For our final selection of music that references ‘Sheep’ it is time to listen to some classical offerings.
“Sheep May Safely Graze” is a common name for Cantata 208 by Johann Sebastian Bach composed in 1713 as a secular choral work. Although best known for ‘Sheep May Safely Graze’, this particular work is described as Bach’s Hunting Cantata – a reference to its secular opening lyrics: “The lively hunt is all my heart’s desire.” Its beacon aria is the ninth movement, Schafe können sicher weiden. To explain that line, sheep may graze safely where there’s a good shepherd who stays awake and where there’s a good nobleman watching over a blissful nation. Why did Bach set such a line? Well, because he was writing this music for the birthday of Duke Christian in 1713 and he knew which side his bread was buttered. The commission also gives rise to its third name, the Birthday Cantata.
“All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray” George Frideric Handel’s Messiah has remained one of the composer’s most beloved works. Incredibly, Handel completed this 260-page oratorio in just 24 days during the summer of 1741. The scriptural text was compiled by Charles Jennens, with the source being the King James Bible. The first performance of Messiah was in April 1742, to celebrate Easter. Following on with Isaiah’s text, Handel creates a spritely chorus number. Big intervallic leaps in the bass creates angular shapes for the chorus to sing on top of. Handel uses both unison passages and highly melismatic phrases to create a number of different ‘voices’ within the mix. The quick tempo carries throughout most of this piece, with the voices working hard to create the desired haggard effects. A slower section begins after a perfect resolution chord. Initially led by the basses, the key turns minor and all of a sudden there is a dark cloud hanging over the chorus. Sombre in character and the complete opposite of the rest of the piece, this dark and mysterious section leads the once spritely chorus piece to its grisly end.
“Chasing Sheep is Best Left to Shepherds” is a piece of minimalist music from the soundtrack for The Draughtsman’s Contract written by Michael Nyman. In the thirty years since its release it has been much quoted and sampled and performed by various ensembles. It is based on the Prelude to Act III, Scene 2 of Henry Purcell’s opera, King Arthur. There are different arrangements of this piece, one of which is broadcast on Classic FM, performed by the Michael Nyman Band, which was not the original arrangement for the film. Another different version was recorded by Wingates Band and comes from the Album “Nyman Brass”. In the original film, the piece was performed much more slowly than re-recorded versions. It did however have a similar arrangement, with a soprano saxophone with the lead melody. In the Wingates Band version, the melody is in the high range of the band. In the Michael Nyman Band version, the bassline is in the piano, played by Michael Nyman himself, playing chords. In the Wingates Band version, it is running quavers in the tuba line.
“The Lamb” is a choral work by British composer John Tavener who sourced a poem by William Blake for this piece. This spare and haunting piece, written in four-part harmony is part of his collection “Songs of Innocence and of Experience.” One of the composer’s most lasting works, The Lamb was written in 1982 as a birthday gift for Tavener’s three-year-old nephew, and based around a seven-note motif. Tom Service wrote in The Guardian, “it seems to embody an aesthetic of excluding any superfluous sound.”
