Very little is known of the precise origins of this
Bach organ work in the key of F major, tghe Pastorale
for organ in F major (BWV 590), which is usually known
as the "Pastorale" in F, and sometimes Pastorella in
some sources. It comprises of four sections, and is
thought by most scholars to have been written for
performance during the Christmas services held at the
main Leipzig churches with which Bach was closely
associated. The work was therefore written presumably
around the year 1720. No a...(+)
Very little is known of the precise origins of this
Bach organ work in the key of F major, tghe Pastorale
for organ in F major (BWV 590), which is usually known
as the "Pastorale" in F, and sometimes Pastorella in
some sources. It comprises of four sections, and is
thought by most scholars to have been written for
performance during the Christmas services held at the
main Leipzig churches with which Bach was closely
associated. The work was therefore written presumably
around the year 1720. No autograph copy has survived,
nor is there any plausible indication of how the work
might have fitted into the Christmas liturgy, though it
is now regarded as definitely Bach's work, having been
long-disputed due to lack of clearly attributable
material.
Without question, however, the emergence of certain
galant-style features places the Pastorale late in
Bach's career. The most interesting attribute is the
use (in each of the first two sections) of "Piffero" or
"piping" style, based on the drone bass line and
skirling bagpipe melodies widely encountered in Italian
Christmas folk music. Even in the late twentieth
century, the ancient traditions of bagpipe-playing
shepherds processing through small towns have been
upheld at Christmas, the idea being that the ritual
recalls the shepherds' journey to Bethlehem.
Traditional Piffero music usually offers two melodies
in canon, normally heard against a drone bass line and
entirely based on tonic, subdominant, and dominant
harmonies. Interestingly, there are also examples of
Piffero technique to be found in the Christmas
Oratorio, notably in the Sinfonia preceding Part II,
and also in a small number of other Bach works.
The third movement is far more sophisticated and its
aria-like theme has a special symbolism. The three-flat
key signature and triple meter were often used to
represent angels, and the assumption is that here Bach
intended to depict the appearance of the angels to the
shepherds as recorded in Luke's gospel (2:8-15). The
concluding section of the work is a gigue in fugal
form, the melody of which has been traced by Christoph
Wolff to an early Medieval hymn-tune "Resonet in
laudibus," itself often sung at Christmas to portray
the shepherds' rejoicing upon finding the infant
Jesus.
SHEET MUSIC