On "Esurientes" - 1st 2 bars

This is the main flute aria in J.S. Bach's Magnificat, scored for two flutes, alto voice, and pizzicato continuo. It's quite a special aria in the entire work due to a number of compositional devices Bach uses to portray the text. I'd like to focus on the first two bars, which give us an idea for the rest of the piece. 

​The aria begins with a curious rhythm in the flutes, with ties from beats 1 and 3 which roll over to beats 2 and 4. There are also these staccato marks. Altogether, these characteristics raise a couple of questions, and a variety of solutions can be heard in different interpretations. How do we shape this motif? Should the 16th note on beat 2 (A in Fl.1, C# in Fl.2) be emphasized, like the melody goes towards it? What kind of "shortness" do the staccatos mean and should we apply them everywhere, including notes which don't have staccato marked? 

I'd like to begin by drawing attention to the text - there's an emphasis on "emptiness" in different contexts, represented by the words hunger and empty (perhaps empty-handed).

Esurientes implevit bonis
et divites dimisit inanes.
He hath filled the hungry with good things: and the rich he hath sent away empty.

This leads me to think that a kind of light and airy way of playing would help illustrate the idea of emptiness. Notice also Bach chose using a pizzicato bass, which also contributes to the overall "aerated" expression. Thus I don't think it's necessary to play the staccatos in a dry, literal sense, but rather Bach is just telling us to play those notes with light separation, separated from the next beat. In measure 1, since these staccato notes are the 8th notes of that "short-long" rhythm, it's a way to prevent us from playing them really to their full value. In measure 2, the staccato is again an indication for us to somewhat clip that note lightly, which will also help us to place the trill nicely and start the trill clearly. (a nice example of where we'd stop the air gently with the tongue)

We can also use the bass pizzicato as our reference – a short note with a bit of ringing resonance. In this piece, this would be my general treatment of all notes which need to be light. 

Now, Bach uses another way to show "emptiness", which is with that opening rhythm mentioned earlier. Beats 2 and 4 are “missing” due to the tie from the previous note. Some interpretations choose to accent that off-beat (notes with asterisk marked above). If we look at the harmonies though, these notes are perfect examples of “escape notes”, which are non-harmonic notes that are first approached by step and then resolved through a leap. It’s a short “escape” before the resolution. Escape tones are generally unaccented. 

OK, so who says that? Can we just slap on a general rule to explain this case? 

Let's look at where the important dissonances are. Looking at the first flute part, the held G# creates a 6-5 suspension with the B natural in the bass on beat 2, the resolution being the F#. The same pattern applies afterwards – the held over E creates a 4-3 suspension, resolving on a D#, again against the bass B natural. Accenting the escape tones (A and F#) would
not create a release of tension, which is necessary in order for these suspensions to be effective. Also, not all dissonances are created equal. In this case, the suspensions are in the foreground of the harmonic structure and are supported by the escape notes (but they're not less important, it always takes two to tango). Having the escape tones sound just slightly after the beat and in diminuendo is Bach's ingenious musical response to the concept of "emptiness", and it would be a pity to miss out on that. 

With these points in mind, I hope they shed light on how we can effectively shape this motif! Happy Halloween!🧡🖤