The Advent hymn O Come Emanuel (Veni Emanuel)
is often heard among Christmas Carols. The truth is that it is not a Christmas
Carol. In my Continuing Anglican diocese we use the 1940 Hymnal of the Episcopal
Church in which it is Hymn number 2, in the Advent section. That older hymnal
was arranged in such a way that the first several hymns come in the order of
the liturgical seasons of the church year. The first season is Advent, followed
by Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, the part of Lent called Passiontide, then Easter,
and is afterward followed by hymns for Ascensiontide and Pentecost (commonly
called Whitsuntide). So, to the already profuse collection of New Year’s Days,
our January first (having replaced March 25 long ago), Rosh Hashanah, Chinese
New Year, and all the others, the First Sunday in Advent is the liturgical New
Year’s Day. Here is another kicker: The theme of Advent is not preparation for
Christmas; it is preparation for the Eschaton, the return of Christ on the Last
Day. The emphasis is on the “Four Last Things:” Death, judgment, heaven, and
hell. So, now we see that O Come Emmanuel (or, as some refer to it, O
Come, O Come Emmanuel) is about the coming again of Christ in glory to
raise the dead and bring in the Kingdom of God in all fullness. And even though
some call that day Judgment Day, or “the Day of Doom,” the message to believers
is to “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.” The Day of
terror to the forces of darkness is the really the Day of liberation from all
that afflicts us, including death itself when the risen and immortal Christ
gives us the inheritance belonging to the children of God. When I composed a
fugue on that hymn, to serve as a choral prelude, I wanted it to conclude, as
the hymn itself does, with the happy sound of that refrain. So we hear, stated simply
and unmistakably, the opening notes that go with the words, “O Come, Come Emanuel.”
As a composition student of Johann Sebastian Bach (I formally studied musical
composition under Professor Felix Powell, but Bach has always really been my
teacher) I sought to combine the art of music with mystical theology written in
musical notation.
Emanuel is, we all should know, from the Hebrew name given
to the son of the virgin (Isaiah 7:14), and it means “God with us.” In
Christian belief that is who Jesus is literally, the Word made flesh (John
1:14), fully God and fully human. And, of course, for that reason it brings to
mind not only Christmas, but also the Annunciation. As we use it for Advent, it
brings together in one Name all that Jesus did for us in his first coming, and
all that we joyfully anticipate in his second coming. As man, he suffered and
died to take away our sins, and rose again to make the human creature immortal,
and able to enjoy fellowship and communion with the very nature of God (2 Peter
1:4). So, when my fugue begins with the first voice entry, I use the four notes
in which we sing the word “Emanuel” to descend melodically three times, both
emphasizing the Person we are singing about, and that he comes to us from above
– that is, from His transcendence as One with the Father down to our human
reality. In typical fugal fashion I bring in each voice in the interval of the
fifth; that is E minor, B minor, E minor, and B minor again, connecting each
with a brief musical figure that continues from the second voice entry to the
very conclusion of the piece.
The subject is repeated in E minor before a transition to
the relative Major (G major) and its fifth, D major. At that point I bring in
the refrain from the hymn without sacrificing the contrapuntal motion of the
fugue, but I do not conclude it there. I believe that is quite fitting both
musically and theologically. That first “Rejoice! Rejoice!” is because our Emanuel,
Jesus, after suffering and dying on his cross rose from the dead. But this is
not the final refrain. For a bit longer the fugue continues because life in
this world goes on, only now with the sure and certain hope based on what has
already begun as fulfillment. The following repetitions of the fugue subject
lead us to the recognizable refrain again, “Rejoice! Rejoice!” leading to the
concluding notes from the hymn melody played in the bass line, the notes that
go with the words “Emanuel shall come to the O Israel,” while the voices above
conclude it with the figure mentioned earlier, resolving with the very merry
sound of E major.
I composed this piece in 1987 originally to be used as an offertory
at Saint Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Catonsville, Maryland, a suburb of
Baltimore. The premier was on a piano. Less than a year later I was the
organist at that church, making use of an intimidating giant that had been
designed to the specifications of Virgil Fox in the 1930s when he was teaching
at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University. When Advent came around,
I modified this fugue so that my feet played the bass notes on the pedals. In
the video I include here, I played it on my Yamaha DGX-660 using a very authentic
sounding String Quartet setting. Now you can hear it with some appreciation of
the thinking that went into the composing of this fugal choral prelude.
FUGUE ON Veni Emmanuel - YouTube
