“Is it a coincidence? Have I ever mentioned that I’m supposed to play the organ part of BWV 106 on Good Friday? Which of course has been cancelled or postponed or whatever.”
I was responding to my sister, who gave me a list of “digital concert hall” on a chat. She also highlighted BWV 106 – Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (God’s time is the very best time) recorded by Bachstiftung.
“No. I didn’t know about it. It’s just because you love everything about Bach. I just want to get your attention by mentioning Bach, you’ll probably response immediately. And it worked!” She said.
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The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, Berlin. Januray, 2015.
I was exhausted. The day before yesterday I just arrived from Jakarta. The weather changed from extreme hot to extreme cold. Yesterday whole day sat in a bus from Heidelberg to Berlin. And today I was wide awake since 4 am because of jet lag, and was struggling to concentrate while having rehearsal with the choir. I was singing with the college choir, our programme included BWV 106. At last, the soloist rehearsal without choir, and I could sit.
The Alto Aria – In deine Hände (Into your hands I commit my spirit) being played. My empty mind sank into the ocean blue church, my eyes fixed at the huge golden statue of Christ Jesus. The music was supreme calm and I felt like having Spa for my unrest soul. That was my first encounter with BWV 106.
The Car park, Leonberg. January, 2020.
After choir practice, before I went home, my mentor asked:
“On Good Friday we’ll be doing BWV 106, I assigned you to play the organ part, I hope you’re ok with that?”
“Yeah, I’m ok with that.” Actually I was more than ok with that, I was just being very low-key.
“I’ll tell you when the score arrived.”
“Great!”
The Great Hall, Leonberg. February 2020.
I really need to practice it because:
1. I like it very much.
2. I’m inexperienced, to be exact, I only play once in Basso Continuo group.
3. It’s about overcoming a trauma. The trauma is I ruined a wonderful aria in my Basso Continuo exam until I secretly decided, “for the beauty of music, I will never ever play Basso Continuo again.” Obviously, I change my mind every second.
The great hall and my office share the same building. And there is a grand piano inside the great hall. I checked the availability of the hall and I looked forward to practice BWV 106 there.
Usually the hall was available in the early morning. I arrived, locked myself from inside. Once the lock “click”, the hall transformed. Like the children in Narnia stepped into the wardrobe, it’s a new world. Then I was having a very intimate conversation with music, Bach, God.
April 2020.
Like what is happening in everywhere, our Good Friday worship service with BWV 106 is cancelled. Sometimes I bumped into my choir member on the street, they expressed their sympathy to me – “Ach schade!”, because I might be disappointed that my effort was not used. I am so blessed to have them here, lovely people. But was all the effort really not used? No, it was not like that.
Those intimate sessions with BWV 106 have prepared my mind for a time like this. The time when death toll resulting from COVID19 is rising mercilessly and people live under the shadow of death not knowing what to do.
May be I listened to many Bach’s vocal music, the death sounds not so scary to me. The music is like we dance through the door of death and arrive in heaven. And when Bach write about death, he was familiar with this subject. He lost his brother and sister in his early childhood; His parents died separately within a year when he was only 9 to 10 years old; He lost his wife; About 10 of his children died before him.
For my opinion, the joyful music relate to death that he wrote, it could not be as simple as a self-generated naive optimism to self-hypnosis. It must be something solid. And to spend time with BWV106 helped me understand a little bit more about this. However, this music was written before he lost his wife and children, he was around 22 years old.
Following text is my imagination of what BWV106 mean to me. It is subjective, and never a professional interpretation. I just want to share with you what I think about it, to share with you some impressions of the music. If you are interested in facts and details, at the bottom of this post is a link to click on.
Cantata BWV 106 – God’s time is the very best time
1. Sonatine
I feel like I am sailing on with the wave of music, crossing the river from shore of earth to shore of heaven. If I am playing the Basso Continuo, I will be the steady wave.
2. (a) Chor
The choir sing a statement:
God’s time is the very best time.
It followed by a lively movement, the text quote from Acts 17,28:
In him we live , move and exist, so long as he wills.
Then the atmosphere change into darker one and tempo change to very slowly one:
In him we die at the right time, when he wills.
(b) Arioso – Tenor
Ok, now I know that I live and die as God wills, but how should I live, so that I won’t waste my life? Ah Lord, please teach me to live a meaningful life, please answer to my question and my prayer. This beautiful Arioso is quoting Psalm 90,12.
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(c) Arioso – Bass
The Bass break into the beautiful praying scenery with a determined and energetic call, quoting Jesaja 38,1.
Put your house in order, for you will die, and not remain living.
This is a bit tricky to understand. I assumed that “put your house in order” might be the answer to the previous Arioso of Tenor, “how to live my life”. The Bible context which been quoted could not provide a clear explanation to me. What am I supposed to do in order to put my house in order?
It’s a pity I do not have Bach’s telephone number to call him and ask. Anyway, in the light of some new testament stories or parables I know, I try to grasp it like this, to focus on things that matter to eternity, to invest in building my heavenly house urgently. The utmost important thing for me is the relationship with God, which has been made possible by Jesus. He died and risen and restored the relationship between sinful human and holy God.
(d) Chor and Sopran
When talk about the consequence of human sinful nature, the choir part is singing:
It is the old covenant: Man, you must die!
This music in Fugue – form make me feel like the death is chasing me. But in the middle of this pressure of death, there is also a voice of hope, the Soprano is singing:
Yes, come, lord Jesus. come !
3. (a) Arie – Altus
And now come to the Arie that healed my unrest soul in Berlin five years ago. Actually every time, when I come to a dead end, this Arie is one of the music that I will listen to.
The source is Psalm 31,5:
Into your hands I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, Lord, you faithful God.
According to Luke 24,46, the first half of this sentence was also the word of Jesus on the cross, shortly before he died.
(b) Arioso – Bass and Choral
Like “into your hands I commit my spirit”, the lyrics of this Arioso also the word of Jesus on the cross, stated in Luke 24:43:
Today you will be with me in paradise
Never have I ever discovered the interesting stuff in this composition until I practice the Basso Continuo. The incident was a criminal hung on cross next to Jesus, he felt sorry for his wrongdoing and pleaded Jesus to remember him. And Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”
The interesting stuff is: the Bass is singing the word of Jesus- the leading voice, and the Basso Continuo’s voice is following the leading voice. The musical idea could be the criminal is following Jesus to paradise. And if I am playing Basso Continuo, I become the criminal!
It could be understood graphically. I marked “Jesus” in green, and “the criminal” in blue. You can see the blue voice is imitating the green voice exactly the same at the beginning; in the middle not exactly the same but still imitating, when green voice goes up then down, then blue voice also goes up then down.
I guess you also discovered the red rectangle with “Alto: Mit … ”
Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin
With peace and joy I travel there
In Gottes Willen,
in God’s will,
Getrost ist mir mein Herz und Sinn,
my heart and mind are confident,
Sanft und stille.
peaceful and calm.
Wie Gott mir verheißen hat:
As God has promised me:
Der Tod ist mein Schlaf geworden.
death has become my sleep
The dreamlike alto voice come in, a contrast to the lively music that already begun and continue to be lively. The lyrics was adopted from Luther’s hymn that inspired by Simeon’s song in Luke 2:29-32.
Simeon was a God-fearing man that waiting for the promised saviour – Jesus to come. One day, Jesus was brought to temple by his parents when he was still a baby. Simeon was there and he hold baby Jesus in his arms and gave thanks to God: “Now, Lord, you have kept your promise, and you may let your servant go in peace.”
Suddenly a light bulb went on in my head. And again, I do not have Bach’s telephone number and can not ask him. Did Bach mean that holding Jesus in arm is to portray the solid promise that can be hold? The Nativity and the Passion of Christ so well presented here.
4. Choral
The intro of this choral give me a feeling of arriving in heaven. Heavenly host sing praises to trinity God, and celebrate the victory over death through Jesus Christ.
Appendix:
The English translation that I use.
Click on the link if you are interested in more details about this music, conductor Rudolf Lutz (Bachstiftung) explains the work profoundly in English.
At the minutes 47:30 something, he play an improvisation organ concert on theme of BWV 106. I like it!
I like this sentence on the website:
“Das «echte» Konzert mit der Kantate «Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit» samt Ton- und Bildaufzeichnung verschieben wir auf die Zeit nach Corona. Sie wird kommen; aber mittlerweile wissen wir, dass nicht alles in unseren Händen liegt.”
“The ‘real’ concert with the cantata “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit” including sound and image recording will be postponed to the time after Corona. It will come; but meanwhile we know that not everything is in our hands.”