'Jesu, meine Freude' (Jesu, my joy) is not an obvious Christmas hymn, since there’s no mention of a virgin, a stable, the birth of Jesus or such. However, in Bach’s own lifetime it was associated with Christmas, but also with Lent. Now, it starts with the words 'Jesu, my joy, pasture of my heart, Jesu, my adornment', and it is of course easy to picture the newborn Jesus as something very precious. The 4th and 5th verses tell us to forget all treasures and earthy pleasures, and that is a clear Lent theme, but Adventtide also used to be a time of fasting and preparing for Christmas in quietness, so it fits quite well for that! And now to the music: it starts in a very typical serious organ style, three parts imitating each other, the melody appears unadorned, sometimes easy to spot, sometimes not. But suddenly everything changes: tempo, metre, style! A chamber music like structure begins, and the hymn tune disappears with only the faintest fragments remaining. Quite unique among Bach’s chorale preludes! What did he mean?! I believe the answer is to be found in the last verse: 'my joyful master, Jesus, now enters in. For those who love God even their afflictions become pure sweetness. And there is the Christmas theme: Jesus entering the world as a baby. Different music needed.
'Jesu, meine Freude' (Jesu, my joy) is not an obvious Christmas hymn, since there’s no mention of a virgin, a stable, the birth of Jesus or such. However, in Bach’s own lifetime it was associated with Christmas, but also with Lent. Now, it starts with the words 'Jesu, my joy, pasture of my heart, Jesu, my adornment', and it is of course easy to picture the newborn Jesus as something very precious. The 4th and 5th verses tell us to forget all treasures and earthy pleasures, and that is a clear Lent theme, but Adventtide also used to be a time of fasting and preparing for Christmas in quietness, so it fits quite well for that! And now to the music: it starts in a very typical serious organ style, three parts imitating each other, the melody appears unadorned, sometimes easy to spot, sometimes not. But suddenly everything changes: tempo, metre, style! A chamber music like structure begins, and the hymn tune disappears with only the faintest fragments remaining. Quite unique among Bach’s chorale preludes! What did he mean?! I believe the answer is to be found in the last verse: 'my joyful master, Jesus, now enters in. For those who love God even their afflictions become pure sweetness. And there is the Christmas theme: Jesus entering the world as a baby. Different music needed.
Gorgeous sounding instrument
Indeed it is!
Strålande spel och filmning 🎶😇
Tack :)
Helt underbart
Tack, kul att du tyckte om det :)