Motet: Most of the music written for the last Sundays before Advent have a heavy Eschatological slant. "Hütet euch" from the Third Book of Sacred Symphonies by Schütz takes its text of dire warning from the Twenty-first chapter of Luke. It tells of the dangers of debauchery, that one must stand with the Saviour against the pleasures of the world. Unlike the sometimes self-righteous quality of some of the Epistle readings of this type, the Gospel passage is hair-raisingly direct. Schütz has set the passage with intensity and his usual marvelous specificity.

Cantata: Bach Cantata BWV 70 covers the same topic. Here the spectre of the last judgment hangs heavily over the whole work. The cantata opens with a rousing chorus warning of the last judgment with a prominent "last trumpet" obbilgato. After the brightness of this chorus, the veiled quality of the alto aria with its mournful cello obbligato is an enormous contrast. The soprano aria with strings has surprising vehemence and real spite. The first part ends with the chorale "Freu dich sehr." The second part of the cantata begins with an open and friendly tenor aria that makes it seem as if the tide has turned. The bass recitative with the eschatological chorale "Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit," played by the trumpet, turns us back to the last judgment. This is one of the most ferociously dramatic of all Bach recitatives. The aria that follows is an island of quiet interrupted by more last judgment music. The quiet close to the aria brings us to the heavenly 7 voice harmonization of the chorale, "Meinem Jesum lass ich nicht."

©Craig Smith

Translation for this Cantata