Crazy Chromatic, Insane Inversion Fugue in Bach's BWV 179 Cantata

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Richard Atkinson analyzes the crazy chromatic, insane inversion fugue in the opening chorus of J. S. Bach's BWV 179 cantata, "Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei" ("See that your fear of God is not hypocrisy"). This is a fair use educational commentary that uses excerpts from the following recordings/performances:
J. S. Bach: Cantata, BWV 179
Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki
J. S. Bach: Well-tempered Clavier fugues
András Schiff, pianoforte
Giovanni Gabrieli: Canzon III a 4 (arranged by Eric Crees for brass)
London Symphony Brass
Mozart: Requiem Mass, K. 626
La Chapelle Royale
Collegium Vocale
Orchestre des Champs Élysées, Philippe Herreweghe
Anton Reicha: 36 Fugues, Op. 36
Tiny Wirtz, pianoforte
00:00 - Commentary
15:49 - Entire chorus without interruptions

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31 июл 2024

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Комментарии : 114

@Richard.Atkinson 8 месяцев назад

13:15 - I completely missed an entry of the orange countersubject in the bass. Not sure how this was even possible, given how many hundreds of times I go over each bar when creating a video like this. I’m especially annoyed since it’s a totally obvious 4-part imitation. Oh well - RU-vid does not allow re-uploads that retain view counts and comments.

@bethfrancisco701 Год назад

Bach's works gives both relaxation and migraine at the same time.

@johnchessant3012 Год назад

Wow, your video on the Bach C-sharp major fugue was almost 5 years ago! One thing that's changed for sure since then is that viewers of this channel are expected to know what a stretto is by now :D

@tamed4171 Год назад

Remind me what a stretto is again??

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@tamed4171 Every time I mention it I consider leaving out the explanation, but then I realize it might be the first of my videos a person is viewing.

@frenchimp Год назад

@@tamed4171 Remind me what a stretto is again?? Remind me what a stretto is again?? Remind me what a stretto is again??

@TheOneAndOnlyZeno1889 Год назад

@@frenchimp This is but a fugue, and this is the countersubject that as two independent voices sing together, they meet, "point by point", and such is made counterpoint. AND HERE THE STRE- This is but a fugue, a countersubject must appear more than once without significant modification to be regarded as such. AND HERE BE THE STRETTO This is but a fugue, most fugues have at least one countersubject. Many have two or three. AND HERE BE THE STRETTO

@neogb8995 Год назад

I love Bach so much, especially his weirdness at times. That chromatic figure in the "falschen" reminds me of the Vater unser im himmelreich prelude for organ (BWV 682) which honestly sounds like Bach finished Schoenberg's organ sonata for him 200 years before he was born

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

I almost started a video a few years ago about BWV 682 - such a wild piece, with its strange "Scotch snap" rhythms. Of course, almost everything from the Clavier-Übung III is a masterpiece!

@neogb8995 Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson Bach's haters were truly terrified when he dropped Keyboard Practice 3 🔥🔥

@roycezaro1998 Год назад

I was just about to comment on that very part

@coolhandphilip Год назад

@@neogb8995 What is that?

@sebastianschweigert7117 Год назад

@@coolhandphilip Clavier-Übung translates to "keyboard practice"

@Hist_da_Musica Год назад

Listening to the annotated score after the analysis is such a great experience! I'm able to enjoy it more intensely

@jmchord Год назад

One of my favorite fugues, looking forward to this.

@glissandoconcertseriesbost9523 Год назад

What a spectacular piece! And elegant, in spite of its complexity, with a Buxtehudian feel. Thank you, Rich, for the fantastic explanation of Bach's contrapuntal procedures. You do it as elegantly as Bach composes. The allusions to all the other works are spot-on, with a really apt comparison to the C-sharp major fugue from WTC II. Interestingly, Bach musically treats hypocrisy with perhaps less severity than he does falseness-the former is portrayed by just a funky rhythm, without any chromaticism that is justly reserved for the latter!

@hudsonhovil1621 Год назад

Excellent content. I had never heard of Anton Reicha and that fugal exposition is unlike anything I have heard before. An amazing effect having those modulations of a third especially how the theme sets it up. Thank you for introducing me to this

@Peculate Год назад

The analysis on this channel is consistently excellent. I always smile when a new video shows up in my feed. The random tangents are delightful

@AJBlueJay Год назад

This reminds me of the first Kyrie from Zelenka's Missa Votiva. The orange counter subject in this cantata also sounds a lot like the subject in the Aria from Zelenka's Ouverture a 7 in F. The ending sounds like the Galant style of JA Hasse. For example, the ending of the Kyrie from Hasse's Requiem in C major. Except Bach is obviously more flowing and contrapuntal, and the Hasse ending is lighter and more sectional.

@tamed4171 Год назад

Your thorough understanding of counterpoint and the ability to portray your analyses in such a digestible way is, as always, immensely impressive. Fantastic video as per usual!

@chipensemble Год назад

I recognize this fugue from Bachs own Missa in G major! Bach used the same music for the Kyrie. This piece always sounded to me as one of the most spiritual- of those that make me realize the greatness of Bach.

@DGordon191 Год назад

Love your videos. Thanks for creating.

@zoltankovacs385 Год назад

Thank you Richard for this marvelous piece of analysis!

@johnchessant3012 Год назад

Great video with a nice alliterative title! I'll add one more wrinkle to the incredible four layers of interesting tangents, on the topic of Bach's WTC and Mozart's Requiem: The subject from that Requiem fugue sounds similar to the subject from the A minor fugue from the WTC Book 2!

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Also: the “And with his stripes” chorus from Handel’s Messiah has this same subject. And the fugal finale of Haydn’s Op. 20 No. 5 quartet also has a similar subject.

@emilgilels Год назад

This subject is in the 'shape' of a cross (across, up a bit, then sharply down). It is not at all an accident that it was used by all these famous composers. 🙂

@matthiasl.6551 Год назад

This cantata is incredible, thank you for sharing this treasure. As an aficionado or medieval and Renaissance music, I love when Bach goes old school like this. One note about Gabrieli : off the cuff, I'd say the entries on c and g are because the composer is thinking of the 8th Gregorian mode, g plagal, whose "dominant" is c. That would also be why the last chord is a c chord (in plagal modes, composers of the 16th c. would often harmonize the last chord at the dominant, with an inner voice - here the alto - playing the tonic). Of course this is just my two cents, as it is very difficult to analyse how composers of that period adapted monodic modal theory to a polyphonic context.

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Yes, I wasn't trying to imply that Gabrieli was thinking in terms of "tonic" and "dominant." I was just pointing out that imitative, fugue-like compositions in every era don't always follow the scheme we generally expect in a typical baroque fugue.

@matthiasl.6551 Год назад

No, your meaning was quite clear. I just wanted to point out that there is such a thing as "final" and "dominant" in medieval modal theory, and throughout the 16th and early 17th c. you see composers attempting to use several competing theoretical models of modalilty in their polyphonic works.

@matthiasl.6551 Год назад

I guess my point is : some aspects of this Bach cantata sound very reminiscent of these earlier approaches, to my ears.

@Brandon55638 Год назад

The Gabrieli example is in what Renaissance theorists would call the 12th mode, or Hypoionian, which is essentially the same as C major

@markkumollari Год назад

Thank you so much again. I love the way how every work you take is connected to broader family affairs - to fellow composers, adding knowledge. Of this text, might the strange melodic features refer to catholic French music with its melismatas that Bach knew well? But that is more political than musical question!

@derekdavid1 Год назад

So amazing.... Bravo, my friend!!!!!!!!

@tangsolaris9533 Год назад

Simply so many beautiful fugues in this video.

@giannottister Год назад

It is curious that Bach used this chorus for the Kyrie of Mass BWV 236, where the references to the text of the original cantata lose all relationship to the words, to the point that even the prosody of the word "Christe" is wrong.

@ryanlock2u Год назад

Those chromatic lines on “falschem” get me every time

@Luboman411 Год назад

Oooh, a motet! Bach is also a genius with motets, including my fave, BWV 225.

@bachfan1006 Год назад

One of my favorite pieces by Bach! Will you make a video about the counterpoint of bwv 50? I think that’s an excellent counterpoint writing too!

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

This is one of my favorites, and I've already thought about doing a video about it one day. Some scholars have argued that it wasn't composed by Bach, but I don't think their arguments make that much sense.

@magisterparsons Год назад

Thank you for this!

@johnphillips5993 Год назад

Can you do a deep dive on the Schumann Piano Concerto? Given the sheer tonnage of things to explore in that piece, I’m surprised people haven’t analysed it more

@gracebinder Год назад

I guess JSB was not an hypocritical believer but a faithful one. And following the great analysis de Mr Atkinson I guess also that JSB had a lot of fun, like being in a big playground of notes

@msjapan112 Год назад

haha the facial expression when you are reading German at the beginning. 😬

@trisymphony Год назад

Great analysis as always. The German lyrics should be sung exactly like you (half-jokingly?) spoke them in the beginning. Unfortunately, the recording you chose is „one of those“ which performs this movement in the same light, fluffy, dancing style that is all too common in the so-called „authentic performance“, regardless of the message or emotion Bach wants to convey. As a German, this makes his recording very hard to listen to, because the clash between Bach‘s intentions, which can be clearly seen in both score and text, and the clueless performance is so stark. There is an excellent recording of Karl Richter with the same chorus here on RU-vid which I would recommend instead.

@heirofspinoza813 Год назад

So cool. You got to do Brahms 2nd!

@feinberg4625 Год назад

Wow, thanks for making me aware of this piece. Now we need an analysis of the art of the fugue and the hammerklavier 😂

@soutteruk1 Год назад

You're not asking much!

@feinberg4625 Год назад

@@soutteruk1 LOL

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@feinberg4625 I have plans to do the entire Musical Offering and Art of Fugue, but they may need to be commissioned. 😅

@TomRussle Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson what about the remainder of Brahms 4, and 2 and 3 as well?

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@TomRussle Those are coming. Probably my next video will be the 2nd mvt. of 4.

@musimathematician Год назад

Thank you for making these videos! If I may ask, how long does it take you to put an entire video together?

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Many many full days of work. That last Bruckner video took all summer to create! (The Große Fuge video took many months. The Brahms Symphony 4 mvt. 1 video took many months. Etc.). The smaller, less-involved videos usually take a few weeks.

@simonsmatthew 6 месяцев назад

Thanks Richard for providing this invaluable resource. I am inspired and learn so much from them. It's funny the C-sharp major fugue is one of my least favourite. I always found the melody (ie the Subject) ugly. Perhaps now, if is linked to this Cantata and its text, there is some explanation for it! On opening endings the f-minor fugue (also Book II) is a good Bach example. I also find the f-minor fugue much prettier. Although finding good recordings of it is impossible I think. I think the problem with the bourgois big record label pianist recordings is that they just don't seem to sing or breath. Being familar with Bach's choral works for keyboardists is crucial I think. Organists, who also often tend to be church choir directors, I think have less problems here than other keyboardists.

@the_eternal_student Год назад

I enjoyed the comparison to other works of Bach.

@carsonwall2400 Год назад

Could you do the god-tier Contrapunctus 11? :)

@StefanoMontani Год назад

I would call it bizarre more than extraordinary. What really surprises me, istead, is that no Emperor told him "Too much notes, Herr Bach" (or what it was). This is what I find really extraordinary, that his "public" accepted this kind of musical writing. Is seems to me that Mozart and other composers too did't had this freedom. For sure not Mozart, born in a city where every music had to be, we could say, a "tafelmusik".

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Actually this was a frequent complaint about Bach’s music. Here’s a quote from an official rebuke from his employers in Arnstadt: “reprove him for having hitherto made many curious variations in the chorale, and mingled many strange notes in it, and for the fact that the congregation has been confused by it.”

@StefanoMontani Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson Interesting, thanks.

@mrknesiah Год назад

Check out the fugues of Zelenka

@acrid8952 Год назад

are we sure Bach didn't just compose the green and orange subjects as an inversion double canon in advance (sounds difficult but is relatively simple to do), which would guarantee that they can be used as stretto inversion subjects in a fugue?

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

It seems like that’s probably what he did, but it’s impossible to know for sure.

@zhihuangxu6551 Год назад

So when would Richard plz do the 2nd movement of Brahms 4th symphony? I have shuted myself against any information about the subsequent movements of that symphony in order to avoid spoilers...

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

I’m 90% sure this will be my next video!

@andrewgoretsky9654 Год назад

Actually, this is not a unique example of plagal answer, moreover, not a unique example of "fuga contraria". Do you know BWV 687 "Aus tiefer not schrei Ich zu dir". Many correlations.

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Yes, that would've been another good example to add to my tangent! Also, the whole point of the tangent was to show that it wasn't unique.

@andrewgoretsky9654 Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson thank you very much for your reply! Also, we can discuss some polyphonical stuff, I'm polyphonist too)

@prototypeinheritance515 Год назад

Your German pronouciation is very good!

@solcarzemog5232 Год назад

Why would he then use this exact music in the "KYRIE" of the G major "Missa Brevis" ?

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Many of the movements from those short masses were recycled from earlier cantatas. Actually, the music from the last 3 cantata choruses I've analyzed on this channel were later repurposed in those masses.

@cantatasonmymind 11 месяцев назад

Most probably because he was extremely proud of this composition, and when he had the opportunity to "recycle" it, he took it, so that the cantata movements he was most proud of could be performed at more occasions during the year than just the one Sunday in the church year for which they were written.

@Richard.Atkinson 8 месяцев назад

@@cantatasonmymind Exactly! That’s why so many of the greatest choruses were repurposed in the B-minor Mass!

@andrewkoenig2246 Год назад

We do not deserve Bach.

@sdzhchannel Год назад

The chromaticism gives me Zelenka feel, as usual

@jackeddemon Год назад

Very strange. But it works 🤷🏻‍♂️

@aksuli1 Год назад

I'd say cool, not strange.

@coprario1 Год назад

Reicha!

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Dedicated to Joseph Haydn, with the little poem!

@luisdanielplatakelly9308 Год назад

Doctor Atkinson. In the analysis of Mozart´s 36th symphony finale, you did not mention a rather interesting detail. Using this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ThY-JK10nrc.html, listen from 2:19 to 2:21. The fourth movement harks back to that part from 26:32 to 26:38.

@stanisawzokiewski707 Год назад

Good video. Mahler 8 when?

@mirrormoonknight856 Год назад

I don´t understand why would anyone speak so. Symphonies 1, 2, 4, 6, and 9 are superior. The second movement of the 8th symphony is excellent, but even then...there are at least 10 Mahler movements better than that one.

@stanisawzokiewski707 Год назад

@@mirrormoonknight856 You speak as if this was dogmatic law. I just like the counterpoint in 8 and would like to see a video on its analysis.

@mirrormoonknight856 Год назад

@@stanisawzokiewski707 Fair enough. My comment was more agressive than intended.

@stanisawzokiewski707 Год назад

@@mirrormoonknight856 Note that I also hold every Mahler Symphony in high regard.

@mirrormoonknight856 Год назад

@@stanisawzokiewski707 I do not hold in high regard the seventh, nor the fifth. However, the former has its first movement, whilst the latter has its fourth movement. Those movements are great.

@coolhandphilip Год назад

This is why Bach is a genius, and why even with my measured 165 IQ, I am NOT.

@sepandghanouni2271 Год назад

Please crank up your pace and make more vids

@Richard.Atkinson 8 месяцев назад

If more people donated on Patreon, this would be more of a possibility for me.

@laurasalo6160 8 месяцев назад

Or maybe Bach...

@matthiaswilhelm9813 Год назад

I hate the Temper.Piano Tuning.A clear Moll or Major Tuning ist better for my mind,The Pictures of a Keyboard Keys with Black and White Keys System ist the perverted Part for Keyboard playing.There must come a Revolution in The Future...😯😂😂😂🙀🙀🙀🇩🇪💓😯💖😱a computing CPU can in milliseconds Work a Moll or Dur cleaning exakt Tuning and Playa cleaning Quint.The Wolfs Quint ist the Error.

@sbrgm Год назад

Good analysis, and by the way, your German pronunciation was not bad ;-) But honestly, I don't understand why you always kind of ridicule the text passages of Bach. Bach was a deeply believing person (so am I) and he meant what he wrote. And that fear has nothing to do with things like "fear of hell", but with your authenticity as believer...

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

Actually, I try to be pretty neutral most of the time. I poked fun of this text because it's a particularly egregious example of how much of a petty authoritarian dictator the Christian god is. Of course... brilliantly set to ingenious music.

@sbrgm Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson That is a typical distorted view of God - where do you have that from, from the Atheists' forum? Sounds like it. God's character is love - but: also holiness. And therefore it can look like the character had a dark side, but that's not true. If you want to discuss on this or have questions, I could answer them. If not, we drop it - no problem, I don't need it, just don't want to deny my help...

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@sbrgm I think a parent who murders nearly all of his children by drowning them when they misbehave at least has some explaining to do… 😅 And if someone called these genocidal actions “loving,” they’d have some explaining to do as well.

@sbrgm Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson I don't know what scripture you are talking about. Please tell me book, chapter and verse or at least the name of the story.

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@sbrgm Noah, flood, etc.

@Robert-er5wq Год назад

Should be played in those evangelical churches supporting the far right and vice versa.

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

To be fair, this “God” guy is himself a giant hypocrite, so it’s hard to tell who’s being hypocritical by following him and who’s being hypocritical by not following him.

@Robert-er5wq Год назад

@@Richard.Atkinson Yep, if one can come to so vastly different moral conclusions from one of the same source (Bible), then something is wrong with the source. And that applies to belief in God in general. But back to the music: Bach's church cantatas were my source of belief. Because I moved and stopped singing, I stopped believing (belief comes from hearing?) - and obviously other revelations (pun intended). I deeply regret my loss in faith when I hear Bach, my beloved cantatas, and other music (such as Schein/Scheidt/Schütz, for example) It still stirs deep emotions in me.

@Richard.Atkinson Год назад

@@Robert-er5wq The same thing happens to me (music has amazing power over emotions), but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with the repugnant theology.