Patterico's Pontifications

11/5/2017

Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 38

Filed under: Bach Cantatas,General — Patterico @ 7:00 am



Composed for the 21st Sunday after Trinity, the title of the cantata is “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir” which translates as “Out of deep anguish I call to You.” It was first performed on October 19, 1724.

The text is here. The cantata is based on a hymn of the same name, with the text provided by Martin Luther himself, based on Psalm 130. Here is a Mendelssohn setting of the melody of the chorale as a motet:

In Bach’s time, the Gospel reading for the 21st Sunday after Trinity was John 4:46–54, the healing of the royal official’s son:

Once more he visited Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And there was a certain royal official whose son lay sick at Capernaum. When this man heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and begged him to come and heal his son, who was close to death.

“Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.”

The royal official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”

“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.”

The man took Jesus at his word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, “Yesterday, at one in the afternoon, the fever left him.”

Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.

This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

I hope to do a post about one of the Bach cantatas every Sunday for the foreseeable future.

Happy listening!

[Cross-posted at RedState and The Jury Talks Back.]

16 Responses to “Sunday Music: Bach Cantata BWV 38”

  1. Before the Hippies came along this was refered to as ‘long hair’ music.

    ropelight (e67740)

  2. Greetings:

    Our local “classical” music station, KDFC, has a religious music program on from 7-9am Sundays. It’s also on the web if your that kind of people.

    11B40 (6abb5c)

  3. If you see this — thank you again.

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  4. Glad you’re enjoying it, swc.

    I don’t use the filter on music posts.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  5. Do you play an instrument?

    shipwreckedcrew (56b591)

  6. My family left the Lutheran Church when I was 15. I don’t miss much but there is a certain feeling you get from pipe organs and choir robes that Evangelicals will never quite capture.

    I’ve also never heard them play The Doxology or A Mighty Fortress is Our God .

    Pinandpuller (29a1df)

  7. I have been trying to learn the new musical paradigm of DAW software(Digital Audio Workstation).

    I have a bunch of old stuff captured from my old Tascam 4 track cassette recorder. I gave that away so it became a little problematic because of pitch transposition from old cassettes, so I got an old school double cassette player with a pitch wheel. I recorded some pieces to digital so I could relearn them. I haven’t mastered real time recording yet.

    I did recreate an old piece basically in a template, measure for measure. I added some cathedral reverb and a couple of other effects which makes it sound a little bit less computery. I also adjusted the attack of various notes for accent which makes it a bit more human.

    Just so you know, I know I am being cute in how I name things. I can’t help it. I also might make a version where I crank up the tempo. With digital recording you can do that without transposing the key.

    I also know SWC was addressing The Host, this is strictly coincidental.

    Praeludium I

    Pinandpuller (29a1df)

  8. I found what I think is a cool link under the Mendelssohn video Mr P posted. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. Basically, it’s just an on off switch. It can look like a keyboard, a drum pad or your computer screen. It just sends signals to your computer.

    The guy from this video entered in the whole piece on his computer. Each dot or dash, if you will, tells the computer to play a note. The voices the note plays is limitless. He’s using some kind of organ and choir.

    This is actually pretty nice for people who don’t read music. It really illustrates the harmony and contrary motion.

    Motette “Aus tiefer Not schrei´ ich zu dir” Felix Mendelssohn

    Pinandpuller (29a1df)

  9. Eighth Sunday of Luke for us. Luke 16:19, The Rich Man and Lazarus:

    27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,
    28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

    29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

    30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

    31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

    nk (dbc370)

  10. Another mass shooting – this time in a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, 40 miles east of San Antonio, at about 11:30 am Central Stadard Time. The gunman’s “cause” or if he had any, is for the moment, unknown. Number of people killed probably in the low single digits but more th

    Update: 15 DEAD. Some of them children.

    http://hollywoodlife.com/2017/11/05/texas-church-mass-shooting-gunman-opens-fire (2 minutes ago) The gunman may have stopped to reload at least once.

    Sammy Finkelman (02a146)

  11. Thank you for the Bach posts! I’ve always dug it.

    felipe (023cc9)

  12. Do you play an instrument?

    I took 7-8 years of piano lessons and am self-taught on the guitar. Not great at either but I can find my way around. I was a music and English double major and have loved classical music all my life. I also wrote some songs of which my original versions can be heard as well as better versions performed by professional musicians. This is all collected at the Music by Patterico category.

    I have written some classical music but never published it here. An unfinished piano piece of which I am proud (of what I did finish), a four-part chorus, and the beginnings of an orchestral movement.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  13. I ran into a false cognate of sorts today you might be interested in Mr Patterico:

    In music, the Phrygian dominant scale is the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale, the fifth being the dominant.[1] Also called the altered Phrygian scale, dominant flat 2 flat 6 (in jazz), the Freygish scale (also spelled Fraigish[2]), or simply the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale. It resembles the scale of the Phrygian mode but has a major third. In the Berklee method, it is known as the Mixolydian ♭9 ♭13 chord scale, a Mixolydian scale with a lowered 9th (2nd) and lowered 13th (6th), used in secondary dominant chord scales for V7/III and V7/VI.

    Pinandpuller (0b6cda)

  14. Something else you might be interested in (and I apologize for any self-indulgence today FWIW)

    Hans Zimmer Master Class

    Pinandpuller (0b6cda)

  15. My favorite Psalm is 110.

    The Lord says to my lord:[a]

    “Sit at my right hand
    until I make your enemies
    a footstool for your feet.”

    2
    The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies!”
    3
    Your troops will be willing
    on your day of battle.
    Arrayed in holy splendor,
    your young men will come to you
    like dew from the morning’s womb.[b]

    4
    The Lord has sworn
    and will not change his mind:
    “You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

    5
    The Lord is at your right hand[c];
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
    6
    He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
    and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.
    7
    He will drink from a brook along the way,[d]
    and so he will lift his head high.

    It’s good for sailing into a storm.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)

  16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=Z0Jzb8dfcC4

    The flight deck is about 80 feet above sea level.

    The ocean scares the devil out of me.

    Steve57 (0b1dac)


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