Analysis of J.S. Bach's Chorale: Es ist Genug
This chorale, the noble conclusion of Cantata No. 60, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, and made famous in this century as the concluding material of Alban Berg's Violin Concerto, presents the student with all the analytical challenges that make Bach's harmonizations a continuing subject for extended discussion. The text is given below next to the letter designations of the phrases:
D: In Heaven's house I then will find me
D: My cares and troubles all behind me
In overview, the structure of the text begins and closes with the same words, and the melodic line, the notorious rising conjunct motion to the dreaded D# (A) is reversed in direction in a kind of inexact inversion at E, skipping that pitch on the way down. The equivalence of resignation with the coming of Jesus at the beginning when the first phrase is repeated sets the tone for the whole melody. The "A" phrases also sets up a single antecedent to two subsequent consequent phrases (B and C). This succession of repetitions , ABC-ABC divides the chorale melody into two distinct parts, since the second part of the chorale consists of two couplets, D-D and E-E. In all the chorale melody dramatizes the ultimate resignation to God's will in death, a point at which Jesus becomes the personal saviour.
Bach's harmonization adds further dimension to these solemn ideas: if we compare the harmonizations of the two "A" phrases an interesting tonal enlargement occurs. Ostensibly, both phrases begin with a I, followed by a V6; however, given the nature of the melody with its terminal D#, implying a strong secondary leading tone to E, the ear is forced to reevaluate the first two chords as a kind of structural upbeat. In the first "A" phrase ending the D# is harmonized as a G# major chord, betraying its identity as V of C#, the vi of A major. In the second "A" phrase the D# becomes part of a viio6 of V. both premises are born out at the respective beginnings of the "B" phrases, since in the first V/vi goes to vi and in the second, V7/V (replacing the viio) goes to V. The implication is that the opening A major and E6 chords of the "A" phrases are reinterpreted in two different ways: the first as an extended temporary tonicization of vi with the first two chords as VI/vi and II6/vi, and the second opening pair as IV/V and V6. In a larger context, a hierarchy is set up between the two "A' phrases with the second becoming more stable in its establishment of the real dominant of A. There is also a hint of the tonal enlargement to come in the second "A" phrase (meas. 7, beat 2): what looks like an A chord as V2/IV creates a diversion when the substitute viio6/V completes the phrase (half-note, beats 3 and 4).
Taking a global view of the process of tonal dualism (tonicized vi vs. V), Bach employs a similar procedure in the pair of "E" phrases, which are already a textual reprise of the opening. The first "E" phrase cadences on vi (f# minor chord), while the second "E" phrase brings closure to the piece with a cadence on the A major tonic chord, one of the few in the entire setting. If we zoom in on the conflicts generated by the relevant secondary leading tones we come up with D#/D natural and A natural/A# conflicts which define the extended tonicizations. These conflicts become dramatically more important in the interpretation of the pair of "D' phrases in which the melody rises to and falls from the high "D" (meas. 13 and 16, beat 3) In the anticipation of the stability of the real tonic (A major) there is an intrinsic confirmation of the meaning of the text: in heaven the soul finds peace away from care and trouble.
Examining the second "D" phrase, we see that Bach is quite literal about summoning up those cares of the past in the way that the melody is reharmonized. In the first "D" phrase the language is a diatonic extended V (meas. 12) supported by the next A major chord (mas. 13, beat 1) as IV/V with more subdominant prolongation and the eventual ambiguous plagal cadence at measure 14, the second inversion I operating as a IV/V-V. Mixed into the tenor voice is the D# which create the cadential ambiguity, since no real V/V is present. In the second "D" phrase ("my cares and troubles all behind me") every single pitch of the melody is laced with substitutes: measure 15 starts with V2/V to V6 in place of the extended V of the first "D' phrase. In the last beat of that measure the real kicker chord appears as a kind of incomplete G7 chord (G-B-F), looking like it is trying to set up a secondary area of C major, quite out of place in this whole sharp-side setting. In actuality, the chord is a phantom enharmonic incomplete German sixth (the F is an E#) which supports the F# V7/V/V in the next beat (notice that the same phantom in a different inversion is in the second beat of measure 16).
While both "D" phrases end solidly with a V chord, the preparation of the second cadence is more defined becase of the presence of viio7/V on beat 4 of measure 16. As a result, the second inversion tonic is more clearly defined as cadential preparation. In both cases the secondary D# leading tone is present to create ambiguity as the voice-leading level.
Essential to any study of a Bach chorale setting is the comparison of the bass motion in parallel and repeated phrases of the chorale melody: further insuring the tonal conflicts of the "A" phrases are the marked different bass contours- the convoluted opening with the simple conjunct descent of the second "A" phrase. Similarly, the "B" phrases contrast simple downward conjunct motion in eight notes in the first with a more complex contour in the second "B" phrase. Bach maintains this parallel in the bass motion of the two "D" phrases: diatonic eighth-note motion in the first with torturous chromatic, half-step downward motion of the bass in the second "D" phrase. The ambitus from the tonic pitch to the dominant in this phrase, filled in this way, destabilizes the sense of A major by the elimination of the defining half steps for that key. If the bass moves only by half step, then the tonality will of necessity be enriched far beyond the tonic. In the final pair of phrases ("E"), Bach consistently creates the contrast in bass motion: the first convoluted and heavily suggesting vi ( D# and E# as raised sixth and seventh to F#), while the resignation of the last phrase in the diatonic bass motion concludes the chorale in a pair of authentic cadences (V6-I and V7-I).