On the other hand this song has the first references to the music of J. S. Bach in the sequence. Specifically, it alludes to the tremendous plunging bass octaves of the Sanctus of the Mass in B Minor, Bach's song of the angels whose ecstatic triplets are sung to the trinitarian godhead itself.

Well, this opens a theme of Sacred and Profane Love, which is continued in later songs. I wouldn't mind it being seen as the equivalent of those 'shocking' works which are taken so seriously in the Tate Modern gallery of art, but which for some reason are not expected in 'serious' modern music. In music, such questions are left to Madonna to make and I am following her lead.

However there is a more subtle way of thinking of my borrowing. Bach's music illustrates theological concepts through earthly images. Bach's trumpets and drums for the Lord God of Hosts are essentially the same as those that announce earthly kings and armies, and his music of divine love is not different from that used to suggest the human variety. A striking example of imagery in the B Minor Mass comes in the movement Et in Spirito Sancto of the Nicene Creed. Here the baritone has to explain the Third Person of the Trinity through a 6:8 ditty accompanied by rustic oboes and bassoons which convey a sheep-farming image of pastoral care. Nowadays the music may sound 'classic,' but in modern terms this is rather like setting the words as a Country and Western. To return to the great Sanctus, it is again striking that the descending bass line is essentially the same as that used countless times to evoke sexual need in rock music; it strikes the same chords in the human mind.

There are also less obvious elements to the structure. Another source of inspiration was my gym programme, in which I do three sets of exercises, each set being in the form ABCBCACAB. I have not tried to copy this structure in detail, but I have emphasised the theme of 'three times three times three' — even more trinitarian than Bach! The song begins and ends on chords of the ninth. It is in 9:8 time. The exposition, development and recapitulation are each of 27 bars. The coda is also of 27 bars, but the slow introduction is only 15 bars as 27 would be too long. The key-structure is all based on thirds, i.e. modulations to mediant-related keys.

I believe Bach probably also set inner numerical codes for himself. Anyway, I set myself to work within the discipline of this structure, like a gym programme, but to produce something that flows apparently effortlessly. I think it works, and after the quotation from the scherzo of Beethoven's Ninth (!) Symphony opens the recapitulation, there is a sustained passage of considerable power up to a climax on a chord of C major.

The piece describes a kind of queer experience and feeling which has nothing but energy and sweetness. However there is a counterpoint to the physicality of these allusions: the words and music also refer to the 'ideal forms' of a Platonic heaven, and so to the world of imagination where, in the end, all heavenly bodies acquire their heavenliness.

The piece ends with a Dresden Amen, which leads to the next song, the Gardening Song.

© 2000 Andrew Hodges