Exuberant joy or sweet delight | Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, In dulci jubilo

avatar

The Christmas period is of course a period of joy for Christians all over the world. And what better way to express joy then music? A lot of music written for the Christmas period express the festive character of the period. You only have to think of the "Hallelujah" chorus from Händel's Messiah or the opening chorus of Bach's "Jauchzet, frohlocket" to know what I mean. Exuberant joy and lots of trumpets to carry the message forward.

Another approach is to express the happiness the Christmas period brings. One of the Christmas chorals that expresses this wonderfully to my ears is "In dulci jubilo" ("In sweet rejoicing"). The melody for this choral dates back to the first years of the fourteenth century, around 1305. In triple meter it feels like a cradle-song for the new born child. Johann Michael Bach wrote a well known choral prelude that perfectly fits the mood of this choral. The fact that for a long time this prelude was attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach may have helped with the popularity of this work. Recently @contrabourdon posted a fine performance of this work (https://steemit.com/hive-100421/@contrabourdon/ggmmdwbp). The score is available freely on my website (http://partitura.org/index.php/johann-michael-bach-dulci-jubilo/).

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow wrote a prelude to this same choral that to my ears even better expresses the mood of "In dulci jubilo". The fact that it is not as well known as J.M.Bach's prelude is probably because this one has not been attributed to J.S.Bach. Yet it deserves far more attention than it has got. With it's slow rocking rythm it is a beaytiful expression of the sweet delight of a new born child. And of the Christmas period.

The recording was done with the Hauptwerk software and the sample set of the Silbermann organ of the Stadtkirche Zöblitz by Prospectum (http://www.prospectum.com/index.php?language=english&id1=2&id2=8). To emphasize the mood I registered it with the Quintadena 8' and the Rohrflöte 8' and added the tremulant as well. Those two stops together create a wonderful sweet sound, perfect for this choral prelude. As usual, the score is available on my website. Just follow the link below.

Score: http://partitura.org/index.php/friedrich-wilhelm-zachow-dulci-jubilo/

thumbSteem.jpg


You can support me using Steem Basic Income

classical-music secretsoforganplaying creativecoin palnet sonicgroove neoxian lifestyle tunes oc
0
0
0.000
8 comments
avatar

I know of this work too. I wonder if you could solo out the tune? You'd probably have to take the bass line in the pedals.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Or take the choral melody to the pedals. With a 2' stop it should not be difficult.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Congratulations @partitura! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got more than 700 replies. Your next target is to reach 800 replies.

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!
0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Your post has been supported and upvoted from the Classical Music community on Steemit as it appears to be of interest to our community. We also support jazz and folk music posts!

If you enjoy our support of the #classical-music community, please consider a small upvote to help grow the support account!

You can find details about us below.


The classical music community at #classical-music and Discord. Follow our community accounts @classical-music and @classical-radio or follow our curation trail (classical-radio) at SteemAuto!

Delegation links: 10SP, 25SP, 50SP, 75SP, 100SP, 150SP, 200SP, 250SP, 500SP, 1000SP

0
0
0.000
Reply