Toronto Chamber Choir Blog

2. Luther’s foundational idea was that the congregation itself should be involved in singing these chorales communally.  Rather than singing in Latin, they should sing in the vernacular – in this case in German.

By the way, in our concert you should be prepared for some audience participation along these lines!

3. There was a longstanding practice among Lutheran composers to weave these chorales into clever contrapuntal compositions. Because listeners at the time were so familiar with these chorales, they would recognize them even if they were modified, broken up, or buried in a complex musical texture.

Ahle’s setting of Christ lag is similar to others featured in the video by J. Walter, S. Scheidt, etc. He uses fragments of the chorale melody to weave a contrapuntal texture that is full of invention, at once complex yet still familiar and accessible.

But Ahle’s setting is particularly ingenious in the way he uses his two violins. Or rather, in the way he doesn’t use them!

The opening chorale fragments are introduced with slow note values in the voices with only organ accompaniment. The violins are completely absent. This sombre texture paints a picture of Christ lying “in death’s bonds.”

When the violins finally enter, they prefigure Christ’s resurrection by adding new energy to the musical texture with sprightly dotted notes. From this point onwards, Ahle’s setting embraces the violins as two additional “voices” in the choral texture. His contrapuntal web – now in 6 parts rather than only 4 – is enriched with instrumental sparkle which reflects joy for Christ’s resurrection. Ahle even entrusts the violins to introduce the final Alleluia’s motive. On May 10 those sparkling violin parts played by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s brilliant Geneviève Gilardeau and Julia Wedman!