"Passacaille" - G.F. Handel
Messiah HWV 56: "If God Be For Us" - G.F. Handel
Elijah Op. 70: "He Watching Over Israel"
- Felix Mendelssohn
Hymns: #546 Siroe, #509 Nun Danket all und Bringet,
#344 Sicilian Mariners
Three of this week’s four pieces are by the same composer (and incidentally are in the same key – this part was an accident.) The prelude and postlude are taken from the seventh of G.F. Handel’s (1685-1759) “Grand Suites” for harpsichord. The prelude is the “Andante” and the postlude, the “Passacaille from Suite No. 7 in g minor HWV 432. The gradual anthem is taken from the third part of Messiah, the soprano aria If God Be For Us. Although the communion anthem is not by Handel, his influence is clearly present in the piece. He Watching Over Israel from Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) epic Elijah Op. 70. complements the Handel very well.
The two movements of Suite No. 7 which serve as bookends to
the service are perhaps the two most dissimilar movements in the suite. The
tenderness of the Andante is a stark
contrast to the fire of the final variations of the Passacaille. The Andante
is a simple two part piece in binary form. The right hand plays a lyrical
ornamented melody above a continuo like bass line. The Passacaille is a piece that I first encountered as a harp student. It
is a set of sixteen variations built on a repeated chord progression. This
movement has more in common with the traditional definition of the chaconne in
that it is not a piece built on a repeated bass line but rather a repeated
chord progression. It is also not in triple meter, one of the other
characteristics of both the chaconne and passacaille. Each variation becomes
more rhythmically active and propels the work to an exciting climax with both
hands playing arpeggiated sixteenth notes all the way to the end of the
movement.
If God Be For Us,
is one of the lesser known, frequently cut movements in Messiah. Alfred Mann refers to it as “the epilogue to the
epilogue.” The aria is sandwiched between two choruses, But Thanks be to God and
Worthy Is the Lamb which leads into the “Great”
Amen. This puts a great deal of pressure on the soloist to hold the
audience’s attention going into the big finale of the work. The aria is
essentially a series of rhetorical questions sung by the soprano. “If god be
for us, who can be against us” is really a clever line which asks and answers
its own question. The soprano basically gets to have a whole conversation with
herself. This coupled with the communion anthem and the gentle prelude makes
for a day of comforting music.
Mendelssohn’s anthem brings about a more serene image of the
God that the soprano sings about in the Handel aria. However, this chorus is
not without its turmoil. The opening theme is one of the most beautiful
melodies in the whole oratorio but unlike the trio that the angels sing before
this chorus, this piece makes no effort to gloss over the suffering. The
comfort comes from the idea that God has a plan for helping us deal with that
as well. If we are grieving he will rejuvenate us. This is reminding us that
sometimes things are bad but that God will be there to restore us – and better
yet he is always there to do this for us. He does not sleep. I think that in
order to truly appreciate this chorus you have to consider both the aria and
the trio which precede it. At this stage of the oratorio Elijah has given up
and wants to die. God sends a trio of angels to comfort him but then we get
this chorus. I think that Elijah must have needed not one message of comfort
but like so many of us, he needed to hear it twice – the second time in a
different way to truly grasp it.
This is something to think about as you hear the music this
week. Both anthems bring comfort although in different ways. It is my hope that
they make you think about something from a different point of view and that you
can then draw on this somehow. I know that for me hearing the same phrase a
different way can make all the difference.
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