Motet: Lobet den Herrn, BWV 230

J. S. Bach, paramount among composers of vocal music in all eras, is often remembered for his incredible fluency in writing cantatas for the Leipzig liturgy. During the first five years of his tenure in Leipzig, he averaged one cantata per week. The duties of his position as Kapellmeister seem to have inspired Bach’s abundant and consistently excellent output. Yet a similar genre, the motet, also in demand for both regular and occasional services, apparently did not elicit the same commitment. Bach must have worked in the genre earlier in life; a church musician could hardly avoid penning an occasional motet here and there. But even accounting for the probable loss of some early examples written in Latin, Bach’s motets are greatly outnumbered by the bulk of his other sacred works. The seven that remain seem, on stylistic grounds, to stem from his mature Leipzig years, roughly 1723-34. Several, such as the immensely popular Jesu meine Freude, were non-liturgical occasional compositions, of vast proportions, and likely or certainly written for funerals. It should be noted that the motet, as a genre, always played a less significant role in the Lutheran liturgy. This does not mean, however, that the surviving motets are deficient in quality. It does mean that a work like BWV 230, the four-part motet Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden, has its dimensions and ambitions dictated to some degree by its function.
A motet in the Lutheran service usually followed the opening organ prelude, especially in a Vespers service, though it could also be performed during Communion on special feast days. And while we know next to nothing about the origins of most of Bach’s motets, the relative brevity of Lobet den Herrn suggests that it was an “introductory” piece and likely followed immediately on the heels of Bach’s own organ prelude. The voices of Lobet den Herrn enter in strict fugal succession (imitative entrances staggered both in time and pitch level) and continue with driving, motoric figures lifted straight out of the organ repertory. Modulations are subtle, points of cadential articulation are few, and Bach’s melodies are both instrumental and joyfully exacting. He lays out the text, Psalm 117, across three sections within a single movement: the opening and closing passages united in fugal texture, and a central chordal section written in antique style reflecting on God’s “Gnade und Wahrheit,” grace and truth. Noteworthy are the pictorial pedal tones heard at the idea of “Ewigkeit” (eternity).
As a concluding aside, one may observe that in 1744 Telemann composed a motet on this same Psalm with a much grander instrumentation: 3 trumpets, timpani, strings and basso continuo, but using a much reduced choral section. It is entirely likely that Telemann knew Bach’s earlier setting and that he, Telemann, was perhaps pulling out all the stops in order to surpass his illustrious predecessor. The stylistic differences may also suggest that more years separate these compositions than we currently think; i.e., Bach’s Lobet den Herrn may pre-date his time in Leipzig.

(c) Jason Stell