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That Bach constantly made use of musical allegory has been observed
and stated by Albert Schweitzer2 and Andre Pirro.3 These two authors,
however, make no difference between allegory, symbol, simile, and metaphor,
and use these words side by side as though they were synonymous. On
the other hand, we are indebted to them for the compilation of a vocabulary
of musical phrases which Bach repeatedly uses for the illustration of certain
words in the text. Let us take a few classic examples. First, one from
a predecessor of Bach's, Buxtehude-an example of the allegory of sinking.
The text runs: "I sink in deep and bottomless mire."4 To this text
Buxtehude writes a melody which descends to the deepest abysses of
the bass.
Ex. 2.
Ich ver- sin- ke im tie- fen Schlammwo kein Grundist
6 6 6 76
3 3 5
6
2
or, "here all is night" :1
Ex. 4-
ist ja lau- ter Nacht
6
5
6 7b
46 5
36 2
75 6
5
2
F. b,
i "z , ', . .
u ,- " -
Here again Bach does not use the ninth because of the distance but because
of the harmonic dissonance. It sounds as horrible as the horrors Bach
wishes to allegorize.
The same interval can acquire still a third meaning. Where the text
says "my soul's ardent desire"3 this diminished ninth appears once again.
1 BG 3 BG
12, 2, p. I40. 32, p. 64.
2 BG 20, I, p. 211.
6 72 6
2
Here the meaning is dependent upon the harmonic relation just as in the
scene of "horrors" or in the case of the "raging Herod." We see, then,
how the same interval may allegorize three distinct notions with different
emotional associations. This is only possible because the musical allegory
is not expressive: that is to say, it does not convey its meaning through
the emotions.
These examples prove that musically similar motifs can allegorize different
things. The unambiguous interpretation of the allegory is only possible
with the text before us. Since the ninth is an interval with a great stretch,
and is also harmonically a strong dissonance, it can appear both as an
allegory of distance and as an allegory of horror. The decisive factor is
the intellectual point of departure.
* * *
We see, then, that there can be no unambiguous allegories in music,
just as in visual allegories one and the same figure can have very different
meanings.
Music does not plainly imitate what is allegorized. It produces an event
in the musical sphere which is analogous to an event in the spiritual sphere.
When Mattheson speaks of "depicting the passions" (Abmalungder Affekte),
he does not mean imitation of expression, but figurative analogy which is
produced by the intellect alone. It is often very difficult to establish an
analogy between the two realms of the sensuous and the spiritual. Hence,
the point of comparison appears to us often very far fetched. From the
way in which the analogy is contrived we can learn a great deal about the
style of a given period.
The analogies in music may refer only to one voice or to all the voices,
to the rhythm alone, to the harmony alone, to the setting and instrumentation
alone, or simply to the intensity of sound. It is also possible to combine
some or all of these elements. When, for example, the word "fall" is to
be represented by a musical allegory, the orchestra might run from the top-
most heights to the deepest depths in a wild downward rush, as for example
Richard Strauss might manage it. In this case voices, harmony, rhythm,
instrumentation would all be involved. In a prelude of Bach to the chorale
"Through Adam's fall debased,"' the fall of Adam is allegorized by means
of plunging intervals in the bass, but these intervals are at the same time
diminished sevenths, and therefore contrasting dissonances which here
allegorize Adam's degradation, precisely in the same way as the scenes of
horror were described before by sharpened octaves.
1 BG 25, 2, Orgelbuichlein.
This figure runs through the whole prelude. It is not episodic, therefore,
as it would be in Strauss, but plays a structural part in the whole composition.
Moreover, the other voices move in a strictly chromatic way against the
given choral melody in order to allegorize Adam's ruin.
Ex. iib.
(Durch A- dams Fall ist ganz ver- derbt)
mi- se- re- re, mi- se- re- re mi- se- re- re no- bis
or with Bach in the St. John's Passion to the words "and wept bitterly."
Ex. I3.2
und wei- - ne- te
4 6 6- s6q 6 45 6 6
2 5b 5M 4
It is, however, also possible that the chromatic progression should have quite
a cheerful meaning as in the aria of the St. John's Passion "Ich folge Dir
gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten" ("I follow Thee also, my Saviour, with
gladness." Here the figure appears with the word "schieben"(push).
Ex. 15.4
zu schie- ben
.... c0,
Thus the chromatic progression has three different meanings in the Passion
of St. John alone.
1 Andr. Hammerschmidt, Missae, I668 follow" represented by the threefold imitation
(after Pirro, op. cit., p. 83). of the initial motif in the basso continuo,
2Bach, St. John's Passion, Eulenburg's the tenor voice and the instrumental upper
Miniature Score, p. 48. part. The fugato here signifies following.
3
Ibid., p. 59- Secondly, the word "joyful" coincides with
Ibid., p. 39. The English versions of a slurred, vivacious motif of the tenor, often
this aria demonstrate conclusively that the used by Bach to indicate joy. The "foot-
translation of Bach's Cantata texts cannot steps," finally, are represented by the peculiar
correctly be done without paying attention conduct of the bass with its sudden rests-a
to musical allegories. The aria begins with typical figure for steps. A translation not
the words "Ich folge Dir gleichfalls mit regarding this triple allegory destroys the
freudigen Schritten," (which means literally point. The "classical" English version by
'I follow thee also with joyful footsteps'). the Rev. J. Troutbeck is correct only as
In the very beginning three different far as the allegory of following is concerned.
allegories are superimposed. Firstly, "I It coordinates the word "Saviour" with the
These examples are particularly instructive, since they show how the
notion of what is 'painful' in music has changed since the time of Bach.
Precisely at this point where the false impression might prevail that music
must always express the feeling of pain in the same way, it is necessary
to remark that the so-called "passions,"' which baroque theoreticians of
music discuss, are not to be confused with our feelings. They are rather
to be described as a group of typified and fairly static attitudes of mind
represented by corresponding figures. The dynamic interpretation of
emotion would be as false here as in other allegories where the intellectual
character is more obvious.
The intellectual element is most evident where the allegory is addressed
not only to the sense of hearing but also to the sense of sight. Again the
analogy of 'falling' is a characteristic instance. The movement of something
falling from above to a place below is by no means identical with the
movement from the higher to the lower note. High and low, as far as notes
are concerned, are merely spatial metaphors which must not be taken literally.
In many periods and countries the tones are not called high and low, but
heavy and light or sharp (gravisand acutus,grave and aigiie).
The musical allegories which address themselves to the senses of sight
and sound are particularly frequent in Bach. Let us take three examples.
In the cantata Herculesam Scheidewegethe words "for the snakes which
tried to seize me with their lullaby"2 are represented by winding figures
in the bass.
Ex. 16.
denn die Schlan- gen so mich woll- ten wie- gend fan- gen
To be sure, one hears this rise and fall, but the allegory of winding appears
in its clearest shape only in the musical notation. The bass is of course
motif of joy and pays no attention to by putting to it the word "sadness." It
the footsteps (I follow thee also, my Saviour, would require a whole book to discuss all
with gladness). Thus, both motifs, that of the blunders of the different translations of
joy and that of the footsteps, become Bach's oratorios and cantatas.
musically absurd and meaningless. A 1 The strict meaning of the word "passion"
modern translation by J. Atkins : "I follow, (Affekt)deserves further investigation. It is
I follow with gladness to meet thee", is better a fundamental notion of baroque psychology,
from one point of view. It takes account of the history of which is not yet written. The
the allegory of joy by putting the word "glad- "Traites des Passions" written for painters,
ness" to the motif ofjoy. It misses, however, ought to be correlated with those of the
the allegory of footsteps. Atkins connects musical theorists, not to speak of the
in bar 63/64 the above-mentioned chromatic definitions and deductions in the "systems
progression which indicates 'pushing,' with of the passions" produced by contemporary
the word "urge." This is, indeed, far better philosophers.
than the classical version, which actually 2 BG 34, p. 147-
reverses the cheerful meaning of the motif
mes- -sen
mes- -sen
-F
_ _ _
I ,1 -
1•.--I-
76 4
4 2
1 BG 37, p. io8.
2 Another
Schtitz in a far more primitive fashion,
example : the words "einer zur by splitting the choir into halves, one of
Rechten und einer zur Linken" are illustrated which sings "einer zur Rechten" and the
by Bach again by a melodic inversion. The other "einer zur Linken".
same text had already been allegorized by
rtt~ -
6Z 6 7
75
9 56 5 g 25
5$ 2
Here you see the relevant bass which is constructed on precisely analogous
lines. The inversion here is just as strictly carried out; but, apart from the
scales, the combination of the two voices as a fugue has a still further meaning.
All passages of the Bible which are of dogmatic importance and contain
a general commandment are set by Bach almost without exception in fugue
or canon form.' In these instances the fugue and canon are evidently an
allegory of law, since the fugue and the canon are the most rigid forms of
musical composition. That is why Bach has set the whole thing as a fugue.
Again two meanings, the scales and the law, are superimposed.
More primitive examples of visual allegory may be seen in the so-called
eye-music (Augenmusik). It consists in altering the notation to suit certain
words. For example, the notes to the words "nox" and "tenebrae"are
coloured black in the notation, also the notes to the Song of Songs' : Nigra
sum. The musical effect is a faster singing of the notes, since the black
filling of the notes indicates rhythmical acceleration. Andreas Herbst
had already expressed some scepticism about this procedure : "Weil aber
dieses nicht ffir die Ohren, zu welcher Delectation solches billig geschehen
sollte, sondern allein fuir die Augen angenommen ist, also 1asst man es in
seinem Werth oder Unwerth beruhen." Another form of eye-music is
to be found in the manner of rhythmic notation. J. Handl (Gallus) illustrates
the word "confundantur" in a motet by giving for each voice a very
complicated rhythmic notation, so that the rhythm appears very complicated
to the eye, though it is musically very simple. In this context we may also
mention those cases in Bach where he sharpens the notes when the word
"cross5"appears, because the German word for sharp is Kreuz. Especially
in the so-called "Kreuzstabcantate" we find this allegory used constantly.
Though all these examples are relatively simple, many more complicated
ones might be adduced. In the words "For whosoever exalteth himself
shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted":3
Ex. 19.
Wer sich selbst er- h6- -het der
S .
IJ iIki"-F ,
1
Cf. also the chorus of the Jews in the Madrigal," Zeitschrift der Int. Musikgesell-
St. John's Passion "We have a law" (p. 99) schaft, XIV.
set as a strict fugue. 3 BG
Io, p. 246.
2Cf. Alfred Einstein, "Augenmusik im
soil er- nie-dri- get wer- den undwer sich selbst er nie-
Bach uses here the spatial analogy of a rising and falling line corresponding
to exaltation and abasement. That is quite simple. But he implies a
second allegory in that he sharpens the notes in the rising line in unexpected
places and flattens them in the descending melody, since in German "erhiihen"
and "erniedrigen" are also musical technical terms meaning to sharpen and
to flatten. This twofold allegory turns out to be more or less a pun, like
that on the word "Kreuz,"which is intelligible only in the German language,
and which appears only in the musical notation.
M.. ..
6 ,_.... . .
..
, ,1 ...
• , , ....
D o
..... .. . , . ....rren
D
sollt ott, dl Herren, lie. ben yoa ganzem Her
.
. . . .- . - . . zen;
. zen, du sollstOot~
dinHern HesiniIWb0n n ganzm BrH;