Dale Carr | Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV696, by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Dale Carr @dalecarr6361 | Uploaded June 2022 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
Christum wir sollen loben schon, oder: Was fürcht’st du, Feind Herodes, sehr ; Fughetta, BWV696, by Johann Sebastian Bach ; performed by Dale Carr on a harpsichord built in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman, modeled on an instrument by Michel Richard, 1688
This fughetta, based on the 1st line of a Christmas chorale, appears with several other Christmas pieces, some of which are also labelled ‘fughetta’, in what used to be called Kirnberger’s Sammlung, though it is not longer certain that the set has anything to do with Kirnberger.
More interesting to me as a performer, and I think to most listeners, is how the piece ‘works’, what makes it tick, what gives it character. Though it has a fugal exposition, the 1st important change of harmony is not to the dominant but to the mediant {here from d to F}, even though the 2nd entry of the subject is, as expected, on the dominant {a}. In the whole piece the harmony is less directional than usual, though never unclear. The chromatic alteration of the countersubject {m.5-12}, which is derived from the 2nd ½ of the subject, adds to the harmonic subtlety, as does the final cadence, in which Bach closes in a different key from the one he started in; this is his custom when setting a chorale that ends in a different key, even if he’s not setting the whole c.f.
The countersubject of 4 𝅘𝅥𝅮 dominates the texture of the piece, being heard singly or in a chain or sometimes in parallel 6ths.
The performance uses the two 8’ registers of the harpsichord, tuned in a mean-tone temperament that had been slightly modified by the weather.
Christum wir sollen loben schon, oder: Was fürcht’st du, Feind Herodes, sehr ; Fughetta, BWV696, by Johann Sebastian Bach ; performed by Dale Carr on a harpsichord built in 1975 by Hendrik Broekman, modeled on an instrument by Michel Richard, 1688
This fughetta, based on the 1st line of a Christmas chorale, appears with several other Christmas pieces, some of which are also labelled ‘fughetta’, in what used to be called Kirnberger’s Sammlung, though it is not longer certain that the set has anything to do with Kirnberger.
More interesting to me as a performer, and I think to most listeners, is how the piece ‘works’, what makes it tick, what gives it character. Though it has a fugal exposition, the 1st important change of harmony is not to the dominant but to the mediant {here from d to F}, even though the 2nd entry of the subject is, as expected, on the dominant {a}. In the whole piece the harmony is less directional than usual, though never unclear. The chromatic alteration of the countersubject {m.5-12}, which is derived from the 2nd ½ of the subject, adds to the harmonic subtlety, as does the final cadence, in which Bach closes in a different key from the one he started in; this is his custom when setting a chorale that ends in a different key, even if he’s not setting the whole c.f.
The countersubject of 4 𝅘𝅥𝅮 dominates the texture of the piece, being heard singly or in a chain or sometimes in parallel 6ths.
The performance uses the two 8’ registers of the harpsichord, tuned in a mean-tone temperament that had been slightly modified by the weather.
