Christoph Graupner - Chorale No. 1033: Führe meine Sachen (from GWV 1134/44)

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Description

Chorale No. 263 of 1345
Music: Christoph Graupner (1683-1760)
First performance: 26/04/1744 (4th Sunday after Easter, Cantate)
Verse Text: Führe meine Sachen
Text source: 7th verse of Brunnquell aller Güter - Johann Franck (1653)
Chorale melody: Brunnquell aller Güter (arr. Johann Crüger, 1653)
7th movement of cantata Der Gerechte schlage mich freundlich (GWV 1134/44)
Scoring: SATB, strings and continuo.

Christoph Graupner died, aged 77 on 10 May 1760. As his death fell between the 4th and 5th Sundays after Easter, it is especially appropriate to mark this with a chorale from this period in the church year. Here I have selected a chorale composed for cantate Sunday that combines sombreness and humility at the same time as being downright Graupneresque. The cantata in question is from 1744 . The title of the cantata is "Der Gerechte schlage mich freundlich (Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness)", which comes from the fifth verse of Psalm 141. This dramatic psalm text sets the tone for the whole work. Unlike many Graupner cantatas this one does not have a chorus and the opening movement is a short and rather strikingly word-painted aria for tenor in G minor. This is followed by a recitative and a dark aria for soprano in c minor. Then things brighten briefly with a very galant aria for bass in G major with shimmering strings accompaniment. Then we return to G minor for the chorale.

The chorale text is by Johann Franck from his hymn "Brunnquell aller Güter (Source of every treasure), published in 1653. Here is the 7th verse which is the one set by Graupner:

Führe meine Sachen,
meinen Schlaf und Wachen,
meinen Tritt und Gang,
Glieder und Gesichte,
dass mein arm Gedichte,
dass mein schlecht Gesang,
Wandel, Werk und Stand für allen,
dir, o Vater, mag gefallen.

My rough translation:

Lead me Lord O lead me,
In my sleep and waking,
In my step and stride,
In my limbs and countenance
That my tiresome poems,
That my dreary singing,
That growth, creation and stability for all,
O Father, may they please Thee.

The chorale melody is apparently anonymous (information from bach-cantatas.com) but was arranged by Johann Crüger in 1653. To get an impression of this melody I recommend this solo arrangement by JS Bach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXchKdbrKQI

Graupner sets this melody in a very striking way, and one that I have yet to come across (though I suspect at the age of 61 he was not doing this for a first time). He has apparently recognised that the melody also has quite some potential as a bass line. Therefore, he "intones" the melody of each line of the chorale in the basso continuo (in my performance I decided to enhance these intonations with a meaty organ pedal) before the choir sings it. However, there is a striking feature of the chorale before we even get to the first intonation, and that is the introduction. Here we have a bleak stepwise rising sequence in the upper strings with harmonies which seem uncannily similar to those towards the start of Beethoven's fifth symphony (look around 0:40 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWEVKyEwi4A). So I was pondering what would Beethoven have made of Graupner's music had he had the chance to pore over it (he did not because he was dead by the time the legal embargo on Graupner's almost fully preserved manuscript library was lifted). I think he would have been mightily impressed, especially by the colours that Graupner could summon from a late baroque orchestra.