Ich Will den Kreutstab gerne Traben (cantata 56) from Bach has the most gorgeous example that I can think of though. In the recitative of the second movement, the text translates to something like this:
My pilgrimage in the world
is like a sea voyage:
trouble, suffering, and anguish
are the waves that cover me
and to death itself
daily terrify me;
my anchor however, which holds me firm,
is mercy,
with which my God often appeases me.
He calls thus to me:
I am with you,
I will not forsake you or abandon you!
And when the raging torrents
are come to an end,
then I will step off the ship into my city,
which is the kingdom of heaven,
where with the righteous
I will emerge out of many troubles.
Throughout this movement, the accompaniment is sparse, but there is a rocking melody played in the cello part, rising and falling throughout the movement to mimic the boat/waves of which the soloist speaks. Just as he reaches ‘And when the raging torrents / come to an end’, the cello line ceases. Stunning stuff.
Same with the discordant oboes in the opening chorus of the St John Passion, symbolising the nails which are driven into Christ’s hands.
Then there’s Mahler 4. In the 3rd movement where the low strings play a two-note pattern symbolising a dying man’s heartbeat before the sudden ‘slip’ in the orchestra as the soul leaves, before this almighty fanfare as the gates of heaven open to welcome in the soul (however then you have possibly the most subversively atheistic passage in music with the final movement, so it might not be heaven after all).
Also many examples in the War Requiem; the angelic purity in ‘So Abram Rose’ with the tenor and baritone soloists singing in close harmony before they break apart and sing in this quasi-demented fashion about slaying ‘half the seed of Europe, one by one’. Then there’s the Agnus Dei/One Ever Hangs which concludes with the tenor soloist marking out a perfect 5th which clashes with the choir, before moving back down a semitone to mark out the tritone(a hugely important interval in this work) so suggest the importance of compromise to avoid war like this happening again. Then onto the Libera Me which opens with incredibly soft drum beats meant to symbolise the thud of artillery and the noise of tanks along the line, slowly building up as they come closer and then into the final ‘strange meeting’ where the baritone soloist (representing a dead man’s ghost) states in complete simplicity and without malice ‘I am the enemy you killed, my friend / I knew you in this dark. For so you frowned / Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed. / I parried, but my hands were loath and cold / Let us sleep now…’
There’s oodles of stuff from the Renaissance too, so I might come back and add examples when I have time.
Scored for orchestra, chorus and soloists the Messiah is undoubtedly the world’s finest oratorio. An oratorio is a music piece that is set from biblical text. The Messiah traces the story of the Christian Messiah by incorporating prophecies, nativity, life and passion of Christ.
Handel’s use of word-painting excites nerves by rending the Messiah the exquisite air of ingenuity, grace, perspicuity, eloquence, and animation. Word painting is the musical depiction of words by mirroring music to convey the literal meaning of the text of a song. For example setting a happy melody in a major key, using low notes to express a sad mood among others. Word painting can be achieved through the use of a minor or major key to express the mode; tempo to express mode or role of a piece of music, or through melodic shape such as melismatic and syllabic word-painting to enhance the emotional impact of words. Melisma is setting a single syllable over many notes while syllabic painting entails one note per syllable.
Handel’s Portrait
There is a rare and exquisite harmony that is balanced in a lively and sober melody. Opening with the tenor aria Comfort ye my people, a first-time listener may take the same phrase to be a Come-for-tea (com-for-t) invite (an offense I was once guilty of when I first performed the tenor aria).
The text Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40:4) is set for a tenor aria
In Handel’s melody, the word «valley» ends on a low note, «exalted» is a rising note on an augmented interval; «mountain» depicts a sharp rise and high leap, while «low» is another low note. «Crooked» is set to four notes of uneven quality, while «straight» is sung on a single note; «the rough places» is sung over short, separate notes whereas «plain» carries over several measures in a series of long notes. See excerpt of the score below:
In the Hallelujah chorus, low notes symbolize the world while the kingdom of the Lord is sung on high notes (And oooh the soprano parts were not written for female voices, they were set for male soprano and castrati. True that unbroken male voices are the best soprano quality, just listen to that 10-year old boy squeal…) The hallelujah section has a joyful timbre characterized by sweet arpeggios and implied chromaticism on a major scale making it the most popular movement of Handel’s Messiah.
The happy madrigal For unto us a Child is born chorus is my favorite movement of the Messiah as well as Christmas Carol. Set on the word wonderful, the upward swing and swift climb of the violin in thirds is bright and jubilant illustrating more than words could that the child was a wonderful counselor. The four parts seldom appear in unison painting a charm and graceful air. Each part sings a delicate melody that is stimulating to all musical palates. Until Christmas…
In All We Like Sheep the movement begins in unison with all voices singing «All we like sheep.» However on the word astray the 4 voices disintegrate and wander away from each other almost aimlessly in running notes. The melody literally goes astray by hipping and hopping through an unlogical melodic progression. By using counterpoint, dissonant chord progression, and unresolved cadential points Handel achieves a tension that serves to make the voices more independent.
Glory to God in the highest is contrasted with peace on earth. Glory is scored for the sopranos, altos, and tenors and reaches high notes that are light in timbre and lively. Peace on Earth is sung low in pitch and by the men.
In the movement of ‘And with His stripes’ Handel uses a staggered entrance of Renaissance counterpoint to have each of the chorus’ sections state this text prominently. This creates the dual impression of lash after lash on the back of Christ and his falling down with the cross during the Passion. To depict the pain from the whips, Handel composes a dissonant jump from a high note to a low one. The forbidden notes are also used in the chordal progression to reinforce pain.
The final movement (Worthy is the Lamb) sums up the message of the Messiah. The Messiah musically narrates the story of Jesus: his birth, death, and resurrection. Worthy is the Lamb concludes that Jesus is the Messiah (he is the «lamb» that is «worthy»). The text adapted from Revelation 5:12-14, is set in heaven around the «throne», with (ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands) all angels singing:
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
And hath redeemed us to God by his blood,
To receive power, and riches, and wisdom,
and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing…..
The part above mimics all angels and creatures respectively thus the singing and instrument orchestration is intense and loud.
The voices are too excited to sing in unison. There is excellent syncopation and ingenious cadences to show a leap of eras and transport the listener to a different age and new location. The final amens are set on different melodies for the different voices. This depicts the image of what it will be like in heaven hearing the multitudes sing amen in different and distinct voices. The word-painting of amen (let it be so) also expresses agreement with the whole text and underlying message of the Messiah.
The Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the reference point of historical epochs having split History into AD and BC. Surely History is His-Story. And no musician understood this better than Handel. What Einstein did with relativity, Handel achieved more with word painting.
Me, in so far as the cantatas are concerned.
Hoorah! I’m done with the cantatas!
I have listened to all 84 of the ones that are in dad’s collection, some of them in duplicate, triplicate, or even, erm, quadruplicate. I have listened to them from my couch, my computer, my bed, the subway (once or twice while mariachi bands or hip-hop heads competed for my attention from outside my headphones), the street, the grocery store. I have hit roadblocks. I have stopped for a week or more at a time. I have dosed myself with interludes of AC/DC. But I am finally, finally, done.
It was worth it, I think. It will be easier going from here, even though there are still such things as 12-CD sets of Bach organ works lurking. Easier, not only because the cantatas were the single biggest hump to get over, the Wednesday of all Wednesdays, but because I have learned a little something about Bach’s technique that I think/hope/wish/pray/plead/beg will make listening to the rest of his stuff more fruitful.
The main thing is this. Bach frequently puts his music to work to support the words in these cantatas. (Or, as James Gaines puts it in “Evening in the Palace of Reason”: “His music follows text the way roses follow a trellis.”) And I’m pretty sure that I’m going to run into some of these images again in his music without words.
Herewith, I proudly present the results of these past weeks of cantata-pounding: my 10 favorite instances of word painting in Bach’s cantatas.
10. U.N.I.T.Y, THAT’S A UNITY
BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers, wake)
This is essentially a wedding cantata, I am told by the liner notes of one of the recordings, “representing the union of Christ and the human soul.” There are two soprano and baritone duets in this work, the first before the union has occurred (“When are you coming, my lord?” sings the soprano), and the second, after (“O friend, thou art mine!”). Bach’s technique here is so simple – in the first duet, the soprano and the baritone sing separately, and in the second, mostly together, representing union – and so, so effective.
Wann kommst du
Mein Freund ist mein
BWV 67, Halt im Gedachtnis Jesum Christ (Hold in remembrance Jesus Christ)
Here, we have sort of the opposite idea. The second movement in this work is a duet between chorus, representing mankind, and bass, representing God. This time, Bach uses frantic, bustling overlays of string and voice when the chorus is singing, and a much calmer, slower backdrop when the bass is singing, “Peace be unto you.” The image I get is of man like a baffled herd of sheep, looking for its shepherd.
Friede sei mit euch
9. COOL, CLEAR WATER
BWV 132, Bereitet die Wege Bereitet die Bahn (Prepare the paths, prepare the road)
The next to last movement in this work is about baptism “washing all our sins away.” Julian Mincham writes at his epic Bach cantata Web site, which I have relied on heavily in all my listening, that “Bach seldom neglects opportunities of creating musical images of cleansing water when mention is made of the act of baptism.” This is a beautiful example, with the violin throughout the piece representative of the cleansing movement of water.
Wasserquelle
BWV56, Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (I will gladly carry the cross-staff)
This is one of several pieces Bach wrote solely for bass. As an aside, these cantatas are among the most beautiful that he wrote. In the first recitative here, as the bass sings that “My sojourn in the world is like a voyage in a boat,” the cello plays a simple melody evoking the rocking of a boat. As the bass finishes the line, “And when the raging foam has ended,” so too does the cello line end.
Sein Ende hat
8. YOUR BEAST OF BURDEN
BWV 31, Der Himmel lacht, die Erde Jubilieret (The heavens laugh, the earth rejoices)
BWV 129, Gelobet sei der Herr mein Gott (Praised be the lord my God)
Mincham writes that Bach frequently used broken melodies to symbolize Christ’s burden, and these two bass arias are excellent examples. The text in both of these works is about Jesus dying on the cross. The string stumble and stutter and gulp, and an image of someone carrying something very heavy up a hill comes easily to mind.
Kreuzes1
Kreuzes2
7. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKIN’ ON HEAVEN’S DO-O-OR
BWV 61, Nun Komm der Heiden Heiland (Now come, savior of the heathens)
The bass recitative in this work starts like this: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” As the voice begins, the entire piece of music stands up and makes a knocking sound. Writes Mincham, “The pizzicato effect replicates the ‘knocking at the door’ referred to in the text. The string voicings, particularly with the addition of the two viola lines, create a four-part texture above the continuo, producing an eerie, almost supernatural effect. Even the vocal line briefly replicates the sounds and actions of ‘knocking.’”
Klopfe an
6. I CAN HEAR THEM BELLS, ARE RINGING JOYFUL AND TRIUMPHANT
BWV 73, Herr wie du willt (Lord, do with me as you will)
“Lord, if you will, though knell of death be sounding,” sings the bass, and surely that IS the knell of death, heard in the plucked strings.
Leichenglocken
BWV 161, Komm du susse Todesstunde (Come, sweet hour of death)
One of Bach’s repeated themes is that the righteous should not fear death, for it will be sweet. This is a premiere example of how he illustrates that idea. Just listen to that soprano line and string interplay as she sings, “Strike the hour when I may rest in piece.”
Schlage doch
5. THIS IS THE GLOAMING
BWV 4, Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in death’s bonds)
The tenor uses his aria here to sing about Christ’s rising. “Nothing remains of death but a shadow,” he sings, as the violin line completely alters, and then stops.
Den Tods gestalt
4. QUICKER THAN A RAY OF LIGHT SHE’S FLYING
BWV 63, Christen atzet diesen tag (Christians, mark this day)
You know how light looks when there’s a gap in the clouds, and just one ray of sunshine has managed to poke its way through, and refract around like it thinks it’s mist? That’s what the chorus sounds like here, as it belts out this line: “See the ray from heaven darts, it’s a sign of grace and mercy.”
Der Strahl
3. CAN’T TOUCH THIS
BWV 201, Phoebus & Pan
As I’ve written elsewhere, Bach occasionally enjoyed himself a secular aria. Phoebus & Pan is one of them, based on the mythological contest between Apollo (Phoebus) and Marsyas (Pan). Mincham says this cantata is basically an attack on “low” art, as represented by Pan. And what a glorious attack! Pan cracks me up when, in his farce of an aria about dancing and singing, he belts out this line: “so wack-wack-wack-wack-elt das Herz” (“the heart happily sways”). The horrifyingly obvious minor key slide on “Wenn der Ton zu muhsam klingt” (“When the music sounds too laborious”) is also fun. And, as Mincham points out, Bach actually makes the violins sound like braying asses when the misguided Midas declares that “to both my ears,” Pan is the master.
Wackelt das Herz
Zu muhsam klingt
Braying of asses
2. DU, DU HAST MICH, DU HAST MICH GEFRAGT
BWV 76, Die Himmel erzahlen die ehre Gottes (The heavens are telling the glory of God)
Most of the time, the only way I could truly pay attention to these cantatas was to put them on, sit down facing the stereo, liner notes in hand, and *listen* to them. It was too easy, if I put them on and puttered around doing housework or what not, to entirely lose track of them as they burbled along, so much background noise. There were only a few exceptions. The tenor aria in BWV 76 is one of them. “Hate ye me, hate ye me well. Foul fiends of Hell,” he sings, and even if you were, say, watching kittens tumble around playing, this would still grab your attention. This was one of Bach’s first works to be performed at Leipzig, and Mincham writes that this aria, which creates a “weirdly tortuous quality of revulsion,” must “have alerted the congregation to the fact that with the appointment of Herr Bach, they were going to be startled if not shocked from time to time.”
Hasse mich recht
1. BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP
BWV80, Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott
This translates as “A mighty fortress is our God,” and is based on the Luther hymn that anyone who’s ever been to church is familiar with. The entirety of the opening movement is Bach at his most epic word painting. As the liner notes put it, “The symbolic effect of the chorale resounding from top and bottom of the orchestra truly achieves the effect of ‘a mighty fortress.’” Have a listen.
One of the most extraordinary aspects of Handel’s music is the use of “word-painting,” the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song’s lyrics. For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.
This technique is employed throughout Handel’s most famous work, “Messiah.” Today we will examine the use of word painting in two arias, “Ev’ry Valley,” for Tenor and “But Who May Abide” for Bass.
In the very first aria, or air, of the composition — “Every valley shall be exalted,” Handel literally begins the work with powerful word painting. Many a composer would be content with just composing a melody with half the beauty of Handel’s, but he went much further. The text is: “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight and the rough places plain.” When the tenor sings the word, “crooked,” Handel toggles between two notes; and with “straight,” he writes one long note. The effect wonderfully contrasts uneven with straight.
“But who may abide the day of his coming?” contains one of the most dramatic moments in the entire oratorio. The text from Malachi prophesizes about Judgment Day, asking “who may abide the day of his coming?” This Handel crafts into a mysterious, slow air. But at the text, “for he is like a refiner’s fire,” the music explodes into … well … a fiery exclamation. The acceleration and ferociousness captures perfectly the threat of hell and damnation. The word “shake” uses a melisma that actually sounds like the singer is shaking. And, if you listen really closely you can hear the violins play a run that is reminiscent of the “flames” of the “refiner’s fire” licking at the singer’s feet!
These are just two examples of many in Handel’s Messiah that make it interesting, exciting and accessible. This is why the work has endured since its first performance in 1742. We hope you will join the Long Beach Camerata Singers in their performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Beverly O’Neill Theater in Long Beach on November 30 and December 1, 2018. Click HERE to purchase tickets.
Observations and anecdotes about classical music in Southern California
Art
Last Modified Date: March 15, 2023
Last Modified Date: March 15, 2023
Word painting is a type of musical composition technique in which the tones, tempos, and dynamics of the notes reflect the subject matter of a given song. This method of music styling is also frequently called tone painting or text painting. Some examples of word painting date back to church music of the 10th century that included chants in rising tones to describe Jesus’ resurrection. Experimentation with word painting in music continued into the baroque music era of the 1700s, and some of George Frideric Handel’s pieces are good examples. One of the most common characteristics of tone painting is the use of low notes to describe grim topics and higher notes to convey optimistic ones.
The process of composing music with text painting typically involves writing notes that correspond to the feelings that a certain word evokes in listeners. Lyrics describing darkness and death are usually set to low-toned and even dissonant notes. Certain phrases can also be written with long and even notes or with short rapid ones depending on the words’ meanings and connotations.
Once the baroque music era gave way to the classical during the late 1700s, word painting fell out of style among many composers who believed it was a musical cliche. Some popular music genres of the late 20th and early 21st century saw a minor word painting renaissance. Some artists began experimenting with creative ways of incorporating text painting when pairing their lyrics with melodies and harmonies. Many of their efforts resulted in songs that were memorable among listeners for these patterns of sound.
A visual application of tone painting to film is known as mickey mousing in reference to its frequent use in early animated films from the Walt Disney Company during the 1920s and 1930s. This musical technique pairs gestures or movements on the screen with the rhythms and notes of an accompanying instrumental score. Mickey mousing was originally intended for comic effect and for emphasis, although it eventually fell out of favor with most audiences and critics due to excessive use. The purely instrumental scores used in mickey mousing films saw a decline soon after the adoption of spoken dialogue in both animated and live action films.
Additional appearances of word painting can be found in musica reservata, which is a form of a cappella singing that first gained popularity during the 16th century. This vocal music was composed specifically with extra tonal embellishments to emphasize certain words and phrases. Composing music with tone painting strictly for the human voice was usually considered just as challenging as doing so for musical instruments.
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