{"id":80441,"date":"2020-09-29T14:42:16","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T11:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=80441"},"modified":"2020-09-29T18:02:38","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T15:02:38","slug":"psalms-in-five-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/psalms-in-five-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalms in Five Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"80441","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":79834,"related_cahpter":"579","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A new series - this time: J. S. Bach\r\n\r\n","content":"

J.S. Bach, introduction, cantata BWV 2, Nr. 1 Coro, \u201cAch Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein\u201d (“Oh God, from heaven see it”).<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of Bach\u2019s cantatas were written in his Leipzig period (1723 and following), where Bach was the cantor (musical director and teacher) in the Church of St. Thomas there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bach composed several cantata cycles that encompassed the Christian year, one cantata for each week. The composition here is part of such a cycle, and it belongs to the genre of cantatas based on well-known prayer melodies, the chorale. The melody is adapted in various ways, though the calculated complexity of the music is not readily felt in its emotional depth and power, which also don\u2019t reveal the personal and professional troubles that dogged the life of the composer during this period.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The text is a paraphrase of Psalm 12 which was written in the days of Martin Luther, and the music upon which the composition is based, was composed by Luther himself. The creation expresses the psalmist\u2019s ire and the frustration at the sin and unbelief that surround him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Bach cantata may surprise the listener in that its structure is opposite to the usual classical narrative. It begins with the most sophisticated variation on the melody, and only at the end does it \u201creveal\u201d the simple tune that stands behind this complexity. But the music of prayer was well known to the listener\u2019s in Bach\u2019s day, who would have recognized it from the outset.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cantata was written for five independent parts – the four voices of the choir, and an accompanying bass. Each verse begins with an \u2018argument\u2019 between three of the choral voices on the melody and on the text, and ends with the voice of the alto which sings in long and self-assured tones Luther\u2019s simple melody.<\/span><\/p>\n

This structure repeats itself for each verse. The bass leads the chapter at a dizzying speed, and also participates in the imitations between the voices, and as in a jazz improvisation, leaves the listener amazed at the wealth of invention, all based on one simple tune. The entire text is based on verse 2 of the psalm: \u201cHelp, O LORD! For the faithful are no more; the loyal have vanished from among men.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/-0YLRovPF6A","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"The Psalms In Classical Music","main_caption":"Psalms in Five Voices","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"A new series - this time: J. S. Bach","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"preview_video":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-0YLRovPF6A&feature=youtu.be","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80441"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80540,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80441\/revisions\/80540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}