BWV 229 - Komm, Jesu, komm
The words for today's motet Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229, are taken from an eleven verse sacred song by Johann Schelle, former Thomascantor, with text by Paul Thymich. A striking biblical reference ends the first stanza, John 14:6 'I am the way, the truth and the life' - affirming Jesus as the gateway to God. By far, the largest portion of the motet is devoted to these two lines of text. The listener is cradled by a seemingly endless string of gorgeous suspensions underpinned by lilting eighth notes in six-eight time. The effect is hypnotic, all the more surprising given the brevity with which the earlier text is dispatched – one doesn't want it to end. The motet opens with a pleading, almost stuttering, 'Come, come, come', gaining in confidence as the two choirs trade the phrases. 'Der saure Weg' [the sour path] is musically depicted by a half step followed by a plummeting diminished seventh - introduced contrapuntally beginning with the basses of the second choir. The second stanza is set simply as a chorale. Even so, there is some beautiful text painting: the sustained chord on 'bleibt' [remains] and the two-bar melisma on 'Weg' [path] - Bach's way, perhaps, of reminding us of the thematic importance of these last two lines of text. Craig Smith felt that this was “a melancholy, rather than a sad work.” A few of the motets have inward-looking moments, but taken as a whole, Komm, Jesu, komm, is surely the most personal.
© Michael Beattie
Some of the motets, like Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229, are more obviously funereal - at least by modern standards. The words are taken from an eleven-verse sacred song by Johann Shelle, former Thomaskantor, with text by Paul Thymich. A striking biblical reference ends the first stanza, John 14:6 – 'I am the way, the truth and the life' – affirming Jesus as the gateway to God. By far, the largest portion of the motet is devoted to these two lines of text: The listener is cradled in a seemingly endless string of gorgeous suspensions underpinned by lilting eighth notes in six-eight time. The effect is hypnotic, all the more surprising given the brevity with which the earlier text is dispatched – one doesn't want it to end. The motet opens with a pleading, almost stuttering, 'Come, come, come', gaining in confidence as the two choirs trade the phrases. 'Der saure Weg' [the sour path] is musically depicted by a half step followed by a plummeting diminished seventh - introduced contrapuntally beginning with the basses of the second choir. The second stanza is set in simple chorale style. Even so, there is some beautiful text painting: the sustained chord on 'bleibt' [remains] and the two-bar melisma on 'Weg' [path] - Bach's way, perhaps, of reminding us of the thematic importance of these last two lines of text. Craig Smith felt that this was “a melancholy, rather than a sad work.” While the motets have their inward-looking moments, taken as a whole, Komm, Jesu, komm is surely the most personal.
© Michael Beattie