Letter Codes Relating to Pitch and Key for Chorale Melodies and Bach's Contributions to the Schemelli "Gesangbuch"

Abstract

Letter Codes Relating to Pitch and Key for Chorale Melodies and Bach's Contributions TO THE SCHEMELLI GESANGBUCH Robin A. Leaver Text-onlyinterest.becauseHowever,ithymnalsisthoughtarethisfrequentlythatisnottheyverycontainoverlookeddifferentveryfrombylittleassumingmusicologistsofmusicalthat Text-only because it is thought that they contain very little of musical interest. However, this is not very different from assuming that opera libretti have little musical significance because they deal only with words, plots and narratives. These anthologies of congregational song may be comprised entirely of words, but they are thoughts and emotions expressed in rhymes, rhythms, and meters that have particular musical implications. A chorale melody must have the same number of lines as the poetic text, with or without repetition. A chorale melody must have the same number of poetic feet per line as the text. A chorale melody must have the same stress patterns as the text, be they iambic, trochaic, dactylic, or whatever. A chorale melody must express the same emotion as the text, be it mournful or joyful, reflective, or celebratory. This paper examines some of the ways in which musical matters are addressed in text-only German hymnals, especially the phenomenon of indicating pitch and key by letter codes, and Bach's knowledge and use of such coding in the Schemelli Gesangbuch (1736). I The long-standing German tradition in text-only hymnals has been to give, as a heading to the whole hymn, the textual incipit of the associated chorale melody to which the following text is to be sung. This is usually given in the form: "Mel. Nun freuet euch etc." If, however, the hymn text has its own melody, then the first line is not 15 16 Bach given before the te be identified with the place simply le church or town wa in the Gesangbuch compared with th and towns at the agreement only on often appears som by many differe multiple melodies in Adlung's commen Concerning the lac much that one mi territory is identic church in this city way as another. Eit are so greatly altere other organs outsi front of him a chor And when an hones often remain a mer But for the peopl from the common community every chorale incipits / Gesangbuch. 1 Jacob Adlung, Anleitung der musikalischen Gelahrheit (Erfurt: Jungnicol, 1758; facsimile, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1953), 664: "Von der Uneingkeit in den Melodien war gleichfals viel zu erinnern. Kein Dorf des hiesigen [sie] Gebietes ist in allen Stücken dem andern gleich; ja keine Kirche dieser Stadt singt die Melodien wie die andere. Entweder sie haben ganz andere, oder sie sind doch so sehr geändert, daß kein Spieler im Stande ist auf andern Orgeln ausser seiner Kirche einen Choral mit spielen, wo man ihm nicht ein Melodienbuch vorlegt, welches allda eingeführt. Und wenn ein ehrliche Bürger in eine andere Kirche kommt, muß er sehr oft einen blossen Zuhörer abgeben." Trans, based on Joseph Herl, Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism : Choir, Congregaúon, and Three Centuries of Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 138. Letter Codes in the Schemelli Gesangbuch 17 II. Some text-only hymnals include what amounts to a metrical index of the melodies. A typical example is Neues Vollständiges Gesang-Buch, Für die Königlich-Preußische, auch Churförstlich- Brandenburgische und andere Lande .... Sechste verbesserte Auflage (Berlin: Kunst, 1757).2 Preceding the alphabetical index at the end of the volume there is an index of the 63 different meters of the associated melodies: Melodies Index Information on how one may sing a hymn to many melodies, as follows: All the hymn texts given under a number [in this index] can be sung to one melody. For example, under Number 1 the first hymn is named: Ach ein Wort von grosser Treue , etc. All the following hymns under this number can be sung to this melody [33 of them]; and the same applies to all the other [numbered] melodies and their first hymn. The significance of this information is that one need know only a minimum of melodies, thus: all the hymns listed under a given number can be sung to one known melody. But where many melodies are known, there is this advantage: for all the other...