10.6.23

where the tangled dark root of the scream trembles...

I propose an experiment that seeks to explore the connections between two works that seem distant in time, style, and genre: the cantata Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140 by Johann Sebastian Bach, and Bodas de Sangre, the famous tragedy by Federico García Lorca.

Although these pieces come from very different contexts —Baroque music and 20th-century Spanish theatre— both address universal themes such as death, fate, and human life.

My proposal is to establish links between these works through the powerful symbols of water and blood. Water, in Bach’s work, could represent purification, baptism, or the flow of time, while blood, explicitly present in Bodas de Sangre, is a symbol of violence, passion, and fatality. Through this experiment, I will attempt to unravel how these symbols intertwine in both works, allowing the seemingly distant to connect in a profound reflection on suffering and redemption, as well as the inevitability of human fate.


1. The Cantata BWV 140 and Bodas de Sangre

The cantata BWV 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake, the voice calls us), was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1731 in Leipzig, and is based on a hymn by Philipp Nicolai from 1599. This hymn, in turn, draws inspiration from the love poetry of the Song of Songs. In Bach’s time, musicians of the Lutheran confession believed that the text was more important than the music, which explained why they typically did not alter the original texts. In fact, Bach used the text without modifications in the first, fourth, and seventh movements of his cantata, although the authorship of the text in the second, third, fifth, and sixth movements remains unknown.

The second work we explore is Bodas de Sangre, written by Federico García Lorca in 1931. This play is inspired by a real crime that occurred in July 1928 at the Cortijo del Fraile in Níjar, Almería, a tragic event that was widely reported by the press of the time. In Bodas de Sangre, Lorca explores deep emotions such as jealousy, pride, and the sense of honour, set within ancestral customs where passion and tragedy unfold in the rural setting, where love and fatality intertwine inexorably.

Lorca, though better known as a poet, had early musical training and studied piano. He was familiar with the works of great classical composers, and his connection to music is evident in the titles of several of his works, such as Poema del cante jondo (1921), Romancero gitano (1924-1927), Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (1935), among others. In fact, Lorca himself once said in an interview that "before anything else, he was a musician".

One of the most interesting connections between Bach and Lorca arises through music. The poet’s siblings claim that while Lorca was writing Bodas de Sangre, he would often listen to Bach’s cantata on his record player. The Hispanist Christopher Maurer (1949) argues that Lorca used Bach's music, particularly for the apotheotic scene of the Moon in the third act of Bodas de Sangre, to prepare the audience for the strange and pathetic nature of the moment. Maurer cited Lorca’s own words, where he stated: "Bodas de Sangre... is taken from Bach... that third act, that of the moon, the forest, death looming, all of it is in the Bach Cantata I had." Additionally, Maurer pointed out that Lorca used other compositions by Bach, such as the second Brandenburg Concerto, in creating the atmosphere of "dance of death" in his play.

Regarding the historical and musical context, an attempt has been made to trace the record of the cantata that Lorca might have listened to. In 1931, there was a recording of Wachet Auf made by the Orfeó Català under the direction of Lluís Millet, which contained only the first three movements of the original text by Philipp Nicolai. However, since Lorca could read music, it is possible that he had access to the complete score, which was already available at that time. Unfortunately, neither the record nor the complete score of Bach's BWV 140 are among the belongings of the Lorca family.

Beyond the wedding, which is the central theme in both works, there are several notable similarities between the seven movements of the cantata BWV 140 and Bodas de Sangre, suggesting that Lorca may have been familiar with Bach's complete score. Furthermore, the possible relationship between the Song of Songs and Bodas de Sangre remains to be explored, as, given the evidence that will be presented later, it seems plausible that Lorca may have drawn on this biblical text in the creation of his play.

In writing this text, the Spanish translation of BWV 140 by the University of Granada and the Anaya edition of Bodas de Sangre with Tomás Rodríguez's 1992 commentary have been used. Additionally, it can be observed that both Bach and Lorca recurrently employed biblical references in their works. For example, in The House of Bernarda Alba, the characters' names are inspired by biblical figures: Bernarda's mother is named María Josefa (Mary and Joseph), Poncia alludes to Pontius Pilate, and Pepe el Romano has evangelical references, while the sisters Martirio and Angustias evoke the tragic fate that awaits them.

The following section will highlight some parallels between the cantata BWV 140 and Bodas de Sangre.


First movement: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Awake! The voice calls us)

The first verse of the cantata contains the phrase “Wachet auf! Ruft uns die Stimme” (Awake! The voice calls us), which is reflected in Bodas de Sangre through the voices of the chorus, who call the bride to awaken throughout Scene I of Act II.

The seventh verse of BWV 140 says “Wohl auf, der Bräutigam Kömmt” (Indeed, the bridegroom is coming), while in Scene I of Act II of the play, the servant announces, “Here comes the bridegroom!”

Furthermore, the tenth verse of the cantata mentions, “Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit” (Prepare yourselves for the wedding), which is linked to the dialogue of the servant in Bodas de Sangre: “Here, I will finish combing you”. In this context, cleanliness is a recurrent theme in biblical texts, where it is associated with chastity and purity. For example, in the Book of Revelation, it says: “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

Lorca also associates honour with cleanliness. Thus, the mother, referring to her son, states, “He has never known a woman. His honour is as clean as a sheet hung in the sun” (Act I, Scene III). This symbolism is repeated throughout the play, such as when the first girl says, “Clean your body and clothes before you leave your house for the wedding” (Act II, Scene I), or when the mother exclaims, “Honourable women, clean women, throw themselves in the water; not her!” (Act II, Scene II). Finally, the bride reinforces this idea when she says, “Leave her... I want them to know that I am clean, that I will be crazy, but that they can bury me without any man ever having looked at the whiteness of my breasts” (Final Scene).


Second movement: Er Kommt, er kommt (He comes, he comes!)

The first verse of the second movement of BWV 140 proclaims, “Er Kommt, er kommt” (He comes, he comes!), which is reflected in Bodas de Sangre when the servants announce the arrival of the bridegroom.

The fourth verse, “Sein Ausgang eilet aus der Höhe” (From the heights he comes), connects with the biblical story of “the dawn that visited from above”, interpreted as the dawn of a new era. In Bodas de Sangre, Lorca links the dawn with the beginning of the tragic day. This is perceived when the woman says, “Ah, pain of snow, horse of the dawn!” (Act I, Scene II). Later, the first servant exclaims, “Wake up, dove! The dawn clears the bells of shadow” (Act II, Scene I). In Act III, Scene I, the Moon declares, “Round swan in the river, eye of the cathedrals, feigned dawn on the leaves am I; they will not escape!”

The fifth verse of the movement, “In euer Mutter Haus” (In your mother’s house), alludes to the original text by Philipp Nicolai, inspired by the Song of Songs, where the house symbolizes the heavenly Jerusalem. In Bodas de Sangre, the mother’s house is also central. The play begins there, and throughout Act II, Scene I, references to house, church, and star are repeated: “When you leave your house, white maiden, remember that you leave like a star!”, say the servant and the voices of the chorus. This relationship between house-church-star, in Lorca, symbolises purity and celestial ascent, in contrast with the tragedy that looms, foretold by the servant: “Beautiful one of the earth, look how the water passes. For your wedding is coming, gather your skirts and under the bridegroom’s wing never leave your house... and the field awaits the sound of spilled blood” (Act II, Scene II).

The house, in Bodas de Sangre, also symbolises solitude. The neighbour mentions that the bride “lives ten leagues from the nearest house” (Act I, Scene I), and the mother laments, “I remain alone in my house”. Later, the bride expresses her isolation: “Cornered over there in my house of earth. And if you do not want to kill me like a little viper, put in my bride’s hands the barrel of the shotgun”. Leonardo replies, “Because I wanted to forget and I put a stone wall between your house and mine” (Act III, Scene I).

On the other hand, the text by Philipp Nicolai that forms the basis of BWV 140, from the sixth to the ninth verses, states:

Der Bräutgam kommt, der einem Rehe
Und jungen Hirsche gleich
Auf denen Hügeln springt
Und euch das Mahl der Hochzeit bringt

The bridegroom comes like a roe deer,
like a young stag that
leaps over the hills,
And brings the wedding food.

And the original text from the Song of Songs (13) that inspired Nicolai is quite explicit:

I hear the voice of my beloved!
He comes leaping over the mountains!
He comes skipping over the hills!
My beloved is like a roe deer,
a young stag.
He is here, behind the wall!
He looks through the windows,
he peers through the lattice!”

Next, I will outline the relationship between the text of BWV 140 and Bodas de Sangre in reference to the mountains, the voice, the roe deer, the wall, and the windows.

The mountains are present in Bodas de Sangre. For example, when the mother tells the bridegroom that the murderers are in prison, “...fresh, seeing the mountains...”; or when Leonardo's wife speaks of “To the hard mountains (the horse) only neighing with the dead river on its throat” (Act I, Scene II); when the guest refers to the bride as the “...flower of the mountains, the wife of a captain” (Act II, Scene I); when the servant tells the bridegroom, “A bride from these mountains must be strong” (Act II, Scene II); or later when the Moon says she is cold and that “...from drowsy metals, they seek the crest of the fire through the mountains and the streets”, and later still when the Moon states, “I want to enter a chest to warm myself! A heart for me! Warm! That it pours over the mountains of my chest...” (Act III, Scene I); when the girl at the door says, “The thread stumbles on the flint. The blue mountains let it pass” (Final Scene); when the disaster has happened and the mother says that her son is “already a dark voice behind the mountains”, and finally, when the woman (referring to Leonardo) says, “He was a beautiful rider and now a heap of snow. He ran fairs and mountains and women’s arms. Now, night moss crowns his forehead” (all in the Final Scene).

The voice appears in Bodas de Sangre when the bride (trembling) tells Leonardo, “I can’t hear you. I can’t hear your voice”, and when she says to the bridegroom, “Yes. I long to be your wife and stay alone with you, and not hear any voice but yours” (both quotes in Act II, Scene I).

The parallelism between the figures of the roe deer in the Song of Songs and the horse in Bodas de Sangre is evident. However, in Bodas de Sangre, the horse is not like the roe deer in the Song of Songs, as it symbolises uncontrolled passion that leads to fatality and death.

The walls also play a significant symbolic role in Lorca’s work. This is evident when the mother says, “I looked at your father, and when they killed him, I looked at the wall across from me. A woman with a man, and that’s it” (Act I, Scene I). Later, the mother reaffirms this symbolism by stating that a family is, “A man, some children, and a wall two yards wide for everything else” (Act I, Scene III). Perhaps, as a reflection of this repression of instincts, the bride later expresses, “How we all burn ourselves. The walls catch fire” (Act II, Scene I).

This association is made explicit by Leonardo later when he says, “To be silent and burn is the greatest punishment we can bring upon ourselves (...) Because you (the bride) think time heals and the walls cover, and it’s not true, it’s not true...” (Act II, Scene I). That heat is a fire that the Moon will extinguish when “...it leaves a knife abandoned in the air, which, being a lead ambush, wants to be the pain of blood. Let me in! I come frozen by walls and glass!” (Act III, Scene I). According to the mother, the walls will also witness terrible days when she says she doesn’t want to see anyone, “The earth and I. My weeping and I. And these four walls” (Final Scene).

Finally, the fragment from the Song of Songs poem mentioned also refers to the windows, and these too are present in Bodas de Sangre. For example, when the first girl says, “The wedding is calling through the windows” (Act II, Scene I); later, the mother-in-law says that the door (of the house) must be closed and that, “We will seal the windows. And let the rains and nights come...” (Final Scene). Finally, the mother says, “At midnight I will sleep, I will sleep without being terrified by the shotgun or the knife. Other mothers will look out of the windows, lashed by the rain” (Final Scene).


Third Movement: “Wann kommst du, mein Heil?” (When will you come, my beloved?)

The third movement of BWV 140 begins with the Soul saying, “Wann kommst du, mein Heil?” and Jesus responds, “Ich komme, dein Teil” (Here I am, I am yours).

In Bodas de Sangre, the bride expresses a similar sentiment when she says (Scene I, Act II): “...I long to be your wife and stay alone with you, and not hear any voice but yours.” The bridegroom replies, “That’s what I want!” to which she adds, “And not see anything but your eyes, and that you embrace me so tightly (that) I couldn’t pull away from you.”



Fourth Movement: “Zion hört die Wächter singen” (Zion, hear the watchmen sing)

The chorus of the fourth movement of BWV 140 begins with “Zion hört die Wächter singen,” while in Scene II of Act I of Bodas de Sangre, the mother-in-law sings a lullaby to a baby, a song that foreshadows the tragedy. Similarly, the voices accompany the group as they approach the cave where the bride lives (Scene I, Act II), and the Moon also sings a soliloquy in Scene I of Act III.

In the sixth verse of the fourth movement of BWV 140, it is mentioned: “Ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf” (Her radiant star illuminates everything). Regarding the connection between this verse and Bodas de Sangre, reference can be made to what was noted about the star in the analysis of the second movement of BWV 140.

Furthermore, the seventh verse of the fourth movement says: “Nun komm, du werte Kron” (Come now, you desired crown!). In Bodas de Sangre, the term “crown” appears no less than 14 times throughout the entire play, highlighting its symbolic relevance.

Finally, it is worth noting that when all the scenes of Bodas de Sangre are added together, there are a total of seven scenes, with the fourth being the central turning point of the play. Interestingly, it is also in the fourth movement of BWV 140 where the climax of Johann Sebastian Bach's work can be found.


Fifth Movement: “So geh herein zu mir” (Come, then, to Me)

In the fifth movement of BWV 140, the expression “Auf meinem Arm gleich wie ein Siegel setzen” (You will be like a seal on my arm) appears, which originates from the Song of Songs (14). Lorca also attaches great importance to arms, mentioning them eleven times throughout Bodas de Sangre (15).

The seventh verse of this movement mentions the eyes: “Und dein betrübtes Aug ergötzen” (And I will delight your troubled eyes). In Bodas de Sangre, eyes also have a significant presence, appearing 13 times. This is evident, for example, when the mother says: “…it stings in my eyes and even in the tips of my hair” (Scene I, Act I); when the beggar describes: “Broken flowers, the eyes, and her teeth two handfuls of hardened snow” (Final scene); or when the mother exclaims: “Your tears are just tears from your eyes, and mine will come when I am alone…” (Final scene).


Sixth Movement: “Mein Freund ist mein” (My Friend is mine)

In the third verse of the sixth movement of BWV 140, it is said: “Die Liebe soll nichts scheiden” (Love shall never part us), a verse that Nicolai also adapted from the Bible (16). In Bodas de Sangre, love and separation are closely linked to death. For instance, the mother declares in the final scene: “…on a set day, between two and three, the two men of love were killed.” Similarly, in Scene III, Act I, Leonardo tells the bride: “If we are separated, it will be because I am dead.”

In this movement of BWV 140, the phrase “(Ich will) mit (dir, mir) in Himmels Rosen weiden” (I will enjoy with you, you will enjoy with me, the roses of heaven) appears, a biblical interpretation that presents Jesus as himmels-rose, the most beautiful celestial flower. In Bodas de Sangre, the mother-in-law repeats five times in Act I, Scene II: “Sleep, rosebush, for the horse is crying,” suggesting that Lorca likely associated the child in Bodas de Sangre with Jesus.


Seventh Movement: “Gloria sei dir gesungen” (Let us sing your glory)

In the seventh verse of the seventh movement of the BWV 140, it is stated: “Kein Aug hat je gespürt” (No eye has ever seen). In Scene II of Act II of Bodas de Sangre, the groom comments that no wedding has ever seen such a crowd, establishing an interesting parallel between the two texts.

The final verse of the BWV 140 is particularly intriguing: “Ewig in dulci jubilo” (Forever in sweet jubilation). This phrase combines German and Latin, a characteristic that also appeared in a carol attributed to the Dominican monk and mystic Heinrich Suso (also known as Seuse or Suson) around 1328 (17).

The first stanza of the original carol is as follows (18):

In dulci jubilo,

Nun singet und seid froh!

Unsers Herzens Wonne

Leit in praesepio,

Und leuchtet als die Sonne

Matris in gremio,

Alpha es et O, Alpha es et O!


And the most faithful English translation of the carol is (19):

In dulci jubilo (quiet joy)

Let us our homage shew;

Our heart's joy reclineth

In praesepio

And like a bright star shineth

Matris in gremio

Alpha es et O!

There is a direct connection between the "In dulci jubilo" of the BWV 140 and the final scene of Bodas de Sangre, especially at the moment when the women sing in chorus: "Sweet nails, sweet cross, sweet name of Jesus," in relation to the star and the mother.


2. The Chorus in Bodas de Sangre

The classical chorus aims to comment on the theme or events, highlight the actions of the protagonists, and serve as a guiding force in the play, performance, or event. In addition to making the events accessible, it steers the narrative towards its conclusion. It acts as an intermediary between the unfolding situation and the audience.

In ancient Greece, choruses were present in theatres, religious ceremonies, or significant family events. Among the various forms of Greek choral poetry, some of the most notable included wedding songs (epithalamium and hymenaeus), praise songs to a god (pean), processional songs (prosodion), hymns, encomiastic songs, virginal songs (parthenion), dance songs, celebratory songs (skolion), and laments (threnos). This analysis will focus on two forms of Greek choral lyric related to weddings: the epithalamium (epithalámios) and the hymenaeus (hyménaios).

Although both were nuptial songs, they were performed at different times. The term epithalamium comes from “epi-” (upon) and “thálamos” (chamber or bridal bed) and referred to the choral song sung by a group of unmarried youths outside the bridal chamber door. On the other hand, the hymenaeus was a celebratory song that accompanied the bride as she was transferred from her father’s house to her husband’s (20).

In ancient Rome, the hymenaeus was also sung during the procession that transported the bride from her home to the groom's. This procession began with a mock abduction at the bride’s house and culminated in a grand celebration with torches until they reached the groom’s house, where he awaited at the door (21).

During the time of Martin Luther, choral singing gained significant popularity due to its simplicity and the use of vernacular languages instead of Latin, making it easier for the faithful to participate in the liturgy. The texts were inspired by the scriptures, while the music could derive from well-known melodies, adaptations, or new compositions. Johann Sebastian Bach took this genre to its highest expression.

When Lorca wrote Bodas de Sangre, he sought solutions to the theatrical crisis of the time by employing poetic and lyrical resources that directly affected the emotions of the audience (22). Perhaps for this reason, he turned to the chorus as a theatrical device. The poet himself described this figure as a direct intervention in the play:

"The voice of conscience, of religion, of remorse. The chorus is something irreplaceable, something so deeply theatrical, that its exclusion is inconceivable. No, no... Classical? No, no... Understand me... From the classical, the broad, magnificent, theatrical style, that’s fine..., but with freedom, without the narrow tendencies of ideas... searching in the popular, in the people, for the nerve, the soul, the action" (23).

In Bodas de Sangre, several scenes can be identified as choral (24):

  • Act I, Scene II: The lullaby of the large horse, performed by the Woman and the Mother-in-law.
  • Act II, Scene I: Several choral moments are presented, including the prelude (25) to the hymeneo (carried out by the maid), the hymeneo itself (with the voices of the girls, the maid, the first young man, a guest, and the father), and the farewell, also sung by the maid, the girls, and the other voices.
  • Act II, Scene II: The spinning wheel song, sung by the maid. Although only one character participates here, this song can be considered choral, albeit with some reservations, as it “fits with the poetic and symbolic nature of the rest of the choral passages” (26).
  • Act III, Scene I: Intervention of the woodsmen.
  • Act III, Final Scene: The girls sing Madeja, Madeja....


3. Rhetoric and Symbolism in the Baroque: Affections and Their Influence on Bach and Lorca

In the 5th century BC, in Syracuse, the tyrants Gelon and his brother Hiero expropriated lands and goods, leading to numerous legal disputes following their overthrow. From the need to convince judges of the legitimacy of the claims, the art of rhetoric emerged.

For Aristotle (384-322 BC), rhetoric was the art of extracting from any subject the level of persuasion inherent to it. He defined it as "the faculty of speculatively discovering what may be appropriate to persuade in each case". Cicero (106-43 BC), for his part, viewed speech as a means to obtain the conviction of the listener, emphasising that a good orator should delight (delectare), teach (docere), and move (movere).

From the 1st century AD, rhetoric became part of the "disciplinarium" described by Marcus Terentius Varro. Although his work has survived in fragments, it is inferred that it included grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, music, philosophy, medicine, and architecture. In the 5th century, Martianus Capella reduced these disciplines to seven, known in the Middle Ages as the septenium.

Traditionally, rhetoric has been divided into five parts: invention (inventio), arrangement (dispositio), style (elocutio), delivery (actio), and memory (memoria).

In the musical realm, Gallus Dressler (1533-1580 or 1589), in his Praecepta musicae poeticae of 1563, referred to the application of rhetoric in the structure of ecclesiastical motets, considered the first works to apply rhetorical principles to music (27). In the Baroque, musical rhetoric evolved through treatises, composers, and theorists of the time, becoming a central pillar of music theory and aesthetics in the 17th and 18th centuries (28).

Bach's music, like that of other Baroque composers, is deeply rooted in this philosophy, which closely linked music and rhetoric. By using words, phrases, and structured discourses, he sought maximum expressiveness to create profound dramas that would impact the listener (30). According to Cicero's ars rhetorica, these works were meant to delight (delectare), instruct (docere), and move (movere).

Rhetorical techniques from writing were gradually adapted to painting and music, consolidating with the development of the Teoria affetti and compositional strategies that psychologically influenced the listeners. However, defining the affetti is not a simple task. Arnold Schoenberg, when mentioning Christian Wolff and his Psychologia Empirica (1738), stated that musical figures were necessarily ambiguous, depending on the specific work. These were not described as “expressions” of affections, but rather as their “presentation” or “signification”, making their classification difficult.

Johann Abraham Birnbaum (1702-1748), a professor of rhetoric and friend of Bach at the University of Leipzig, highlighted the composer’s interest in oratory and rhetoric. Nikolaus Harnoncourt also emphasised how Bach mastered these relationships, using musical rhetorical formulas that repeated like a language whenever an object, character, or similar situation reappeared in the text (32).

Baroque musical rhetoric included elements systematised in the treatises of the time. Examples include the rise of notes (anábasis), associated with the call to God; vivid musical descriptions (hypotyposis); musical descents (passus duriusculus), related to suffering and sin (34); and patterns of rapid notes, linked with joy. Repetitions were also used to evoke struggle, silences (noema) to highlight important words, and final dissonances that expressed the fall into hell. Another figure, the hysteron proteron, musically prefigured future events, a device that Lorca also employed when announcing the tragedy in his work.

In a work as rich in meanings as Lorca’s, it is impossible to fully address the rhetorical figures used. Therefore, only a few are presented below.

First, the poet from Granada makes constant references to blood, either as the vital fluid that circulates through the veins, symbolising life, water, and fertility, or as an emblem of family lineage and death when spilled. He also uses the razor and knives as symbols of sexuality that generate life, but at the same time, as mortal elements; the horse, which represents passion, strength, and fatal destiny; the jasmine and the crown; the colours of the walls; the red thread, symbolising both human destiny and the blood that will be shed; or the thorns as weapons that wound (35).

Additionally, the use of metaphors stands out. One example is in Act II, Scene I, when the bride says that "the walls are on fire," or when Leonardo’s wife expresses in Act II, Scene I that "this is how I left my house too. The whole field fit in my mouth," referring to the happiness she felt when marrying. Another instance is the beggar in the final scene, who says, "Broken flowers are the eyes, and her teeth two handfuls of hardened snow."

Lorca also employs similes, as when the mother says in Act I, Scene III that her son "is handsome. He has never known a woman. His honour is as clean as a sheet hung in the sun," or uses anaphoras when the women in the final scene say, "Sweet nails, sweet cross, sweet name of Jesus.

As for the hyperboles, we find instances such as when the mother expresses in Act I, Scene I, that "desperation itches in my eyes and even in the tips of my hair," or in Act II, Scene II, when the mother states that she feels pain "even in the tip of my veins," or when the maid comments that "the woman arrived dead with fear."

Antithesis is also a common figure in Lorca, such as when the woman says in Act II, Scene I: "I don’t know what’s happening. But I think and I don’t want to think." This antithesis also appears in Bach’s work, as in the contrast between heaven and hell. Musicologist Daniel Vega Cernuda, referring to Bach's Cantata BWV 4, notes the antithesis between the notes E and B, which symbolise the opposition between life and death. In fact, the fourth movement of BWV 140 begins with those notes, which are repeated throughout the piece.

Lorca also employs the oxymoron, as when the Girl says in the final scene: "Stretched bodies, ivory cloths!" and uses analogies throughout the play, such as "they were like two thistles," "today she is like a dahlia," "immobile like statues," "soft as wool," "like a star," "they ran like demons," "like lead," "you must be light as a dove," "hard as stones," "they will be like two empty pitchers, like two dry streams," among others. Personifications are also found, such as when death is represented by the beggar, or when the maid says in Act II, Scene II, "as if a mountain were getting married," or when Leonardo in Act II, Scene I describes himself as a man of blood and states that "I don’t want all these hills to hear my voice."

It is impossible to conceive of Bach’s work without considering its writing, just as it is with Lorca’s work without the music, as both are filled with textual references (in Bach’s case) and musical references (in Lorca’s). In both works, the tempo and the sequence of dramatic events are under absolute, coherent, and logical control, which stems from the same foundation: traditional rhetoric and its figures. Both Bach and Lorca create music with words and words with music, with the aim of achieving the maximum degree of emotion in the listener-spectator, who in turn becomes an active part of the work.


4. Numbers in Bach’s BWV 140 and Lorca’s Blood Wedding

In primitive societies, both the known and the unknown were interpreted through symbolic representations that connected the real with the imagined, blending human desires and fears. From these practices, myths and rituals emerged, which in turn gave rise to religions.

Religions are laden with numerical symbols, many of which originate from liturgy, numerology, and the Kabbalah. Many Baroque musicians were familiar with these symbols and used them to make subtle statements that could only be perceived indirectly.

For instance, Philipp Nicolai’s original work from 1599, which Bach used for his Cantata BWV 140, is divided into three parts, each with 11 phrases, adding up to a total of 33 phrases. This number holds deep liturgical significance, as it corresponds to the age of Christ at his death. Moreover, the number 3, combined with another 3, represents the double Trinity.

Bach composed BWV 140 for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor, and bass). The piece consists of seven movements, another significant number in liturgy, linked with the creation of the world in seven days, the seven deadly sins, and the phrases Christ spoke on the cross during his final hours. Additionally, 7 plus 7 results in 14, a number associated with Bach.

Some of Bach’s contemporaries accused him of showing no interest in the natural sciences and mathematics in his music, but this criticism seems inaccurate, as numerical speculation and Christian symbolism were widely used during the Baroque period.

In contrast, Blood Wedding has three acts, and when summing the scenes in the play, there are seven, a number that coincides with the seven movements of Bach's BWV 140.

To understand the importance Lorca places on numbers, one need only observe the use of the number three in Blood Wedding: the mother was married for three years; the son was a fiancé for three years; the groom bought three suits; the bride was also engaged for three years to Leonardo; the bride’s mother planted three walnut trees; the bride's father stated that she made crumbs at three o'clock, when the morning star appeared; the maid heard a horse at three; there are three guests and three girls; the father hopes the future wives will have two or three men; the groom tells the maid to prepare three dozen wine rings for the mother; there are three woodcutters; the son dies between two and three o'clock, and the mother mourns three deaths: her husband and her two sons.

Lorca also uses the number two in surprising ways. Apart from the instances where characters appear in pairs, this number is repeated forty-one times throughout the play.

MOTHER: ...two men who were like two geraniums.
MOTHER: (If you were a woman) You wouldn’t go to the stream now and embroider the two borders...
MOTHER: ...And for you, two suits...! Three!
NEIGHBOUR: Two days ago they brought my neighbour’s son with his (two) arms cut off by the machine.
MOTHER (about the bride and her mother): (I wish) no one had known them. That they were like two thistles...
NEIGHBOUR: He got married two years ago...
LEONARDO: ...I’ve been putting new horseshoes on the horse for more than two months and they always fall off.
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Two good fortunes are going to come together.
MAID at the beginning of the third scene, Act I, appears with two trays.
MOTHER: A man, some children, and a wall two yards wide for everything else.
MAID: They will have been on the road for at least two hours by now.
MAID: Five leagues along the stream, because on the road, it’s double.
LEONARDO: ...two oxen and a poor hut are almost nothing.
LEONARDO: Tied to you, made with your two hands.
FATHER: That they immediately had two or three men.
WOMAN: Here, the two; never leaving and raising the house.
SECOND GIRL: What for? But the two pins are enough for marriage, right? And the bride responds: The two.
MOTHER, near the end of Act III, Scene I: two factions.
At the beginning of Act III, Scene I, the description indicates that two violins can be heard; later, another description also indicates that "distant two violins express the forest," and at the end of Act III, the two violins appear twice more.
FIRST WOODCUTTER: But they will have mixed their bloods and will be like two empty pitchers, like two dry streams.
LEONARDO: ...the same small flame kills two ears of corn together.
BRIDE: The two together...
In the final scene, there are two girls dressed in dark blue, spinning a red skein.
THE MOON: The air is coming hard, with a double edge.
At the end of Scene I, Act III, the description indicates that at the second cry, the beggar appears.
BEGGAR: ...they’re coming soon: two quiet torrents at last among the big stones, two men on the horse’s legs.
BEGGAR: Broken flowers in the (two) eyes, and their teeth two handfuls of hardened snow... the two fell, and the bride returns stained in blood, her skirt and hair. Covered with two blankets, they come...
MOTHER: On a marked day, between two and three, the two men of love were killed... between two and three, with this knife, two hard men remain with yellow lips.

Now it is important to seek an explanation for one of the most enigmatic aspects of Bodas de Sangre: the presence of two violins in Act III.

Bach composed the cantata BWV 140 for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble consisting of horn, two oboes, taille, violino piccolo, basso continuo, viola, and, interestingly, two violins (38).

In Act III of Bodas de Sangre, two violins are heard at the moment when "... the scene takes on a strong blue light. The two violins are heard. Suddenly, two long, torn screams are heard and the music of the violins stops."

That is to say, the violins appear at the moment of greatest tension, and the sudden silence of the two instruments symbolizes death. This silence, this abrupt and total interruption of the music, aims to intensify the drama of that specific moment, of that truly shocking scene. This interruption corresponds to a rhetorical figure called aposiopesis or abruptio, which was also used by Bach in his compositions.
It is relevant to quote the words of Borja-Josep Granell, from his study on the musical rhetoric in
Christ lag in todesbanden, BWV 4 by Johann Sebastian Bach: "Another moment of great expressive intensity and with a great rhetorical charge occurs between bars 26 and 28, coinciding with the verse 'da bleibet nichts denn Tods gestalt' (nothing remains but the form of death). The music stops suddenly at the word 'nichts', creating an abrupt and unexpected break in the musical discourse, representing nothingness. This sudden figure that strikes us with silence more directly than any sound is called abruptio" (39).


5. Lorca and Water

The references to water and blood in Bodas de Sangre are constant. The poet links them together, establishing a direct and equivalent relationship. A clear example of this is that both concepts are repeated the same number of times throughout the work: 23.

The concepts of water and blood imply a causal relationship, a flow of water-fertility-life-destiny-blood (death). However, due to the nature of this work, I cannot analyse in depth the symbolism contained within each of these elements. For this reason, I can only point out the words related to water, the number of times they are repeated, and, regarding liquids, the rhyme and metre hidden in Act I, Scene II.

In general, words related to liquids are concentrated in Act I, especially in Scene II, while those referring to heat and fire occur more frequently from Act III onwards, coinciding with the moment of greatest tension in the play.

Moreover, Lorca’s use of words that refer to liquid mediums gives the work a sense of fluidity and leads towards the inevitable, which is, in turn, contrasted with words referring to heat, withered, or dead.

Below, I list the words related to the liquid medium and the number of times they appear in the work:

Azahar (14); Río (10); Viña (10); Llorar/llorarla (9); Arroyo (7); Beber (6); Nieve (6); Lengua (5); Herida/heridas (4); Lluvia/Llueve (4); Derrame/derramada (3); Mojado/mojada/mojé (3); Mar (3); Orilla (3); Junco/juncos (3); Chorro (2); Lágrimas (2); Fuente (2); Marea/marearse (1); Cieno (1); Frutos (1); Rocío (1); Empapada (1); Barro (1); Húmedo (1); Cántaros (1); Sudar (1); Desangrado (1); Torrente (1); Anega (1); Estanque (1).

And the words referring to heat, withered, or dead:

Muerte (9); Duro/dura/duros (7); Fuego (6); Ceniza/cenizas (4); Caliente (3); Lumbre (3); Seco/secos/secó (2); Endurecido/endurecida (2); Secano (2); Marchita (1); Esparto (2); Podrido (1); Abrasada (1); Ardiente (1).

Moreover, in Act I, Scene II of Bodas de Sangre, there is a hidden poem that can be revealed if we extract all the phrases that end with the following words: agua, beber, and llorar (all related to the liquid medium), and place them in the same order in which they appear in the work, resulting in the following:

MOTHER-IN-LAW: (...) big horse that didn’t want the water
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry
MOTHER-IN-LAW: The blood ran stronger than the water
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry
WOMAN: (...) Oh, big horse that didn’t want the water!
WOMAN: Oh, big horse that didn’t want the water!
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry
MOTHER-IN-LAW: (...) The blood ran stronger than the water
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse begins to drink
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Oh, big horse, that didn’t want the water!
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink
WOMAN: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry

One can observe how there are 16 verses with an alternation of type A-B-C (with the exception of the seventh and eighth phrases, where the word "agua" [water] is repeated).

Moreover, by replacing the phrases with letters, the structure of the verses becomes as follows:

MOTHER-IN-LAW: (…) big horse that didn’t want the water (= A)
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink (= B)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry (= C)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: The blood ran stronger than the water (= D)
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink (= B)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry (= C)
WOMAN: (…) Oh, big horse that didn’t want the water! (= A)
WOMAN: Oh, big horse that didn’t want the water! (= A)
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink (= B)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry (= C)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: (…) The blood ran stronger than the water (= D)
WOMAN: Sleep, carnation, for the horse begins to drink (= E)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry (= C)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Oh, big horse, that didn’t want the water! (= A)
MOTHER-IN-LAW: Sleep, carnation, for the horse doesn’t want to drink (= B)
WOMAN: Sleep, rosebush, for the horse begins to cry (= C)

This structure reveals a pattern alternating between the letters A, B, C, and D (with the introduction of E at the end). In musical terms, this could represent a sequence that repeats certain key phrases (A, B, C) while introducing unique moments (D, E).

This highlights the internal structure of Act I, Scene II of Bodas de Sangre, which is as follows:

A – B – C – D – B – C – A – A – B – C – D – E – C – A – B – C

The ritornello-like structure of the beginning of the Fourth Movement of the BWV 140 is:

A – A – B – C – D (40)

If we compare the structure from Bodas de Sangre with that of BWV 140, we can see that they coincide fully in the central part, as highlighted in red:


A – B – C – D – B – C – A – A – B – C – D – E – C – A – B – C

Furthermore, if we count the syllables of each phrase in the extracted text from Act I, Scene II of Bodas de Sangre, we get the following result:

A (11) – B (14) – C (14) – D (11) – B (14) – C (14) – A (11)
A (11) – B (14) – C (14) – D (11) – E (14) – C (14) – A (11)

    + B (14) – C (14)

In other words, there are two stanzas of 7 verses each, with two loose verses at the end. In poetry, a stanza of 7 verses with 9 or more syllables (major art) is called a "séptima." Its rhyme is consonant and free, according to the poet's criteria, as long as there are no three consecutive verses with the same rhyme.

The 'séptima' was used in modernist poetry, a literary movement that developed between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in the poetic realm. This movement was characterized by the search for formal perfection, symbolism, and an interest in the links between the hidden and the real. Modernist poetry evoked distant, mythological, and dreamlike worlds. Additionally, modernist poets sought to affect all the senses through their texts, either inventing new verses or recovering those that had fallen into disuse.

In the excerpt from Act I, Scene II, it can also be observed that:

  • Verses corresponding to letter A always have 11 syllables (hendecasyllables).

  • Verses corresponding to letter B always have 14 syllables (alexandrines).

  • Verses corresponding to letter C also have 14 syllables (alexandrines).

  • Verses corresponding to letter D always have 11 syllables (hendecasyllables). Finally, the only verse corresponding to letter E has 14 syllables (alexandrine).

Therefore, it can be concluded that Act I, Scene II of Bodas de Sangre possesses a hidden poetic structure based on alexandrines and hendecasyllables, which grants a musicality sustained by words connected to the liquid medium. In other words, Lorca experimented with meter and concealed it within the text of Bodas de Sangre to enhance its musicality, rhythm, and create a sense of fluidity associated with fate.


6. Love and Death; Jesus and His Destiny; Eros, Thanatos, and the Lovers

The theme of the duality Eros-Thanatos has been widely explored as a key to interpreting Lorca's work, and indeed, these two elements are fundamental in the poetics of the author from Granada.

It has already been pointed out how frequently the number two appears in the work, a repetition that goes beyond poetics and musicality, as it leads one to consider Bodas de Sangre in terms of duality: good and evil, life and death, Eros and Thanatos.

Thus, the path from desire to death is the same that connects Eros with Thanatos. There is no present time, as the characters constantly move between the past and the future, and the couple’s flight is both cause and effect of the tragedy that will make them immortal. Similarly, Bach uses the concepts of the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, and links them to the water that grants eternal life.

In both BWV 140 and Bodas de Sangre, it is known that something terrible will happen in the future, but no one can prevent it. In this context, water represents the medium that permeates the tragic path the characters take, from one extreme to the other, from life to death. In the end, these are two parts that are actually one, two sides of the same coin.

Desire and death are present in Bodas de Sangre because they are two fundamental characters in the play. They are forces tied to the ancestral duality of earth-cosmos and to the most basic aspects of the human being. They are like the earth in which they live: hard, strong, with deep roots in a hostile land that chains the characters and punishes betrayal with death.

The characters in Bodas de Sangre are fully aware of the ancestral hatred that betrayal entails. The "eye for an eye" and the "tooth for a tooth" are the magma that erupts both from the bowels of the earth and from the entrails of characters who cannot and do not wish to avoid what is going to happen. It is the determinism of things, what is and will be because it must be so.

However, there is also a sacrifice linked to ancient Mediterranean cults of the goddess mother of fertility, mother earth, and life. It is a ritual of sacrifice, whether with the knife in Bodas de Sangre or on the cross within the compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach.

From the beginning, the scent of blood is perceived. Everything is related to blood and water: blood spilled from the father, the brother, and the groom, who in turn demand more blood; blood that conditions lineage; the eternal water of the biblical texts that inspired Bach: the one that turned into blood during the first plague in Egypt, or the blood mixed with water that flowed from the side of Jesus when he was pierced by a lance.

In the end, water and blood transform into two characters that manage to transcend the work and reach reality. And, if there was any doubt about this duality, it is enough to observe the end of the play, just when the mother announces to the neighbours the death of "the two men of love," and reflect on the sexuality contained in those last seven verses of Act III, Final Scene of Bodas de Sangre by Federico García Lorca:

...two hard men remain
with yellow lips.
And it hardly fits in the hand,
but it penetrates cold
through the amazed flesh
and there it stops, in the spot
where the tangled dark root of the scream trembles.


Notes.

(1) Poet and Lutheran Pastor

(2) The love poetry in the Song of Songs is based on the parable of the ten virgins. Five of them were wise, and five were not. In the end, only the wise ones attended the feast. The biblical interpretation compares the relationship between Christ and the members of the church to that of the husband and wife, or the daughters of Zion. In other words, it is interpreted as the relationship of Jesus as the husband of the human soul, which would be the wife.

(3) Lorca himself declared, "Above all, I am a musician" (2006: 416). Marco Antonio de la Ossa Martínez, Federico García Lorca and Music. 2019.  https://www.academia.edu/38164920/Federico_Garc%C3%ADa_Lorca_y_la_m%C3%BAsica

(4) Cited by Grygena dos Santos Targino in her thesis: A dramatização do trágico em Yerma, Bodas de Sangre e La Casa de Bernarda Alba de Federico García Lorca. Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 2018, p.123, referencing the studies of Allen Josephs and Juan Caballero, 2012, p. 67-68.  https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/15078 y también Klas Wounsch. Examensarbete Kandidatexamen ¡Despertad! - Wachet auf! La relación entre Bodas de sangre de Federico García Lorca and Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme, Johann Sebastian Bach. Página 26. http://www.diva-portal.se/smash/get/diva2:1411159/FULLTEXT01.pdf

(5) https://wpd.ugr.es/~agamizv/?p=4518

(6) A specific section will later be dedicated to the chorus. An essential source of information is La concepción del coro en Bodas de sangre by Guillermo Carrascón. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(7) The feast in the parable is associated with the great feast on the day of the end of times, when the Son of God and Messiah, Jesus, will marry His bride, the Church.

(8) The book of Revelation (19:7-9) Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(9) Lucas 1:78 Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(10) Numbers 24:17 "...A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel..." .” Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(11) The importance of the number two in the work of Federico García Lorca will be mentioned later.

(12) Song of Songs, 3:4. "And shortly after speaking with them (the guards), I find the one whom I love with all my soul! I embrace him, and I do not let him go until I take him to my mother's house, to the room where I was conceived!" And in Song of Songs, 8:2, "(she) would bring you to my mother's house, and there you would be my teacher." Thomas Braatz (December 27, 2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend 

(13) Song of Songs 2:8-9 Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(14) Song of Songs 8:6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death; jealousy is as cruel as the grave. Its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame. Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(15) It is highlighted when the groom says in Scene I, Act II, "…I have strength in my arms. I will embrace you for forty years straight."

(16) The Book of Romans, Romans 8:35, which says: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(17) The melody appeared in Leipzig in 1305, although it is believed to have existed before that date and was included in a Lutheran hymnal of 1533 by Joseph Klug. In 1545, an additional stanza was added, which is believed to have been composed by Martin Luther himself, and it became very popular throughout Europe.

https://soul-candy.info/2015/01/jan-23-bl-henry-suso-op-1295-1366-priest-mystic-poet-servant-of-the-eternal-wisdom/

(18)www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/NonEnglish/in_dulci_jubilo-original.htm

(19) https://genius.com/Choir-of-kings-college-cambridge-in-dulci-jubilo-lyrics

(20) Latin poetry of the imperial era. The Latin epithalamium: from the popular song to the narrative poem. Page 1. Antonio Serrano Cueto. University of Cádiz. If we go back to archaic Greece, it is important to distinguish between the hymn and the epithalamium. Both are songs that were sung during the wedding ceremony, but at different times. While the hymn (hyménaios, derived from the ritual exclamation "Hymén") was the festive song that accompanied the young bride from her father's house to that of her husband, the epithalamium (epithalámios) was the choral song sung by a group of young, unmarried boys and girls (sometimes just girls) in front of the doors of the bridal chamber. Both songs shared common themes and included a chorus related to the god Hymen (Oh, Hymen, Hymen!). There was a third type, a dawn song (diegertikón, órthrion), which was sung to wake the newlyweds after their wedding night, according to the testimonies of Sappho (frg. 30 Lobel-Page), Theocritus (id. 18,56-57), and perhaps Horace (carm. 3,11,37).  https://rodin.uca.es/bitstream/handle/10498/16224/El%20epitalamio%20latino.pdf

(21) Latin poetry of the imperial era. The Latin epithalamium: from the popular song to the narrative poem. Page 15. Antonio Serrano Cueto. University of Cádiz. In Rome, at the beginning of the procession (deductio), a kidnapping was enacted. The young bride was "snatched" from her mother's arms in a representation that has been interpreted as a reminiscence of the mythical abduction of the Sabine women. This is a typically Roman motif, although some authors have argued that it was also practiced in Sparta. This traumatic separation, accompanied by tears—which, according to Varro and Catullus, were fake—appears in Sappho (fr. V. 104a Lobel-Page), where Venus is denounced as the cause of the separation. It becomes more dramatic in Latin literature, as here, in the context of the abduction representation, the young woman's resistance to leaving her family home is highlighted. If in the cited verses of Sappho and Catullus 62, Venus was the cause of the separation, in Catullus's epithalamium for the wedding of L. Manlius Torquatus and Junia Arunculeya, Hymen is invoked as the abductor of the young woman (who you steal for the man / from the maiden, oh Hymen, Hymen!, vv. 61, 3-4). The idea of abduction or traumatic separation also appears in Claudian, carm. min. 25, 124-126. Afterward, a procession was formed, composed of family members, friends, and other guests, who walked the streets of the city accompanying the bride to the sound of flute music and illuminated by torches. Two praetextati slaves, who were to be both paternal and maternal, held her arm, while a third of the same status preceded her, carrying the torch of the hawthorn, a symbol of fertility and also an apotropaic tool. Apparently, the husband had gone ahead to wait for the procession at the door of his house, which was to be the marital residence. During the procession, the Fescennine verses were sung and the Roman god Talasius, the equivalent of the Greek Hymen, was invoked.  https://rodin.uca.es/bitstream/handle/10498/16224/El%20epitalamio%20latino.pdf

(22) Guillermo Carrascón. The concept of the chorus in Bodas de sangre. Page 18. Footnote 44. Citing Acutis (1990: 72-73), “The lyrical elements are an intrusion,” which allows the emergence on stage of “symbols of the collective unconscious […]. The irrational nature of the message prevents its expression through dialogue, the only dramatic tool. These are meanings that cannot be denoted, hence the recourse to the quintessential connotative tool, lyricism. The lyrical parentheses [in the first and second acts] are zones of intensive connotation.” (…) Carrascón adds, “I certainly agree that Lorca is attempting—and succeeding—in finding solutions to the crisis of Spanish theatre at the time, and that the use of the poetic or lyrical element is one of his dramatic experiments in this regard. Moreover, I believe that at the moment Bodas de sangre was conceived, it was the essential element of his proposal for the renewal of tragedy (…). The progressive increase in poetic or lyrical qualities in the dramatic text we are discussing, an increase which Acutis (1990: 78-79 and note 46) accurately points out, seems to me precisely a symptom of this intention to find new ways of expression to carry out his concept of theatre as poetry set on its feet, in order to bring about a true renewal of tragedy where the audience feels genuinely engaged in a way that diverges from the dramatic formulas of the time. In this perspective, more than an imbalance that makes it an anomaly (Acutis 1990: 79), the poetic condensation of the third act is the result of a careful structuring of the entire work, which is thus shaped as a crescendo towards these new communication strategies that arise from the fusion of García Lorca’s two great vocations.” https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(23) Quoted by Guillermo Carrascón in: La concepción del coro en Bodas de sangre. Federico García Lorca. Obras Completas, II. Page 972: "The chorus... direct intervention; it is the voice of conscience, of religion, of remorse. The chorus is something irreplaceable, something so profoundly theatrical that I cannot conceive of its exclusion. No, no... Classical? No, no... Understand me... Of the classical, the broad, magnificent, theatrical cut, the giant conception... that yes..., but with freedom, without the minuscule tendencies of ideas [...] looking for the nerve, the soul, the action in the popular, in the people" (he is talking about La zapatera prodigiosa). Cf. also on pages 1,064, 1,075-1.076, 1,101, 1,102 his statements primarily about the chorus in Yerma and also, incidentally, in Bodas de sangre; on the other hand, on pages 1,038-1,039, he refers to the use of the chorus also in the "Finales de fiesta" he prepared on occasions, based on the staging of songs. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(24) Guillermo Carrascón. La concepción del coro en Bodas de sangre. Page 13: The criterion he has followed is that of the appearance of a symbolic or poetic language in which "all direct mimetic referentiality to the plausible universe represented by the text of the play is lost, in order to establish exclusively or at least predominantly a referentiality of a symbolic type." https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(25) Considered an epithalamium by Carrascón. The scenes thus selected are: 1. Act I, Scene 2, [Scenes I and V][12] "Nana del caballo grande" (Woman, Mother-in-law), pages 577-580 and 586-587. 2. Act II, Scene 1, [Scene I] "Preludio del epitalamio" (Maid), pages 602-603; [Scene IV] "Epitalamio" (Voices, Young Women, Maid, First Young Man, Guest, Father), pages 608-612; [Scene V] Farewell: "Al salir de tu casa" (Maid, Young Women, Voices), pages 615, 616, and 617. 3. Act II, Scene 2, [Scene I] Maid’s Song: "Giraba la rueda," pages 617-618. 4. Act III, Scene 1, [Scenes I and V] Chorus of Woodcutters, pages 636-640 and 646. 5. Act III, Last Scene, [Scene I] Chorus of Young Women: "Madeja, Madeja," pages 652-654. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(26) Guillermo Carrascón. La concepción del coro en Bodas de sangre. p. 9. Considered as choral with difficulty due to being a single character who "more likely performs a kind of contrapuntal function and direction of the chorus, and therefore shares with the presumably choral passages I have selected, the poetic use of language and the recurrence of certain symbols, and the use of these with an ambiguous meaning that refers to various significations and themes of the work." https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-concepcion-del-coro-en-bodas-de-sange-923967/

(27) Dressler equated the motet with discourse and proposed its division into sections: beginning (exordium), middle (medium), and end (finis).

(28) In the 16th century in Florence, the return to Greek simplicity was proposed, along with the creation of new music capable of influencing the emotions.

(29) Federico Bañuelos, in "La retórica en la práctica de la música del Renacimiento y del Barroco," Acta Poética 22, 2001, p. 189, highlights Hermann Kretzschmar, Arnold Schering, and Hans H. Unger as the main authors. As principal composers, musicians, and music theorists, he mentions Joachim Burmeister, Johann David Heinichen, Johann Adolph Scheibe, Johann Mattheson, and Athanasius Kircher. https://revistas-filologicas.unam.mx/acta-poetica/index.php/ap/article/view/74/73

(30) Victor Frankl, Juan Sebastián Bach y la Filosofía del Barroco, p. 333.  https://revistas.upb.edu.co/index.php/revista-institucional/article/download/3889/3577/7043 "However, the overall structure of this music, as well as many of its conceptual elements, evidently derive from another source: from the great Baroque philosophy, whose spirit and form seem to be reflected with the greatest fidelity in Bach's music."

(31) Nikolaus Harnoncourt 1929 -  2016. The Musical Dialogue: Reflections on Monteverdi, Bach, and Mozart.

(32) Victor Frankl. Johann Sebastian Bach and the Philosophy of the Baroque. p. 339 "But not only are the basic emotional attitudes in Bach's work reduced to symbolic formulas, but all the beings, situations, and events mentioned in the texts of the compositions are reduced to their essence, to their typical meaning, and expressed through characteristic musical formulas that are repeated whenever an analogous object reappears in the text." He cites Schweitzer, who affirms (vol. 11, p. 51): "Almost all the characteristic expressions that impress us due to their periodic repetition in the Cantatas and Passions are reduced to approximately 20 or 25 root themes, most of them of pictorial origin. These well-defined groups cover, for example, the step motifs for expressing firmness, indecision, or stumbling; the syncopated themes of weariness; the theme that describes turmoil; the graceful undulating lines that describe peaceful stillness; the sinuous lines that twist when the word Satan is mentioned; the enchanting flowing motifs that appear when angels are mentioned; the motifs of passionate or naive joy; the motifs of miserable or elevated sorrow." https://revistas.upb.edu.co/index.php/revista-institucional/article/download/3889/3577/7043

(33) Between the second and third bars of the cantata BWV 140, there is a seventh leap, from A to G.

(34) González Valle, J.S. Bach: Composition Technique as Explicatio Textus. Musical Yearbook No. 57, 2002. Pages 157-174.

(35) "Why are you looking at me like that? You have a thorn in each eye. Scene I, Act II. It would also be a metaphor."

(36) If we assign a number to each letter of the alphabet in a correlational manner, we obtain the following sequence: A=1; B=2; C=3... If we substitute the surname BACH with numbers, we observe that B is the second letter of the alphabet (corresponding to the number 2); A is the first letter (corresponding to 1); C is the third letter (corresponding to 3). Finally, the letter H is the eighth letter of the alphabet (8), and if we add all the numbers together: 2 + 1 + 3 + 8 = 14.
Furthermore, following the same procedure, if we add the numbers corresponding to JSBACH, we obtain the following sequence: 9 + 18 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 8, which totals 41, and 41 is the reverse of 14, the number that represents Bach.
And if we subtract 41 - 14, we get the number 27, which is 3 x 3 x 3, another symbol of the Trinity.

On the other hand, if we add the numbers representing JOHANNSEBASTIANBACH, we obtain the number 158, with 1 + 5 + 8 = 14.

Bach believed so strongly in numbers that when, in 1738, Lorenz Christoph Mizler founded a society for musical sciences, the composer delayed his membership until 1747, when he would become the 14th member of the society.

In German musical notation, B is B flat; A is A; C is C; and H is B. Thus, the complete sequence is the name BACH, and as such, it was used by the composer.

Finally, the number 14 is twice 7 and was identified as the dual nature of Jesus Christ (divine and human). Moreover, in Kabbalah, the number 7 implies totality and is the sum of 3 (a divine number) plus 4 (a human number).

(37) Victor Frankl. Johann Sebastian Bach and the Philosophy of Baroque. P. 1, citing Cf. Albert Schweitzer, J. S. Bach, (translated by E. Newman, New York, Hacmillan Co. 19-'9), vol. I, pp. 179 et seq., 187 et seq. https://revistas.upb.edu.co/index.php/revista-institucional/article/download/3889/3577/7043

(38) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV140.htm

(39) Borja-Josep Granell Ciscar. Musical Rhetoric in Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4 by Johann Sebastian Bach. "Joaquín Rodrigo" Higher Conservatory of Music, Valencia. Pages 26-27.

(40) https://melvinunger.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/BWV-140-July-21-2021.pdf página 40

(41) Rimbaud composed a poem titled Vowels, written between 1870 and 1871, in which he assigns a color to each vowel. Thus, the letter A corresponds to the color black; the letter E to the color white; the I to red; the O to blue; and the U to green.

(42) In Blood Wedding, homicide has occurred multiple times, almost cyclically, as the mother says in Act I, Scene I: first, it was the father; then, the brother; and now, the son.

(43) Revelation 21:6-8 (…) I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life (…). Thomas Braatz (December 27, 2002)  https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(44) In all the biblical writings of John the Baptist, water serves as a symbol of eternal life (cf. John 3:5; 4:14). Thomas Braatz (December 27, 2002)  https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(45) The Book of Exodus 7:14-25 Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend

(46) John 19:34 Thomas Braatz (December 27,2002) https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV140-Guide.htm#Smend


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