Bach and Brahms Concert
Sopranos Cheryl Clark Donna Dart Dea Ann Eaton Joan Fuelle Regina Harkins Bev Herrig Marsha Miller Lillian Murphy Connie Wieck Priscilla Wieck Altos Janis Clark Amanda Dowell Jo Eglen Diana Joslin Lisa Miller Tenors Rich Dowell Don Richards Basses Peter Bruning John Daniel John Gallagher Chris Heap Dave Lloyd Boice McCain Darrell Swarens Curt Winkle
Soon after his arrival in Leipzig in 1723, Bach was apparently commissioned to write a memorial motet for the wife of the town's Postmaster, Johanna Maria Kase. The service took place in the Nikolaikirche on 18th July. An event which can hardly have meant much to him personally nonetheless elicited from Bach one of his most deeply felt and skillfully constructed works. "Jesu meine Freude" is the longest and structurally the tautest of Bach's motets. It is scored for five-part choir, grouped in smaller divisions for certain sections, with an implied basso continuo (performed here by organ).
Among the many impressive features of this motet, two stand out. Firstly, a very unusual vocal texture, transparent for most of the time but occasionally extremely dense, is produced by the rich harmonic basis Bach gives to the intricate counterpoint of the main movements (nos. 2, 6 and 10) and by the superb linear progression he gives to the inner voices in even the simplest of the chorale harmonisations. Then, unlike the chain of loosely connected movements characteristic of the Leipzig cantatas he was writing at the same time (with their pattern of opening chorus, recitative, aria and chorale), Bach's plan of this motet required that the various sections should be closely linked and arranged symmetrically. The chiastic structure of the work can most easily be expressed diagrammatically (see below).
I.
Jesu my joy
Delight of my heart,
Jesu, my inspiration;
O how much longer
Must my heart be in anguish
And long for Thee !
Lamb of God, my chosen one
Nothing on this earth
Can so win our devotion
II.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them
Which are in Jesus Christ, who walk not after the
Flesh, but after the Spirit.
(Romans VIII.1)
III.
Under Thy protection
From the raging of the enemy
I am ever free.
Though satan finds me
And evil shall oppress me
Jesus is at my side!
Through life's storms and strife
From sin and hell,
Jesus will protect me.
IV.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
Death
(Romans VIII. 2)
V.
I spurn the evil one,
The jaws of death
And all my fears,
Though the world may rage and roar
I stand here and sing
In such secure peace!
God's might protects me:
Earth and hell are mute,
Their turmoil silenced.
VI.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be
That the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man
Have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
(Romans VIII. 9)
VII.
Hence all earthly splendour,
Thou art my treasure
Jesu, my delight!
Hence fleeting pleasures,
I do not hear your voice,
Leave me unmolested!
Distress, need, the cross, insult and death
I will gladly suffer
So long as Jesus does not desert me.
VIII.
If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin;
But the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
(Romans VIII. 10)
IX.
Farewell o earthly existence
What the world has to offer
No longer tempts me!
Farewell sin,
Stay from me,
Approach me no more!
Farewell pride and pomp.
To all wickedness I bid farewell!
X.
But if' the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from
The dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ
From the dead shall also quicken your mortal
Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
(Romans VIII. 11)
XI.
Go from me, o grief,
For my joy and master,
Jesus, is here.
All that love God
Find their sorrow
Turned to sweetest joy.
Scorn and derision are endured,
In my suffering Thou art
Jesus, my joy!
Brahms composed his Rhapsody, Op. 53, in the autumn of 1869, drawing upon a difficult poem of
Goethe's, Harzreise Em Winter ("Winter Journey Through the Harz Mountains"). Of the poem's 88
lines, Brahms chose to set only the central part, just one quarter of the whole. Goethe's poem was
written after a visit to the Harz Mountains in 1777; there he met a correspondent of his, a misanthropic
young fellow named Plessing, who had withdrawn from the world into the solitude of nature. Goethe's
poem describes one who goes "off apart," praying that the Father of Love may have on his Psalter "a
single tone perceptible to his ear," which might "revive his heart." It seems odd that Brahms should
choose such a darkly personal text to set to music as a wedding gift for Julie Schumann, the daughter
of his dear friend Clara, but there can be little doubt that Goethe's poem spoke to him, in his own
solitary life, with unusual directness, and he responded to it with shattering, personal music. The
orchestral introduction shivers in its chilly C minor depiction of the winter scene, interrupted by the alto
soloist - entering suddenly as if Overheard in the middle of a thought - who notices the solitary
wanderer. A central section, actually an aria, describes the one who, having been scorned, now scorns
all in return. The harmonic and rhythmic agitation of this section yields magically at the entrance of the men's voices and a turn to
a consoling C major and a warmly ardent melody praying for the reconciliation of the wanderer.
Alto Rhapsody Text
But off apart there, who is that?
His path gets lost in the brush;
behind him the branches close again,
the grass stands straight again,
the solitude swallows him up.
Ah, who can heal the pain
of one to whom balsam became poison?
Who has drunk misanthropy
from the fullness of love?
First despised, now despising,
he secretly wastes
his own worth
in unsatisfying egoism.
If there is in your Psalter,
Father of Love, a single tone
perceptible to his ear,
then revive his heart!
Open his cloud-covered sight
onto the thousand fountains
beside the thirsting soul
in the desert.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749-1832)
mezzo-soprano
Peggy Balensuela
Mezzo soprano Peggy Balensuela is an Associate Professor of Voice at
Indiana State University. An active recitalist and concert soloist,
recent engagements have included Messiahs in Green Bay, Wisconsin,
Michigan City, Indiana, and Boise, Idaho; a Vivaldi Gloria in
Danville, Illinois; a Verdi Requiem at Depauw University in
Greencastle, Indiana; a tour of the Midwest with the Chicago-based
early music group Ars musica Chicago; as well as many appearances in
the Terre Haute area. Dr. Balensuela has been a two-time recipient
of the artist/fellowships to the Bach Aria Festival and Institute in
Stony Brook, New York, and a three-time winner of fellowships to the
Aspen Summer Music Festival. Upcoming performances include a solo
recital at ISU in September 1997 and an engagement as soloist with
the Amarillo, Texas Philharmonic in a performance of the Brahms Alto
Rhapsody.
Tenor I Alan Alder Doug Champion Alan Jacobs Scott Jackson Jason Weidner Tenor II Jeremy Baugh Jason Dick Paul Ellison James Hilton Joesph Howard Alex Lewis Warren Weitkamp Bass I Matt Altizer Vince Antrim Mike Daniels Paul Ellison Brandon Kirby Bill Leschorn Chad Miller Joseph Rayes Matt Shepperd Michael Trexler Matthew Weatherly Bryan Wooden Bass II Stephen Beebe Arthur Crippen John Koenig III Cain Hall Ewe Hanson Bryan Pagdett John Pinson Kenton Saylor Chris Wood
