Our fourth season was the best year yet for our downloads. Thank you for your listenership! And we still welcome your listener "moments" of Bach as ideas for future episodes.  For this season closer, we invite Reverend Eric Clausen, a Lutheran pastor, to help us unpack the background of BWV 80 (A Mighty Fortress Is Our God). The bold and powerful text of the source hymn comes directly from Martin Luther. Bach's cantata incorporates the four hymn stanzas plus poetry by Salomon Franck. Two aMoB...

Martin Luther, J.S. Bach, and Reformation Sunday -- this most Lutheran of all cantatas is our subject for today.  "Ein feste Burg" was the battle-cry of the Reformation: "A mighty fortress is our God!"  Bach's cantata weaves in all 4 stanzas of Luther's strong hymn. We marvel at movement 1 with its "dizzyingly complex counterpoint" (as Richard Atkinson puts it in his video).  This is one of the maybe 2 or 3 most complex opening chorale fantasias in all of Bach's cantata ouevre, and that's a...

The organ, a sacred sound, gets an unusual role in this cantata for solo voice. We hear the organ leaping all over with a virtuoso part against violins and oboes and the alto soloist. There is no better way to convey the rich concept of the "confused joy" of the believer who witnesses miracles.  In this cantata, which took place during the Sunday where the story is read of Jesus healing the deaf and mute, Bach sets his poet's words:  Spirit and soul become confused,when they gaze on Thee, my...

Organist Katrina Liao joins us to talk about one of her favorites, this chorale prelude that is crackling with spiritual fire.  The off-beat bass at the beginning is a neat touch -- could Bach have meant to signify the Holy Spirit by focusing on the 3rd division of the beat? -- but, Katrina's favorite moment comes in the second verse, when the bass gets to carry the melody with a strong, reedy pedal sound.  Christian also points out a hidden "B-A-C-H" motif. "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger...

Why do we play games?  Because they're fun?  Or is it because they give us a sense of structure and a clear goal, a refreshing contrast to our real lives, which are messy, unpredictable, and complicated? In the same way, we listen to Bach to give a much-needed feeling of structure and clarity to our hectic, messy lives.   But sometimes, he doesn't quite give us what we expect.  He breaks the patterns. And it's at those moments when we can catch a glimpse of the angels in the...

An austere fugue subject here begins with a strange leap. To play this four-note opening on a keyboard is to outline a symmetrical structure, reminding us of the bare pillar that holds up the structure. Adorned on the structure are two faster, florid themes which enter later in this long piece.  But our moment today is its ending -- a deceptive ending leads to a brief coda, but when it happens, its harmony strikes us with a surprising dissonance, feeling almost like the resolute major tonic...

Today we bring you 24 repeated notes on the same pitch.  Can you think of any other Bach piece which features this special effect?  Certainly this is unique in the orchestrational context here: a high-pitched recorder, beeping out a digital-sounding alarm clock noise.  Or is it a bell ringing?  We explore what this all means -- because, of course, with Bach, it MEANS something.   Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben (BWV 8) performed by the Netherlands Bach Society. Shunske Sato, conductor;...

In his early twenties Bach produced this compact, delightful cantata, likely for a wedding. The text of the duet is still applicable in a religious school community: The Lord shall increase youmore and more,you and your children. Bach saves a special effect for the last two measures, where a modern technique is used: from highest of highs to the lowest note of the cello, a single line is passed across the string instruments.  We discuss Christian's recent programming of this cantata on Aug....

Bach proves his mastery of the Baroque concerto here, as in the Brandenburgs -- except this time, we don't have the original music!  We do have a harpsichord concerto as well as an organ concerto version of the first movement (which is actually from a cantata)... but we do not have the violin concerto version, which scholars assume must exist.  The reason for this assumption is that this music is suited exceptionally well for the violin, and so, this reconstruction was made.   The first six...

"I shall sing of the wonders of Jesus." The trumpet reflects the text purely before the singer begins. The oboes and violins join in and play off the trumpet, each finishing each other's musical lines.  You probably know this cantata for its most famous movement -- two verses of what we would call in English "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."  But there is much more brilliance to be explored in this cantata.  Bass aria "Ich will von Jesu Wundern singen" as performed by the Netherlands Bach...

A hidden gem, a fully-formed masterpiece from a young Bach, a cantata unburdened by his later fascination with Italian-style recitative and da capo arias: it is the incomparable Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit. We look at this cantata for a third time (see season 1 episode 8 for the sonatina, and season 3 episode 15 for the soprano solo ending moment).  Near the end of the cantata, we are placed in the viewpoint of the criminal on the cross, who receives forgiveness by Christ and is told...

The famous C minor fugue near the beginning of the Well-Tempered Clavier expresses the emotions of sadness, loneliness, and melancholy, according to harpsichordist Masato Suzuki. Suzuki provides a sensitive performance with attention to articulate detail in the fugue subject. This, naturally, leads Christian and Alex into a comparison with race cars.  But, more straightforwardly, this fugue is part of the large journey that is the whole two books of preludes and fugues. The first prelude is a...

Vivid and subtle, this cantata follows the spiritual journey of the soprano soloist who carries the weight of sin on her shoulders. The journey is one from darkness into light, and our moment, sent in by listener Dave, comes at the cathartic middle movement, where hope is found in patience. Soprano Julia Doyle delivers a heartfelt rendition of this stirring cantata, one of Bach's most openly emotional.  We discuss how Bach's choice to make this a solo cantata is a masterstroke in itself, and...

On the last note of Mozart's "Kyrie eleison" in his requiem, he chooses a stark and intense open fifth instead of a triad. What happens when a composer finishes...not correctly? Is this allowed? When using old melodies which start and end on scale degree 3 (relative to major), Bach adapts this old Phrygian mode to his idiom, but this does create an unexpected ending. Even more surprising is the wild hellish chromaticism of the final passage leading up to the Phrygian ending of this "Kyrie"...

We take a suggestion from listener Bruce, and jump into the "other" Nun komm cantata, BWV 62.  Yes, BWV 61 is admittedly the one we prefer, having talked about it several times on this podcast over the last four years.  But sometimes it's good to shine some light on the facets of a hidden gem.  The opening movement of BWV 62 contains multitudes. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (BWV 62) performed by the Netherlands Bach Society, directed by Jos van Veldhoven

Yes -- the famous one! One of Bach's most universal melodies, the melody in the strings opens a profoundly perfect setting of a verse of the hymn "Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying" in the central movement (4th of 7) in the beloved masterwork "Wachet auf" cantata. Here is the exceptional performance by the Netherlands Bach Society. Why does this opening string melody stick with just about all listeners? There are secrets hidden in the very first few notes that we will dissect. Then there is...

In four notes, Bach reframes our idea about what is possible in common practice harmony.  This is one of the weirdest moments of Bach, coming from one of the weirdest openings to a hymn tune.   But as always, it makes sense in the context of the text.  It even makes sense harmonically, as we see when the hymn tune closes on four much more normal-sounding notes... and Bach repeats these, adding closure to the text "es ist genung" (it is enough).   This little repetition at the coda, even more...

A textbook "moment" of Bach -- in a charming setting of the three verses of the German song "O Lamb of God, Most Holy," suddenly near the end of the third verse Bach finally heeds the text and shows us the strange despair we are praying for mercy to avoid. He employs several musical devices in this sudden moment: a change in meter, a suggestion of a distant tonality, and a barrage of harsh chromaticism (notes outside of the key). First we learn the background and the tune "O Lamm Gottes,...

One of Bach's most famous works, and one of the greatest melodies of all time -- this comes to us by way of an almost impossibly good performance/recording by the Netherlands Bach Society.  By having the first violin part played by a section rather than a solo, they give Bach's wandering melody more purpose than it has in the famous version for solo violin, "Air on the G String", which is actually a re-arrangement of this original version -- and one which, we assert, does not stack up to the...

Did Bach write this? Many think not. It's brilliant nonetheless!  We get into a talk about aspects of this motet which would or would not be hallmarks of Johann Sebastian. BWV 230 as performed by the Netherlands Bach Society

This delightful jig closes out our miniseries on Brandenburg 6.  Here we speak about the third movement's jumpy beats. and how these rhythmic anticipations give the whole piece a bouncy energy.  Bach, the expert violist among so many other things, gives the two viola parts the most intricate material, playing off each other and passing along the musical line.  Yet, in the ritornellos, he always doubles them, allowing for a rich, sweet viola tone to dominate in this delightful musical...

Welcome back to our yearly miniseries on the Brandenburg Concertos of J. S. Bach! This is part two of three. Today we look at the languid and luscious slow movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. Music is (often) a setup of expectations, and then the satisfying fulfillment of those expectations OR the clever subversion of those expectations. Bach is especially good at this principle. We focus first on the unusual written-out cello part, separate from the basso continuo, creating a new entity...

Welcome to our yearly miniseries on the Brandenburg Concertos of J. S. Bach!  Here we jump into Brandenburg 6, delighting in the weirdness that results when Bach decides to omit violins, preferring a dark, low sound of violas, violas de gamba, cello, and violone.  This brings us to some more examples across Bach's oeuvre, as well as some others by Brahms, Bruce Broughton, and John Williams.  As any creative person knows, setting limitations for yourself -- "no violins", for example -- is...

Today we return to the 7th of the Goldberg Variations, the "Canary Jig." We discuss that peculiar name, and then we get into some smaller moments. Soaring flares up the keyboard, surprising altered tones, and crunchy grace notes are all over. Pushing forward into the ending, a high note leads us to the finish. We discuss why the contour of the hands makes this ending so satisfying. Goldberg var. no. 7 as performed by Jean Rondeau for the Netherlands Bach Society