Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her"

The Canonic Variations on a Christmas carol (also canonic variations on Vom Himmel high ) are a five-movement organ composition by Johann Sebastian Bach 1746/47 and 1748 wrote in the print published ( BWV 769 ). The work is a typical representative of the contrapuntal late style, the Bach developed in his later years.

Origin and history

The Canonic Variations emerged as an annual contribution for Lorenz Christoph Mizler Correspondierende Societät musica metallic sciences. Each member of this association was required to publish until his 65th birthday once a year a music theory essay in print. Bach could instead submit one composition, which had a corresponding theoretical claim. His inaugural post in 1747 had been the Musical Offering, for 1749, he most likely had planned the Art of Fugue, after he had been released because of his age by further contributions.

In today's musical life of the plant is not on equal footing with the other compositions from Bach's late works. This may partly be due to the cast, but certainly also the fact that it is not so much seduced into romantic speculation - occasion, casting and scale are known; it has neither a mysterious title still fragmentary elements. The awareness of the topic and the transparency of the processing on the whole, allow a good reproducibility of the musical composition.

Igor Stravinsky, the composition of small choir and large orchestra worked without too much changing the original.

Versions

The first edition bears the title

Later, Bach revised the work twice. The latest version is available in the autograph. In this version of Bach pushed a the final movement between the second and third set, and so changed the entire structure of the work. Since the original final movement is the contrapuntal climax, a centrally symmetric arrangement was now of an applied rate of increase in a row.

The heading of the autograph is

The late conversion of sentences has been often mentioned in the longstanding conflict between the processor to the record order in the Art of Fugue as an argument.

Sets

(Sequence and labeling according to the first edition )

• Variatio 1 1 in Canone all ' ottava, à 2 Clav: et pedal. ( 12/8)
• Alio Modo 2 variations in Canone alla Quinta à 2 Clav: et pedal. (C = 4/4)
• Variatio 3 Canone alla Settima / Cantabile. (C)
• 4 variations of 2 Clav. et pedal. by augmentationem. in Canone all'ottava. (C)
• Variatio 5 L' altra variety del ' Canone all' rovercio, 1 ) alla Sesta 2) alla Terza, 3) alla Seconda, è 4) alla Nona. (C)

In the rhythm of a reminiscent of the final movement of the Third Brandenburg Concerto stylized Gigue the two upper voices begin with a simple two -part canon in the octave to which the pedal the Choral - listed in 4/4-time (C ) - as a quiet counter- voice to the sixteenth notes of the canonic voices inserts row by row.

The second movement is similarly applied as the first, but is a canon at the lower fifth. The motivic material of the upper voices is clearly derived from the first chorale line.

" Cantabile " is the title of the sentence and is right from the start to the second voice with an expressive vocal line in the center. Announced in the title Canon in the seventh lead two of the autograph in the alto and bass clef recorded voices; use them a developed from the topic head motif and thus establish a layer of uniformly and continuously running eighth notes, with the contralto vocals sometimes crosses the line. About this vote braid the upper voice adds the chorale melody added line by line.

The upper voice begins with a long-reaching topic that is at once an octave lower in the Canon by augmentationem, answered thus in the magnification. And in between a clear voice and fills the set of harmonic, rhythmic and contrapuntal on. After a short time created a dense network, where the actual canon for the handset is almost impossible to follow. The pedal sets the chorale theme added as a cantus firmus in the tenor. Since the higher canon voice is twice as fast as the deeper, they can be held in a free and masterly in the second half of the sentence and thus dominates the overall impression of the sentence. Meanwhile leads the deeper voice the canon to an end. In bar 39 sounded in the second voice sounds b, a, c ', h

In this set, Bach used the chorale theme itself as canonical material. The canon techniques and the processing of the chorale melody are clearly reminiscent of the Various canons which Bach has entered into his personal copy of the first edition of the Goldberg Variations.

The theme is repeated several times: About a thematically unbound bass play the first two upper voices a two-part mirror canon at the sixth, which is then repeated in double counterpoint, so with swapped votes as a canon in the third. Then put bass and tenor with a similar canon in the second one, here with an added middle voice; At this point begins the soprano ( " forte " ) with sweeping virtuoso figures; Also, this section is repeated with vocal exchange. The final bars form a great and unique in Bach's oeuvre contrapuntal climax by several chorale lines stacked in the different voices in three different tempos both original as well as in reverse of each other. In the final clock sounded on two votes distributes the tones b ', a' / c ', h'.