Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her"

The work has an element of solemn thankfulness, like the gaze of an old man who watches his grandchildren standing round their Christmas tree, and is reminded of his own childhood.The brilliant scale passages not only represent the ascending and descending angels, but sound joyous peals from many belfries ringing in the Saviour's birth.The title page of the printed version BWV 769 reads Einige canonische Veraenderungen über das Weynacht-Lied: Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her, vor die Orgel Mit 2.

For organ with two manuals and pedal, by Johann Sebastian Bach, Royal Polish and Electoral Saxon Court Composer, Kapellmeister and Director of the Musical Ensemble, Leipzig.

[4] The Canonic Variations are based on the Christmas Hymn "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her", for which text and melody, both by Martin Luther, were published in 1539:[5]

[6] During this period Bach had been criticized vociferously by the Danish composer Johann Adolph Scheibe for producing music that was too old-fashioned, abstract and artificial.

The elaborate ornamentation of the fourth variation uses many devices from his son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's treatise on keyboard technique (1753, 1762); the final pedal point harks back to those of the chorale preludes of Dieterich Buxtehude, for example in his setting of "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verdebt", BuxWV 183.

The walking pedal-bass beneath the canon at the beginning of the fifth variation is similar to Georg Friedrich Kaufmann's setting of "Vom Himmel hoch" in his Harmonische Seelenlust (c.

In the engraved version the first three variations, written in annotated form, could not be performed directly from the copy, since only one part of the canon was provided, the other having to be worked out "with the pen at home".

As Breig (2010) speculates, it might have been that the first three variations initially comprised some form of presentation; one suitable festive occasion, appropriate for such a performance, would have been the baptism of Bach's grandson Johann August, celebrated in early December 1745.

The engraved version was also probably devised to minimize page turns and economize on space, so the combination of these factors speaks against any particular significance in the order of the movements.

[11][10] The exuberant Canon with Inversions (Variatio V) builds up to a cumulative climax, but originally did not contain the passing reference to the BACH motif in its closing bars.

The calmer Augmentation Canon (Variatio IV), on the other hand, similar to the thirteenth Goldberg variation, has a clear reference to the BACH motif in its 39th bar, its anguished harmonies resolved peacefully by the final pedal point.

Based on what she has termed "proportional parallelism," Tatlow has described three uniform features: firstly the total number of bars in printed or manuscript works are multiples of tens, hundreds or thousands; secondly the initials of Bach and various family members correspond numerically, using an alphabetical code, to meaningfully identified values, such as 14 (for B=2, A=1, C=3 and H=8) and 41; and finally the total number of bars in major works of Bach can almost always be divided into proportions of 1:1 and 1:2.

[13][14] Below are the first, second and last (fifteenth) verses of the Christmas hymn Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her by Martin Luther, published in 1539, with the English translation from 1855 of Catherine Winkworth.

Despite the "enigmatic" notation for the printed version in the canon, Bach's musical style gives the impression of simplicity, gracefulness and beauty: no disharmony disturbs the pervading mood of peacefulness.

Again the antiquated "puzzle" notation for the canon in the printed version belies the modern "natural" style, with pleasant writing and graceful slurs.

The ascending scales at the coda of Variatio II have been interpreted as departing angels or the rising up of the soul (again a reference to the last verse of the text).

The melody in the alto is marked cantabile in both the printed and autograph versions, with the soprano cantus firmus starting in even minims on the upbeat of bar 4.

In contrast the musical material in the cantabile passagework contains a remarkable range of expressive figures typical of the modern galante style, with elaborate ornamentation, melismatic episodes and occasional dissonant appoggiaturas, resembling the solo part in an aria.

Similarly to Variatio II, there is a modulation to the subdominant at bar 26: in the pedal point, the rising figures of the cantabile melody contrast with the falling motives in the canon.

In bar 19, the chromaticism of the two canonic parts evokes the dragging of the cross (another example of musical iconography); the tensions of this episode are gradually resolved as the variation comes to a peaceful and harmonious close.

When simplified by the ornamentation, the basic notes in the "skeleton" are harmonious: it is the different ornaments—be they suspensions, trills or appoggiaturas—that cause disharmonies and create the expressive qualities of Bach's style.

In the case of Variatio III, particularly Bach's ornamentation at the close of bars 26–27, Yearsley describes the new style as "marking the apogee of this natural elegance".

[27] Variatio IV takes the form of a newly composed melismatic arioso solo line in the right hand—elegant and elaborately ornamented—followed in the left hand by the bass canon at half the speed.

Contrasting with the strict counterpoint of the steady bass part, the soprano voice adopts a modern expressive style, with freely added details, such as slurs, mordents, turns and appoggiaturas, that no longer conform to the rigid canon.

After completing the soprano canon in bar 21, Bach produces a freely composed line with extraordinarily long phrases and the same elaborately embellished texture.

As a contrast, Bach then punctuates the long ornate phrases by a handful of brief and accented baroque motives: in bar 23, there is an unmistakable reprise of the Dux canon in the soprano voice serving as a baroque ritornello, brief and fragmentary, with diminutio semiquavers instead of quavers; there is an easily recognised quotation of the first lines of the cantus firmus, "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", in diminutio semiquavers instead of minims; and there is a further reprise of the short ritornello in bar 34.

[32] The musical texture is similar to that used previously in Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schar, BWV 607, from the Orgelbüchlein, another chorale prelude for advent on the theme of descending angels.

[32] Referring to Scheibe's "sublime fire", Yearsley (2002) describes the overwhelming climax in the final stretto passage of Variatio V: "This contrapuntal density generates an expansion of the texture and with the accompanying dynamic boost bursts the shackles of counterpoint, erupting into expressive brilliance and grandeur—the ultimate rhetorical summation".

In Variatio I it is in the lower voice: according to Haas (2008), with the registration on a 16' stop, the cantus firmus would correspond to a bass part, with many crossings in the left hand of the manual.

Mendelssohn himself composed a six-movement cantata on "Vom Himmel hoch" in 1831 for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and orchestra, opening with the same descending figures as those in Bach's Variation 1.