Read Johann Sebastian Bach Online
Authors: Christoph Wolff
Despite their heterogeneous nature, the cantatas from the first cycle establish some characteristic features that remain constant for the entire Leipzig cantata repertoire, such as the grand style choral opening (only rarely do solo pieces appear right at the start) and the closing four-part chorales that are simple but expressive. The newly composed choral and instrumental ensembles are larger than those of the Weimar cantatas, as are those of Weimar cantatas re-performed in Leipzig (for example, two recorders are added to BWV 18 and the string complement is enlarged in BWV 182). The instrumentation is more refined yet also more standardized (all the cantatas call for a full four-part string ensemble usually with fixed wind groups, such as three trumpets and timpani or double oboes and recorders). While the overall scoring patterns may seem less capricious and colorful than in the Weimar cantatas (compare Table 6.3), Bach's unbowed spirit of discovery continued to spur his exploration of new instrumental sonorities and combinations. From the start, he regularly made use of the new lower-register oboe types not available to him before, in particular the oboe d'amore and oboe da caccia, and from the spring of 1724 he began using the transverse flute. Instrumental virtuosity is heightened, and the technical demands on the vocal ensemble and soloists are no less striking.
Bach's compositional goals remained unchanged: not one to write aria after aria, chorus after chorus, and cantata after cantata, he expanded the cantata genre by broadening the scope of the conventional types of choruses, arias, recitatives, and chorales. The development of his opening cantata chorusesâa major focus in the first cantata cycleâis breathtaking. In these expansive movements, the orchestral and choral sections become fully integrated (as opposed to the traditional separation of instrumental introduction and choral complex), and in addition, the entire vocal-instrumental apparatus engages in an intensive, multilayered musical interpretation of the text. In the impressive initial series of newly composed cantatas, BWV 75, 76, 24, 167, 136, 105, and 46, the last two mark a new plateau of artistic accomplishment in the church cantata genre, both in the intricacy of their compositional design and in the vigorous musical expression and striking rhetorical power of their opening choruses: “Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht” (Lord, enter not into judgment with thy servant), BWV 105/1, for four-part choir and a compact ensemble of horn, 2 oboes, doubling strings, and continuoâan eight-part score extending over 128 measures; and “Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei” (Behold, and see if there be any sorrow), BWV 46/1, for four-part choir and trumpet, 2 recorders, 2 oboi da caccia, strings, and continuoâa thirteen-part score 142 measures long. By comparison, Bach's largest pre-Leipzig cantata chorus, “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis,” BWV 21/1, is a nine-part score of 58 measures, with a 20-measure instrumental sinfonia. Bach incorporated the music of BWV 46/1 ten years later into the Gloria section of the
B-minor Mass
, a clear testimony of the value he attached to the quality of this movement.
The development of interpretive imagery in Bach's musical language also took a new turn in the first months at Leipzig. For example, an aria like “Wie zittern und wanken / der Sünder Gedanken, / indem sie sich untereinander verklagen” (How tremble and waver / the sinners' thoughts / in that they accuse one another), of cantata BWV 105, translates the poetic text precisely into a fitting musical idea (see Ex. 8.1). First of all, the rhyme structure of the initial lines of the poem (wanken / Gedanken) determines Bach's symmetric phrasing of the corresponding vocal declamation. Then, the texture of the setting is fashioned to represent the image of “trembling
and
wavering” simultaneously by a two-layered score: the motive of wavering thoughts in the floundering and halting melodic gestures that alternate between soprano and oboe in an overlapping manner, and the trembling thoughts in a string accompaniment based on a tremolo figure that proceeds, for purposes of intensification, at two different speeds. The word-generated texture thus created in this passage provides a strong unifying device that helps structure the instrumental ritornello and the movement as a whole, so that other, similarly word-generated musical ideas, like the long melisma on “verklagen” from the next line, can blend in without compromising their identity (Ex. 8.2). Incidentally, the melodic-rhythmic shape of that melisma shows the demanding vocal technique Bach now required of his singersâa tribute to the effectiveness of his vocal lessons over a span of barely two months.
Considering the many adjustments and complications he faced during his first year in office, it is remarkable that Bach, despite some unavoidable (though not haphazard) scrambling for suitable cantata texts, was able to create an annual cycle that established new compositional standards not just for himself but for the cantata genre itself. At the same time, the first
Jahrgang
in toto possessed neither literary conformity nor overall musical consistency. For his second annual cycle of 1724â25, however, Bach could, with his increased preparation time, turn to the proven concept of a cantata cycle based on a uniform libretto type. While entire cycles had been set by a number of his colleagues, most notably Georg Philipp Telemann (beginning with his Eisenach cycle of 1711) but also Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel in Gotha and Johann Friedrich Fasch in Zerbst, Bach himself had never been in a position to compose a full
Jahrgang
âhis Weimar settings of Salomo Franck's
Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer
of 1715 had to pursue a monthly rather than weekly schedule. But on the first Sunday after Trinity 1724, Bach could begin with a most promising cantata project of great homogeneity, whose scope he was able to define himself (Table 8.8). Every cantata was to be based on a seasonal church hymn of the ecclesiastical year; the first and last stanza of the hymn were to serve as the opening and final movements of the cantata, and the internal hymn stanzas were to be variously paraphrased, condensed, and reconfigured to accommodate the metric structure of the madrigal verses for recitatives and arias.
66
T
ABLE
8.8. Second Annual Cycle (
JahrgangII)â
Performance Schedule, 1724â25
BWV | Cantata | Liturgical Date | Performance |
Chorale cantatas: | |||
20 | O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, II (2 parts) | 1 | 6/11/1724 |
2 | Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein | 2 | 6/18/1724 |
7 | Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam | St. John's Day | 6/24/1724 |
135 | Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder | 3 | 6/25/1724 |
10 | Meine Seel erhebt den Herren | Visitation | 7/2/1724 |
93 | Wer nur den lieben Gott läÃt walten | 5 | 7/9/1724 |
107 | Was willst du dich betrüben | 7 | 7/23/1724 |
178 | Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält | 8 | 7/30/1724 |
94 | Was frag ich nach der Welt | 9 | 8/6/1724 |
101 | Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott | 10 | 8/13/1724 |
113 | Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut | 11 | 8/20/1724 |
33 | Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ | 13 | Trinity 9/3/1724 |
78 | Jesu, der du meine Seele | 14 | 9/10/1724 |
99 | Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, I | 15 | 9/17/1724 |
8 | Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? | 16 | 9/24/1724 |
130 | Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir | St. Michael's Day | 9/29/1724 |
114 | Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost | 17 | 10/1/1724 |
96 | Herr Christ, der einge Gottessohn 1 | 8 | 10/8/1724 |
5 | Wo soll ich fliehen hin | 19 | 10/15/1724 |
180 | Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele | 20 | 10/22/1724 |
38 | Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir | 21 | 10/29/1724 |
115 | Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit | 22 | 11/5/1724 |
139 | Wohl dem, der sich auf seinen Gott | 23 | 11/12/1724 |
26 | Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig | 24 | 11/19/1724 |
116 | Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ | 25 | 11/26/1724 |
Start of ecclesiastical year | |||
62 | Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, II | 1 | 12/3/1724 |
91 | Gelobet seist du, Jesu | Christ Christmas Day | 12/25/1724 |
121 | Christum wir sollen loben schon | 2 | 12/26/1724 |
133 | Ich freue mich in dir | 3 | 12/27/1724 |
122 | Das neugeborne Kindelein | Sunday after Christmas | 12/31/1724 |
41 | Jesu, nun sei gepreiset | New Year's Day | 1/1/1725 |
123 | Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen | Epiphany | 1/6/1725 |
124 | Meinen Jesum laà ich nicht | 1 | 1/7/1725 |
3 | Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, I | 2 | 1/14/1725 |
111 | Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit | 3 | 1/21/1725 |
92 | Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn | Septuagesimae | 1/28/1725 |
125 | Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin | Purification | 2/2/1725 |
126 | Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort | Sexagesimae | 2/4/1725 |
127 | Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott | Estomihi | 2/11/1725 |
1 | Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern | Annunciation | 3/25/1725 |
[245 | St. John Passion (2 | Good Friday (Vespers) | 3/30/1725] |
(End of chorale cantata cycle; for later additions, see Table 8.9.) | |||
Cantatas on texts of unknown origin: | |||
249 | Kommt, gehet und eilet | Easter Sunday | 4/1/1725 |
4 | Christ lag in Todes Banden | Easter Sunday | Â |
6 | Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden | 2 | 4/2/1725 |
42 | Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats | Quasimodogeniti | 4/8/1725 |
85 | Ich bin ein guter Hirt | Misericordias Domini | 4/15/1725 |
Cantatas on texts by Mariane von Ziegler: | |||
103 | Ihr werdet weinen und heulen | Jubilate | 4/22/1725 |
108 | Es ist euch gut, daà ich hingehe | Cantate | 4/29/1725 |
87 | Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen | Rogate | 5/6/1725 |
128 | Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein | Ascension Day | 5/10/1725 |
183 | Sie werden euch in den Bann tun, II | Exaudi | 5/13/1725 |
74 | Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, II | Whitsunday | 5/20/1725 |
68 | Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt | 2 | 5/21/1725 |
175 | Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen | 3 | 5/22/1725 |
176 | Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding | Trinity Sunday | 5/27/1725 |