Windsbacher Knabenchor
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Cover Notes
The motet originally represented a section of
the organum, in which the upper voice sang a different text from the Latin text of the
tenor, but that commented upon and usually rhymed with the latter. Etymologically, the
term is probably derived from the French mot ("word" or " saying") that in its latinized form
motetus gradually led to mofef in English and French and to motetto in Italian. The earliest works of this kind that have
come down to us go back to St. Martial in Limoges to c. 1000. They were systematically
cultivated and further developed in the "Notre Dame" school. The form generally found
until the early fifteenth century was created with the addition of the "triplum", a supporting voice that ran above the motet. It grew
beyond the framework of the liturgy into that of the ars antiqua with the incorporation of
texts in the vernacular and the instrumental replacement of the chorale" melody of the
tenor. In the fourteenth century it was thus chiefly secular and displayed an especially
artistic structure through the use of iso-rhythms: the tenor and the countertenor, as
well as other voices, are built upon strict repetitions of a rhythmic or melodic sequence,
repetitions that often overlap. This was the structural principle of many of Dufay's
motets, and its traces were still to be found in the sixteenth century (Josquin, Mauton,
Willaert). Motet development after the middle of the sixteenth century was characterized
by a return to liturgical or religious texts, usually in prose, for propers in masses, Divine
Office texts, psalms or gospels. Too, the pervading imitation replaced the cantus
firmus and became the dominant formal principle. The second flourishing of this new,
usually four-part form came through Dutch masters from Josquin des Prez to Orlando di
Lasso as well as through the Roman school. With the advance of the concerti ecclesiastici
at the beginning of the seventeenth century (Schutz. Scheidt, Schein) the motet lost its
position of central prominence and lost its precision as a musical form with the death of
Johann Sebastian Bach (1750) whose motets , differed from his cantatas chiefly through
their lack of the arioso element.
In his definitive essay "Uber die Motetten Johann Sebastian Bachs", Bernhard Friedrich Richter answers the question as to the purpose for which the motets were intended with the statement that, with one single exception, there is proof that they were intended for funerals and, beginning in 1719, also for memorial services for distinguished persons. Hence, we know, for example, that Bach composed one of the two large-scale motets, "Jesu, meine Freude", to correspond with the sermon held at the memorial service for "Frau Oberpostmeisterin Kasin" (Mrs. meaning "wife of" Senior Postmaster Kasin) on July 18,1723. Less clear is what occasioned the other major motet "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied", for its tremendous song of rejoicing seems less suited to a congregation of mourners than to a feast of especial importance like the New Year's Day feast that followed the conclusion of the Peace of Dresden on December 25, 1745. Yet, as there is nothing known about the origin of the aria "Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an" (Lord, keep us in Thy care), the work could also have been written as a song of thanks or on the occasion of the rescue from some great danger.
Contrary to all previous recordings, the Windsbach Boys' Choir and its director Karl-Friedrich Beringer here give consideration to a note found in the autograph score of "Singet dem Herrn" that was long attributed either to later copyists of the original or to the rather anecdotical statement (have have come down to us. At the end of the middle section of the motet "Wie sich ein Vater erbarmet (As a father has mercy) - Gott, nimm dich ferner unser an" we find the following remark: "Der 2. Versus ist wie der erste, nur dass die Chore Omwechseln, nur das erste Chor den Choral, das andre die Aria singe" (The second verse is like the first except that the choirs switch: only the first choir should sing the choral, the other one the aria).
As this information is drawn from the autograph that Mozart asked for when the St. Thomas choir first sang the motet for him in Leipzig in 1789, there is no doubt about its authenticity.
Another unique feature of this recording is that the two motets are sung a capella, a point that has been oddly neglected but that permits a performance which, for the most part should come close to the original intentions of the composer.
Gerhard Homann
A number of the compositions that have come down to us under the name of Johann Sebastian Bach bear the designation "motet". The obituary written by Johann Friedrich Agricola and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and published in L. Chr. Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek (Musical Library) in 1754, four years after J. S. Bach's death, indicates only "a few double-chorus motets" among Bach's imprinted works, however. In his Bach biography of 1802, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, on the other hand, mentions "many motets for single or double choir" as being among his "singing compositions" and adds, "But most of these works have now become scattered ... only eight to ten of the double-choir works are still available". He bases his statement on the motets that he found in the estate left by Princess Amalia of Prussia. Joh. Bachs Motetten in Partitur (Joh. Bach's Motets in Full-Score), the first printed edition, was anonymously edited by Johann Gottfried Schicht and published by Breitkopf and Hartel in 1802; it contained six works. Then under Ph. Spitta the compositions labelled BWV 225 to 229 were ascertained to be "five indubiously authentic" works; so that only the motet "Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden" BWV 230 remained questionable for the time being. Unlike the other motets, which are for double-choir, this work is set for four voices and "flows forth without interruption in the old manner". It is also given a "basso continue" (thoroughbass) that, with the exception of the first four bars, usually doubles the lowest vocal part either in unison or in octaves: in other words, is a typical "basso seguente" that moves like that customarily found in cantata chorus movements which resemble motets. Neither the first printed edition nor C. F. Whistling's catalogue of printed music (1828) lists the work as a motet. It is labelled simply "Der 117. Psalm fur Singstimmen" (The 117th Psalm, for Voices) in both. A later edition, listed as appearing in 1848, also brings simply this title at the beginning of the text, but not in addition the designation "motet". The adding of the basso continuo is, consequently, important. For as the motets, since Schicht's edition, have been published without "b.c." and have been performed as purely vocal works in accordance with the "a cappella" ideals of the Romantic period, a piece that belongs among the motets would also have been published without "b.c.". Discriminate research on the structure of the work by today's musicologists now permits it to be viewed as certain that Bach planned and constructed Psalm 117 as a motet. Needless to say, one question then comes to the fore in our minds immediately: For what purpose were Bach's motets written? At first it was erroneously thought that Bach had written his motets as practice pieces for the school choir. This notion arose from the fact that, uncoupled from their originally intended use, they were performed as brilliant display pieces for the St. Thomas Choir in the Saturday vesper services. Even J. Ph. Kirnberger - who, in his own words, "guarded the hoard of the Bach tradition in Berlin the most fiercely" - and other of Bach's pupils who kept Bach's memory alive and in high honor: even they were children of a period that no longer knew much of their teacher's deep roots in Lutheran-inspired devoutness or of his ties to church and congregation. It was not until Bernhard Friedrich Richter's really scientifically supported essay "Uber die Motetten Seb. Bachs" (On the Motets of Seb. Bach) of 1912 that the question of their intended purpose could be fully answered. According to Richter, they were not written as occasional substitutes for cantatas in the worship services, but rather, "with one single exception", for funeral services; Richter also mentions the practice (that can be documented from 1719 on) of holding memorial services for deceased people of distinction. Contrary to the widespread practice of performing these works with "colla parte" accompaning instruments, this recording presents the motets - except BWV 230 - a cappella and thus deliberately addresses the tradition that prohibited the use of instruments in funeral services held in churches of the City of Leipzig; the Pauline Church, being the University's church, was the one exception to the rule. Richter, in 1912, provided the "simple explanation: Bach wrote his motets a cappella in the assumption that the funeral services would take place at the Churches of St. Thomas or St. Nicholas". When, however, "it was decided to hold a funus academicum in the Pauline Church, he added colla parte instruments to the voice parts".