Motet: The two part Schütz setting of the Luther double chorale "Verleih uns Frieden-Gib unsern Fürsten" was first published in that composer's German motet collection "Geistliche Chormusik." The passionate Luther plea for peace must have had a special resonance in war-torn Germany. The Geistliche Chormusik was published in 1648, the year of the Peace of Westphalia, that brought the horrific Thirty-Years was to a close. Schütz' setting is so subtle and sophisticated that the tune is for the most part buried in the complicated five-voice texture. The color and sentiment of the words are, however, brought to the fore in the most vivid way.

Cantata: The same chorale ends our Cantata BWV 42, in one of the greatest of all of Bach's chorale harmonizations. It is interesting to see two great master composers with such radically different notions of how to set this great tune. Bach Cantata BWV 42 is one of the great profound masterpieces of his output. It is interesting that this "low Sunday" work, along with its companion cantata BWV 67, is infinitely greater than any of Bach's Easter music. The work begins with a heavenly and sweet-voiced Sinfonia for two oboes, bassoon and strings. Clearly the two oboes represent the two Mary's and the bassoon, Jesus. The whole story of Easter morning is told here in the most ravishing way. The mood is broken by the ominous repeated notes in the tenor recitative that describes the fear of the disciples on the evening of Easter for fear of the authorities. The text then proclaims that Jesus came among them. The following aria, a setting of the familiar text where two or three are gathered together, is one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful portrayals of a state of grace. Here the glowing strings form a halo around the two expressive oboe lines. The alto voice is almost more spoken than sung, in a tone of astonishing intimacy and warmth. The middle section is unusual in a rocking meter but almost harsh in its affect. There is a strange continuo figure that appears in the middle that is a premonition of the weird paranoid soprano-tenor duet that follows. In this marvelous spiky duet, all of the gorgeous soft edges are broken into a paranoid howl. Jesus as the great military leader appears in the bravura bass aria with obbligati for two violins. The brilliance is short-lived, however, and remarkably undercut by the great Luther plea for peace that ends this cantata.

©Craig Smith

Translation