Pentecost

Pentecost, or Whitsun (literally White Sunday), is the seventh Sunday after Easter (50 days) and commemorates the descent upon the apostles of the Holy Spirit in the form of fire. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were each filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak in other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2: 2-4).

According to Jewish tradition, Pentecost celebrates the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. In the Eastern Orthodox Church Pentecost is the second most important feast day in the year, ranking only one place below Easter Day in importance. An extraordinary service called the Kneeling Prayer is observed on the night of Pentecost. This is a Vespers service to which are added three sets of long poetical prayers, the composition of Saint Basil the Great, during which everyone makes a full prostration, touching their foreheads to the floor. In the Middle Ages, cathedrals and great churches throughout Western Europe were fitted with a peculiar architectural feature known as a Holy Ghost hole – a small circular opening in the roof that symbolised the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the midst of the assembled worshippers. Holy Ghost holes can still be seen today in many European churches. There is a notable example of one in Canterbury Cathedral. The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit used in icons and images associated with Pentecost.

In England in the Middle Ages, Whitsun took on some characteristics of Beltane, an ancient Celtic festival held at the start of May during which bonfires were lit on the tops of hills. In rural England, Whitsuntide, the week following Whitsunday, was one of three annual vacation weeks for workers which marked a pause in the agricultural year. Whit fairs were held with singing, Morris dancing and drinking. Women and girls would dress in white, and annual rents and leases for land were usually calculated and paid on this day. In Manchester during the 17th century the Kersal Moor Whit races were one of the great events of the year, when large numbers of people turned the area into a giant fairground for several days. With the coming of industrialisation it became necessary to close down whole towns for a week in order to clean and maintain the machinery in the mills and factories. The week of closure, or wakes week, was held at Whitsuntide. Whit Sunday, or Pentecost is a popular time for baptism in the western church, with those being baptised normally wearing white clothing.

The first two paragraphs of this text is from St Paul’s Epistle to the Romans, chapter 8. The third paragraph is a collect written by Martin Luther in 1524.

This motet for double choir by Bach was written in 1729 for the funeral of the Rector of the St Thomas’ School in Leipzig – the school where Bach had been employed as Kantor since 1723. We know that Bach used his motets for training purposes, when teaching the boys of the Thomasschule, with even the weaker singers being expected to be able to hold a part by themselves. Christian Wolff in his study of Bach even suggests that they were written for this purpose. However, the motet was an important part of the Lutheran liturgy, and we know that they were very popular during Bach’s lifetime and survived after his death in a far stronger capacity than the cantatas and passions, being performed regularly at St Thomas’s. It was a Bach motet which so excited Mozart during his only visit to Leipzig in 1786. Der Geist hilft is in three main sections. The first one exhibits many of the features of a concerto, with antiphonal effects, much imitation, and a complicated layering of voices. The second one is a strict fugue and the final one a chorale. From a structural and compositional point of view, as well as a vocal one, this piece is an excellent work for the teaching and observation of a wide range of concepts associated with Baroque music. Whilst sometimes performed a cappella, there are surviving instrumental parts in Bach’s hand, with the first choir being doubled by woodwind and the second choir by strings.