV 645 is used as the accompaniment in counterpoint with the vocal melody which is basically a new setting of the Wachet auf, uns ruft die Stimme chorale melody. Throughout most of the cantata, Bach modifies the rhythms of the chorale melody to give it different uses in different textual and musical contexts. This is a perfect example of how Bach would recycle pieces and have the amazing ability to hear the way material from two different works could work together, in this case in counterpoint.
In this fourth piece, the tenor’s voices represent the voices of the sentinels of Zion who announce the second coming of Christ. It is a song of celebration as the soul has already been promised that Christ will come to save her, and the theme of the Prelude in E flat major BWV 645 supports this cheerful spirit with its consonant sound and light melodies that repeat themselves throughout the piece.
Throughout the seven movements of the cantata Bach makes use of multiple music devices and showcases his ability to compose for various instrument and voice combinations as well as musical styles. By doing this, he highlights the cantata text and supports its goal of giving the listeners a more current interpretation of the verses and passages of the Bible which allows them to increase their personal connection with God and the individuals understanding of the Scripture. Combining the text written by Nicolai and the musical adaptation of Bach Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme the principles of Lutheran theology of using allegory only with the purpose of bridging the gap between faith and the Scripture is achieved.
Bibliography
Chafe, Eric. Analyzing Bach Cantatas. New York, 2000.
Dürr, Alfred. The Cantatas of J.S. Bach. Revised and Translated by Richard D.P. Jones. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Gideon’s International. The Holy Bible : containing the Old and New Testaments. [Nashville, Tenn.]: Gideons International, 1985.
Meyer, Ulrich. Biblical Quotation and Allusion in the Cantata Libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997.
Wolff, Christoph. Bach: Essays on His Life and Music. Cambridge, Mass., 1991.
Other sources
Lecture 16 - Baroque Music: The Vocal Music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Yale University, 2002. http://oyc.yale.edu/music/musi-112/lecture-16#ch2.
Mincham, Julian. “Chapter 55 BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft un die Stimme.” The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, 2010. http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-55-bwv-140.htm.
Rilling, Helmut. “Helmut Rilling Interprets Bach Cantatas.” Organization. WKSU, n.d. http://www.drmm.net/wksu/lc/bach140.html
[1] Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas. 6.
[2] Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas. 5.
[3] Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas. 5.
[4] Dürr, The Cantatas of J.S. B ach. 3.
[5] Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas. ix.
by
ailema15 (student)
