“Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist” is a Lutheran hymn for Pentecost, with words written by Martin Luther. The melody is based on the Latin chant, “Veni Creator Spiritus,” hymn No. 502 in The Hymnal 1982. One of the questions that comes to mind when I contemplate what Bach was trying to portray in this piece is how anyone would represent the Holy Spirit in musical composition. Many composers represent the Spirit as fast scales that zip up and down the keyboard, as if to illustrate tongues of fire, or wisps of fluttering about, like a ghost dancing in the sky. Well, if you listen carefully, you can hear Bach does just that, he incorporates fast scales moving up and down, like the flashing dance of what we might imagine a spirit to look like, if it were in physical form.

Another interesting aspect of this chorale prelude is it’s time signature. It’s in 12/8 time. Which means, each of the four beats in the bar are divisible by three, and at the beginning, the pedal plays on beat three. Why would the number three be important? Well, the Holy Spirit is the third person in the mention of The Trinity. The piece also abruptly ends on beat three, which gives it an unusual feeling when it’s over. Usually, pieces with a feeling of triple meter, end on beat one, which is more stable and “final” sounding. You might also be astounded to learn that the pedal plays on the third beat precisely 28 times, and if you divide this by 3 you get 9.333333 – and the 3’s go on forever!

I’m sure that there were many intentional ways Bach used what one might call musical, mathematical theology – using numbers to interpret scripture in music. Many music historians have written volumes of information about the mathematical wonders of Bach. But in all of one’s efforts to construct music that sounds like the Holy Spirit, flashy and fiery, or wispy and ethereal, isn’t the irony of it all that the Holy Spirit is actually silent? I think the true “spirit” of music is actually the space in between the notes, the silence before and after a piece, and in the dissipation of sound in a reverberant acoustic. This Pentecost, don’t forget to hear the silence in your own lives. Remember, it’s the silence that actually makes sound even possible. Soli deo Gloria!