Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken

Last updated

Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken ("Musical Thoughts on Dying") is a collection of keyboard music by Johann Pachelbel. It was first published in 1683 and contains four sets of chorale variations.

Contents

General information

First published in Erfurt in 1683, Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken is now lost. According to Walther's Musicalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732), four sets of chorale variations constituted the collection, and attempts have been made by musicologists such as Max Seiffert and Hans Joachim Moser to reconstruct the work using Pachelbel's surviving chorale variations. There is little doubt that the collection included the following three pieces:

Most reconstructions (and editions) include Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan ", chorale and 9 variations in G major (G Mixolydian), as the final work of the set, based on stylistic similarities. The status of this particular piece is, however, disputed; it has been suggested that Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele (chorale and 12 variations), which survives as a copy made in 1716 by Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber, [1] JS Bach's pupil, should replace Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.

As the title indicates, the collection was probably influenced by the deaths of Pachelbel's first wife, Barbara Gabler, and their only child. They both died in Erfurt in September 1683 during an epidemic.

Analysis

Each work in Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken begins with a four-part chorale setting followed by several variations, mostly in three voices. At the end, the four-part setting is played again. The variations themselves are not connected to individual stanzas of the chorales. The melodies Christus, der ist mein Leben and Herzlich tut mich verlangen date from the early 17th century, while the other two appeared during its second half and so are from Pachelbel's own time.

There is a simple tonal plan in the collection: the first and the last works are in G Mixolydian, the second is in the dominant key of D major and the third is in the subdominant key of C major (or the Ionian mode). The overall mood of the collection, supported by the major keys, is lighthearted and optimistic. Each set, however, includes a single variation in which there is a subtle sense of grief supported by chromaticisms.

Christus, der ist mein Leben

Variation 1 uses basic ornamentation of the melody in the soprano, while the two lower voices engage in imitative counterpoint. Variation 2 uses the melody in diminution in the soprano, lower voices provide support in longer note values. Variation 3 utilizes the same principle in reverse, the chorale supported by shorter note values in the bass. Variation 4 consists of rapid arpeggios distributed between hands and based on the harmonic structure of the original melody. Variation 5 engages in three-part imitative counterpoint with the chorale in the middle voice in longer note values. The two-part Variation 6 utilizes more extreme and dynamic diminution and contrasts sharply with Variation 7, which is a slow-paced three-part exploration of the original melody, rich in chromaticisms and darker in mood than the rest of the piece. Variations 8 and 9 both use the melody in long notes (in the bass in Variation 8, in the soprano in Variation 9) with accompaniment in shorter note values. The last three variations change the metre to 12/16 and somewhat gigue-like, joyous in tone; in the final variation the melody is presented using sequences of thirds and sixths in the two upper voices.

Alle Menschen müssen sterben

In Variation 1, the melody is ornamented slightly and basic imitative patterns are used in lower voices. A more elaborate melodic ornamentation is used in Variation 2, accompanied by longer note values. The next four variations all employ the original melody unadorned, accompanied by passages in shorter note values, sometimes engaging in imitative counterpoint. Variation 7 is the chromatic variation of the set; it is followed by the energetic two-part Variation 8 which is based on parallel thirds arranged in fast-paced passages.

An arrangement of this set of variations exists made by Johann Gottfried Walther. It contains 5 variations and is listed in the Perreault catalogue under number 377b.

Herzlich tut mich verlangen

"Herzlich tut mich verlangen" is the only chorale in triple metre in Musicalische Sterbens-Gedancken. The original melody was in E Phrygian, but Pachelbel, like many composers of the time, used an Ionian harmonization, presumably to avoid the mood of the Phrygian mode. Variation 1 is a three-part setting of the melody with the bass written out in short note values providing dynamic support to the upper voices. In Variation 2 the melody is subject to diminution, fast ornamented passages moving against the bass line written out in longer note values. Like in Alle Menschen müssen sterben, variations 3 to 6 all employ the melody unadorned and in original note values, with various kinds of accompaniment in shorter note values. Variation 5, the chromatic variation of this set, is a two-part variation and employs chromatic passages in the bass rather than in the melody. The final variation is based on melodic ornamentation, again with miscellaneous kinds of more or less fast passages accompanying.

Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan

Variation 1 features imitative counterpoint in three voices and an ornamented version of the chorale "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". Following the example of Christus, der ist mein Leben, Variation 2 uses the melody in diminution, accompanied by longer note values in the lower voices and Variation 3 reverses this, using shorter note values in the bass to accompany the unadorned chorale. Variation 4 is the chromatic variation and its somber mood contrasts with Variation 5, which features a heavily ornamented version of the melody in the soprano, mirrored in imitative passages in lower voices. During the next two variations, the original melody serves as a background for the intricate imitative counterpoint in other voices (in Variation 6) and fast arpeggios (the two-part Variation 7). Variation 8 is in 12
8 and gigue-like, while the final variation engages in parallel thirds, reminiscent of all final variations of each set except the one in Herzlich tut mich verlangen.

Pachelbel's sacred concerto Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan is based on the same melody and is also a series of variations.

Notes

  1. ↑ See for more information and an image.

Related Research Articles

Johann Pachelbel was a German composer, organist, and teacher who brought the south German organ schools to their peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era.

<i>Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben</i>, BWV 8 church cantata by J.S. Bach

Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?, BWV 8, is a church cantata for the 16th Sunday after Trinity by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is a chorale cantata, part of Bach's second cantata cycle. Bach performed it for the first time on 24 September 1724 in St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig. The cantata is scored for SATB singers, four wind instruments, strings and continuo.

<i>Orgelbüchlein</i>

The Orgelbüchlein BWV 599−644 is a set of 46 chorale preludes for organ — one of them is given in two versions — by Johann Sebastian Bach. All but three were written between 1708 and 1717 when Bach served as organist to the ducal court in Weimar; the remainder and a short two-bar fragment came no earlier than 1726, after the composer’s appointment as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.

The year 1683 in music involved some significant events.

<i>Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe</i>, BWV 25

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe, BWV 25 in Leipzig for the 14th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 29 August 1723.

Johann Peter Kellner was a German organist and composer. He was the father of Johann Christoph Kellner.

Johann Krieger was a German composer and organist, younger brother of Johann Philipp Krieger. Born in Nuremberg, he worked at Bayreuth, Zeitz, and Greiz before settling in Zittau. He was one of the most important keyboard composers of his day, highly esteemed by, among others, George Frideric Handel. A prolific composer of church and secular music, he published several dozen of his works, and others survive in manuscript. However, hundreds more were lost when Zittau was destroyed by fire in 1757, during the Seven Years' War.

<i>Erster Theil etlicher Choräle</i>

Erster Theil etlicher Choräle is a collection of liturgical organ music by Johann Pachelbel, published during his lifetime. It contains eight chorale preludes in seven different styles.

Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122, is a collection of works for organ by Johannes Brahms, written in 1896 at the end of the composer's life and published posthumously in 1902. They are based on verses of nine Lutheran chorales, two of them set twice, and are relatively short:

  1. Mein Jesu, der du mich in e
  2. Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen in g
  3. O Welt, ich muß dich lassen in F
  4. Herzlich tut mich erfreuen in D
  5. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele in E
  6. O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen in d
  7. O Gott, du frommer Gott in a
  8. Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen in F
  9. Herzlich tut mich verlangen in a
  10. Herzlich tut mich verlangen in a
  11. O Welt, ich muß dich lassen in F
<i>Komm, du süße Todesstunde</i>, BWV 161 Church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161, in Weimar for the 16th Sunday after Trinity, probably first performed on 27 September 1716.

<i>Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin</i>, BWV 144

Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin, BWV 144, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the Sunday Septuagesimae, the third Sunday before Lent, and first performed it on 6 February 1724.

<i>Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan</i>, BWV 99

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 99, in Leipzig for the 15th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 17 September 1724. The chorale cantata is based on the hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" by Samuel Rodigast (1674).

<i>Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan</i>, BWV 98

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 98, in Leipzig for the 21st Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 10 November 1726.

<i>Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen</i>, BWV 123

Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for Epiphany and first performed it on 6 January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Ahasverus Fritsch (1679).

There are 52 chorale cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach surviving in at least one complete version. Around 40 of these were composed during his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, which started after Trinity Sunday 4 June 1724, and form the backbone of his chorale cantata cycle. The eldest known cantata by Bach, an early version of Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, presumably written in 1707, was a chorale cantata. The last chorale cantata he wrote in his second year in Leipzig was Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, first performed on Palm Sunday, 25 March 1725. In the ten years after that he wrote at least a dozen further chorale cantatas and other cantatas that were added to his chorale cantata cycle.

<i>Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan</i>, BWV 100

Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 100, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig between 1732 and 1735. The chorale cantata is based on the hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" Samuel Rodigast (1674).

"Herzlich tut mich verlangen" is a German hymn, with lyrics written in 1611 by Christoph Knoll, with a melody adapted from a secular song by Hans Leo Hassler. It is a prayer for a blessed death, beginning "Herzlich tut mich verlangen nach einem sel'gen End". Its hymn tune, Zahn No. 5385a, was later also used for Paul Gerhardt's "Befiehl du deine Wege" and "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden".

Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan

"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" is a Lutheran hymn written by the pietist German poet and schoolmaster Samuel Rodigast in 1675. The melody has been attributed to the cantor Severus Gastorius. An earlier hymn with the same title was written in the first half of the seventeenth century by the theologian Michael Altenburg.

52 chorale preludes, Op. 67

52 chorale preludes, Op. 67, is a collection of 52 settings of popular Protestant hymns for organ by Max Reger, composed between 1900 and 1902. Originally published in three volumes between 1900 and 1903 with the cover title "52 Choralvorspiele für Orgel", the full title of the collection was "Zweiundfünfzig leicht ausführbare Vorspiele zu den gebräuchlichsten evangelischen Chorälen".

"Befiehl du deine Wege" is a Lutheran hymn by Paul Gerhardt. It is one of his best known hymns, and was first published in 1653 in Johann Crüger's collection of hymns and popular religious songs Praxis pietatis melica.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.