It's all about the Bass

A single musical voice, the most simple of concepts. A single voice can carry the weight of the world, lull a child to sleep, pierce the soul. There is something about one musical voice that draws us inward, transports us to a different place, a different era, a different level of existence. Composers who choose to write for one voice have their work cut out for them. In my lifetime I have heard the most subliminal and the most banal sounds from this genre.

I was talking to a friend recently and we discussed Bach’s solo violin music. I realized that it had been a long time since I had heard any of the 6 solo sonatas and partitas. This was an error that I quickly remedied, finding an excellent and complete recording by the baroque violinist John Holloway. Deciding on a single recording of the violin sonatas and partitas can be a daunting task, as there is a wealth of treasures within the Bach recording scene. I prefer Bach on baroque strings and baroque mentality, so that cuts through the clatter a little bit and makes the choice slightly less daunting. I am happy with my choice, it is an interesting, introspective recording. Do not listen to this recording if you prefer the overdoness and excessive vibrato that some modern players prescribe to when playing Bach, you will not find this style here. 

In writing for solo violin, Bach likely drew inspiration from several composers. Westhof, Biber, and later Vilsmar and Pisendel all wrote significant pieces of work for solo violin around the time Bach was composing his music. Recently I rediscovered Biber’s (the original Biber, not the current pop star) solo passacaglia ca. 1676, definitely worth several listens. Solo music was not regulated to violin alone, many other baroque composers wrote solo music for other instruments, including Telemann.

When I was a freshman at Indiana University, one of the first things my teacher and I worked on were the Telemann fantasies for solo flute. This work was on modern bassoon, but that did not stop my amazing teacher, Kim Walker, from giving me what I consider my first baroque lessons. Part of my work was to separate the bass line from the solo line. This work was not only interesting musically, but also intellectually. This work also laid a wonderful foundation for my later work in baroque music.

If one wants to study a piece of baroque music, whether you have an old or new instrument in hand, one must always begin with the base line. Whether it is a solo piece, or there is accompaniment, the bass is always the place to begin, even when the bass line is not a bass line. The play between solo and bass is where the magic happens. Composers during this era spent countless hours working out exercises between these two voices, the best composers displaying the greatest ability to think creatively between these two pillars, and usually the most work. The next time a piece of music by one of the great Dead White European Males (of the powered wig variety) shows up on your music stand, make sure you have all the parts in front of you, start taking note, and then you can begin to truly appreciate the masters.

Bach, Lions, and Honey, oh my! (part 1)

Soon I will be traveling back to Madison for a couple of weeks. My good friend is getting married, and it worked out that I could perform again with the Wisconsin Baroque Ensemble. I played with them the last couple of years, and it has always been a wonderful experience. Good music, great people, excellent experience all around. So I was very happy to find out that they were having a concert the week before my friend's wedding, and I can participate. In this concert I will be playing three pieces, a movement from a Bach cantata, a 17th century two recorder sonata, and a 17th century bass dulcian sonata. For more info if you are in the area click here.

The movement of the Bach cantata we will be performing is Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161. We are only performing the first movement, but there is plenty to discuss in this movement alone. I prefer the translation "Come, sweet hour of death." Some translate it as "come, o sweet hour of death,"or "come, thou, sweet hour of death" but I feel that the informal "you" in the German was intentional, and the title shouldn't be too formal. In addition to the primary music themes, there is a secret (well not so secret, but it is played without words) embedded choral melody Herzlich tut mich verlangen, which I will talk about in part two.

So, I was working on the music line by line...

Komm, du süße Todesstunde (see above)

Da mein Geist                        (when my spirit, apparently an old German phrase, nowadays one                                                            wouldn't phrase it this way)

Honig speist                           (honey ate/dined on honey)

Aus des Löwen Munde          (out of/from the lion's mouth)

Wait... When my spirit ate honey out of the lion's mouth? What? Is it me, or is this a strange thing to say. So I did some research. The story of honey and lions come from the bible story about Sampson.

Here is the abridged version: Sampson saw a girl who he liked. He went to go talk to her, but right before this he was attacked by a lion. Sampson, strong guy as he was, ripped the lion in half with his bare hands. Pumped, he goes and talks to the girl he likes. After they are done talking, Sampson goes and checks out the dead lion. He finds that bees have made honey inside the lion (fast bees apparently). He says to himself, "sweet," and takes the honey and shares it with his parents.

So, the wedding day arrives, and Sampson offers a riddle to his new wife's clan. The stakes are if they figure it out, they receive 30 sheets and 30 sets of clothing. This must have been high quality bedding and clothing, because the other tribe is upset because they can't figure it out. So they threaten Sampson's new wife. She begs him for the answer, and eventually he relents and tells her. Sampson was pissed over the entire event. That was high quality bedding, he didn't want to give it up. So he goes and kills a bunch of people, and takes their bedding.

So the question still remains for me, what exactly does honey have to do with death. OK, so honey I can see, Jesus is known to have sweeten the death deal with honey. Honey has a long history of sweetening things. However, my question is, why the lion? Why particularly the Sampson myth? Stay tuned for part 2...

The entire text of the first movement is:
Komm, du süße Todesstunde (come, you sweet hour of death)
Da mein Geist (that my spirit)
Honig speist (honey ate/dined)
Aus des Löwen Munde; (out of the lion's mouth)
Mache meinen Abschied süße (make my departure sweet)
Säume nicht, (do not delay)
Letztes Licht (last light)
Daß ich meinen Heiland küsse (so that I may kiss my savior)