Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Gates - Andreas Hammerschmidt
b minor Mass BWV 232: "Crucifixus" - J.S. Bach
Hymns: #154 Valet will ich dir Geben, #147 Bourbon, #160 Coss of Jesus
This week because of the structure of the Palm Sunday liturgy there will be no organ prelude or postlude. The service will begin with the liturgy of the palms and end in silence. Because of this I am again this week only discussing the two choir anthems.
The gradual anthem is Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Gates by Andreas Hammerschmidt (c.1612-1675). The original version of this piece is for 6 part choir and bears the German title Machet die Tore weit. This setting of Psalm 24 shows the lighter more celebratory side of the Palm Sunday service. The choir demands that the gates of the city be lifted to allow the entry of the King of Glory. The next section has the choir asking between the different voice parts: “Who is this King of glory?” which is of course answered “the Lord strong and mighty in battle.” Much like the more well known setting from Handel’s Messiah, there is an antiphonal quality to the writing. This could have had something to do with Johanniskirche having three organs that were positioned opposite one another allowing for different possibilities of antiphonal effects. After the question has been asked and answered the choir again demands that the gates be lifted and then breaks into cries of “Hosanna.” Hammerschmidt was a prolific composer of sacred choral music. He was well respected and well liked church musician. He has been hailed as one of the most distinguished composers of church music in the 17th century having more than 400 sacred vocal works to his credit.
As you might know I have been drawing on the music of J.S. Bach for my preludes and postludes during Lent both for consistency through the season and to allow for personal reflections on the works of the master. I thought it only fitting to still include him in this week’s musical offerings (pun fully intended). For the communion anthem we are sing the Crucifixus from the b minor Mass BWV 232. I of course wish to give credit where credit is due. Many of my observations and a great deal of my thoughts on this piece come from Calvin R. Stapert’s My Only Comfort: Death, Deliverance, and Discipleship in the Music of Bach. This book views Bach’s music through the lens of the Heidelberg Catechism. Many of you may know that Bach throughout his life was fascinated with numerology and symbols. There are few if any pieces of his sacred compositions that do not have some form of religious symbolism buried in them. Crucifixus comes from the Credo of Bach’s monumental mass. It is literally the central movement (movement 5 of 9 movements in the Credo). The chorus is actually an example of Bach borrowing from himself. It is a reworking of the music from Cantata 12 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen (Weeping, lamenting, sorrow, fear, anxiety and need). The movement is scored very simply for strings, continuo and two flutes. The flutes and strings overlap with the strings playing on beats 3 and 1 while the flutes play on beats 2 and 3. This is all done over a pulsing chromatic bass line which continues to the end of the movement even after the rest of the instruments have stopped. The piece begins in e minor but rather than concluding in the same key, which it easily could, the final variation (according to Stapert there are 11) has the basses change direction and ascend to a d before cadencing on a very low G major chord. It is likely that Bach chose to end this way to prepare for the chorus Et Resurrexit which follows in the triumphal key of D major. A fitting piece to take us into the intense emotion of Holy Week.
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