The Standard Cantatas Part 2

Bitter, in his Life of Bach, says:--

"The bicentenary Reformation Festival was celebrated in October and November, 1717, and at Weimar especially it was, as an old chronicle tells us, a great jubilee. Bach composed his cantata, 'Ein' feste Burg,' for the occasion. In this piece it is clear that he had pa.s.sed through his first phase of development and reached a higher stage of perfection."

Winterfeld is inclined to the same belief; but Spitta, in his exhaustive biography of Bach, argues that it must have been written either for the Reformation Festival of 1730, or for the two hundredth anniversary of Protestantism in Saxony, May 17, 1739. The former date would bring its composition a year after the completion of his great Pa.s.sions music, and four years before his still more famous "Christmas Oratorio,"--a period when he was at the height of his productive power; which favors the argument of Spitta, that in 1717 a chorus like the opening one in the cantata was beyond his capacity.[9] In the year 1730 Bach wrote three Jubilee cantatas, rearranged from earlier works, and Spitta claims that it was only about this period that he resorted to this practice. Further, he adds that "the Chorale Chorus [the opening number], in its grand proportions and vigorous flow, is the natural and highest outcome of Bach's progressive development, and he never wrote anything more stupendous."

The cantata has eight numbers, three choruses and five solos. The solo numbers are rearranged from an earlier cantata, "Alles was von Gott geboren" ("All that is of G.o.d's creation"), written for the third Sunday in Lent, March 15, 1716. The opening number is a colossal fugue based upon a variation on the old melody and set to the first verse of the Luther hymn. It is followed by a duet for soprano and ba.s.s, including the second verse of the hymn and an interpolated verse by Franck,[10] who prepared the text. The third and fourth numbers are a ba.s.s recitative and soprano aria, the words also by Franck, leading up to the second great chorale chorus set to the words of the third stanza of the hymn,

"And were the world all devils o'er,"

of which Spitta says:--

"The whole chorus sings the _Cantus firmus_ in unison, while the orchestra plays a whirl of grotesque and wildly leaping figures, through which the chorus makes its way undistracted and never misled, an ill.u.s.tration of the third verse, as grandiose and characteristic as it is possible to conceive."

The sixth number is a recitative for tenor followed by a duet for alto and tenor ("How blessed then are they who still on G.o.d are calling"). The work closes with a repet.i.tion of the chorale, set to the last verse of the hymn, sung without accompaniment. The cantata is colossal in its proportions, and is characterized throughout by the stirring spirit and bold vigorous feeling of the Reformation days whose memories it celebrated.

[8] This a.s.sumption, repeated by others, grows out of the similarity of sentiment in the third stanza to that of Luther's famous reply when he was urged not to attend the Diet of Worms.

[9] There is yet a fourth rearrangement, which we may a.s.sign to 1730. The a.s.sertion is no doubt well founded that in this year the celebration of the Reformation Festival was considered of special importance, and kept accordingly; and it is evident that the cantata "Ein' feste Burg" must have been intended for some such extraordinary solemnity.--_Spitta_, vol. ii. p. 470.

The Reformation Festival had no doubt a very distinct poetical sentiment of its own; and when any special occasion took the precedence, as in 1730 and 1739, the years of Jubilee, it would be misleading to seek for any close connection between the sermon and the cantata. Thus the cantata, "Ein' feste Burg," may very well have been connected with the sermon in 1730; still, it is possible that it was not written till 1739.--_Ibid._, vol. iii. p. 283.

[10] Salomo Franck, a poet of more than ordinary ability, was born at Weimar, March 6, 1759. He published several volumes of sacred lyrics.

BALFE.

Michael William Balfe was born at Dublin, Ireland, May 15, 1808. Of all the English opera-composers, his career was the most versatile, as his success, for a time at least, was the most remarkable. At seven years of age he scored a polacca of his own for a band. In his eighth year he appeared as a violinist, and in his tenth was composing ballads. At sixteen he was playing in the Drury Lane orchestra, and about this time began taking lessons in composition. In 1825, aided by the generosity of a patron, he went to Italy, where for three years he studied singing and counterpoint. In his twentieth year he met Rossini, who offered him an engagement as first barytone at the Italian opera in Paris. He made his debut with success in 1828, and at the close of his engagement returned to Italy, where he appeared again on the stage. About this time (1829-1830) he began writing Italian operas, and before he left the country had produced three which met with considerable success. In 1835 he returned to England; and it was in this year that his first English opera, "The Siege of Roch.e.l.le," was brought out. It was played continuously at Drury Lane for over three months. In 1835 appeared his "Maid of Artois;" in 1837, "Catharine Grey" and "Joan of Arc;" and in 1838, "Falstaff." During these years he was still singing in concerts and opera, and in 1840 undertook the management of the Lyceum. His finest works were produced after this date,--"The Bohemian Girl," in 1843; "The Enchantress," in 1844; "The Rose of Castile," "La Zingara," and "Satanella," in 1858; and "The Puritan's Daughter" in 1861. His last opera was "The Knight of the Leopard," known in Italian as "Il Talismano," which has also been performed in English as "The Talisman."

He married Mademoiselle Rosen, a German singer, whom he met in Italy in 1835. His daughter Victoire, who subsequently married Sir John Crampton, and afterwards the Duc de Frias, also appeared as a singer in 1856. Balfe died Oct. 20, 1870, upon his own estate in Hertfordshire.

Mazeppa.

The cantata of "Mazeppa," the words written by Jessica Rankin, was one of the last productions of Balfe, having been produced in 1862, a year after "The Puritan's Daughter," and several years after he had pa.s.sed his musical prime. The text is based upon the familiar story as told by Byron in his poem of the wild ride of the page of King Casimir, "The Ukraine's hetman, calm and bold," and of the

"n.o.ble steed, A Tartar of the Ukraine breed, Who looked as though the speed of thought Was in his limbs."

The main incidents in the story--the guilty love of the page Mazeppa for the Count Palatine's Theresa, his surprise and seizure by the spies, her mysterious fate, the wild flight of the steed with his wretched load through forest and over desert, and the final rescue by the Cossack maid--are preserved, but liberties of every description are taken in the recital of the narrative. It is but a feeble transcript of Byron's glowing verse, and in its diluted form is but a vulgar story of ordinary love, jealousy, and revenge.

The cantata comprises twelve numbers. The first is a prelude in triplets intended to picture the gallop of the steed, a common enough device since the days when Virgil did it much better without the aid of musical notation, in his well-known line,--

"Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quat.i.t ungula campum."

It leads to a stirring chorus which is followed by still another, based upon a very pleasant melody. The third number is a solo for barytone, in which the Count gives expression to his jealousy, which brings us to the heroine, who makes her appearance in a florid number. The next is a duet for Theresa and Mazeppa, followed by a solo for the tenor (Mazeppa) which is very effective. The chorus then re-enter and indicate the madness of the Count in words, the following sample of which will show their unsingableness:--

"Revenge fires his turbulent soul; No power his boundless rage can control."

The eighth number is another duet for the Countess and Mazeppa in the conventional Italian style. It is followed by a graceful aria for tenor, which leads up to the best number in the work, a trio in canon form. A final aria by the Count leads to the last chorus, in which the repet.i.tion of the triplet gallop forebodes the ride into the desert and the punishment of the page. As might be inferred from the description, the cantata is like Hamlet with _Hamlet_ left out. There is very little of Mazeppa and his Tartar steed in the work, but very much of the jealousy and revenge which lead up to the penalty.

BEETHOVEN.

Ludwig von Beethoven was born Dec. 16, 1770, at Bonn, Germany. His father was a court-singer in the Chapel of the Elector of Cologne. The great composer studied in Vienna with Haydn, with whom he did not always agree, however, and afterwards with Albrechtsberger. His first symphony appeared in 1801,--his earlier symphonies, in what is called his first period, being written in the Mozart style. His only opera, "Fidelio," for which he wrote four overtures, was first brought out in Vienna, in 1805; his oratorio, "Christ on the Mount of Olives," in 1812; and his colossal Ninth Symphony, with its choral setting of Schiller's "Ode to Joy," in 1824. In addition to his symphonies, his opera, oratorios, and ma.s.ses, and the immortal series of piano sonatas, which were almost revelations in music, he developed chamber music to an extent far beyond that reached by his predecessors, Mozart and Haydn. His symphonies exhibit surprising power, a marvellous comprehension of the deeper feelings in life, and the influences of nature, both human and physical. He wrote with the deepest earnestness, alike in the pa.s.sion and the repose of his music, and he invested it also with a genial humor as well as with the highest expression of pathos. His works are epic in style. He was the great tone-poet of music. His subjects were always lofty and dignified, and to their treatment he brought not only a profound knowledge of musical technicality, but intense sympathy with the innermost feelings of human nature, for he was a humanitarian in the broadest sense. By the common consent of the musical world he stands at the head of all composers since his time, and has always been their guide and inspiration. He died March 26, 1827, in the midst of a raging thunder-storm,--one of his latest utterances being a recognition of the "divine spark" in Schubert's music.

The Ruins of Athens.

The most important compositions by Beethoven in 1811 were the music to two dramatic works written by the poet Kotzebue to celebrate the opening of the new theatre at Pesth, Hungary. One of these was a prologue in one act with overture and choruses, ent.i.tled "Konig Stephan,[11] Ungarn's erster Wohlthater" ("King Stephen, Hungary's first Benefactor"); the other, an allegorical sketch, called "The Ruins of Athens," the subject of which is thus concisely stated by Macfarren:--

"Minerva has been since the golden age of Grecian art, the glorious epoch of Grecian liberty, for some or other important offence against the Olympian tribunal, the particulars of which I am unable to furnish, fettered with chains of heaven-wrought adamant by the omnipotent thunderer within a rock impenetrable alike to the aspirations of man and to the intelligence of the G.o.ddess, a rock through which neither his spirit of inquiry could approach, nor her wisdom diffuse itself upon the world. The period of vengeance is past; Jove relents, and the captive deity is enfranchised. The first steps of her freedom naturally lead Minerva to the scene of her ancient greatness. She finds Athens, her Athens, her especially beloved and most carefully cherished city, in ruins, the descendants of her fostered people enslaved to a barbarous and fanatic race; the trophies of her former splendor, the wrecks of that art which is the example and the regret of all time, appropriated to the most degrading purposes of vulgar householdry; and the frenzied worshippers of a faith that knows not the divine presence in its most marvellous manifestation, the intellect of man. Here is no longer the home of wisdom and the arts; so the liberated G.o.ddess proceeds to Pesth, where she establishes anew her temple in the new theatre, and presides over a triumphal procession in honor of the Emperor, its patron, under whose auspices the golden age is to prevail again."

After the opening performances the music to "King Stephen" was laid aside until 1841, when it was given in Vienna; but the after-piece, "The Ruins of Athens," was presented again during Beethoven's lifetime upon the occasion of the opening of a theatre in that city. The new text, which was prepared for it by Carl Meisl, was ent.i.tled "Die Weihe des Hauses"

("The Dedication of the House"), and Beethoven wrote for it the overture which is now so famous, solos for soprano and violin, and a final chorus with dances.

The music to the "Ruins of Athens" comprises eight numbers. The overture is very light and unpretentious, and by many critics, among them Ferdinand Ries, Beethoven's pupil, has been deemed unworthy of the composer. Thayer says:--

"When the overture was first played at Leipsic, people could hardly trust their ears, could hardly believe it to be the work of the author of the symphonies, of the overtures to 'Coriolan,' 'Egmont,' and 'Leonore' (Fidelio)."

The opening number is a chorus ("Daughter of mighty Jove, awake!"), which is followed by a beautiful duet ("Faultless, yet hated"), voicing the lament of two Greek slaves for the destruction of their temples and the degradation of their land. The duet is very pathetic in character, and the melody, carried by the two voices, leaves an impression of sadness which cannot be resisted. The third number is the well-known chorus of Dervishes sung in unison by tenors and ba.s.ses, thus forming a kind of choral chant. The melody is a weird one, and full of local color, but its powerful effect is gained by the manner of treatment. It begins pianissimo and is gradually worked to the extreme pitch of true Dervish delirium, culminating in the exclamation, "Great Prophet, hail!" and then gradually subsiding until it dies away, apparently from the exhaustion of such fervor. It is followed by the familiar Turkish march, founded on the theme of the Variations in D, op. 76, very simple in construction, Oriental in its character throughout, and peculiarly picturesque in effect. After an instrumental movement behind the scenes, a triumphal march and chorus ("Twine ye a Garland") is introduced. The seventh number is a recitative and aria by the high priest with chorus, which lead to a beautifully melodious chorus ("Susceptible Hearts"). An adagio aria for ba.s.s ("Deign, great Apollo") and a vigorous chorus ("Hail, our King") bring the work to a close. The piece was first brought out in England by Mendelssohn in 1844 at one of the Philharmonic Society's concerts; and ten or twelve years later an English version of it was performed at the Prince's Theatre, when the Royal Exchange and statue of Wellington were subst.i.tuted for the Pesth Theatre, and Shakspeare took the place of the Emperor of Austria, concerning the good taste of which Macfarren pithily says:--

"Modifications admirably adapted to the commercial character and the blind vainglory that so eminently mark the British nation."

[11] Born in the year 977 at Gran, and known in Austrian and Hungarian history as Saint Stephen.

The Glorious Moment.

In September, 1814, the same year in which the Allies entered Paris, the Vienna Congress met to adjust the relations of the various European States. It was an occasion of great moment in the ancient city,--this gathering of sovereigns and distinguished statesmen,--and the magistracy prepared themselves to celebrate it with befitting pomp and ceremony.

Beethoven was requested to set a poem, written by Dr. Aloys Weissenbach, of Salzburg, in cantata form, which was to be sung as a greeting to the royal visitors. It was "Der glorreiche Augenblick," sometimes written "Der heilige Augenblick" ("The Glorious Moment"). The time for its composition was very brief, and was made still shorter by the quarrels the composer had with the poet in trying to reduce the barbarous text to a more inspiring and musical form. He began the composition in September, and it was first performed on the 29th of the following November, together with the "Battle of Vittoria," and the A major (Seventh) symphony, written in the previous year. The concert took place in the presence of the sovereigns and an immense audience which received his works with every demonstration of enthusiasm, particularly "The Glorious Moment,"--a moment which all hailed as the precursor of a happier epoch for Europe, soon to be freed from Napoleonic oppression. The occasion was one of great benefit to the composer at a time when he was sorely in need of a.s.sistance. The distinguished foreign visitors thronged the salon of the Archduke Rudolph to pay him homage. Handsome gifts were lavished upon him so that he was enabled to make a permanent investment of 20,000 marks in shares of the bank of Austria. Brilliant entertainments were given by the Russian amba.s.sador, Prince Rasoumowsky,[12] in his palace, at one of which Beethoven was presented to the sovereigns. The Empress of Russia also gave him a reception and made him magnificent presents. Schindler says:

"Not without feeling did the great master afterwards recall those days in the Imperial Palace and that of the Russian Prince; and once with a certain pride remarked that he had allowed the crowned heads to pay court to him, and that he had carried himself thereby proudly."

The stern old republican, however, who could rebuke Goethe for taking off his hat in the presence of royalty, spoke such sentiments jocosely. He expresses his real feelings in a letter written to the attorney, Herr J.

Kauka, of Prague:--

"I write nothing about our monarchs and monarchies, for the newspapers give you every information on these subjects. The intellectual realm is the most precious in my eyes, and far above all temporal and spiritual monarchies."

The cantata itself, while not one of the most meritorious of the composer's works, for reasons which are sufficiently apparent, still is very effective in its choruses. The detailed parts do not need special description; they are six in number, as follows: No. 1, chorus ("Europa steht"); No. 2, recitative and chorus ("O, seht sie nah und naher treten"); No. 3, grand scena, soprano, with violin obligato and chorus ("O Himmel, welch' Entzucken"); No. 4, soprano solo and chorus ("Das Auge schaut"); No. 5, recitative and quartet for two sopranos, tenor, and ba.s.s ("Der den Bund im Sturme festgehalten"); No. 6, chorus and fugue ("Es treten hervor die Scharen der Frauen"), closing with a stirring "Heil und Gluck" to Vindobona, the ancient name of the city. In 1836, nine years after the composer's death, the cantata appeared with a new poetical setting by Friedrich Rochlitz, under the t.i.tle of "Preis der Tonkunst"

("Praise of Music"), in which form it was better adapted for general performance.

Among other compositions of Beethoven which a.s.similate to the cantata form, are Op. 112, "Meeresstille und gluckliche Fahrt," for four voices, with orchestra accompaniment; Op. 121, "Opferlied," for soprano solo, with chorus and orchestra accompaniment; and Op. 122, "Bundeslied," for two solo voices, three-part chorus, and accompaniment of two clarinets, two ba.s.soons, and two horns.