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)
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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