Music of the Baroque (roughly 1600-1750) is known for its use of rhetorical musical figures, figures used to express the mood (affect) or text of a piece. These are used to bring the listener into deeper understanding and conversation with the music. The Doctrine of Affections was a theory used heavily in the Baroque that explained how music could arouse specific emotions in the listener. By using certain musical figures, the composer could involuntarily elicit an emotional response in the listener. One of these such musical figures was the cross. In the example above, if you draw a straight line from the beginning note to the last note and then another line between the two middle notes you get a cross on its side. This figure is found quite often in Baroque music, especially the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Our postlude uses this figure extensively to bring us deeper into the meaning of its text. Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund (As Jesus hung on the cross) is a meditation on the seven last words of Christ. The pedal line opens with an elongated cruciform figure said to represent the cross, followed by a chain of suspensions that represent Christ’s languishing on the cross. Many other cross figures pervade this reflection on the crucifixion that is succinct and profoundly moving. It is registered on the 8’ Swell principal alone, which on our organ is ravishingly beautiful by itself. The text of the choral is as follows:
As Jesus hung on the cross
and His body was wounded
with such bitter pain,
consider in your heart the seven words
that He spoke there.
Our prelude is Johannes Brahm’s famous A-flat minor Fugue. A piece in 7 flats, which for keyboard players, is no small feat. Brahm’s fugue is a textbook example. The subject (or theme) and its counter-subject are developed throughout the piece through inversion, key changes and other devices such as augmentation. A twisting and turning a few notes which are spun into a masterpiece. Often referred to as a love letter from Brahms to Clara Schumann, the piece is also a tribute to J.S. Bach and his exceptional talent at writing fugues. Like Bach, Brahms uses the cruciform figure in his counter subject material. Here the cruciform figure is the musical spelling of BACH’s name (Bb-A-C-H (or b natural)). This is depicted in the graphic above. (Click here to hear and learn more about this motif).
Soli Deo Gloria,
Ben Keseley, Minister of Music
Brahms’ A-flat minor fugue, played by Daryle Robinson on Martin Pasi’s, Opus 19.
Bach’s “Da an dem Kreuze stund” described and played by Daniel Aune.