Johann Adam Reincken: Choral Fantasy ‘An Wasserflüssen Babylon’ (around 1663)

J.S. Bach's copy of Reincken's An Wasserflüssen Babylon in tablature notation


Johann Adam Reincken
Baptised 20 December 1643 in Deventer (NL)
Died 24 Nov. 1722 in Hamburg (D)

 

Composition:
around 1663

When Johann Sebastian Bach was 15 years old and studying at a college in Lüneburg in northern Germany, he travelled from Lüneburg to Hamburg on the recommendation of one of his teachers. He wanted to hear a famous organist play one of the newest and largest organs of the time. That was a march of around 11 hours. The organist's name was Johann Adam Reincken. He was already quite old at the time. If Buxtehude could have been Bach's father, Reincken was Bach's grandfather. Bach was overwhelmed by his musical discoveries, especially his chorale fantasia on the hymn ‘An den Wasserläufen Babylons’. Back in Lüneburg, he made a copy of this composition in the usual notation of the time (called tablature), a copy that was only recently rediscovered in 2005.

Reincken's chorale fantasia ‘An den Wasserläufen Babylons’ is a highly complex organ piece that is difficult to hear and lasts around 15-20 minutes. In today's world, where everything has to be done quickly, this skilfully constructed work stands out in the landscape. The origin of this hymn chorale is the biblical Psalm 137, in which the Hebrews, deported to Babylon, lament their fate and the destruction of the temple on Mount Zion. The Edomites and Babylonians had attacked Jerusalem, ravaged it cruelly and deported the captives, so that the deportees lamented in their psalm song how much suffering they had to endure in Babylon.

The biblical Psalm 137 was turned into a Lutheran hymn (composed by Wolfgang Dachstein, a fellow student of Martin Luther) and its melody into Reincken's chorale fantasia.
As one musicologist writes, each chorale line is ‘presented in detail, using all the aids of North German organ art: motet-like elaboration, figuration of the chorale in the upper voice (...), double pedalling, fragmentation and echo effects.’ Because it is beyond our hearing when we hear this, one of the most complex organ compositions of the 17th century, for the first time, here are three simpler listening guides to choose from.

Listen here (approx. 16 min.)!

 

Here first the melody of the hymn together with the text of the first verse of the reworking of this psalm from the Reformation period:

At the ryvers of Babilon,
There sat we downe ryght hevely;
Even whan we thought upon Sion,
We wepte together sorofully.

For we were in soch hevynes,
That we forgat al our merynes,
And lefte of all oure sporte and playe:
On the willye trees that were thereby

We hanged up oure harpes truly,
And morned sore both nyght and daye.

Listening guide 1

The melody of the first line of the hymn is recognisable in the first six bars of the composition as a cantus firmus in the tenor part. The first verse section develops as a monody (played by the right hand) over a fugal setting. Overall, the figuration recedes in favour of a motet-like polyphony.
In bars 82 to 107 follows the repetition of the stollen, lines three and four of the hymn text. The repeat of the stanza is shorter than the first stanza and introduces a virtuoso element. In the third line, the left hand plays with imaginative ornaments in the tenor part up to the highest notes on the keyboard, while the fourth line is characterised by ornaments in the treble part.

At the ryvers of Babilon,
There sat we downe ryght hevely;
Even whan we thought upon Sion,
We wepte together sorofully.

At 128 bars, this is the longest section of the chorale fantasia, which treats lines five to eight of the chorale in succession. The section is symmetrically structured: The outer episodes (lines five and eight) both elaborate a similar, canzon-like theme, and the middle episodes (lines six and seven) both have dotted rhythms and use the echo technique.

For we were in soch hevynes,
That we forgat al our merynes,
And lefte of all oure sporte and playe:
On the willye trees that were thereby

Although the last section of the chorale fantasia only uses the remaining two lines of the hymn "An Wasserflüssen Babylon", it nevertheless consists of four episodes, just like the previous section.
Firstly as a stylistically archaic canon, which ends with a raised cantus firmus in the pedal.

It continues with a dramatic interaction that seems to be inspired by vocal forms such as the sacred concerto.

The penultimate line of the chorale melody is developed twice in bars 236-290:
- Firstly as a stylistically archaic canon that ends with an exaggerated cantus firmus in the pedal.
- Next as a dramatic interaction that seems inspired by vocal forms such as the Geistliches Konzert.

From bar 291, the last line of the chorale melody is initially treated in a dialogue-like echo setting, followed by an extended virtuoso coda, which also makes use of the echo technique. These final passages of the chorale fantasia begin with fast melodic lines in both hands that imitate each other almost canonically and end in a descending scale at the low final note F.

 

We hanged up oure harpes truly,
And morned sore both nyght and daye.

Listening guide 2

But we can also listen to this composition in such a way that we create inner images. Firstly, the watercourses and canals around Babylon, situated between the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. The deportees look sternly and motionlessly into the water. Then, after a short musical interlude, they remember Zion and the good life of the past and free themselves from their torpor. Perhaps you can hear the deportees' lamentations and weeping in response. In another section, you can hear harps that the deportees put away and hang resignedly on willow trees. Towards the end, you may even hear the sounds of longing and hope for a return to their homeland, as if created by the wind.

Listening guide 3

There is a third way to listen to this music, neither musically academic nor by means of vivid images: Just listen, let the music and time pass you by, immerse yourself in the sound of time and the melodies of grief, travel along for 20 minutes through harmonies, runs, chords, echoes and, like on a good journey, don't wait for the arrival, but live in the now.

Note for music lovers:

Website: Unknown Violin Concertos