Although the motet (derived from the French
mot) came into being in the thirteenth century (when words, often
secular, were added to the upper parts of passages of organum), its
flowering into the central genre of church music was not until the
sixteenth century. By then, the use of a plainsong cantus firmus as
the foundation of the music had largely been replaced with imitation and
the use of counterpoint to illustrate each phrase of text. The points of
counterpoint were frequently unrelated and the structure of the whole
piece was, therefore, determined by the text rather than by adherence to
an existing musical line. By the early eighteenth century, the word motet
was often used loosely to describe any piece of church music that
fulfilled the former liturgical function of the sixteenth century motet.
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Although such works
might today be described as cantatas or concerti (they would often
involve instrumental continuo, solo voice sections and obbligato
instrumental passages), in Bach’s day, there was an understanding
that a motet, even in the Protestant tradition, would draw on some
or all of the features of the stile antico. Bach’s motets
might have been performed with continuo and instrumental doubling
but, as distinct from his cantatas, would not normally have included
obbligato instrumental parts. They were still written as a
succession of unrelated points of counterpoint, but sometimes more
modern elements were introduced such as fugal technique or the
ritornello plan. |
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All of Bach’s six
authenticated motets were written between 1723 and 1727 for St
Thomas’ Church, Leipzig, where Bach was appointed as director of
music in 1723. During this period, Bach’s major output consisted of
the majority of his cantatas, and it seems likely that for ordinary
Sunday services he used existing motets from the seventeenth century
tradition, reserving his own motet compositions for special
occasions; four of the six were written for funeral services of
prominent members of the congregation of St Thomas. ‘Jesu Meine
Freude’ (BWV 227), the longest, most musically complex and earliest
of the six, was written in 1723 for the funeral of Johanna Maria
Käsin, the wife of Leipzig’s postmaster. |
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It uses as its basis the
eponymous chorale by Johann Crüger (words by Johann Franck), but
includes passages from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. It is set in
eleven short movements arranged in a symmetrical musical structure
which can be divided into three groups of settings: choral tune and
text (nos. 1, 3, 7, 11); free settings of the chorale (nos. 5 and 9)
and settings of the extra biblical text (nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10). The
whole piece is centred around the fugal number 6; either side of
this are two groups (nos. 3–5 and nos. 7–9) containing a chorale, a
trio and an aria-like movement. Numbers 2 and 10 have material in
common and numbers 1 and 11 use identical music |
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Barry
Creasy
Chairman
Collegium
Musicum of London |
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To those using these notes
You are more than welcome to use all
or part of these notes in your programme. If you do, please
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the end of this programme note.
Thank you.
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