Baroque Period

Bach’s “Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend”: Five Settings of a Lutheran Hymn

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First published in 1648, the Lutheran hymn, Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend (“Lord Jesus Christ, be present now!”), provided a fertile source for J.S. Bach. Bach created at least five wildly contrasting settings of the melody, each of which relates to a specific aspect of the text. The melody is by an anonymous composer. (It has been erroneously attributed to Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar). Beginning with an ascending triad, the hymn …

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Shunske Sato Plays Vivaldi: “Summer” from “The Four Seasons”

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Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons (Le quattro stagioni) is one of the earliest and most iconic examples of programmatic music. Vivaldi composed the collection of four violin concerti, each depicting a season of the year, during his tenure as music director at the court chapel of Mantua. Together with eight additional concerti, the works were published in Amsterdam in 1725 under the enticing title, Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“The Contest Between Harmony and …

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Handel’s Sonata in D Major, HWV 371: Music Ripe for Reuse

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After 300 years, the music of Handel continues to draw us in with richly expressive melodies and a vivid sense of drama. Both are apparent in the Sonata in D Major, HWV 371 for violin and basso continuo. In the opening of the first movement (Affettuoso), the violin line appears to outline an ascending D major triad, only to arrive on an E, one pitch too far. The next phrase extends even …

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Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater: Music of Sorrow and Solitude

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Antonio Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater, RV. 621 was first performed during Holy Week in 1712 at Santa Maria della Pace in the Northern Italian city of Brescia. The text, a 13th century poem which has been attributed to numerous authors, is a sorrowful meditation on Mary’s suffering during the crucifixion of Christ. Scored for solo alto (originally castrato) and orchestra, Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater sets only the first ten of the poem’s twenty stanzas. Its …

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Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks”: A Festive Celebration

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On the afternoon of April 21, 1749, an estimated twelve thousand people, each paying two shillings and six pence, descended on London’s Vauxhall Gardens to take in an open-air rehearsal of Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks. The ensuing traffic jam resulted in a three-hour backup of carriages across London Bridge, and incidences of road rage. Handel was commissioned to write the festive five-movement suite for a lavish public celebration which occurred a week …

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Handel’s “Eternal Source Of Light Divine”: Marie-Sophie Pollak and Concerto München

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Eternal Source of Light Divine forms the majestic opening statement of Handel’s secular cantata, Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, HWV 74. The aria is a kind of ceremonial call to order. The angelic vocal line is echoed by the trumpet, which seems to emerge from timeless, celestial expanses. Occasionally, the two voices weave together in near canonic counterpoint. Handel composed this music in January of 1713. It was intended to celebrate …

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Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548: A “Two-Movement Symphony”

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Among the most expansive and complex organ works of J.S. Bach is the towering Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV 548. The 19th century Bach biographer, Philipp Spitta, went so far as to call it “a two-movement symphony” for organ. According to the polymath musicologist, Albert Schweitzer, these two complimentary movements are “so mighty in design, and have so much harshness blended with their power, that the hearer can only grasp them …

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