Bach Chorales

As I'm preparing for our upcoming Bach St. Matthew Passion workshop, here's a little music analysis which I feel is exciting to share:

Besides the solos in this monumental work, there are these many seemingly "easy" chorales to play. However, these chorales were very important as they would have been well-known to the congregation. They brought everyone spiritually together, including the layperson who might not understand the meanings of the big arias. Conveying the text through the albeit simple melody is the key in playing them.

Take a look at this excerpt from "Herzliebster Jesu, was hast du verbrochen". (Dear beloved Jesus, how have you transgressed) from his St. Matthew Passion. There are 3 things that are happening around the word "Schuld" (guilt in the legal sense, or crime):

- It's an important word in the text
- the "d" in "Schuld" is more like a "dt" in German pronunciation which gives the word a definite closure
- There's a comma afterwards

So all these things make the end of that "Schuld" note slightly detached from the rest, the sound has to close before going on, creating an "articulation silence", in order to reflect those same nuances in the text. In baroque flute playing, it is common to use the technique of closing the sound with the tongue. Going on directly or making the sound legato with the next note will degrade both the literal and emotional intent of the passage.

The concept is simple and yet it can have such a profound effect on us players as well as on our listeners. This is just one of many, many instances in the endless connections between music and text, and it's a whole lot of fun to discover them! Playing chorales this way will then become meaningful and create a defined musical presence in the performance.