Wen Peng

MUS 321
Dr. Robert Zappulla
03 / 28 / 2019

J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 movements 68

- Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder , C minor

- Double Chorus
- (Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo)

TEXT:
Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
Und rufen dir im Grabe zu:
Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!
Ruht, ihr ausgesognen Glieder!
Euer Grab und Leichenstein
Soll dem ängstlichen Gewissen
Ein bequemes Ruhekissen
Und der Seelen Ruhstatt sein.
Höchst vergnügt schlummern da die Augen ein.
We sit down with tears
And call to you in your tomb
Rest gently, gently rest!
Rest, you exhausted limbs!
Your grave and tombstone
For our anguished conscience shall be
A pillow that gives peace and comfort
And the place where our souls find rest.
With the greatest content there our eyes will close

The structural basis of this chorus is that of a Sarabande (see Ex.1).

Ex.1
Serabande from Suite in C minor, No. III of Verschiedene
Instremental-Kompositionen (BG 45, II, p.164)
- in the main section, repeated at the end, the high held notes of the sopranos on
Vail (bar 41-42 “rufen”) always culminate in a crunching discord;

- they can, and should, sound loud enough, one feels, to wake the dead!

- The words Rest softly (“Ruhe sanfte” bar 20) are first piano, echoed pianissimo,
and repeated forte.

- Terraced dynamics are also used in an exquisitely tender way at the end of the
middle section on (bar 76, schlummern da die Augen)

- the sudden piano on ‘schlummern’ is reduced to più piano as the drooping phrases
sink lower, and finally to pianissimo immediately before the return of the
opening.1

1
Steinitz, Paul. Bach's Passions. Masterworks of Choral Music. New York: C.
Scribner's Sons, 1978