Symbolism in J. S. Bach

            We always try to define a term so that we can talk about it. Often, this task is not easy.

            From the Greek word "symbolon", signal; recognition mark; sign; countersign; Ernest Cassirer, a German philosopher who has deepened his knowledge of the Theory of Symbols (1923 - 1929), said that the man is a "symbolic animal”, which means that men has a faculty that creates symbol (symbol - forming power) in which everything that is produced is symbolic.

           

The word “symbol” broadly means a natural or cultural object, which, by convention, represents another one in relation to which is heterogeneous in relation to it, but it must have coincidence of form and content. “The fish symbolizes “Christ" or "the owl symbolizes philosophy "and "the scepter symbolizes royalty" or "the flag, the country, the nation”.   The firsts are the result of natural objects produced by nature, the others are cultural objects produced by human labor, which corresponds to their cultural moment and history. "The fox symbolizes cunning" and "The Lion symbolizes the strength." Between the fox and the cunning (although the fox is an animal, and cunning is a quality that men might have), there is a close analogy, because the fox is a cunning animal. The same can be said concerning the lion. These are typical examples.

            If we research the meaning of the word in some dictionaries, we can find the following characteristics:

            - Content related to what is spiritual, mystical, supernatural and subconscious: metaphysical idea;

            - Belief in higher and unknown forces, predestination, fate;

            - Intuitive and not logical knowledge;

            - Emphasis on imagination and fantasy;

            - Preference for unusual moments: dawn, dusk;

            - Embellished and colorful language; esthetic that seeks the suggestion and not the narration.

            In rituals, liturgy, devotional art and religious literature many types of symbolic expressions are often combined. The symbolism would be a form of artistic representation and gestures used to grasp concepts, especially religious ones. And that has been so since immemorial times. In no other area the heterogeneity between symbol and what is sought to symbolize is so great. Religion seeks to reconnect man to God, the beginning and the end of their existence.

 

            The pictorial art can be interpreted symbolically through a verbal explanation or even through music. Often, this art depicts religious texts and ideas and makes use of human forms, objects from nature, landscape, religious architecture and individual symbols. It must be underlined that a design can receive its interpretation from the inscription of a verbal explanation; otherwise, in an illustration of a religious text or sign, it interprets the text. On the other hand, in terms of verbal and musical symbols, it can be taken into account the value of silence in sacred things, rituals, symbolic words, gestures, colors and designs, signs, smells (incense) and basic musical elements such as tunes, noises, melodies, harmonies and various instruments, including the human voice, combined.

            The sound effects can have a spiritual nature and can be used by seeking contact with the sacred world. This can be done through the use of drums, gongs, bells etc.

            The relation of “Ideas and Music” is particularly important when the sacred world is brought into music or when music interprets the sacred world. Christianity (medieval and modern in the West) has made good contributions in this area.

            The symbolic world can have its meaning enriched when it is given a musical form. Biblical texts or liturgy can be simultaneously sung in several voices, by different melodies. This is to structuralize the symbols in a coherent whole, a process that can be found in the visual arts.

It is certain that the “symbol” activates the thinking, since its intended meaning must be interpreted!

            The symbols in music can only be in exceptional cases "pure code" such as the score B – A – C – H, which are so used. Going deep into the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the greatest organist and composer for the organ of all history, we notice the explicit melodies "doctrine of figures" that created musical equivalents for the figure of the word in the art of rhetoric. These figures, which are closely related, are examples of pictorial symbolism in which Bach writes in "crescent scale" to mean words ranging from "death" to others or "descending chromatic scale" meaning "howl in pain for words of sorrow". This occurs only in connection with words in vocal music and choral preludes where the words of the chorale are in the author’s mind. Such connections do not exist in his "Well Tempered Clavier", for instance. A. Schweitzer and A. Pirro assigned the pictorial to the "painting in sound" (Klangmalerei), assuming that Bach understood it this way. “Pictorialism” seems to be an expression tool. It can become even more abstract, as in the case of numerical symbolism, a phenomenon that was frequently observed in Bach’s words, which should not be ignored. In "St. Matthew Passion" is reasonable that the question "Herr, bin ich's?" - meaning "Lord, am I? - should be repeated 11 times (one for each disciple), but the deliberate search for such symbolism in Bach's music can go further... practically any number can have a symbolism 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 41. These are only some examples. It is easy to find symbolic numbers anywhere, but we cannot suppose that they always have a meaning.

            Bach had a favorite student (cast the 1st stone the one who does not…) called Ziegler. According to him, the master’s advice, when playing the chorales at the organ, was to play expressing the affection and the emotional and symbolic content of the text, thence the importance of understanding and interpreting the text.

            The following data are examples of some chorales of "Orgelbüchlein" (the book with unpretentious title: “Little Organ Book”), where all forms of chorale are presented with a rigorous concision and an admirable concentration of technical resources: counterpoint chorale, figured chorale, chorale in canon, chorale with augmentation and reduction and extensions and variations of a melody are briefly and perfectly illustrated. It is amazing how the text is transformed into music, and the originality of the work has to do with the counterpoint that always manifests itself plastic and expressive in relation to the text. The symbolism that is therein has multiple versions. Some examples: the choral motifs "The old year is gone" (No. 16), "Man, cry your great guilt" (No. 24) and "When we are in deep misery" (No. 42) are pieces where the melody is dissolved into a rich ornamentation. In "Das Alte Jahr ist Vergangene," Bach has manifested a dual expression of sorrow: to lament he uses a succession of notes in pairs; the excruciating pain comes in chromatic motif of 5 or 5 notes. According to Albert Schweitzer, a musician, a theologian and a recognized physician, the low breath is clearly found in the Lamm Gottes (No. 20), it is the misery and hopelessness motif in the settings of the Orgelbüchlein.

           

The down lines are characteristics of Advent and Christmas chorales: "Now come, the Gentile’s Savior" (No. 1), "Praise the Almighty God" (no. 4) and "A boy was born in Bethlehem" (No. 5). In chorale No. 9 "A choir of angels descended from heaven”, we feel the presence and the joy of the angels through the down and crescent lines. An example of a rising melody is found in (No. 18) "I leave the world happy, in peace," and a profound joy in chorales (numbers 7 and 17) "Behold the day of joy" and “In Thee is joy", where one can also "find" a cross in the basso ostinato.   Four of the seven chorales of the Passion are composed in the form of a canon. This form symbolizes, in Bach’s musical language, the inexorable law which leads to the death on the cross. The chorale "Lamb of God, guiltless" (No. 20) presents beyond the canon to the fifth, a punctuated motif of lamentations, with a succession of sighs (short grace notes), thus creating an atmosphere of pungent sadness. In nº 23 "When Jesus hung on the cross" the pedal plods on with the syncope.

            The crescent movement of the chorales of Easter is also marked by rising intervals of fourth and fifth, as we can notice in the pedal (No. 30) of "Christ is risen."

            The triumphant step is represented by the basso ostinato in "Today the son of God triumphed" (No. 32). In the chorale 36 "Here are the 10 commandments", the constant repetition of the first sentence is the pleasure that Bach takes in exploring the numeric symbolism. The counterpoint motif appeared exactly 10 times in this work. His name sums 2 +1 +8 = 14. J. S. Bach = 41. Bach was fascinated by the numbers 14 and 41 and often joked about it. He used this tool in several works, out of the Orgelbüchlein book. Let us keep going with this for a little longer.

            Let us quote the famous chorale No. 38 "With Adam’s fall, everything is perverted". The fall is symbolized by the down leaps of the 7th on the pedal, describing the sin and the alternation of Major and Minor (F# and natural), the vacillation of humanity, while a wavy contralto voice portrays the serpent in paradise. Finally, the somber intermediate voices and the nullity of human life represented by the leaps in bass pizzicato, making you feel a sense of futility, indeed.

 

The book is divided according to the liturgical calendar:

Advent……………………… No. 1

Christmas................................2 – 19

Passion.................................. 20 – 26

Easter .................................…27 – 32

Pentecost ……………………33 – 35

Doctrine ................................36 – 39

Consolation ...........................40 – 45

 

            This meeting between religiosity and symbolism could only happen through Bach, as he would write the phrase "Solo Deo Gloria" in his works. His faith certainly influenced his music and he agreed with Luther that music is a gift from God and a tool to make the listener more receptive to God’s Word.

            Below, there are some numbers of the “Orgelbüchlein”, mediation book for the organ about Lutheran hymns, very important to students of the instrument.

            No. 7 – A deep joy due to the character of the music. We can observe the middle line like the movements of a crib, obviously, the boy Jesus’ crib.

            No. 9 – Christmas as well; with an interesting movement of angels from heaven.

            No. 17 - Exaltation of joy in Christ; it seems to have a drawing of a cross on the pedal ostinato.

            No. 19 - Represented by its movements and lines that are not totally completed and stops to have a breather; man’s anxiety and impatience on earth.

            No. 20 – This form is used in most of the Passion chorales; the canon is the inexorable law which leads to death. There is no other way out. Here, it comes intertwined with lament motifs (grace notes).

            No. 23 – Pedal is heavily dragged using syncope, saying something like the title "When Jesus hung on the cross."

            No. 32 – The triumphant step is represented by the basso ostinato pedal.

            No. 38 – Adam’s fall is symbolized by the down leaps of the 7th on the pedal. In the contralto, there is indecision between F M and m, and a sinuous line that imitates a snake.

            No. 45 – Here, we notice there is the ephemeral character of the piece, the somber intermediate voices and the void of human life, in the leaps of bass pizzicato.

 

We have consulted the following books/texts:

Cantagrel, Gilles. La Musique D´Orgue. Editora Fayard, Paris: 1991.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Macropedia.Vol. 17. 15th Edition. Chicago: 1979.

Enciclopedia Mirador Internacional - Companhia Melhoramentos de S. Paulo, São Paulo: 1975.

Geiringer, Karl. Johann Sebastian Bach - O Apogeu de uma Era. Editora Vohar,  Rio de Janeiro: 1985.

Mersiovski, Gertrud. Organo Pleno e Retórica Musical  Nos Prelúdios e Fugas de J.S.Bach. Dois PAssos, Rio de Janeiro: 2005. Sindicato Nac.dos Editores de Livro.

 

Texts:

By David R. Maxwell - Martin Luther and Music.

By Ernst Cassirer - Philosophie der Symbolischen Formen. Berlin: 1929.

 

Compilation and studies - Organist Anne Schneider

Text revision - Organist Bernhard Sydow.