Eat, drink and be merry, for He has conquered Death!

The Rimsky-Korsakov household has been a veritable hive of activity since last week. Although the family has a cook, Nadezhda Nikolaeva, and her sixteen-year-old daughter, also Nadezhda, have been showing me how to prepare pashka and kulich in preparation for the Resurrection day feast. Pashka is a rich sweet cheese spread shaped into a triangular block, and decorated with the cyrillic letters XB for "Christos voskres"; Christ is Risen, in dried fruit, and the mixture contains crushed nuts, dried fruits, and a little essence of vanilla. The kulich is a nutty fruitcake, which we bake in a tall, cylindrical baking tin (Nadezhda refers to it as the "Priest's hat" tin!). Once it is baked, we drizzle it with white frosting, and Nadezhda Nikolaeva adds the lettering to it. Although, at sixteen years old, Nadezhda is perhaps a little old to be making easter eggs, for the benefit of their guest, the family show me how to boil silk scraps to colour eggs, explaining the importance of easter eggs in Russian culture; the more superstitious, and many of the older generation believe that the eggs possess magical powers to ward off goblins and demons, and often the peasant folk will bury an easter egg in the foundations of a new house to ensure prosperity. On the Thursday before the Great and Holy Friday, the family's priest, Father Bakhtin visits the family to bless the Kulich and very kindly spends some time explaining the ritual of the all-night vigil and the midnight mass to me. Saturday is a day of fasting (not an easy thing for somebody like me who loves her food!), with an afternoon nap in anticipation of the midnight mass. When we leave the family house the whole Rimsky-Korsakov tribe is in attendance. Mikhail and his wife with their baby, Sofia and her husband, Andrei, looking brisk and efficient in his military uniform, Vladimir and Nadezhda, Nadezhda's governess, Madame Moiseyeva, the cook, and two maids step into the darkened streets with us. It's a little unnerving passing the great houses with their darkened windows, and the church, as we enter, is pitchy dark. With this unlit candle in my hand, I really need the guiding hands of the family as the usher directs us. According to the symbology that I was taught, the darkened church is the representation of the world without hope, before Christ's redeeming work. The Orthodox church is very different from anything I have known elsewhere; Madame Rimskaya-Korsakova has lent me a headscarf, and warned me that we will spend most of the next six hours standing in segregation, for the duration of the midnight vigil. I have to remember to cross myself "backwards" if I am not to stand out! The moment is nothing less than magical! I hear distant church bells ringing for the first time in the silent darkness, then, as the bells of this church begin to sound, everyone lights their candles. Those who don't have a match, or a tinderbox, light from the candles of their friends and neighbours, and from the front of the church, the priests lead the chant, "O Come and Worship". I really feel a new hope, and a great thankfulness to God. Rather than an abc transcription, I am including a direct link to the PDF for the chant "Arise O God and judge the Earth.

Organ Prelude

We bustle along with the other members of the congregation beneath a sullen, gray sky towards the church of St. Boniface, in the little German town of Arnstadt, in the princedom of Thuringia, deep in the heart of Germany. My hope is that today, Easter Sunday (March 23rd) 1704, we might have an opportunity to hear, or even meet, the nineteen-year old organist who was appointed here just last year. Not yet out of his teens and already, the name of Johann Sebastian Bach is known to everybody with more than a passing interest in music. He was invited to inspect, and give the inaugural recital on the organ in the church last summer, so I have great expectations for this visit.
The Lutheran divine service of this time takes a while, so we should make ourselves comfortable. We can probably expect to be here for at least the next two hours, possibly three.
Settling in one of the unoccupied pews toward the back of the church, a distant rumble of thunder is audible. It's a little unusual to hear thunder this early in the year, but what follows is a genuine delight! The unseen organist opens the swell box of his instrument and lets rip with an answering thunderclap that echoes before entering into a virtuosic musical evocation of raindrops pattering against the windows and the tiled roof! By the end of the Twentieth Century scholars were increasingly uncertain whether J.S.Bach had in fact composed the Toccata and Fugue attributed to him. Given the frequency with which he borrowed musical ideas from other composers, and reworked his own earlier compositions, I think the confusion is understandable.
Here is the abc notation for the chorale we sung that morning, arranged for guitar: Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme

X:1
T:Wachet auf, ruft uns die stimme % title
C:Johann Sebastian Bach % composer
O:Dirk Meineke-d.meineke@web.de % origin.
M:C                          % meter
L:1/8                        % length of shortest note
Q:60                         % tempo
%%staves (1 2)
V:1 clef=treble name="Guitar" % voice 1
V:2 clef=treble
%
K:C
[V:1]       G2 | c/d/e ed fe GF | e/c/d FE Bc z G | c/d/e ed fe GF |
[V:2][L:1/4] z | C     C  C  E, | F,    G, C    z | C     C  C  E, |
%
[V:1] e/c/d FE Bc z g | g2 f/e/d/c/ d/c/B/A/ GA/B/ | c/d/e/d/ f/e/d/c/ ed dG |
[V:2] F,    G, C  z   | E, A,       G,       F,    | E,       C        G, B, |
%
[V:1] e^f fg c/B/c CA | ^fg ga c/B/c Dc'| b/a/g g/^f/g E/f/e/d/ c/B/A/G/ |
[V:2] C   B, A,    C  | D   E  ^F    D  | G     ^F     E        D        |
%
[V:1] A/B/c c/B/c A,/^f/g/a/ g/f/e/d/ | gB     BA/G/ G/c/B/A/ B[GD] |
[V:2] C     B,    A,         C        | B,/G,/ D/D/  E,/B,/   G,    |
%
[V:1] E>^F  F>G   [GD]3  G | c/d/e ed fe GF | e/c/d FE Bc z G |
[V:2] C/A,/ D/A,/ [B,G,]>z | C     C  C  E, | F,    G, C  z   |
%
[V:1] c/d/e ed fe GF | e/c/d FE Bc z g | g2 f/e/d/c/ d/c/B/A/ GA/B/ |
[V:2] C     C  C  E, | F,    G, C  z   | E, A,       B,       F,    |
%
[V:1] c/d/e/d/ f/e/d/c/ ed   B,c | ab bc' f/e/f  ca    | bc' c'd' f/e/f Fd |
[V:2] E,       C        G/F/ B,  | B, D  G,/A,/ B,/F,/ | D   G    A     F  |
%
[V:1] e/d/c A/B/c c/_b/a/g/ f/e/d/c/ | d/e/f D/e/f G,/B/c/d/ c/B/A/G/ |
[V:2] G     A     F/E/      D/C/     | B,    D     G,/A,/    G,/F,/   |
%
[V:1] gc     e/d/c/B/ c/f/e/d/ ec   | A>B  B>c       c4-| c8     |]
[V:2] E,/A,/ F,/B,/   A,/B,/   C/E/ | F/D/ G/G,/ [GEC]2-| [GEC]4 |]

Deutsch

English

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme Der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne, Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem! Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde, Sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde: Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen? Wohlauf, der Bräut'gam kömmt, Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt! Halleluja! Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit, Ihr müßet ihm entgegengehn! Zion hört die Wächter singen, Das Herz tut ihr vor Freuden springen, Sie wacht und stehet eilend auf. Ihr Freund kommt vom Himmel prächtig, Von Gnaden stark, von Wahrheit mächtig, Ihr Licht wird hell, ihr Stern geht auf. Nun komm, du werte Kron', Herr Jesu, Gottes Sohn! Hosianna! Wir folgen all' zum Freudensaal Und halten mit das Abendmahl. Gloria sei dir gesungen Mit Menschen- und mit Engelzungen, Mit Harfen und mit Zimbeln schön. Von zwölf Perlen sind die Pforten An deiner Stadt, wir sind Konsorten Der Engel hoch um deinen Thron. Kein Aug hat je gespürt, Kein Ohr hat mehr gehört Solche Freude. Das sind wir froh, i-o, i-o, Ewig in dulci jubilo.

“Wake, arise,” loud call the voices of Watchmen so high in the tower, “Wake up, you town Jerusalem!” Midnight’s hour is now approaching They call to us with lucid voices: Where are the clever virgins now? Behold, the bridegroom comes Rise up, your lanterns take! Alleluia! Prepare yourself for the wedding, You must arise and go to him! Zion hears the watchmen singing The maidens’ hearts with joy are springing They wake and quickly to Him go. Their Friend comes in Heav’nly splendor With graceful strength, with mercy tender Their light is bright, their star doth glow. Now come, thou worthy One; Lord Jesus, God’s own Son Hosanna! We follow all to that glad hall To our Lord’s table we are called. “Gloria” we all are singing With earth and heav’n our voices ringing With harp and cymbal’s clearest tone. Twelve great pearls adorn the portals. At your fair city we are consorts With angels high around Your throne. No eye has ever seen No ear has ever heard Such a rapture. Our song doth go Io, Io! Ever in dulci jubilo.

To convert the code above to sheet music, or listen to the tunes, copy the code for a single song, then paste it here and [submit].