Hope in Song
Two Musical Sermons from J. S. Bach
The So-Called “Fifth Evangelist”
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) has periodically been referred to as “The Fifth Evangelist.” This comes partly because of his practice of building into his music a “resonant witness”—to repurpose a book title from music & biblical scholar Jeremy Begbie. This musical witness comes by way of layering meaning beyond just particular lyrics. Bach did not merely compose music to convey a meaningful text or idea. Instead, he masterfully placed that meaning into the musical elements that accompanied the text. How he did this has showcased the gospel through song to global audiences across cultures. This post will give a few examples that show the great blessing Bach’s music has been in the form of evangelism and why we should continue to give thanks for the sermons of hope in song that Bach’s music has given to many listeners over the past three centuries.
Bach Preaches Hope to Himself
The year was 1720; Sebastian Bach was director of music for Prince Leopold in the German city of Cöthen. This, his second major career stop, was the era when Bach wrote many of his solo and instrumental works, including his orchestral and cello suites and the Brandenburg Concertos. This was also when Bach wrote his sonatas and partitas for solo violin. The most well-known of these solo violin works is his Partita No. 2 in D Minor (BWV 1004).
In the summer of 1720, Bach accompanied Prince Leopold to the town of Carlsbad, where he performed on the small organ brought with them on the journey. Upon returning to Cöthen, Bach learned that his beloved wife, Maria Barbara, had died suddenly and had already been buried. It is this event that German musicologist Helga Thoene theorizes is the basis of this most famous of Bach’s solo violin works, particularly its final “Chaconne” (or Ciaccona in Italian) movement. Instead, Professor Thoene argues that the piece should be regarded as a Tombeau (or epitaph) for his first wife.1 She cites the similarities of the instrumental works with fragments of hymn (or chorale) tunes. And not just any hymn tunes, but tunes that specifically deal with death and resurrection. In other words, Thoene believes that Bach’s most outstanding solo violin work has for its form and structure resurrection and gospel-themed hymn tunes well-known in Bach’s day rather than mere instrumental themes composed by Bach. To demonstrate this, The Hilliard Ensemble and German violinist Christoph Poppen released an album in 2001 titled Morimur, demonstrating how these particular chorale tunes seemingly overlay with the solo violin work according to Helga Thoene’s analysis. These chorale tunes are comprised of lyrics that refer to death, sorrow, and how Christians are called to trust in our Creator in the face of suffering.
Chorale Texts That Appear in the Final Movement Chaconne:
Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Christ Jesus Lay in the Bonds of Death)
Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt (No one could defeat death)
Dein Will gescheh, Herr Gott, zugleich Auf Erden wie im Himmelreich.
Gib uns Geduld in Leidenszeit, (Thy will be done, Lord God, both on earth and in the kingdom of heaven. Grant us patience in times of suffering)
Befiehl du deine Wege, Und was dein Herze kränkt, Der allertreusten Pflege Des, der den Himmel lenkt! (Entrust your way and what grieves your heart to the most faithful care of him who governs heaven!)
Wo soll ich fliehen hin, Weil ich beschweret bin Mit viel und großen Sünden? (Where should I flee to 'Cause I'm weighed down With many and big sins?)
Auf meinen lieben Gott Trau ich in Angst und Not; (On my lovely God
I trust in fear and need;)
Jesu, meine Freude, meines Herzens Weide, Jesu, meine Zier! (Jesus my joy,
my heart's willow, Jesus, my ornament!)
Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, Herr Gott, erhör mein Rufen; Dein gnädig Ohr neig her zu mir Und meiner Bitt sie öffne! (Out of deep distress I cry out to you, Lord God, hear my cry; Tilt your gracious ear to me And open my request!)
Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (I come from heaven high)
Jesu, deine Passion Will ich jetzt bedenken; (Jesus, your passion
I want to consider now;)
In meines Herzens Grunde Dein Nam und Kreuz allein Funkelt all Zeit und Stunde, Drauf kann ich fröhlich sein. (At the bottom of my heart your name and cross alone sparkle at all times and hours, I can be happy about that.)
Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren, Was in mir ist, den Namen sein! Sein Wohltat tut er mehren, Vergiß es nicht, o Herze mein! (Now praise, my soul, the Lord,
What is in me, be the name! He increases his good deeds, do not forget it, O my heart!)
More could be said about how Bach seemingly quotes these chorale tunes in such a way as to paint a picture of sorrow and grief that still has hope, much like it is patterned in the Psalms. Some scholars do not believe Helga Thoene’s analysis of the violin partita chaconne movement is accurate. They find her analysis a bit of a stretch. In any case, I want to ask if it would be beyond the realm of possibility for Bach to do something like this. No, it would not. Of course, we will never know this side of the resurrection when we could ask him. But in the meantime, below is the Spotify link where you can preview the opening of the chaconne with the vocalists singing “Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands” in German and hear for yourself how Professor Thoene believes the chorale overlays the chaconne. It’s quite a piece before considering the possibility it could have an even deeper meaning than originally thought. Take a listen:
Bach Points to a Different Kind of Hope in Japan
Around the same time Helga Thoene published her theory and analysis of Bach’s work in the early 1990s, Japanese organist and harpsichordist Masaaki Suzuki founded the Bach Collegium Japan following his studies with baroque musicians in Europe.2 A while back, I came across a June 2000 article by Uwe Siemon-Netto, a German columnist and editor whose article was published on the First Things website titled,
“J. S. Bach in Japan.” Several things fascinated me as I read this article.
First, Mr. Siemon-Netto describes how Suzuki studied in Germany and the Netherlands with well-known Bach scholars and seemingly brought Bach to Japan. He says Suzuki estimates “anywhere from one hundred to two hundred other Bach choirs have popped up around this country” in the first ten years of the Bach Collegium Japan. Siemon-Netto says, “Suzuki is even responsible for introducing the German word Kantate (cantata) into the Japanese vocabulary.” Second, Siemon-Netto remarks how Suzuki’s Good Friday concert of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion each year draws “more than two thousand” Japanese Bach enthusiasts who pay “hundreds of dollars each for a ticket to his ensemble’s performance.”
Interestingly, the attendees have supertitles projected of Matthew’s Gospel account of the passion of Jesus in Japanese. According to Maestro Suzuki, attendees and even musicians will come up to Suzuki after the concert asking for clarification of what is meant by “hope” in the Gospels. Siemon-Netto again quotes Suzuki:
“What people need in this situation is hope in the Christian sense of the word, but hope is an alien idea here. . .Our language does not even have an appropriate word for hope,” Suzuki says. “We either use ibo, meaning desire, or nozomi, which describes something unattainable.” After every one of the Bach Collegium’s performances Suzuki is crowded on the podium by non-Christian members of the audience who wish to talk to him about topics that are normally taboo in Japanese society—death, for example. “And then they inevitably ask me to explain to them what ‘hope’ means to Christians.”
Bach’s music carries the gospel message, a hope that transcends western European culture and reaches Japanese culture meaningfully. His music is so steeped in Biblical imagery that it crosses cultural divides and provides a great source of evangelism. It points to Hope Incarnate—Jesus Christ. This “hope” in Bach’s music is the hope of the resurrection, the breaking of the power of death by Jesus Christ, who experienced the first fruits. We Christians will experience that future hope one day as well.
‘Surprised by Hope’
Anglican theologian and New Testament scholar N. T. Wright explains the hope that is present for Christians—the same hope that Bach’s music points us to.
“…the early Christian future hope centered firmly on resurrection. The first Christians did not simply believe in life after death; they virtually never spoke simply of going to heaven when they died. (As I have often said, alluding to the title of a good popular book on this subject, heaven is important but it’s not the end of the world.) When they did speak of heaven as a postmortem destination, they seemed to regard this heavenly life as a temporary stage on the way to the eventual resurrection of the body. When Jesus tells the brigand that he will join him in paradise that very day, paradise clearly cannot be their ultimate destination, as Luke’s next chapter makes clear. Paradise is, rather, the blissful garden where God’s people rest prior to the resurrection. When Jesus declares that there are many dwelling places in his father’s house, the word for dwelling place is monē, which denotes a temporary lodging. When Paul says that his desire is “to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,” he is indeed thinking of a blissful life with his Lord immediately after death, but this is only the prelude to the resurrection itself. In terms of the discussion in the previous chapter, the early Christians hold firmly to a two-step belief about the future: first, death and whatever lies immediately beyond; second, a new bodily existence in a newly remade world.”3
In this quote, Tom Wright echoes what Christians profess in the Nicene Creed: “we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” This gets at the hope we have as Christians. Bach illustrates this hope well in his musical writing of the Partita No. 2 (Chaconne) and his St. Matthew Passion.
Concluding Thoughts
This post highlights the great witness that music can be in Amen-ing the Gospel message. Bach understood the scriptures and knew the beautiful effect music could have on himself and those who would hear his music. He likely never dreamed that his music would have the impact it keeps having across cultures over three hundred years later. He would sign his scores Soli Deo Gloria (Glory to God Alone), or simply abbreviated, SDG at the beginning or end of a score.
O, that we would have a similar love of the scriptures and a skill in responding to our great hope in song in this life and in the life to come! May the Lord one day give us more “musical evangelists” like Bach, who picture the gospel’s hope in song. May our children’s children be able to give thanks for this “fifth evangelist,” and may the Lord be pleased to bring even greater musical evangelists so that our descendants might rejoice to see and hear other glorious manifestations of hope in song.
Helga Thoene, Johann Sebastian Bach Ciaccona: Tanz oder Tombeau [Ciaccona: Dance or Tombeau], (Oschersleben: dr. Ziethen Verlag, 2009).
This is not the same Suzuki from which “The Suzuki Method” of string music pedagogy.
Wright, N. T.. Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. United Kingdom: HarperCollins, 2008, 41.