Music Notes for Sunday Masses, 11 October 2020
Prelude: Mache dich, mein Herze, rein (from St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244) – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
This famous aria for bass soloist comes toward the end of the St. Matthew Passion, a three-hour meditation on the suffering and death of Our Lord. Joseph of Arimathea has just recovered Jesus’ body and is about to lay it in the tomb, when Bach gives us this moment of very personal reflection, the soloist telling us that he will make a tomb for Jesus within his own heart. The most serene moment of Bach’s entire St. Matthew Passion, it is sung today by our own Andrew Kane. Music doesn’t get much better than this.
Translation: Make yourself, my heart, all pure; I myself will entomb Jesus. For in me shall He henceforth, evermore, have His sweet sleep. World, get out – let Jesus in!
(Translation © Pamela Dellal)
Offertory motet:
All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 – VI. Bogoroditse Devo – Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943)
Continuing our Marian pieces for the month of October, the month of the Holy Rosary, we are presented with another golden opportunity to sing the magnificent Bogoroditse Devo. Most of us first think of Rachmaninoff as a composer of piano concerti and symphonies, but not all of us know of his hour-long All-Night Vigil, the text from the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, and written for unaccompanied singers only, instrumental music being forbidden in the Orthodox church. Thank you, Sergei!
Translation: Rejoice, virgin mother of God, Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for you have borne the Savior of our souls.
Communion motet: Ave verum Corpus – William Byrd (c. 1539/40-1623)
Byrd, one of the two most famous recusant English Catholic composers, the other being his teacher Thomas Tallis, had his neck saved from the chopping block more than once because of his personal friendship with Queen Elizabeth I. A secret catholic at a time when the Mass was banned altogether, scholars tell us that this piece, like his famous Masses for Three, Four and Five Voices, was probably used for Masses held in private places, away from the eyes of the then Protestant majority. It, along with the unforgettable setting by Mozart, are the most treasured settings of this magnificent, anonymous text.
Translation: Hail true Body, born of the Virgin Mary; who truly suffered, immolated upon the Cross for mankind, from whose pierced side flowed water and blood; may we taste thee before we enter the trial of death. O sweet, O faithful, O Jesus, Son of Mary, have mercy upon me. (Trope to the Sanctus, 14th c.)
Organ postlude: Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (BWV 691) – Bach
Translation of the first verse of the hymn: Whoever solely lets our dear God reign, and relies on Him at all times, will be miraculously sustained by Him in all hardships and sadness. Whoever trusts in Almighty God, has not built his house on sand.
Today’s small organ postlude is one of Bach’s many gems. It is a “chorale prelude” on a German hymn tune, popular in his day. No matter how brief is the thing which Bach wants to say, he makes every moment count. You’ll see that all Bach pieces have a BWV number following the title. This is an abbreviation of Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, or “Bach works catalogue”. The system, first used in 1950, is a tremendous aid to performers and scholars in keeping track of Bach’s enormous output. Bach composed an incredible 1128 pieces of music, not including many pieces which we know to be lost, not least among them an entire St. Mark Passion.
Here is a nice video of Wer nur den lieben:
https://youtu.be/0O3eB8cgb18