A Conductor's Guide to JS Bach's Quinquagesima Cantatas

A Conductor’s Guide to J. S. Bach’s Quinquagesima Cantatas

A document submitted to the

Division of Graduate Studies and Research

of the University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

in the Ensembles and Conducting Division

of the College-Conservatory of Music

2012

by

Jung Jin Baek

B.M., Presbyterian College & Theological Seminary, 2001

M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2008

Committee Members: Earl Rivers, D.M.A. (Chair)

Matthew Peattie, Ph.D.

Brett L. Scott, D.M.A.

i

ABSTRACT

Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas occupy a significant portion of his output. This

document focuses on his four cantatas written for the Quinquagesima Sunday in Leipzig. The

first two cantatas (BWV 22 and BWV 23), which were audition pieces for the cantor position

in Leipzig (1723), were performed again in the following year as part of his first cantata cycle.

The other two surviving cantatas for this Sunday (BWV 127 and BWV 159) are found in his

second (1724–25) and fourth (1728–29) cantata cycles. Not only for his audition, but also for

the special context of the Quinquagesima Sunday, (the last major religious musical event in

Leipzig before the Passion at the Good Friday Vespers), Bach carefully constructed these

cantatas to display his considerable musical ability, his attention to text expression, and his

knowledge of liturgical and theological issues for the preparation of the Lenten season. This

document will provide a conductor’s guide to preparing and conducting these cantatas and

examine how Bach achieves his goals of musical and liturgical function within the Lutheran

tradition.

ii

Copyright © 2012 by Jung Jin Baek

All rights reserved

iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My first thanks should be given to my God, who has led me to reach this point of

completion of my DMA Document to close one of the chapters of the journey of my musical

life.

I would like to express my thanks to my teacher and advisor, Dr. Earl Rivers, who

brought me to CCM for my study of MM and DMA degrees, and for his wisdom, knowledge,

and care that have inspired me through this long process. Dr. Brett L. Scott and Dr. Matthew

Peattie, serving as committee members, have been a great help, not only for this document

but also all through my CCM years. I am also thankful for the occasional classes and lessons

when he was my advisor for my doctoral lecture recital with Professor Emeritus Dr. Elmer

Thomas, who challenged my colleagues and me with his overwhelming musicianship.

Remembering those years in this foreign land, I am thankful for all the opportunities

to meet and learn from great musicians and teachers Mr. Mark Gibson, Ms. Annunziata

Tomaro for my orchestral cognate study, and Dr. Richard Sparks, Dr. Dale Warland, and the

late Mr. Richard Westenburg, visiting choral faculty in my first year at CCM.

My musical experiences outside of the UC campus were also unbelievably rewarding

with the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati and its collaborations with Donald Nally, and the

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra; Faburden, the professional evensong choir of Cincinnati’s

Christ Church Cathedral and its Director Mr. Charles Hogan; the Choir of men and boys of

Christ Church Cathedral in Lexington and its Director Mr. Erich Balling; the Kentucky Bach

Choir and Mr. Marlon Hurst, the Artistic Director; and Mr. Simon Carrington at the Yale

Summer School, Norfolk Festival.

I would like to give special thanks to Ellis Anderson for his proofreading. As an

international student whose first language is not English, writing a scholarly document was

very challenging, and it could not have been possible without his help.

My family and their prayers have always been with me, and this accomplishment

could not have been possible without their sincere support.

My ultimate gratitude is for Shi-Ae, my wife, great friend, counselor, and angel, for

her love, patience, and prayer.

iv

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ………………………………………………………………………………… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………………… iii

CONTENTS ………………………………………………………………………………… iv

INDEX OF MUSICAL FIGURES ………………………………………………………….. v

INDEX OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ………………………………………………………. v

CHAPTERS

I. Introduction

A. Overview of the church cantatas of J. S. Bach

Historical and liturgical origin …………………………………….………. 1

Bach and cantata ……………………………………………………..……. 3

B. Overview and historical information of Bach’s Quinquagesima cantatas

Audition process of Leipzig cantorate and BWV 22, 23 ……….…..……... 7

Brief overview of Bach’s cantata cycles ………………………..……......... 9

II. Conductor’s Guide with Examination approached by Three Different Dimensions ……..15

A. BWV 22 ……………………………………………………………………….. 18

Musical expression ……………………………………………… 18

Textual expression ………………………………………………. 19

Liturgical and theological understanding ……………………….. 23

B. BWV 23 ………………………………………………………………………...26

Musical expression ……………………………………………….. 26

Textual expression ………………………………………………... 28

Liturgical and theological understanding ………………………... 30

C. BWV 127 ……………………………………………………………………….36



Liturgical and theological understanding ………………………… 46

D. BWV 159 ……………………………………………………………………….53



Liturgical and theological understanding ………………………… 63

III. Performance Practice

A. Survey of trends in performances led by Bach experts ………...………………66

IV. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………71

APPENDIX

A. Gospel Reading …………………………………………………………………73

B. Text Translation: BWV 22, 23, 127, and 159 …………………………………..75

C. Paul Eber’s Poem ……………………………………………………………….80

D. Leipzig Town Reports about Bach’s Audition …………………………………82

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………….……….83

v

INDEX OF MUSICAL FIGURES

Table 1.1: Order of the Mass at Leipzig’s main churches ……….…….…………………….. 4

Table 2.1: Musical plan for BWV 22 and BWV 23 ……………….….……………………. 17

Table 2.2: Chiastic design for movement 3 in BWV 23 ……………..…………………….. 27

Table 2.3: Musical plan for BWV 127 …………………………..…………………………. 37

Table 2.4: Formal design of BWV 127/4 ………………………..…………………………. 38

Table 2.5: Musical plan for BWV 159 ………………………..………………………….… 54

INDEX OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

Example 2.1: BWV 22/1, mm. 25–27 (B) ………………….……………………………. 19

Example 2.2: BWV 22/3, mm. 1–3 (B) ………………………………….………………. 20

Example 2.3: BWV 22/3, mm. 24–26 ……………………………………………………… 20

Example 2.4: BWV 22/4, mm. 61–64 ….…………………………………………………... 21

Example 2.5: BWV 22/4, mm. 100–8 (T) ………………………………………………….. 21

Example 2.6: BWV 22/2, mm. 67–72 (A) …………………………………………………. 22

Example 2.7: BWV 22/3, m. 13 ……………………………………………………………. 22

Example 2.8: BWV 22/1, mm. 42–49 (SATB) …………………………………………….. 23

Example 2.9: BWV 22/5, mm. 1–6 ………………………………………………………… 25

Example 2.10: BWV 23/3, mm. 9–17 (S) ………………………………………………….. 28

Example 2.11: BWV 23/2, m. 1 ……………………………………………………………. 29

Example 2.12: BWV 23/3, mm. 117–119 (TB) ……………………………………………. 29

Example 2.13: BWV 23/1, m. 22 & 47 (SA) ………………….…………………………… 30

Example 2.14: BWV 23/1, mm. 15–16 …………………………………………………….. 31

Example 2.15: BWV 23/1, mm. 39–40 (SA) ………………………………………………. 32

Example 2.16: German Agnus Dei, Christe, du Lamm Gottes ……………………………... 33

Example 2.17: BWV 23/2, mm. 1–4 ……………………………………………………….. 33

Example 2.18: BWV 23/3, mm. 1–6 (BC) …………………………………………………. 34

Example 2.19: BWV 23/4, mm. 5–6 (SATB) ……………………………………………… 34

Example 2.20: BWV 127/4, mm. 1–2 ……………………………………………………… 38

Example 2.21: BWV 127/5 (S) Chorale, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott ……… 39

Example 2.22: BWV 127/2, m. 6 (T) ………………………………………………………. 40

Example 2.23: BWV 127/2, m. 13 (T) ……………………………………………………... 40

Example 2.24: BWV 127/3, mm. 9–10 (S) ………………………………………………… 40

Example 2.25: BWV 127/1, m. 36 (Ob, B, BC) …………………………………………… 41

Example 2.26: BWV 127/1, mm. 56–58 …………………………………………………… 41

Example 2.27: BWV 127/2, mm. 10–11 (T) ……………………………………………….. 42

Example 2.28: BWV 127/3, mm. 33–35 (S) ……………………………………………….. 42

Example 2.29: BWV 127/3, mm. 30–31 …………………………………………………… 43

Example 2.30: BWV 127/4, mm. 26–31 …………………………………………………… 44

Example 2.31: BWV 127/5, mm. 7–8 & 11–12 (SATB) ………………………...………… 45

Example 2.32: BWV 127/4, mm.13–19 (B, BC) …………………………………………... 46

Example 2.33: BWV 127/4, mm. 32–35 (B, BC) ………………………………………….. 46

vi

Example 2.34: BWV 127/1: m. 1 (Ob) ……………………………......................................48

Example 2.35: BWV 127/1: mm. 1–5 (Vn I) ………………………………………………. 48

Example 2.36: BWV 127/1, mm. 46–49 (Strings, Sop.) …………………………………… 49

Example 2.37: BWV 127/1, mm. 6–8 (BC) ………………………………………………... 49

Example 2.38: BWV 127/4, mm. 44–46 (B) ……………………………………………….. 52

Example 2.39: BWV 244/27, mm. 65–74 (ATB) ………………………………………...... 52

Example 2.40: BWV 159/1, mm. 6–9 ……………………………………………………… 56

Example 2.41: BWV 159/1, mm. 10–11 (A) ………………………………………………. 57

Example 2.42: BWV 159/2: mm. 12–16 (A) …...………………………………………….. 57

Example 2.43: BWV 159/1, mm. 19–21 …………………………………………………… 58

Example 2.44: BWV 159/1, mm. 23 & 32 ………..………………………………………... 58

Example 2.45: BWV 159/2, mm. 19–21 …...………………………………………………. 59

Example 2.46: BWV 159/2, mm. 77–79 (A) ………………………………………………. 59

Example 2.47: BWV 159/3, mm. 4–6 (T) …………………………………………….……. 60

Example 2.48: BWV 159/4: mm. 1–3 (Ob) & 9–11 (B) …..…………………………….…. 60

Example 2.49: BWV 159/4, mm. 11–12 (B) ……………………………………………….. 61

Example 2.50: BWV 159/4, mm. 13–17 …………………………………………………… 61

Example 2.51: BWV 159/4, mm. 34–36 …………………………………………………… 62

Example 2.52: BWV 159/4, mm. 39–41 …………………………………………………… 62

Example 2.53: BWV 159/4, mm. 54–57 …………………………………………………… 63

1

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF THE CHURCH CANTATAS OF J. S. BACH

Historical and liturgical origin

In the service of Lutheran tradition, the appearance of the cantata originated from the

Gospel motet, which has been a principal piece to enhance the reading of Gospel since the

Reformation.1 In the late seventeenth century, arias and chorale supplements were added in

the form of the concerto motet, and after 1700 the concerto motet was replaced by the

cantata.2 However, cantatas were known by different names, even in Bach’s time. “Kirchen-

stück” or “Music” were used by Bach’s contemporaries, and Bach’s early cantatas had

various titles such as “motteto” (BWV 71), “actus” (BWV 106), and “concerto” (BWV 61),

with some rare usages of “cantata” (BWV 54, 199).3 Originally employed as an Italian term

for secular music in seventeenth century, the ‘cantata’ became generally applied to the sacred,

multi-sectional, concerted works of Bach, his contemporaries, and his predecessors by

Philipp Spitta (1841–94) and the editors of Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society).4 Also, ‘a well-

regulated church music’ was a phrase Bach used when he intended to imply cantata. Further

explanation of this phrase will be given later. The role of this multi-sectional cantata poetry

evolved from merely highlighting the Bible lesson to interpreting it as a musical sermon. As

James Day categorizes Bach’s church cantatas into five types according to its text, its form

changed and developed through the years.5 For example, the texts of Bach’s pre-Weimar

cantatas are lacking in formal design, and the music also is in the manner of a vocal concerto

1 Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician (New York: W. W. Norton and

2 Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 255.

3 Christoph Wolff, ed. The World of Bach Cantatas (New York, W. W. Norton and Company, 1995),

23. 4 Malcolm Boyd, ed. Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach. Consultant Editor John Butt (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1999), 82. 5 James Day, The Literary Background to Bach’s Cantatas (New York, Dover Publications, INC.

1966), 25.

2

or concerto motet.6 BWV 196 written in Arnstadt in 1708 has a very simple text directly

quoted from Psalm 115 verses 12–15, and another early cantata BWV 131 (Mühlhausen,

1707–08) has a more progressive form, which is a combination of a biblical passage and a

selected chorale verse.7 Later, several of Bach’s cantatas, such as BWV 140 (Leipzig, 1731)

based upon a chorale, are given some operatic elements by librettists such as a dialogue

between two different characters.8 Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the verse and

textual forms were systemized,9 and the theologian-poet Erdmann Neumeister set this

standard pattern of a cantata text as a musical sermon.10

This innovative collection of sacred

poems, which brought the birth of the “modern” German church cantata, is closely related to

the prescribed lessons throughout the ecclesiastical year.11

The Italian secular cantata was the

model of Neumeister’s librettos. In this format, the libretto normally begins with a passage

from the prescribed Gospel lesson, usually for the opening chorus.12

The following

recitative-aria pair provides scriptural, doctrinal, and contextual explanations in free and

varied literary forms, which originated in the seventeenth-century Italian madrigal.13

Another

pair of recitative-aria leads to the admonition of Christian life, and the conclusion is made

with the congregational prayer in the form of closing chorale.14

This pattern can be seen in

BWV 61, written in Weimar (1714). This kind of madrigalistic poetry, strengthening the

expressive relationship between words and music, is suited for spiritual meditations on

music.15

By this type of poetry, the recitative-aria form and da capo aria were revolutionary

when introduced into the German church music. By integrating two additional textual


7 Day, The Literary Background to Bach’s Cantatas, 25–27.

8 Ibid., 28.

9 Ibid., 29.


11 Ibid., 254.

12 Ibid., 255.

13 Ibid., 160.

14 Ibid., 255.

15 Ibid., 160.

3

elements of biblical dictum and strophic hymns, annual cycles of cantata libretti began to be

published in early 1700s. Around this period, Bach’s distant cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach in

Saxe-Meiningen, and Georg Philipp Telemann in Saxe-Eisenach were among the composers

to write music on these libretti.16

With the establishment of this type of libretto, the order of service was also

standardized, and the “Order of the Mass in Leipzig’s Main Churches” introduced in Wolff’s

book is one example. [Table 1.1]17

After the reading of the Gospel, one cantata is placed

before, and one after, the sermon. This order shows how the cantata functioned in a keen

relationship with the message given in the service of the Lutheran liturgy.

Bach and Cantata

Although Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818), the first biographer of Bach, did not

give much attention to Bach’s cantatas, the cantatas are one of the most important keys to

understanding Bach’s compositional procedures. In fact, the cantatas were Bach’s most

prolific genre, and his sincere enthusiasm for the church cantata helped shape the course of

his musical life. Since he declared his musical aims in 1708, the term ‘well-regulated church

music’ worked as a key word in every corner of his life and was specifically realized

throughout his career.18

For example, Bach did not hesitate to express his eagerness to his

“goal of a well-regulated church music” in his letter of resignation when he moved from

Mühlhausen to Weimar (1708).19

The well-regulated church music (regulirten kirchen Musik)

that he regularly performed at Mühlhausen and was expected to produce at Weimar’s main

churches as modern-style concerted vocal music could have only been the cantatas.

16

Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 161. 17

Ibid., 256–57. 18

Wolff, ed. The World of Bach Cantatas, 5. 19

Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 112–13.

4

[Table 1.1]

5

While there are rare recorded evidences of Bach’s earliest cantatas in Arnstadt and

Mühlhausen, besides well-known cantatas such as BWV 4, 131, and 106, relatively rich

sources survive from the Weimar period (1708–17). In March 1714, Bach was appointed

concertmaster of the Weimar court capelle, which was a newly created position by his own

request.20

Christoph Wolff indicates that this appointment was his first opportunity to realize

his expressed “ultimate goal toward a well-regulated church music;” the duty of this position

was to perform newly composed church pieces once a month.21

Around the time of this

request, Bach was offered the position in Our Lady’s Church in Halle, and it could have had

an effect on the approval of Bach’s request to the Weimar court.22

Bach’s opportunities in

Weimar to compose and perform cantatas on a regular monthly schedule were also in the

requirements of the Halle agreement, although he chose to stay in Weimar.23

Bach must have

been more satisfied with the circumstances of the Weimar court capelle when envisioning his

‘goal.’ Wolff notes this career decision is the point of his identity “away from a primary

focus on organ and keyboard skills and toward the broader options and deeper commitment

of a composer, with an ever-expanding musical horizon.”24

While composing cantatas

randomly or only for special occasions in the pre-Weimar period and even before 1714 in

Weimar, Bach now followed the ‘modern custom’ of setting the music to the text from

printed collections,25

which means the libretto according to the church calendar. Since the

first collections of sacred cantata texts were printed in the 1670s, cantatas were certainly

known in Leipzig as a liturgical component in the church services from the time of Sebastian

Knüpfer (1633-76), who was a cantor in Leipzig from 1657 to his death in 1676.26

Therefore,

20




Ibid., 155. 24

Ibid. 25


Day, The Literary Background to Bach’s Cantatas, 24.

6

the composition of annual cycles of chorale cantatas was practiced at various times in the

seventeenth century.27

Fulfilling his duty as a concertmaster in Weimar, Bach benefited from

his collaboration with Salomo Franck, who published two annual cycles, and the church of

Weimar, Himmelsburg (“Heaven’s Castle”),28

which was referred to as “a world-famous

masterpiece of architecture,” with a great acoustics.29

In this period Bach made a

fundamental change in his scoring from the traditional German (and also French style) five-

part string score (with two violas) to the Italian four-part score (with one viola) as a new

norm.30

The number of sacred vocal works written in Weimar is uncertain, but most of the

cantatas were re-used in Leipzig with slight alterations or drastic changes in orchestration.31

In his time at the Calvinist court at Cöthen, Bach had no responsibilities for religious

services, and several cantatas for secular occasions survive. Evidence of composition of

church cantatas in this period is found in his audition pieces for Leipzig (BWV 22, 23).32

Also, Wolff believes that Bach’s decision in 1723 to move to Leipzig was influenced by his

“artistic aspirations: the ultimate goal of a regulated church music.”33

In Leipzig, Bach provided a cantata for every Sunday and feast day of the liturgical

year. This weekly composition of a cantata had not been done by any of his Leipzig

predecessors.34

Such a cycle requires more than sixty cantatas annually, even when

considering the two Tempus Clausum periods preceding Christmas and Easter. Bach

produced five complete annual cycles in his early years at Leipzig, however, many from the

last two cycles are considered lost. By completing this enormously challenging project, Bach

27

Alfred Dürr, Bach’s Chorale Cantatas, Cantors at the Crossroads, ed. by Johannes Riedel, (St.

Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1967), 116. 28

Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 156–57. 29

Ibid., 160. 30

Ibid., 165. 31

Wolff, ed. The World of Bach Cantatas, 14–15. 32

Ibid., 17. 33


Ibid., 254.

7

could experiment on the “flexible cantata typology as widely as possible.”35

Further

examination of Bach’s audition process and annual cycle in Leipzig will follow.

OVERVIEW AND HISTORICAL INFORMATION

OF BACH’S QUINQUAGESIMA CANTATAS

Audition process of Leipzig cantorate and BWV 22, 23

Johann Kuhnau (b. 1660), the cantor at St. Thomas’s and music director in Leipzig,

died on June 5, 1722. Soon after, the Leipzig Town Council invited George Philipp Telemann

(1681-1767) for the audition to the cantorate on August 11, 1722. Telemann had held the

position of music director of the five largest churches in Hamburg since 1720, and the city of

Hamburg did not allow its music director to work in another city. On the way to and from

Leipzig, he would have passed through Cöthen and possibly visited his friend Bach and his

godchild Carl Philipp Emanuel. Wolff assumes Telemann could be the person who informed

and encouraged Bach to pursue the position in Leipzig.36

On December of that year, after

several meetings, the council added two more candidates, Christoph Graupner (1683–1760)

and Bach. These two court capellmeisters turned out to be the favorites among the seven total

candidates, and each was asked to present two cantatas for their auditions – one before and

one after the sermon. The second Sunday after Epiphany (January 17, 1723) was given to

Graupner, and Estomihi Sunday (February 7, 1723) to Bach.37

The texts for two cantata-sets, Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe and Du wahrer Gott

und David Sohn for Quinquagesima Sunday (Estomihi), were sent from Leipzig to Bach. The

35


Ibid., 219–20. 37

Ibid., 221.

8

poet is not known, but Burgomaster Lange seems to have been the most probable candidate.38

He was a poet and opera librettist as well, and he was deeply engaged in the audition process

as a committee member. Also the pattern of the libretto is closely related to the libretto of

Bach’s first two cantatas (BWV 75, 76) after becoming Thomaskantor and to Graupner’s two

cantatas for his audition to the same post.39

As Lutheran cantatas traditionally based their

text on the Gospel of that day, both cantatas contained the substance of the reading, and Bach

was expected to provide his composition as a musical sermon to assist the service.

Quinquagesima (Estomihi) Sunday is a special time in the church year, being placed

before Ash Wednesday. This period of fasting before Easter lasts almost seven weeks.

Because the concerted music was suspended in Leipzig during these Lenten weeks, according

to statutory Tempus Clausum, Estomihi was the last Sunday to feature music in the service

until the Vespers of Good Friday. Because of these regulations, Peter Wollny notes, “Bach

could count on his listeners paying attention to the music on Quinquagesima Sunday”; hence

he quite deliberately designed his cantatas intended for this day as musical highlights on the

church year.40

Although Bach’s audition was very successful for the town of Leipzig as shown in

the newspapers (he was the only candidate who was reported in the newspaper),41

Graupner

had been chosen for the position even before Bach had even arrived in Leipzig. However, the

Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt forced Graupner, his capellmeister, to decline the Leipzig

offer, and Graupner informed Leipzig authorities of his decision on March 22.42

Exactly one

month later, the Town Council agreed on the election of Bach, who had already been asked to

38


Boyd, ed. Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, 249. 40

Peter Wollny, Jesu deine Passion, Translated by Charles Johnston. Article in the Booklet of the

Recording of Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent (France: Harmonia Mundi, 2009), 8. 41

Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, eds, The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in

Letters and Documents, Revised and expanded by Christoph Wolff (New York: W. W. Norton and Company,

1998), 101.’ The full article in the newspaper is in the Appendix D. 42

Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 222–23.

9

revisit Leipzig to sign a preliminary pledge and been granted his dismissal by Prince Leopold

of Cöthen on April 13. This was the beginning of Bach’s longest tenure in one position, the

last stage in his life, and the beginning of his great journey producing the Leipzig cantata

cycles.

Brief Overview of Bach’s Cantata Cycles

Since Bach’s first official Sunday as the newly appointed Leipzig cantor was the first

Sunday after Trinity (May 30, 1723), the first annual cycle of cantatas began on that day and

ended on the Trinity Sunday of 1724.43

As mentioned in Bach’s obituary,44

this is a project

of “fünf Jahrgänge von Kirchenstücken, auf alle Sonn- und Festage” (five full annual cycles

of church pieces for all the Sundays and festivals: BDok i. 86),45

and only the first three have

been transmitted in recognizable and relatively intact form.46

About two-fifths of the cantata

repertoire is considered lost, so very little can be said about the character of the fourth and

fifth cycles.47

Despite this amount of loss, which make it difficult to form a firm conclusion

about the evolution of the whole body of annual cycles by Bach in his early Leipzig years, his

most productive period of cantata composition, Wolff draws two conclusions: “first, to

provide himself and his office during the first several years of his tenure with a working

repertoire of substantial size that he would be able to draw on later; to set certain goals for the

individual cycles that would enable him to explore the flexible cantata typology as widely as

43

Boyd, ed. Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, 85. 44

Ibid., 324; It is often referred simply as ‘the Obituary’ and was included in the final issue of Lorenz

Mizler’s periodical, Musikalische Bibliothek (published 1754). It is believed that it was written by Bach’s son

Carl Philipp Emanuel and his pupil Johann Friedrich Agricola by the end of 1750; the last four sentences were

added by Mizler himself. 45

Ibid., 85. 46


Ibid., 269.

10

possible, to leave his own distinct mark, and—as in other areas of compositional activity—to

push the genre beyond its current limits.”48

A main characteristic of the first cantata cycle of 1723–24 is integrated with his

Weimar repertoire and the adaptation of his Cöthen cantatas.49

Wolff refers it as a double

cycle, because it shows his ambition reaching to produce fourteen sets of two-part cantatas or

two different but complementary works performed before and after the sermon: BWV 75, 76,

21, 24+185, 147, 186, 179+199, 70, 181+18, 31+4, 172+59, 194+165, 22+23, and BWV

deest+182.50

The text selection for the first year is from the 1720 libretto collection of Johan

Oswald Knauer (BWV 64, 69a, and 77) and Erdmann Neumeister (BWV 24), but the

majority of the names of the librettists remains unknown. Nevertheless, the libretti can be

categorized into three forms: (1) biblical dictum (from the Gospel lesson)–recitative–aria–

recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 136, 105, 46, 179, 69a, 77, 25, 109, 89 and 104; (2) biblical

dictum–recitative–chorale–aria–recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 48, 40, 64, 153, 65, and 67;

and biblical dictum–aria–chorale–recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 83, 144, 66, 104, 166, 86,

37, and 44.51

Among the surviving list, there are also twenty re-performances of pre-Leipzig

work with minor changes (in some cases), two new versions of pre-Leipzig works and four

parody cantatas.52

Some characteristics in the first cycle show the basic structural planning

of music, such as the grand choral opening and closing four-part chorales. Compared to pre-

Leipzig works, the choral and instrumental ensemble is larger, and the instrumentation also

gets more refined and more standardized (full four-part string ensemble with fixed wind

groups like three trumpets and timpani or double oboe and recorders).53

Despite the

complications and the lack of consistency of libretti due to the different or unknown librettists

48


Ibid. 50

Ibid. 51

Ibid., 270. 52

Ibid., 273. 53

Ibid.

11

during his first year, Bach achieved the remarkable establishment of a new compositional

standard for the cantata genre itself.

For the second cycle of 1724–25, which started on the first Sunday after Trinity on

June 11 in 1724, Bach had better circumstances in terms of the preparation time and the

unified type of libretto.54

In fact, Bach had never been given the opportunity to compose a

full annual cantata cycle before Leipzig. His Weimar setting on Salomo Franck was the

monthly project, while entire cycles had been produced by several colleagues such as Georg

Philipp Telemann in Hamburg (since his Eisenach cycle of 1711), Gottfired Heinrich Stölzel

in Gotha, and Johann Friedrich Fasch in Zerbst.55

In this sense, the second Jahrgang (1724–

25), among his five cycles, is the most ambitious and promising project reinforced by the

consistency of the libretti and more time of preparation as compared with the first cycle.

A seasonal church hymn was to be a basic source for each cantata. The first and the

last stanza served as the opening and closing movements, and the internal hymn stanzas were

paraphrased for the inner movements as recitative and aria.56

So, like the first project as a

double cycle, the cantatas in the second project are called chorale cantatas, which have no

precedent examples. Considering many chorales in this cycle were from the Wittenberg

hymns (1524) of Luther and others, the second cycle (1724–25) could be the celebration of

the 200 years of Lutheran Hymnody.57

Therefore, the chorale itself works as a key element

not only for musical but also poetic sources through the cantata. For example, it is common in

the second cycle to use the cantus firmus technique in the opening movement (BWV 7, 135,

and 10) and employ the developing material from the chorale motive in the inner movements

54


Ibid. 56

Ibid. 57

Boyd, ed. Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, 86.

12

of recitative and aria (BWV 38/3, BWV 38/4).58

Also, even the closing four-part chorale,

which has no elaborated orchestration, is given detailed touches in its harmony according to

the text. Such an example would be a daring dissonance of the first tone on the hymn “Aus

tiefer Not” in BWV 38.59

Considering Bach’s own choice of a chorale for each cantata, the

anonymous librettist was a “close collaborator who resided in Leipzig.”60

The most possible

author is Andreas Stübel, conrector emeritus of the St. Thomas School with an ample poetic

experience. His unexpected death on January 27, 1725 would explain the abrupt ending of the

chorale cantata cycle. The text booklet of cantatas from Septuagesima Sunday (January 28) to

Annunciation (March 25), done before his death, was his last part of this collection, and

Bach’s energetic and imaginative project of the most productive year ended on Annunciation

of 1725 with the BWV 1, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.” Bach had to find a solution

for the rest of the year; after the re-performance of BWV 4 on Easter Sunday, he produced

nine cantatas with the texts by female Leipzig poet Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. Despite

various efforts such as later addition of cantatas on the text of original librettists (BWV 14,

140) and other cantatas based on the text directly-quoted from hymns without any paraphrase

(BWV 107), the chorale cantata cycle was not completed.61

BWV 127, included in current

study, is among this second cycle.

The third cycle was made during the time span of two years. From mid-1725 to early

1727, Bach composed cantatas irregularly, and the gap was filled by the cantatas of his

cousin Johann Ludwig Bach and a St. Mark Passion for Good Friday (1726) by Friedrich

Nicholaus Bruhns. Bach could have more time to prepare his largest composition so far, the

58


Ibid. 60

Ibid., 278. 61

Ibid., 280.

13

St. Matthew Passion, for the performance in its first version on Good Friday 1727.62

Like his

first cycle, the third Jahrgang has no unifying concept, and there are several main poets of

usually older origin such as Georg Christian Lehms from 1711 (BWV 110, 57, 151, 16, 32,

13, 170, 35), Salomo Franck from 1715 (BWV 72), Erdmann Neumeister from 1714 (BWV

28), and Duke Ernst Ludwig’s 1704 collection (BWV 43, 39, 88, 187, 45, 102, 17).63

Some

notable elements are frequent appearance of solo cantatas (BWV 52, 84, 35, etc.), dialogue

cantatas (BWV 58, 32, 49, etc.), the use of preexisting concerto movements as an opening

instrumental sinfonia (BWV 156, 174, 120a) and obbligato organ parts (BWV 146, 35, 169,

49, 188, 29).64

Especially, the solo organ parts in the cantatas introduced a new dimension

into Leipzig church music. Bach’s eldest son, Friedemann, is believed to have played these

parts, but some incomplete notations suggest that Bach himself, with his virtuosic organ skill,

played these parts.

The fourth annual cantata cycle (1728–29) began after a rest of one year (no

Jahrgang record in the season of 1727–28). In this cycle only a few works survive, and the

majority of this collection is considered lost. This fourth Jahrgang returned to the concept of

the second cycle, using a libretto penned by a single poet. The librettist in the fourth cycle is

the person who would become Bach’s most important collaborator, Picander—pseudonym of

Christian Friedrich Henrici.65

Since his collaboration with Bach in 1725 for the secular

cantata (BWV 249a), which later became the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249), Picander had

written his finest sacred libretto, St. Matthew Passion (1727) and published a complete cycle

of cantata (Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr, 1728) for Bach.66

62


Ibid., 283. 64

Ibid. 65

Ibid., 284. 66

Ibid.

14

Picander’s note in the preface of this publication shows the close relationship between the

composer and himself:

Actuated by the requests of many good friends, and by much devotion on my own

part, I resolved to compose the present cantatas. I undertook the design the more

readily, because I flatter myself that the lack of poetic charm may be compensated

for by the loveliness of the music of our incomparable Capellmeister Bach, and that

these songs may be sung in the main churches of our pious Leipzig.67

According to the wish of the poet to his composer, “incomparable Capellmeister Bach,” Bach

may have composed this fourth cycle to the texts of Picander, but, unfortunately, only nine

cantatas are extant.68

One of the chief features of the Picander’s libretto is the interpolation

of chorale and free poetry in arias and choruses, which gives the composer opportunities to

use the combination writing such as cantus firmus technique (BWV 156/2, 159/2, and Nos.1

and 19 of the St. Matthew Passion).69

BWV 159 “Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem” for

Estomihi (February 27, 1719) is among these surviving sources.

Although Bach’s obituary mentions a total of five complete annual cycles, the source

of the fifth cycle hardly can be found. Wolff assumes it would not have had the consistency

of libretti shown in the second and the fourth (Picander) cycles, and it could be the “other half”

of the incomplete first cycle considering its characteristics of double cycle.70

After 1729,

there seems nothing new in the genre of cantata by Bach, but some arias with new stylistic

trends and revisions of existing works are noteworthy.

The rest of the cantatas, not included in the annual cycles for the Sundays and feast

days in the church calendar, were for other occasions such as city events, organ dedications,

67


Ibid. 69

Ibid. 70

Ibid., 286.

15

and wedding masses.71

The majority of this group is for the town council election events,

which were important for their communal-political nature.

CHAPTER II. CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE

EXAMINATION APPROACHED BY THREE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS

An understanding of the position of Cantor that Bach held in Leipzig is an important

context to an understanding of his cantatas. The Cantor was responsible for the directorship

of the four principal churches of Leipzig (St. Thomas, St. Nicolas, St. Matthew, and St. Peter),

the musical education of the students at the St. Thomas School, and all music activity for the

court and official civic occasions.72

To satisfy these multiple obligations, Bach knew he was

expected to demonstrate his ability as a skilled composer of various forms and comfortable in

diverse styles, as an interpreter of the text through music, and as a church musician with

ample understanding of liturgical and doctrinal issues. Therefore, the following elements will

be illuminated in this guide: Bach’s musical craftsmanship, his attention to and expression of

the text, and, his careful treatment of liturgical and theological elements within these cantatas.

Each cantata will be examined with these criteria, categorized by musical expression, textual

expression, and liturgical and theological understanding.

The category of musical expression will include information about the musical

elements of the movements and cantatas as a whole, including orchestrations, forms, and

vocal writings. In the sections on textual expression, two scholarly sources will serve as

models of the basic method of research. The first is Dietrich Bartel’s Musica Poetica, which

71


Christoph Wolff, Bach: Essays on His Life and Music (Cambridge: Harvard University Press,

1993), 30.

16

provides a large catalogue of typical rhetorical figures of the late German Baroque period

based on the theories of seventeenth and eighteenth-century theorists, such as Joachim

Burmeister (1633–72), Athanasius Kircher (1601–80), Johann Gottfried Mattheson (1681–

1764), and others. Bartel’s categories include, among others, figures of melodic repetition,

figures of harmonic repetition, figures of representation and depiction, and figures of

dissonance and displacement. The second source is Anthony Newman’s Bach and the

Baroque, in which the author discusses three methods of symbolization in Bach’s music—

pictorial appearances, symbolic meaning associated with musical form, and the use of

number symbols.73

Much of the text expression in Bach’s music can be seen in terms of

rhetorical devices, best explained by Bartel’s method, while others fit into these symbolic

associations, and still others into normal word painting important in vocal music since the

Renaissance.

The liturgical and theological preoccupations with these cantatas—intended as they

were to serve as musical sermons—are an essential part of the understanding Bach’s designs.

In these sections, the analytical categories from Eric Chafe’s Analyzing Bach Cantatas will

be used in general. Chafe provides several approaches for analyzing Bach’s cantatas,

including exploring the relationship of Bach’s cantatas to the Lutheran tradition, his

interaction with modal melodies, and his use of text expression, among other methods.74

Newman’s categories, such as numerology, will be significant here, too. Most important will

be to show how Bach relates the cantatas for this particular Sunday, the last Sunday before

Lent, with the musical activities surrounding Passion Week and Easter.

In addition to the methods mentioned above, the context of Bach’s audition for the

Leipzig Cantorate, and with it the audition requirements and proposed duties of the position

73

Anthony Newman, Bach and the Baroque: European Source Materials from the Baroque and Early

Classical Periods with Special Emphasis on the Music of J. S. Bach (New York: Pendragon Press, 1995), 188. 74

Eric Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), x-xii.

17

will be considered for BWV 22 and 23. These two cantatas were written as a set, and some of

the musical information is useful to mention together. The musical elements in both cantatas

show a composer who is comfortable writing in all of the major vocal styles of the day,

including arias, recitatives, chorale fantasias, choral fugues, and the cantus firmus technique.

Bach imparts to these movements a tremendous amount of variety, but he also achieves an

overall balance between the cantatas by using the large-scale choral movements as bookends,

and by using lower voice trio textures (ATB) in the first cantata and upper voice trio textures

(SAT) in the second, which demonstrate his careful planning of these pieces. The forms,

styles, orchestrations, keys, and meters are presented for each movement in the following

table:

[Table 2.1]

Musical Plan for BWV 22 and BWV 23

┌ I. Arioso & Chorus (ob, strings), g, 4/4 ┐

│ │

├ II. Aria (A, ob, continuo) c, 8/9 ┐ │

BWV 22 ┤ │ │

├ III. Recitative (B, strings) Eb-B

b, 4/4 ┼ ATB soli │

│ │ │

├ IV. Aria (T, strings) Bb, 3/8 ┘ │

│ │

└ V. Chorale (ob, strings) Bb, 4/4 ├ Chorus

│

┌ I. Aria (SA, 2 ob, continuo) c, 4/4 ┐ │

│ ├ SAT soli │

├ II. Recitative (T, 2 ob, str.) Ab-E

b, 4/4 ┘ │

BWV 23 ┤ │

├ III. Chorus (2 ob, strings) Eb, 3/4 │

│ │

└ IV. Chorale Fantasia (2 ob, 1 cn, 3 trb, str.), g-c, 4/4 ┘

Bach’s orchestration as well shows a variety of textures and styles from accompanied

recitatives to trio sonata scoring to full-blown concerted movements. More details about the

musical elements in BWV 23 will be discussed later.

18

BWV 22

Musical expression

As a whole, BWV 22 is essentially in an arch form. The exterior movements (Nos. 1

and 5) that frame the work are both for full orchestra and choir and are both in 4/4 meter. The

two arias in between (Nos. 2 and 4) are based on dances, the gigue and the passepied,

respectively. The first is for alto and includes an oboe obbligato in the accompaniment, and

the second is for the tenor with string accompaniment. The center movement is an

accompanied recitative for bass that exhibits a distinct change in mood and style. As such it

serves as a turning point for the entire work, moving from a misunderstanding on the part of

the disciples concerning Jesus’s comments to their subsequent comprehension and adherence

to him that is attended with great joy.

The last movement is especially interesting, as in this cantata, it is the only

movement based on a chorale. The text “Ertöt uns durch dein Güte” (Mortify us through

Your goodness), is the fifth verse of the hymn, “Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn” (Lord

Christ, the only Son of God) by Elisabeth Kreuziger (1524), and the anonymous tune

originally came from a secular song collection of 1455. It was modified and listed among the

sacred chorales in Geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (edited by Johann Walter in Wittenberg in

1524).75

In that this setting includes a rich instrumentation, it lies outside the normal

treatment Bach uses for closing chorales. While the choir sings a normal four-part chorale,

the orchestra has an independent line of sixteenth notes running in upper parts (oboe and

violin I) and eighth notes as a walking bass in the continuo. [Musical Example 2.9] John Eliot

Gardiner says Bach pays stylistic homage to Johann Kuhnau—the cantor at Leipzig whose

75

Alfred Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, Revised and translated by Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2005), 247.

19

death had created the vacancy—with this elegantly flowing moto perpetuo.76

Or Bach simply

might have wanted to demonstrate his ability at musical elaboration for his audition. He

would, however, treat the closing chorale similarly in ten subsequent cantatas throughout his

first cycle, mostly in those for Trinity Sundays.

Textual Expression

Much of the textual expression in this cantata matches the rhetorical devices espoused

in the many treatises of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Drawing from

Bartel, Bach employs several figures of representation and depiction, figures of dissonance

and displacement, and melodic repetition that contribute to expression of the text.

In terms of figures of representation and depiction, the Anabasis (or Ascensus) and the

Assimilatio are both prominent. The Anabasis is “an ascending musical passage which

expresses exalted images or affections.”77

A good example of Anabasis occurs in measure 26

of the first movement of BWV 22; here an ascending scale accompanies the words, “wir gehn

hinauf” (we are going up).

[Musical Example 2.1] BWV 22/1: mm. 25–27

The Assimilatio is “a musical representation of the text’s imagery,” and so is very important

in conveying the text.78

Several examples of this melodic figure are found in this cantata. In

76

John Eliot Gardiner, Cantatas for Quinquagesima. Article in the Booklet of the Recording by John

Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists (London: Soli Deo Gloria, 2006), 8. 77

Dietrich Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music (Lincoln:

University of Nebraska Press, 1997), 179. 78

Bartel, Musica Poetica, 207.

20

the second measure of the third movement, the abrupt use of thirty-second notes on the text

“laufen” (hasten) reflects the meaning of the text.


In measures 24–25 of the same movement, the bass’s sudden melismatic passage with

sixteenth notes on the word “Freuden” (joy) and the responding melody of the first violin

depict the energetic movement of joy.


In the fourth movement, the long sustained note on “Friede” (peace) in measures 61–64

describes a calm, peaceful condition, especially as it exists surrounded by an active and

tempestuous orchestral accompaniment. [Musical Example 2.4]

21


In the closing passage of this movement, the unusually long (8-measures) passage on the

word, “ewiges” (eternal) lends substance to the depiction of everlasting through the extension

of the line.


Two figures of dissonance and displacement also contribute to the expression of the

text in this cantata: the Passus Duriusculus and Saltus Durisculus. The Passus Duriusculus is

“a chromatically altered ascending of descending melodic line.”79

In the final passage of the

alto aria (No. 2), as the soloist sings “Ich will von hier und nach Jerusalem zu deinen Leiden

gehn” (I will go from here and into Jerusalem to Your Passion), the long chromatic melisma

on “Leid” (Passion) emphasizes how the way to Jesus’s Passion is difficult. [Musical

Example 2.6]

79


22


The Saltus Durisculus is “a dissonant leap.”80

On the word “Golgatha” in the bass recitative

(No. 3), the dissonant leap of an augmented fifth leap within a diminished seventh chord is a

strong musical reference to the hill of the cross.

[Musical Example 2.7] BWV 22/3: m. 13

Bach also uses figures of melodic repetition to convey meaning. The Palilogia is “a

repetition of a theme, either at different pitches in various voices or on the same pitch in the

same voice.”81

Bach uses this figure in the fugato concluding the first movement to depict

the ignorance of the disciples who did not understand what Jesus had meant: “Sie aber

vernahmen der keines und wußten nicht, was das gesaget war” (But they understood nothing

of this and did not know what is said). This fugato, preceded by the narration of the tenor and

the Vox Christi of the bass, foreshadows the turba chorus in his later Passion writings.

[Musical Example 2.8]

80

Bartel, Musica Poetica, 381. 81

Ibid., 342.

23


Liturgical and Theological Understanding

Going well beyond mere text expression, Bach imbues his music with much

symbolism that adds layers of meaning to the sacred text. Robin A. Leaver found a typical

pattern to Lutheran cantatas concerning a Lutheran conception of the subject of original sin:

In the opening chorus the problem is stated, often from biblical words, that we

humans are afflicted in some particular way by the dilemma of sin and stand under

the condemnation of the Law. Succeeding recitatives and arias explore some of the

implications of the impasse. Then a movement, often an aria, presents the Gospel

answer to the Law question. Thereafter the mood of both libretto and music take on

the optimism of the Gospel, the final chorale being an emphatic endorsement of the

Gospel answer.82

Although the subject matter of BWV 22 is not directly matched to the question of sin and the

Law, the pattern of the developing story is very close to this model.

82

John Butt, ed, The Cambridge Companion to Bach (New York : Cambridge University Press, 1997),

38.

24

After the statement of the Gospel reading in the opening chorus, the following alto

aria reinterprets the biblical words and expresses the willingness to understand and follow the

way of Jesus to His Passion. However, this desire is still in the dark tone of C minor and is

not free from the fear of “Leiden” (Passion, suffering), accompanying the chromatic passages

showing this conflict.

The mood changes in the central third movement. First, it uses the relative major, E-

flat, already brighter than the previous movement, and then the key shift from tonic to

dominant (the movement ends in the key of B-flat major) participates in the significant

changes that occur in this movement. This recitative confesses the weakness of the flesh, still

affected by the feeling in the mountain Tabor, where Jesus was transfigured in glory, but by

“crucifying” his inner being, the speaker decides to follow Jesus with a thousand joys.

Therefore this movement functions as a turning point from ignorance and sorrow to

understanding and delight. The delightful mood with running passages ending this recitative

continues in the next tenor aria in the same key (B-flat major). The last movement gives the

congregational response to this joy expressed in the movement before; the walking bass

continuo in the closing chorale symbolizes the disciples’ (in the story) as well as the Christian

disciple’s journey to fulfillment.83


83

Gardiner, Cantatas for Quinquagesima, 9.

25


26

BWV 23

Opinions about the first performance of BWV 23 and especially the last movement

have changed over time due to newly discovered manuscripts. It was long known that the first

three movements were prepared as a whole set in Cöthen, and the fourth movement was

added to this set when Bach arrived in Leipzig. Bach scholar Philipp Spitta (1841–94)

believed the BWV 23 was not performed until the following year, Quinquagesima Sunday,

1724, although the copy had been prepared by Bach and town copyists.84

Through the efforts

of later scholars like Alfred Dürr (1918–2011), however, there is now little doubt that the first

performance of this cantata occurred with Bach’s audition in 1723.85

Musical Expression

The text of the opening duet is a restatement of the second story in the Gospel

reading for that day: Jesus’s healing a blind man on the way up to Jerusalem. Two oboes are

heard here (there is only one oboe in the sister piece, BWV 22). The canon-like

instrumentation of two oboes and two vocal soli help express the story of the blind man (And

he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And they which went before

rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of

David, have mercy on me. Luke 18: 38–39). The form is da capo (ABA).

The second movement is an accompanied recitative for tenor. As there is only one

recitative in both BWV 22 and BWV 23, and both are accompagnato, it seems clear that

Bach’s intention was to appeal to the congregation and committee with his best musical

writing. Furthermore, the instrumental cantus firmus on the tune of the German Agnus Dei is

featured by the first violin and winds and lends weight to the recitative.

84

Wolff, Bach: Essays on His Life and Music, 129. 85

Ibid., 130.

27

The closing chorus in his first plan, movement 3, is for tutti ensemble: two oboes,

strings, (tenor and bass soli), chorus, and continuo. It is based on a rondeau structure; Table

2.2 shows the chiastic design of this movement. Each time the main theme is repeated, it

appears in a different key, and the melody also moves around to each voice part. In the

manuscript, the conclusion was made with the note “Il fine” here.86

[Table 2.2]

Chiastic Design for Movement 3 in BWV 23

┌ MT 1: Eb

│ Instrumental ritornello ┐

├ MT 2 │

│ TB duet 1 ┐ │

├ MT 3 │ │

│ TB duet 2 ┤ │

Main Theme ┼ MT 4 │ │

│ TB duet 3 ┤ │

├ MT 5 │ │

│ TB duet 4 ┘ │

├ MT 6 │

│ Instrumental ritornello ┘

└ MT 7: Eb

The late addition of the fourth movement, a chorale fantasia on the German Agnus

Dei, was already conceived in Bach’s mind even before his departure to Leipzig. The origin

of this movement can be traced to the Passion in his Weimar period (1717), and it is very

reasonable that the cantus firmus on the same melody in the second movement alludes the

possibility to add this piece without harming the consistency of the whole cantata.87

Also, it

did not require any further working of the libretto, because it is from a traditional Latin hymn

used for communion, and thus very suitable for the second cantata performed after the

sermon. The whole cantata was transposed down from C minor to B minor, and oboes (with

the lowest tone c′) were replaced by oboe d’amores to accommodate the differences between

86


Ibid.; Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, The Learned Musician, 222

28

pitch from place to place in Europe at this time. Also, his inclusion of a cornetto and

trombones in the final movement of BWV 23 seems to have been a direct response to a

similar instrumental embellishment Graupner used in the cantatas with which he auditioned.88

Textual Expression

As with the previous cantata, there are many instances of rhetorical figures used in

BWV 23 that compliment the meaning of the text. Some important figures in this cantata are

the Synaeresis, Acciaccatura, Saltus Duriusculus. The Synaeresis, is a “figure of dissonance

and displacement, that specifically refers to syncopation.”89

In BWV 23, it is used in the

main melodic motive, especially on the word, “warten” (wait). It provides a musical

emphasis on this sentiment and depicts the idea of men waiting upon God’s salvation.


An harmonic figure is used, too; the Acciaccatura is “an additional, dissonant note added to a

chord, which is released immediately after its execution.”90

In the accompanied recitative,

the tenor, on the text of “Ach!”, enters on a G-flat, the seventh, over an A-flat chord, which

then immediately resolves to an F. This figure helps to express the agony the blind man feels

over his condition and his longing for healing. [Musical Example 2.11]

88



Ibid., 176.

29


A Saltus Duriusculus (explained above in the section on BWV 22) also appears in the third

movement of this work on the word “Tod” (death). Bach uses this leap to a dissonance to

emphasize this aspect of Jesus’s ministry, and he reinforces this idea with a tritone between

the two voices, which could be seen as another figure, the Parrhesia (or Licentia), except that

that it occurs on a strong beat as opposed to a weak one.91


There are other kinds of pictorial music in this piece. Using Newman’s categories, the

continuous sigh motives on “erbarm dich mein” (have mercy on me) and the chromatic

passage on the word “mein Herzeleid” (my affliction) in the first movement help to establish

the anguish of the blind man. [Musical Example 2.13]

91


30

[Musical Example 2.13] BWV 23/1: m. 22 & 47

Liturgical and Theological Understanding

BWV 23 in its construction, especially the writing of the voice parts in relation to the

instruments and its use of the German Agnus Dei, demonstrates a significant amount of

theological consideration by Bach. Drawing from Newman’s method, number symbolism

factors heavily into the meaning of this cantata, especially the first movement where both the

numbers two and three are featured prominently in the scoring and in the rhythm.92

Since the

Middle Ages, the number three was a common reference for the Holy Trinity, and its

significance in this piece certainly recalls this tradition.93

In this movement it is represented

by the trio sonata scoring of two oboes and basso continuo. The number two, represented

mainly by the vocal duet, is a little more complicated. It may be that it reflects and comments

upon the title of the cantata, “The Very God and Son of David.” In this, it would highlight a

core aspect of Lutheran hermeneutics, that “God present[ed] Himself in two very different

guises that align closely with the pictures of God in the Old Testament and of Jesus in the

92

Newman, Bach and the Baroque, 187–98. 93

Ibid., 195.

31

New.”94

However, in the context of the text it seems likely that this treatment refers to the

two individuals, the blind man and Jesus, and conveys the representation of a penitent man.95

The canon-like imitation of the two voices depicts the act of following that is specified in the

story, and is similar to other places Bach uses this kind of canonic writing, such as BWV 12

and St. John Passion.96

The rhythm plays into the symbolism as well. While the trio sonata accompaniment

consists of a constant triplet figure, the vocal duet employs a duple one. Therefore, the Holy

Trinity is superimposed over the representation of sinful man asking for forgiveness from the

“Son of Man.”


Trio instrumentation with triplet rhythm (3) vs. vocal duet with duple rhythm (2)

94

Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas, 7. 95

John Eliot Gardiner indicates that the same episode in the Gospel of Matthew tells of two blind

men. (The Bible scriptures from Matthew and Mark are in the Appendix A.) See John Eliot Gardiner, Cantatas

for Quinquagesima. Article in the Booklet of the Recording by John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English

Baroque Soloists (London: Soli Deo Gloria, 2006), 9. 96

Newman, Bach and the Baroque, 193.

32

The rhythmic disagreement between these two different elements, the voices and the

instruments, is reconciled finally by the two-measure appearance of the triplet figure in the

vocal parts at the end of middle section of this ternary form.


As illustrated by Chafe in another work by Bach this type of writing shows “the theme of

destruction (the work of the Law) and restoration (the work of the Gospel), which is one of

the most characteristic features of Lutheran theology.”97

Another kind of symbolism, relying on significant borrowing and reflecting on

liturgical and theological matters, comes later in the cantata. The tenor recitative, which is the

reinterpreted plea of the blind man and was originally planned as the central movement,

demonstrates theological function. Beginning in C minor and ending in E-flat major, it works

as a bridge to the next closing chorus (also in his first plan) in E-flat major. Bach highlights

his liturgical understanding of this work through the use of a traditional chorale, the German

Agnus Dei (Christe, du Lamm Gottes) as an instrumental cantus firmus. [Musical Example

2.16]

The use of this tune whose text was translated by Martin Luther provides a double

texture to the personal prayer for healing sung by the tenor. The sentiment goes beyond a cry

for physical healing and thus strengthens the notion of the cantata as sermon music. [Musical

Example 2.17]

97

Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas, 7.

33


German Agnus Dei, Christe, du Lamm Gottes


Cantus Firmus of German Agnus Dei on 2 oboi and violin I

34

The third movement also includes a fragment of the chorale. The bass line utilizes

the elongated notes of the head motive of this chorale tune in the same key as it appeared in

the second movement.


Furthermore, beginning in measure five, the text from Psalm 145: 15, “Aller Augen warten,

Herr” (The eyes of all wait upon You, Lord), expands the theological focus from individual

to congregational prayer.

Bach uses both the chorale tune and text as the basis of a chorale fantasia in the last

movement. It begins in a minor mode (G minor).


This chorale fantasia on the German Agnus Dei, which comes from his 1717 Passion

(Weimar), is telling of the association he was drawing from this piece in terms of the

35

liturgical character.98

This movement also presents a grand finale possibly preparing the

congregation for the following seven weeks of Tempus Clausum, in which there would be no

more concerted music. By performing BWV 22 and 23 on the same week of the following

year (February 20, 1724) in his first Leipzig cycle and by reusing this chorale fantasia as the

concluding movement of the second version of St. John Passion (March 30, 1725), this

favorite movement of Bach’s was heard in Leipzig three years in a row.

When considering that Lutheran theology “is derive[ed] from the dialectic of God’s

wrath (Zorn) and His mercy (Barmherzigkeit or Erbarmen) toward humanity,” the consistent

appearance of the word “Erbarmen” (mercy), used for the personal prayer, erbarm dich mein

(have mercy on me), in the first movement that then becomes the congregational prayer

erbarm dich unser, (have mercy on us) in the last movement, successfully satisfies the

Lutheran liturgical and theological requirements.99

The considerable amount of organization, technical skill and theological expertise

found in both BWV 22 and BWV 23 show not only the effort Bach put into the audition

process, but also his seriousness in designing the church cantata for worship. Further, they

exhibit the beauty of musical structure and profound achievements in terms of musical

sermonizing for the Lutheran service and served as an important influence on the complete

cantata cycles he would write at Leipzig.

98

Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, 222. 99


36

BWV 127

Bach’s second cantata cycle, as mentioned above, is called a chorale cantata cycle;

each cantata has its source of text and music based on a chorale selected according to the

church calendar. The text of the hymn “Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott” is used in

BWV 127 for Quinquagesima Sunday (February 11, 1725), and this is the penultimate text in

the second cycle’s libretto collection immediately preceding Annunciation Sunday.100

Considering the abrupt ending of the cycle collection due to the unexpected death of the

librettist (Andreas Stübel, January 31, 1725), BWV 127 is the highpoint and the conclusion

of the second cycle.101

The text of BWV 127 is based on a funeral hymn, an eight-verse

poem by Paul Eber (1562).102

Like the normal manner used throughout this chorale cantata

cycle, the first and last verses are heard without any changes for the opening chorus and

closing chorale respectively, and the other six inner verses are paraphrased and serve as the

basis of the recitatives and arias. Verses 2 and 3 were adapted for tenor recitative (No. 2),

verse 4 for the soprano aria (No.3), verse 5 for the bass recitative (No. 4, first part), and

verses 6 and 7 for the bass arioso (No. 4, second part).103

Musical expression

Among Bach’s cantatas for Quinquagesima, BWV 127 has the most elaborate

orchestration, excepting the last minute addition of colla parte brass in the closing fantasia of

BWV 23.

100

Annunciation Sunday is a fixed Feast day as it always occurs on March 25, although the dates of

Lent is different each year, and the music with concerted forces is performed on this Sunday even if it occurs

during Tempus Clausum. In 1725, Annunciation occurred during Lent, which means between Quinquagesima

(BWV 127, February 11) and the second version of St. John’s Passion (30 March). See: Peter Wollny, Jesu,

deine Passion (France: Harmonia Mundi, 2009), 9. 101

Wollny, Jesu, deine Passion, 9. 102

Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, 249. 103

Ibid.

37

[Table 2.3] Musical Plan for BWV 127

I. Chorale Fantasia (2 rec, 2 ob, trp, str), F, 4/4 ┐

│

II. Recitative (T), Bb-F, 4/4 ┐ │

│ │

III. Aria (S, 2 rec, ob, str), c, 4/4 ┤soli │chorus

│ │

IV. Arioso & Recitative (B, trp, str), C, 4/4-6/8 ┘ │

│

V. Chorale, (tutti), F, 4/4 ┘

Especially well exhibited is Bach’s constant varying of the instrumental texture in the

opening chorale fantasia. Both the pairs of recorders and oboes enrich the string texture, and

these three groups alternate in playing the different themes. In addition, the trumpet supports

the soprano’s cantus firmus, lending a different dimension to the sound as usual in Bach’s

treatment to the cantus firmus in a chorale fantasia. These kind of effects are seen in the

soprano’s chorale melody doubled by a horn in the opening chorus of BWV 140, and the

third choir’s chorale tune doubled by the ‘swallow’s nest’ organ in St. Thomas Church in the

opening chorus of the St. Matthew Passion.

The second movement is a secco recitative for tenor. Movement 3, a da capo soprano

aria in C minor, has a unique orchestration, consisting of the oboe’s solo obbligato against a

background of staccato chords for recorders and pizzicato string bass. Only for five measures

in the middle section do the upper strings partake in the pizzicato.

As movement 4, a bass arioso-recitative in C major, focuses on the Judgment of the

World, the inclusion of the trumpet—the characteristic instrument for the depiction of the

Last Day—seems expected, and it enters with the opening phrase, “Wenn einstens die

Posaunen schallen” (When one day the trumpets sound). [Musical Example 2.20]

38


The form of this movement is exceptional, as it is divided into three main ideas made up of

contrasting moods that account for seven sections. [Table 2.4] First, the opening restless

accompagnato recitative (a) for trumpet and strings paints the Day of Judgment; second, an

arioso (b & b′) in G minor quotes the chorale melody on which the cantata is founded; and

finally, the wild 6/8 section (c & c′) hearkens back to “Monteverdi’s concitato (excited)

manner with scurrying strings and trumpet fanfares to illustrate man’s rescue from the violent

bonds of death.”104

[Table 2.4] Formal Design of BWV 127/4

(a) 4/4, recitative accompanied by trumpet and strings

(b) 4/4, arioso secco, hymn quotation ┐4/4, arioso secco, hymn quotation

│

(c) 6/8, arioso, tutti │ ┐

│ │

(b′) 4/4, arioso, secco, further hymn quotations ┤ │

│ │

(c′) 6/8, arioso, tutti, (motive of chorus in SMP) │ ┤6/8, arioso, tutti

│ │

(b) 4/4, arioso secco, modified form of (b) ┘ │

│

(c) 6/8, arioso, tutti, modified form of (c) ┘

104

Gardiner, Cantatas for Quinquagesima, 10–11.

39

This movement is directly reminiscent of the recitative, “Erschrecket, ihr verruchten Sünder”

(Be frightened, O ye stubborn sinners), Bach had inserted into his Weimar cantata “Wachet,

betet, betet, wachet” (Watch, pray, pray, watch!: BWV 70), which received a repeat

performance during his first year in Leipzig (November 21, 1723).105

The closing chorale has

a simple four-part voicing, with instruments doubling voices.

Textual expression

Several rhetorical figures can be found in this cantata. In the first movement that

follows the Gospel reading “We are going up to Jerusalem,” Bach employs an Anabasis as he

had in BWV 22, even though this text is not directly mentioned in the cantata.106

Here, as the

key of the movement shifts to the dominant on its final phrase—that is, from F to C—Bach

gives the implication of “going up” found in the reading.107

[Musical Example 2.21] BWV 127/5 (S)

Chorale, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott

Figures of Assimilatio (representations of the text’s imagery) are important in the

tenor recitative. Bach creates an interesting effect created by squeezing a rest between two

105

Friedrich Smend, Johann Sebastian Bach Kirchen-Kantaten (Berlin: Christlicher

Zeitschriftenverlag, 1966), VI. 44. 106

Bartel, Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music, 179. 107


40

notes on one word, “Seufzer” (sighing), in measure six in a manner similar to “Renaissance

madrigalists.”108


Also on the word “rest,” in the penultimate measure of this movement, a sustained note is

followed by a melismatic line creating an image of “Ruhe” (rest, peace).


The same treatment is found on the same word in the following soprano aria. The subject

melody, introduced by oboe, is joined to the voice part, which sings “My soul rests in Jesus’s

hands.” A sustained note is heard on the word “ruht” (rest) over the staccato accompaniment.


The Passus Duriusculus is found in a couple of places. In measure 36 of movement 1, the

chromatic step up to A-flat on “starbst” (died) in the bass line produces a dissonance to the g′

of the oboe’s motive. [Musical Example 2.25]

108

William G. Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, Sacred and Secular (London,

New York: Oxford University Press, 1959), 453.

41


In measures 56–58 of the same movement; for the fifth line of the chorale: “Ich bitt durchs

bittre Leiden dein” (I beg through the bitter suffering), the chorale-based-motive is played in

each instrument and voice in turn with slightly modified chromatic motion and syncopation,

especially on the word, “Leiden” (Passion, suffering).


42

In the following tenor recitative, similar treatment is given to the same word, “Leiden”; a

series of flattened notes conveys this sentiment.


This passage, in Newman’s method, is more of a pictorial appearance; it expresses

not the exact meaning of the text, but the speaker’s condition. Another example of this type

of text expression occurs in the B section of the da capo aria (No. 3) on the text “Ich bin zum

Sterben unerschrocken” (I am at death unaffrighted). The rests that continually interrupt the

line have long been interpreted as “an indication of breath failing in one’s last hour.”109


The orchestra participates in the expression of the text in this movement as well; at the word

“Sterbeglocken” (death-bells) in the middle section, plucked strings enter with an imitation of

bells.110


109

Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, Sacred and Secular, 454. 110

Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, 249.

43


Bach employs other methods that are more in line with what Newman describes as

symbolism. In section (c) of the bass arioso, the key signature is gradually deleted (beginning

with one flat), reflecting the meaning of the text: “When heaven and earth in fire disappear,

yet shall then a believer eternally endure.”111

The orchestra is used here for effect: “string

arpeggios descending depict the cataclysm, upward bass slides, the roaring of the flames of

fire, and quaver chords for trumpet and upper strings, the crackling.” At the last part of this

passage, an Assimilatio is given to the sustained note on “bestehn” (endure) reflecting that the

believer lasts during the midst of the destruction.112


111


Ibid., 448–49.

44


In the closing chorale, in spite of its simple four-part scoring, Bach still reflects the

text. For example, the tenor and bass lines both become suddenly more active on the word,

“wakker” (vigilant, courageous; ‘And may our Faith be ever bolder’), and an elaborate

harmonization, especially considering the descending bass line, is given to the word,

“einschlafen” (fall asleep; ‘Till we blessedly fall into death’s sleep’).113

[Musical Example

2.31]

113


45

[Musical Example 2.31] BWV 127/5: mm. 7–8 & 11–12

In an additional way, Bach invests this music with text expression that cannot be

shown by either Bartel’s or Newman’s methods. In the fourth movement, there is an

interesting musical quote based on its textual quote. In a treatment that is unusual in the inner

movements in this cantata cycle, where normally the hymn is paraphrased, there are two

phrases of word-to-word adaptation from the original hymn verse: “Fürwahr, Fürwahr, euch

sage ich” (Truly, truly I say to you) and “Er wird nicht kommen ins Gericht und den Tod

ewig schmecken nicht” (He will not come to judgment and shall not taste everlasting death)

46

from the sixth verse of Eber’s poem. (The full 8 verses of Eber’s poem are in Appendix C.)

To make these direct-quotes from the original poem musically distinguished, the fragmental

head motive of the chorale melody is also quoted in both the voice and continuo. [Musical

Example 2.32] & [Musical Example 2.33]

[Musical Example 2.32] BWV 127/4: mm.13–17


Dürr says that this musical and textual quotation is a symbol of Christ’s founding of the

Church and a witness to the certainty of the faithful.114

Liturgical and theological understanding

The dualism, explicit in the title of this cantata, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und

Gott (Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God), is the theological concept throughout this work.

114


47

In terms of tonality and choices of quotations of chorales, Bach highlights a juxtaposition of

the two rather than polarization (BWV 20).115

Although Eber’s poem is a funeral hymn, it was used in Leipzig at the time as a

Passion chorale,116

making it an appropriate choice for the Quinquagesima Sunday.

Furthermore, the last line of the first verse, “Du wollst mir Sünder gnädig sein” (You would

be gracious to me, a sinner), is reminiscent of the blind man’s plea for mercy (Luke 18:38-

39).117

However, the origin of the tune is not so evident; Friedrich Smend noted that it is

from the French Psalter and appeared with Eber’s text in 1562.118

William G. Whittaker and

Alec Robertson have said that it is from the melody of the hymn by Louis Bourgeois’s, “On a

beau son maison bastir” (1551).119


The opening chorale fantasia is one of Bach’s masterpieces showing the highest

degree of technical construction. The chorale melody is sung by sopranos doubled by trumpet,

but this chorale tune, mainly the head motive, is used as thematic material as well. [Musical

Example 2.34] From the beginning to the end, the tune is present in some form throughout

the entire movement.120

As Smend says, “This is heard in quick succession, often crossing

over from one part to another in quick succession while constantly changing in timbre, pitch,

and key. The name of Lord Jesus Christ, who is a true human being and a true God, is

uninterruptedly invoked, and this is the name of One, who goes to Jerusalem in order to die

on the cross.”121

115

Eric Chafe, Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach (Berkeley and Los Angeles, California:

University of California Press, 1991), 166. 116



Smend, Johann Sebastian Bach Kirchen-Kantaten, VI. 41. 119

Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, Sacred and Secular, 450.; Alec Robertson,

The Church Cantatas of J. S. Bach (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972), 95. 120


Ibid.

48


Head Motive of the Chorale Tune

A second melody is also heard in this fantasia. It is the German Agnus Dei, which

Bach had used in BWV 23 and the second version of St. John’s Passion (1725). This Passion-

tide melody is entrusted only to the orchestra and appears in all of the three instrumental

groups (the recorders, oboes, and strings) in various keys (F and C major). Compared to the

main chorale melody (cantus firmus sung by the sopranos), this chorale Agnus Dei appears in

note values that have been doubled in length (per augmentationem).122

[Musical Example

2.35] As mentioned in the previous section for BWV 23, this melody is significant in its

double sense: first, as a reference to the Christ’s Passion, and secondly as the prayer for

mercy called out by the blind man in the Gospel script.123


German Agnus Dei in Augmented Note Values

This combination of two complete chorale melodies simultaneously is the only such instance

in Bach’s cantatas, and it reinforces the dual natures of Jesus as seen in the title of this cantata:

“Herr Jesu Christ, wah’r Mensch und Gott” (Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God).124

While these two chorales appear in turn in each part of the chorus and orchestral

ritornello, in one passage, they are played at the same time, beginning in measure 46. As the

122




49

upper strings plays the second line of the German Agnus Dei: “der du tragst die Sünd der

Welt” (Thou that bearst the sins of the world), the soprano sings the chorale cantus firmus, the

fourth line of the main chorale, “und mir deins Vaters Huld erwarbst” (and for me Thy

Father’s favour earned). Commentators have long seen its significance. Whittaker calls it “a

striking means of reinforcement of the significance of one hymn by an instrumental quotation

from another.”125


Surprisingly, to this already-overpowering double chorale, Bach adds one final chorale tune

in the basso continuo.126


This tune is the first line of the famous Passion Chorale used five times in Bach’s St. Matthew

Passion. In this movement, Bach transposes it to four different pitch levels throughout its six

occurrences. The original tune was composed by Hans Leo Hassler (1564–1612) for the

secular song, “Mein G’mut is mir verwirret von einer Jungfrau zart” (My heart is troubled by

a tender maiden), then published in the name of “Herzlich thut mich verlangen” (My heart is

125


Smend, Johann Sebastian Bach Kirchen-Kantaten, VI. 42.

50

filled with longing) in 1613 in Görlitz. While this funeral hymn,“Herzlich thut mich

verlangen,” was used for about a half century, Paul Gerhardt’s poem, “O Haupt voll Blut”

(Oh head, full of blood), the translation of the Latin poem “Salve caput cruentatum” by St.

Bernard of Clairvaulx into German in 1656, was widely used with this tune, and this

combination became the well known Passion Chorale.127

In this chorale, both the thoughts of

dying and Christ’s Passion have become inextricably fused together.128

On this triple layer of

musical and theological meaning, Gardiner noted, “There is nothing remotely bombastic or

confused in Bach’s composition of this movement; nor academic, smart-arsed or tendentious.

It is arresting in its musical presentation of the dualism of God and man and the relationship

of the individual believer to Christ’s cross and Passion.”129

In addition to these three chorale combinations, there are some tonal plans deepening

the theological meaning of this music. As Chafe focuses his musical point on a tonal issue, a

tonal dualism in the opening movement, the appearance of C minor and C major is used to

reflect “the divided worlds that are united in the person of Christ.”130

Chafe says that

“presenting the two Christus keys as minor and major dominants of an F major tonic, the

separation of minor and major is far less great in this work by means of toni intermedii.”131

Although the chorale cantus firmus ends in C minor (G Phrygian), Bach brightens it

in C Ionian (major) with the text, “Du wollst mir Sünder gnädig sein” (You would be

gracious to me, a sinner) in measure 70. However, by adding the nine-bar postlude including

the final appearance of the third chorale (Passion Chorale) in the continuo and vocal bass in C

127

Paul Steinitz, Bach's Passions (New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1978), 124. 128


Gardiner, Cantatas for Quinquagesima, 10. 130

Chafe, Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach, 165. 131

Ibid.

51

Phrygian (F minor), he makes “the F major final cadence so darkened by flats that it is almost

a tonal catabasis.”132

For the tonal plan of movements, led by the F major ending of the opening chorus

and tenor recitative (No. 2), and followed by the C major ending of the bass arioso-recitative

(No. 4), the third movement, C minor "sleep" aria, “Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen”, shows a

similar choice of text and function as the “tonal nadir” with the B-flat minor aria “In deine

Hände” of the Actus Tragicus (BWV 106).133

Also this key shift from C minor to C major

shows another concept of dualism in the tonal plan of this cantata’s only two arias, No. 3 for

soprano in C minor and No. 4 for bass ending in C major: “a tonal juxtaposition that mirrors

the opposition of death and resurrection.”134

For the fourth movement, Dürr notes that this unusual formal shaping may be based

on the textual contrast between the annihilation of heaven and earth and the certainty of the

faithful at the end of time.135

This textual contrast is clearly reflected in the tonal plan; while

the section (a), singing about the disastrous image of the Day of Judgment, has no defined

tonal center and the key continuously changes, the tonal stability on F major, singing the

comforting words of the Saviour, comes in the section (b).136

The musical connection to Bach’s St. Matthew Passion is found in this movement,

too. Starting with the texts “When heaven and earth pass away in fire…,” the (c) section

shares the musical idea of 6/8 with the section (c′) saying, “I break, with strong hand and

helping hand, death’s powerful, tight snare.” [Musical Example 2.38] This section (c′), the

mid point of this movement, show an interesting melodic idea that Bach would soon after

used in the No. 27 of the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244). [Musical Example 2.39]

132


Ibid. 134

Chafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas, 158. 135


Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach, Sacred and Secular, 448.

52



This chorus passage of the St. Matthew Passion in [Musical Example 2.39] is sung as a

response to Jesus’s arrest in the Gethsemane. While the text of this section is not exactly the

same as BWV 127, the moods are certainly somewhat akin:137

“Have lightenings, has

thunder vanished in the clouds? Open your fiery abyss, O Hell. Smash, destroy, swallow up,

dashed to pieces with sudden fury, the false betrayer, the murderous blood!” This line for

Bach evoked connotations of expansive turmoil. As Gardiner considers the possibility that

Bach’s conception of the St. Matthew Passion (premiered in 1727) began in the time of the

second Jahrgang (1724–25),138

it could be quite persuasive to connect this musical sharing

between these two pieces (SMP and BWV 127).

137


Gardiner, Cantatas for Quinquagesima, 11.

53

The final chorale setting of the last verse of "Herr Jesu Christ" completes the

tendency suggested in the opening chorus and brought out in the relationship of the two arias:

it closes on a C major chord (“bis wir einschlafen seliglich;” till we blessedly fall into death’s

sleep) after a C minor preparation; the effect intended and achieved is a final brightening in

combination with a sense of both incompleteness and expectation.139

BWV 159

Included in Picander cycle of 1728–29 (Bach’s fourth cycle) and performed on

Quinquagesima of 1729 (February 29), cantata BWV 159 has more obvious liturgical

direction to Passiontide than BWV 127 in the second cycle, and it was the last cantata

performed before the St. Matthew Passion, heard on Good Friday (April 15, 1729).140

Wustmann thinks that as BWV 23 was a prelude to the St. John Passion this cantata was a

prelude to the St. Matthew Passion.141

As done in his own lengthiest libretto (St. Matthew

Passion) of Picander, the text of BWV 159 provides different viewpoints for each character

involved in the story and the progression leads to a particular conclusion: the biblical dictum

from the Sunday Gospel about Jesus’s decision to go to Jerusalem for accomplishing His

Passion and the first response of “the faithful feeling monstrous (No. 1), an incentive to

follow Him (No. 2), the departing from the joy of this world (No. 3), and finally an occasion

for thanksgiving (Nos. 4 and 5).”142

139





54

Musical Expression

The instrumentation is not so expansive as it departs from the larger orchestration of

BWV 127 and returns to the small forces of BWV 22 with one oboe, strings, and continuo.

(Bassoon is suggested by the editor of Hänssler to double the continuo in the second

movement—the alto aria with chorale—probably to balance the timbre with oboe playing the

chorale cantus firmus.) Furthermore, as BWV 159 has no grand opening chorus, the closing

chorale is the only number requiring four-part voicing, and so it is categorized as a solo

cantata in some sources.

[Table 2.5] Musical Plan for BWV 159

1. Arioso & Recitative (AB, strings), c, 4/4 ┐

│Recitative-Aria

2. Aria with Chorale (SA, oboe), Eb, 6/8 ┘

3. Recitative (T), Bb, 4/4 ┐

│Recitative-Aria

4. Aria (B, oboe, strings), Bb, 4/4 ┘

5. Chorale (SATB, oboe, strings), Eb, 4/4 ─ Conclusion

Movement 1 is a dialogue between Jesus and the faithful Soul. Jesus’s words,

directly quoted from the Gospel reading, are set for bass arioso and continuo, and the words

of the Christian soul, a freely added poem interrupting the arioso as a response, are for alto

recitative with string accompaniment—the reverse procedure occurs in the St. Matthew

Passion.143

(In the St. Matthew Passion, recitatives of Jesus are accompanied by strings

rather than by a continuo only.) Dürr says this arioso reveals Bach’s highest mastery in its

143


55

eloquent text declamation, and “the principle of monody, invented long before in Italy, here

reaches its highest degree of perfection.”144

The second movement shows one of Picander’s typical writing patterns: the

combination of free style poetry for aria and chorale verse, which would have been very

welcomed by Bach for using his cantus firmus technique. The alto sings the aria on the

accompaniment of continuo, and this voice might be the same character (the Christian soul)

in the previous recitative. The chorale cantus firmus for soprano and oboe in unison adds a

second level of meaning that provides a textual and musical link with the St. Matthew

Passion,145

which was performed seven weeks later in the same year. (The detail of this

chorale will be touched in later section.)

The third movement is a secco recitative for solo tenor, who is a spectator of the

Crucifixion and the Resurrection.146

The fourth movement, “Es ist vollbracht,” anticipates the words of Jesus on the cross,

“It is accomplished” (John 19: 30) as well as referring to Jesus’s words in the prescribed

Gospel, “And everything that is written by the prophets shall be accomplished” (Luke

18:31).147

This bass aria is “the high point of this cantata, orchestrated with a broad arching

concertante oboe, harmony-filling strings, and pedal-like continuo.”148

The fifth movement is a four-part simple chorale arrangement. The chorale “Jesu,

deine Passion” also has a link to the St. John Passion (Picander must have known about the

St. John Passion). Picander’s design for Passiontide of his cycle might have been

successfully accomplished by its opening with BWV 159 and its closing with the second

144





Ibid., 252.

56

performance of the St. Matthew Passion (first version) on Good Friday of that year (April 15,

1729).

Textual Expression

The figure of representation and depiction, Anabasis (an ascending musical passage

with expresses ascending or exalted images or affections) appears again as it does in the

previous Estomihi cantatas. (BWV 22, 127)149

“Wir gehn hinauf” (We are going up) is

depicted with the ascending walking bass in the continuo and the vocal line of the same

direction.


Two different figures, of representation and depiction, are placed together: Anabasis

and Hypotyposis. In the responding recitative to the bass’s arioso, the alto sings a word

quoted from Jesus, “hinauf” (up) with its leaping motion by fourth (measure 11); this, too, is

Anabasis. The rough way to the cross is described by two tritone progressions, descending

and ascending, surrounding “hinauf,” on the words, “O harter Gang! Hinauf? O ungeheurer

Berg” (Oh, what hard going! Up? Oh, what a monstrous mountain),150

and this is a

Hypotyposis, “a vivid musical representation of images found in the accompanying text.”151


149




57


As an Assimilatio,152

in measure 15 of the second movement, an octave leap to high

E-flat in the middle of long melisma on the text “folge” (follow) suggests a difficult journey

and a victory in scaling the ‘monstrous mountain (ungeheurer Berg),’153

which is the word

used in alto’s recitative in the previous movement.


At the last statement of Jesus, the descending line appears in the voice and continuo

as an inverted form of the ascending bass line representing a Catabasis (or Descensus), “a

descending musical passage which expresses descending, lowly, or negative images or

affections.”154

This could mean that the way to Jerusalem is not full of glory, but is

accompanied by sufferings. [Musical Example 2.43]

152




58


Exclamatio, another figure of representation and depiction, is “a musical exclamation,

frequently associated with an exclamation in the text.”155

The exclamation “Ah!” appears

twice in the alto’s recitative in the chord of seventh and diminished seventh.

[Musical Example 2.44] BWV 159/1: mm. 23 & 32

155


59

As a figure of dissonance and displacement, in measures 19–21, the passage to

“Speichel und Schmach” (spitting and insult) is rarely accompanied, thus distinguishing the

text by the rests in continuo. And the four consecutive tritone intervals, the outer notes of

descending diminished chords, are a Saltus Duriusculus (dissonance leap)156

showing the

uneasy progress of this road.


Demonstrating Newman’s ideas of pictorial appearances, the passage in measures

77–79 expresses the emotional status of this speaker with broken sobs on the words “und

wenn du endlich scheiden muß” (and when You must finally depart).


In the third movement, the tenor’s monologue recitative, two passages in measures

4–6 use contrasted registers (high and low) for each opposite meaning of the text; “Die Welt

mag immerhin den Gift der Wollust zu sich nehmen” (The world may ever take to itself the

poison of hedonism) and “Ich labe mich an meinen Tränen” (I comfort myself with my tears).


156


60


In movement 4, since many expressions for its textual and liturgical meaning are so

closely fastened together, some elements of liturgical and theological understanding deal here

with textual expression. In this calm bass aria, the oboe’s lamenting solo, with a tear motive

of a slurred pair of eighth notes, introduces the two-measure principal motive and the bass

vocal line follows the same melody, which consists of the head-motive as antecedent phrase

and its immediate inversion as a consequence. Also, number symbolism is found here; the

number consisting of each inverted motive is six, which means “perfect” or “The Creation” in

numerology.157

On this quasi-mirroring melody shape, Dürr says it shows “an image of what

is well-balanced, poised and complete in itself,” and depicts “an inimitable setting of the

words “Es ist vollbracht” (it is accomplished).”158

[Musical Example 2.48] BWV 159/4: mm. 1–3 (Ob) & 9–11 (B)

157

Newman, Bach and The Baroque, 195. 158


61

As an Assimilatio, in measures 11–12, a long chromatic and syncopated passage

expresses a difficult journey to the cross and death with its accompanied “Leid” (pain,

suffering).


With the words, “Wir sind von unserm Sündenfalle in Gott gerecht gemacht” (from

our sinful Fall we have been justified in God), the Christian and speaker of this aria, “though

rejoicing at deliverance, is awed by the sight of the suffering Saviour on the cross.”159

This

sentiment is reinforced by the sighing motive from measure 15 in the oboe and violin I. Also,

the passage of descending fifths (downbeat on measure 15) with a preceding long descending

vocal scale functions as a Catabasis, describing “unserm Sündenfalle” (our sinful Fall).


In the second half of the aria, the style of the setting changes: at the words “Nun will

ich eilen” (Now I will hasten…), rapid passages with sixteenth notes appear, and a close

imitation is made among the vocal line, oboe, violin I, and continuo, (the inner strings are

159


62

silent). This canonic passage, as categorized by Newman, has a symbolic meaning, and the

running passage on “eilen” (haste) is an Assimilatio.


With the new text, “Welt, gute Nacht” (world, good night), the texture changes,

especially on the word “Nacht” (mm. 40, 49), where there are no more running sixteenth

notes. The strings return to long held notes, and the continuo goes down in step wise motion

(Catabasis).160


160


63

The last “Nacht” meets a four-bar subdominant pedal (mm. 54–57) leading to the final tonic

chord. On this final farewell over the motionless bass pedal, the only appearance of the

upward motion in the strings alludes to a victory of resurrection (Anabasis), with the

reassurance of the oboe and vocal bass singing ‘it is accomplished.’


Liturgical and theological understanding

As the Sunday of Quinquagesima (Estomihi) is observed as a Passion Sunday,161

and

the librettist is the author of the St. Matthew Passion, cantata BWV 159 has abundant links to

its liturgical and ecclesiastically calendared features about the Passion of Christ.

The dialogue of the opening movement consists of Jesus’s proclaiming the words in

the Gospel reading, “Sehet, Wir gehn hinauf den Jerusalem” (Behold, we go up to Jerusalem)

and the Christian Soul’s imploring Jesus to avoid the fate before him (the cross is already

prepared… the fetters await Thee). For this passage, Gardiner notes that “Jesus’s words,

accompanied with a disjointed walking bass that stops after a drop of a seventh, may depict

161


64

Jesus pausing on his journey, turning to his disciples, and trying to alert them to his

approaching trial and death.”162

Furthermore, he notices here an instant affinity with the St.

Matthew Passion as in the same Magdalene-like outpouring of grief and outrage (Ach

Golgatha, unsel’ges Golgatha!; BWV 244/59), the same librettist and the same elevated tone

and intensity of expression.163

The similarity continues in movement 2, which combines the alto’s aria ‘Ich folge dir

nach’ (I will follow after You) with the cantus firmus on the sixth verse (Ich will hier bei dir

stehen [I will here stay by You]) of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.”

[Musical Example 2.42] The same verse and tune—even in the same key (E-flat major)—is

used in the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244/17) as a response to the scene in which Peter and

other disciples answer Jesus that they will never betray Him. Also a similar feature is found

between this aria and the first soprano aria in the St. John Passion (BWV 245/9), “Ich folge

dir gleichfalls” (I'll follow thee likewise with gladdening paces), which is placed after Peter

and another disciple follow Jesus as He arrested. Both of the arias speak about following

Jesus, and show the same imitative idea (canonic) between the solo voice and continuo.

These first two movements, as a set of recitative and aria, follow the typical Lutheran

cantata’s format, in that the sentiment of the opening movement is reinterpreted and

reinforced in the following movement. But, Picander and Bach take this normal process

further by speeding up the progression of the theological status with an additional material

(mixture of arioso and recitative, and aria and chorale cantus firmus). For example, in the

opening movement, the stated biblical dictum (Jesus’s words) heard in the bass arioso is

responded to by the dialoguing recitative of the alto in the same movement. Similarly, in the

following movement, the declaration of the singular Christian soul as sung by alto is

162


Ibid.

65

expanded into congregational sight with the accompanying chorale by soprano’s cantus

firmus.

In the tenor recitative, the speaker already sees the end of Jesus’s Passion, and

mourns with tears, but hopes to see Jesus in glory again.

In the same key of B-flat major, the fourth movement, “Es ist vollbracht” (It is

accomplished) speaks about the completed salvation. As an opening cantata for Lent, it

prepares the congregation to scope this seven-week journey at once from beginning to the end,

even looking toward Easter. The words “Es ist vollbracht” also have a connection to the St.

John Passion with one of Jesus’s words on the Cross (John 19:30) and its applicable alto aria

with viola da gamba in the St. John Passion, while the reference could be found from the

Gospel reading for Quinquagesima: “and everything that is written by the prophets shall be

accomplished (Luke 18:31).”

The closing chorale in E-flat major resolves the two preceding dominant preparations

(Nos. 3 and 4 in B-flat). Its text is the thirty-third (last) verse of the hymn “Jesu Leiden, Pein

und Tod” (Jesus suffering pain and death) by Paul Stockmann (1633), and the tune is “Jesu

Kreuz, Leiden und Pein” (Jesus cross, suffering and pain) by Melchior Vulpius (1609).164

This tune, as one of the main chorales, is used three times with each different verse of the

same poem (four times in the 1725 version) in the St. John Passion, and also appears in

cantata BWV 182 for Palm Sunday (premiered in 1714 with a fifth performance in 1728),

too.165

Therefore, cantata BWV 159 carries important liturgical relationships not only to the

St. Matthew Passion, but also to the St. John Passion, which means Bach and Picander

realized these theological connections and used them to frame the Lenten season.

164

Steinitz, Bach's Passions, 121. 165


66

Chapter III. PERFORMANCE PRACTICE

SURVEY OF TRENDS IN PERFORMANCES LED BY BACH EXPERTS

Since the issue of the performance practice is too immense to contain in the writing

of one chapter, it will be examined briefly with a specific focus on the interpretations of

several living conductors whose recordings have been especially important.

When it comes to Historically Informed Performance (HIP), Nikolaus Harnoncourt

(1929–) and Gustav Leonhardt (1928–2012) are two pioneers who have recorded Bach’s

cantatas based on this theory; their recordings were made with period instruments and boy

choirs to match the condition of Bach’s own St. Thomas Choir. Together, they are the first to

record the Bach’s complete church cantatas, doing so in the period of 1971–89. Harnoncourt

and Leonhardt each took half of the cantatas. There was wide participation from musicians

and groups, including King's College Choir Cambridge, Tölzer Knabenchor, Wiener

Sängerknaben, Arnold Schoenberg Chor, Collegium Vocale Gent, Concentus Musicus Wien,

and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, among others. They also influenced the next

generation in the HIP movement. Two such conductors, Ton Koopman (1944–) and Philippe

Herreweghe (1947–), both began their careers in these productions, as a continuo player and

choir director, respectively.

Koopman, a conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and the founder and leader of

Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir, is one of the most

important figures in Bach performance today. Also his keen relationship with Christoph Wolff

provided an underpinning of scholarship for his performances. The size of his choir is smaller

than those of the first generation or those of non-HIP performances, which in the mid-

67

twentieth century, often employed 200 to 400 singers.166

Koopman’s choice is based on

Bach’s well-known memorandum to the Leipzig Town Council (1730), “Short But Most

Necessary Draft for a Well-Appointed Church Music”:167

Every musical choir should contain at least 3 sopranos, 3 altos, 3 tenors, and as many

basses, so that even if one happens to fall ill (as very often happens, particularly at

this time of year, as the prescriptions written by the school physician for the

apothecary must show) at least a double-chorus motet may be sung.

Koopman’s opinion has been in agreement with his colleagues and later directors, and now

the majority of professional choirs such as Monteverdi Choir (John Eliot Gardiner), The

Sixteen (Harry Christophers), Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe), and Bach

Collegium Japan (Masaaki Suzuki) all keep similar numbers of singers and players. Another

issue among his concerns is a pitch. Bach’s pre-Leipzig church cantatas were performed in

the Chorton (choir pitch), which is higher than the modern A (=440). The Chorton system

was based on organ tuning (A=ca. 465), and the Chorton A is a B-flat on the modern piano.168

On the other hand, in the article about his Bach recording, Koopman noticed that Bach didn’t

realized, until he arrived at Leipzig for his audition, that the tuning system of Leipzig had

been switched at the time of Kuhnau into the Tief Kammerton (a low chamber pitch,

A=415)169

, and this is the tuning used for his compositions for Leipzig years and re-

performances of his pre-Leipzig cantatas. Between 1994 and 2004, Koopman recorded all of

Bach’s sacred and secular cantatas.170

While the collection of Harnoncourt and Leonhardt

was recorded in the order of BWV number starting with BWV 1, Koopman followed the

order of composition year beginning from Bach’s pre-Leipzig cantatas. Since the pitch and

166

Wolff, ed. The World of the Bach Cantatas: Early Sacred Cantatas, 202 167

David and Mendel, eds. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and

Documents, 146. 168

Wolff, ed. The World of the Bach Cantatas: Early Sacred Cantatas, 200. 169

Sean Gallaghe and Thomas Forrest Kelly, eds. Century of Bach and Mozart, Perspectiveson

Historiography, Composition, Theory, and Performance (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Department of

Music: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2008), 372. 170

Oliver Condy, ed, “Bach at Large,” BBC Music Magazine, December, 2010, 42.

68

tuning was different in this period, this procession is useful for conductors interested in the

tuning issues. Another complete cantata recording production of Masaaki Suzuki and his

Bach Collegium Japan is in process with this order, too.

John Eliot Gardiner (1943–) is a conductor famous for his massive productions

covering music from Renaissance to Modern era, but one of his most specialized fields is

Bach. Especially in the recent decade, he founded his own label Soli De Gloria for his Bach

project. He made a complete set of the cantatas in the time span of one year in 2000 for the

250th

anniversary of Bach’s death. Called the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, it features his groups,

the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists. The goal of the project was to perform

Bach’s 198 church cantatas on the week for which each was composed according to the

church calendar in historic churches throughout Europe, especially around the area of Saxony

and Thuringia. The project began on Christmas Day (1999) with the Christmas Oratorio.171

As each performance was recorded live and open to the public, the conditions were not as

ideal as they would have been in the studio. For instance, the four surviving Quinquagesima

cantatas of the current study (BWV 22, 23, 127, and 159) were performed together on the day

of Quinquagesima (March 5) in 2000 at the King’s College Chapel. Attempting to use

historically accurate and differing tunings for each cantata was not possible, as they would

have had to change the pitch during the concert, so they decided to use the Leipzig versions,

which would have been in Tief Kammerton tuning, for the Mühlhausen and Weimar

cantatas.172

Also, Gardiner offered some re-creative ideas according to the concert venue. In

the night of the concert in the King’s College Chapel for Quinquagesima Sunday, Gardiner

asked two choirs of Cambridge (the Clare and Trinity choirs) to join in singing the German

words to the Agnus Dei tune, originally for instruments alone, in the opening Chorale

171

Condy, ed, “Bach at Large,” 39. 172

Ibid., 40.

69

Fantasia of BWV 127. [Musical Example 2.35] The reasons for this choice were twofold:

first, this concert was given to a modern audience of primarily non-Lutheran who might have

missed the reference of the tune;173

and secondly, by placing the two choirs of Cambridge on

the opposite wing to the centrally positioned Monteverdi Choir, the audience got an idea how

the St. Matthew Passion might have sounded in the 1730s in the St. Thomas Church.174

(For

his St. Matthew Passion, Bach had put the third choir to sing the cantus firmus of the opening

chorale fantasia in the ‘swallow’s nest’ gallery on the opposite side of the main choir loft.)

Helmuth Rilling (1933–) was one of the earliest to record the complete set of Bach’s

cantata from 1985, the Bach tercentenary of Bach’s birth, and it took him fifteen years to

complete the task.175

Rilling is a figure who stands somewhere between the earlier twentieth

century’s Bach style and the later HIP movement. His career began in the era of Karl Richter

(1926–81) and others, when massive choirs and modern instruments were used and the HIP

was not as an important trend as today, and his recordings reflect this aspect. However, over

time, Rilling has drawn considerably from the HIP perspective. The performing forces and

texture is thinner in the later recordings as compared to earlier ones and he has preferred less-

vibrato: “If you listen to the recordings you will hear how my style evolved during the ’70s

and ’80s; my attitude to articulation, vibrato and tempos changed as scholarship

expanded.”176

Though he still uses modern instruments with the modern pitch (A =440) and

tuning, he achieves a kind of balance between modern performance practice and a style

influence by the HIP movement, and his recordings are a good example for conductors who

wish to perform with modern instruments.

Paul McCreesh (1960–) is one of many conductors who use period instruments, but

173


Ibid. 175

Condy, ed, “Bach at Large,” 40. 176

Ibid., 42.

70

what sets him apart when it comes to recordings of Bach cantatas is that he also champions

Joshua Rifkin’s thesis (1981) of one voice per part. While he does not have as many

recordings of Bach’s music as others, he is the first conductor to record the St. Matthew

Passion (2002) based on the theory of Rifkin with eight singers for choir I and II including

each role of evangelist, Jesus, and others, plus one singer for singing the chorale cantus

firmus in the opening and closing movement of Act I. Also, he produced an interesting

recording, entitled, Epiphany Mass (1997), which consists of Bach’s German Mass (BWV

233), Cantatas (BWV 65, 180), Lutheran Chorales and other organ music that reconstructed

how the Lutheran Mass would have been heard on Epiphany Sunday in Bach’s time in

Leipzig. This is a useful source to demonstrate the diversity of music used in a church service

in the liturgical context. It includes various ensemble combinations including the sound of

concerto for soli (OVPP), a choir, and congregational chorale singing. With Andrew Parrot’s

book, The Essential Bach Choir (2004), supporting Rifkin’s thesis, McCreesh’s discographies

are the practical results of this thesis.

Through the years, the issue of performance practice is always an important part for

each production, but at the same time the issue of liturgical context has also been noticed by

the conductors who want to put some extra meaning to their performances. While the first

generation of recording Bach’s complete cantatas (Harnoncourt, Leonhardt, and Rilling) did

so in the order of BWV numbers, Koopman’s collection produced according to its

chronological order is quite reasonable and interesting in the scholar’s view. Gardiner’s

Pilgrimage is very special because of its unprecedented plan to categorize the cantatas

according to the church calendar. Furthermore, McCreesh’s attempt, to include all the genres

of church music in the context of the Lutheran Mass, provides extra context for the

performance practice. Not only an interest in the sound itself but also in how these works fit

into the liturgical context has become an important element in the world of authentic

71

interpretation.

Chapter IV. CONCLUSION

As seen above, Bach’s church cantatas for Quinquagesima Sunday (Estohimi) have

been examined based on their musical, textual, and liturgical expressions. Each cantata in this

group is complete musically, aesthetically, and theologically, so that its form and design is

attuned to the text. The text is the basic source that grants its design and propels its

composition, and its combination with the music takes advantage of various rhetorical

expressions of the time. Furthermore, as shown in this study, Bach in his church music was

conscious of the context of the liturgy and church calendar. Conductors interested in

performing Bach’s cantatas need to be aware of these connections and to incorporate them

into their interpretations. In the last several decades, this aspect has been increasingly

important, coinciding with a tremendous increase in the recordings of the cantatas. At first,

the trend toward using period instruments provided the new dimensions to Bach performance,

as performers valued historical information on playing and singing techniques in their quest

for more “authentic” performance. But as many scholars and musicians have argued, it is not

possible to know and reproduce the exact sound and the style of Bach’s time. Recently,

“authenticity” has been defined more broadly and musicians have sought other persuasive

ways for approaching Bach’s church cantatas. The question of how to play Bach cannot be

limited within to the expression of the musical notes and text with appropriate instruments,

etc., but it must also include an investigation into the contexts and specific circumstances of

each piece, such as the day of the church event, the source of the text (Gospel reading), etc.

Rilling’s comment could be a good example reflecting this new direction on performing

72

Bach’s church music, as he put it in answering the question, “Did your experience of the

Cantatas as liturgical works, rather than concert pieces, inform your approach?”

Absolutely! You have to start by asking what Bach was getting at behind the

notes; you have to understand the theology, to know that just as the Minister

preaches a sermon, so Bach preaches a sermon in music. These categorically aren’t

concert pieces; they explore the readings and prayers for the relevant day of the

Church’s year and send carefully considered messages to the congregation.177

177

Condy, ed, “Bach at Large,” 42.

73

APPENDIX

A. READING OF THE GOSPEL

Event: Quinquagesima Sunday (Estomihi)

Readings: Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13: 1–13; Gospel: Luke 18: 31–43

Luke 18: 31–43

Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to

Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be

accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and

spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the

third day he shall rise again. And they understood none of these things: and this saying was

hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat

by the way side begging: And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. And

they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of

David, have mercy on me. And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his

peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus

stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked

him, And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come

near, he asked him, Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I

may receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee.

And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people,

when they saw it, gave praise unto God.

74

Bible Scriptures of Matthew and Mark telling the Same Episodes

with the Reading of Luke about healing a blind man

Matthew 20: 29–34

And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. And, behold, two

blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying,

Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because

they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord,

thou Son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall

do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had

compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and

they followed him.

Mark 10: 46–52

And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great

number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou

Son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but

he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still,

and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good

comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. And

Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? The blind man

said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy

faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the

way.

75

B. TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT178

Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22

1. [Arioso + Chorus] SATB ob str bc

Tenor

‘Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe und sprach:’

Baβ

‘Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, und es

wird alles vollendet werden, das geschrieben ist

von des Menschen Sohn.’

Chor

Sie aber vernahmen der keines und wussten nicht,

was das gesaget war.

Tenor

‘Jesus took the Twelve to Him and said:’

Bass

‘Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and what is

written of the Son of Man shall all be

accomplished.’

Choir

‘But they understood nothing of this and did not

know what is said.’

2. Aria A ob solo bc

Mein Jesu, ziehe mich nach dir,

Ich bin bereit, ich will von hier

Und nach Jerusalem zu deinen Leiden gehn.

Wohl mir, wenn ich die Wichtigkeit

Von dieser Leid- und Sterbenszeit

Zu meinem Troste kann durchgehends wohl

verstehn!

My Jesus, draw me to You,

I am ready, I will go from here

And into Jerusalem to Your Passion.

Blessed am I if the importance

Of this time of suffering and dying

For my consolation can be thorough understood

by me!

3. Recitativo B str bc

Mein Jesu, ziehe mich, so werd ich laufen,

Denn Fleisch und Blut verstehet ganz und gar,

Nebst deinen Jüngern nicht, was das gesaget war.

Es sehnt sich nach der Welt und nach dem

größten Haufen;

Sie wollen beiderseits, wenn du verkläret bist,

Zwar eine feste Burg auf Tabors Berge bauen;

Hingegen Golgatha, so voller Leiden ist,

In deiner Niedrigkeit mit keinem Auge schauen.

Ach! kreuzige bei mir in der verderbten Brust

Zuvörderst diese Welt und die verbotne Lust,

So werd ich, was du sagst, vollkommen wohl

verstehen

Und nach Jerusalem mit tausend Freuden gehen.

My Jesus, draw me to You, then I will run,

For flesh and blood quite fail to understand—

With Your disciples—what was said.

They yearn for the world and for the biggest

crowd.

They would both, when You are transfigured.

Build a strong citadel on Tabor’s mountain;

Whereas Golgatha is so full of suffering

That they avert their eyes from Your abasement.

Ah! Crucify in me, in my corrupted breast

First of all the world and its forbidden pleasure,

Then I shall understand what You say perfectly

And go to Jerusalem with a thousand joys.

4. Aria T str bc

Mein alles in allem, mein ewiges Gut,

Verbessre das Herze, verändre den Mut;

Schlag alles darnieder,

Was dieser Entsagung des Fleisches zuwider!

Doch wenn ich nun geistlich ertötet da bin,

So ziehe mich nach dir in Friede dahin!

My all-in-all, my eternal Good,

Improve my heart, transform my spirit;

Strike down everything that runs contrary

To this renunciation of the flesh!

Yet when I am spiritually mortified,

Then draw me towards You into peace!

5. Choral SATB str + ob bc

Ertöt uns durch dein Güte,

Erweck uns durch dein Gnad;

Mortify us through Your goodness,

Awaken us through Your grace!

178

Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, 241–51

76

Den alten Menschen kränke,

Daß der neu' leben mag

Wohl hie auf dieser Erden,

Den Sinn und all Begehren

Und G'danken hab'n zu dir.

Disable the old man

That the new may live

Even here on this earth,

That our minds and all desires

And thoughts may be directed towards You.

Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn, BWV 23

1. Aria Duetto SA ob (d’am) I,II bc

Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn,

Der du von Ewigkeit in der Entfernung schon

Mein Herzeleid und meine Leibespein

Umständlich angesehn, erbarm dich mein!

Und lass durch deine Wunderhand,

Die so viel Böses abgewandt,

Mir gleichfalls Hilf und Trost geschehen.

O true God and Son of David,

Who from eternity at a distance already

Looked closely upon my affliction

And my bodily pain, have mercy on me!

And through Your wondrous hand,

Which had averted so much evil,

Let help and comfort befall me likewise.

2. Recitativo T str + ob (d’am) I + II bc

Ach! gehe nicht vorüber;

Du, aller Menschen Heil,

Bist ja erschienen,

Die Kranken und nicht die Gesunden zu

bedienen.

Drum nehm ich ebenfalls an deiner Allmacht teil;

Ich sehe dich auf diesen Wegen,

Worauf man mich hat wollen legen

Auch in der Blindheit an.

Ich fasse mich und lasse dich

Nicht ohne deinen Segen.

Ah! Do not pass by;

You, the Salvation of all mankind,

Have indeed appeared

To serve the sick and not the healthy.

Therefore I too partake of Your almighty power;

I see You on these paths

Where they have seen fit to lay me

Even in my blindness.

I compose myself and do not let you go

Without Your Blessing.

3. Chor SATB ob (d’am) I,II str bc

Aller Augen warten, Herr,

Du allmächtger Gott, auf dich,

Und die meinen sonderlich.

Gib denselben Kraft und Licht,

Laß sie nicht

Immerdar in Finsternissen!

Künftig soll dein Wink allein

Der geliebte Mittelpunkt

Aller ihrer Werke sein,

Bis du sie einst durch den Tod

Wiederum gedenkst zu schließen.

The eyes of all wait upon You, Lord,

You almighty God,

And mine in particular.

Grant them strength and light;

Do not leave them

Forever in darkness!

In future Your signal alone

Shall be the beloved focus

Of all their activity,

Till one day through death

You decide to close them again.

4. Choral SATB ob (d’am) I,II str bc (+ cornett, trb I–III)

Christe, du Lamm Gottes,

Der du trägst die Sünd der Welt,

Erbarm dich unser!



Christ, You Lamb of God,

Who bears the sin of the world,

Have mercy on us!



77

Erbarm dich unser!



Gib uns dein' Frieden. Amen.

Have mercy on us!



Give us Your Peace. Amen.

Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott, BWV 127

1. Chorale S (+ tr?) ATB rec I,II ob I,II str bc

Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott,

Der du littst Marter, Angst und Spott,

Für mich am Kreuz auch endlich starbst

Und mir deins Vaters Huld erwarbst,

Ich bitt durchs bittre Leiden dein:

Du wollst mir Sünder gnädig sein.

Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God,

Who suffered torment, fear and mockery

And finally died for me on the Cross

And earned for me Your Father’s favour,

I pray through Your bitter Passion

That You would be gracious to me, a sinner.

2. Recitativo T bc

Wenn alles sich zur letzten Zeit entsetzet,

Und wenn ein kalter Todesschweiß

Die schon erstarrten Glieder netzet,

Wenn meine Zunge nichts, als nur durch Seufzer

spricht

Und dieses Herze bricht:

Genug, dass da der Glaube weiß,

Dass Jesus bei mir steht,

Der mit Geduld zu seinem Leiden geht

Und diesen schweren Weg auch mich geleitet

Und mir die Ruhe zubereitet.

When in the last days everything takes fright,

And when a cold death-sweat

Moistens my already numbed limbs,

When my tongue says nothing except through

sighs

And this heart breaks:

Enough that faith then knows

That Jesus stands by me,

He who with patience goes to His Passion

And on this hard path leads me also

And prepares repose for me.

3. Aria S rec I,II ob I str bc

Die Seele ruht in Jesu Händen,

Wenn Erde diesen Leib bedeckt.

Ach ruft mich bald, ihr Sterbeglocken,

Ich bin zum Sterben unerschrocken,

Weil mich mein Jesus wieder weckt.

My soul rests in Jesus’s hands

When earth covers this body.

Ah, call me soon, you death-bells:

I am not afraid of dying,

For my Jesus shall rouse me again.

4. Recitativo + Aria B tr str bc

Wenn einstens die Posaunen schallen,

Und wenn der Bau der Welt

Nebst denen Himmelsfesten

Zerschmettert wird zerfallen,

So denke mein, mein Gott, im besten;

Wenn sich dein Knecht einst vors Gerichte stellt,

Da die Gedanken sich verklagen,

So wollest du allein,

O Jesu, mein Fürsprecher sein

Und meiner Seele tröstlich sagen:

Fürwahr, fürwahr, euch sage ich: Wenn Himmel und Erde im Feuer vergehen,

When one day the trumpets sound

And when the structure of the world

Alongside that of the firmament

Collapses, dashed to pieces,

Then remember me, my God, for good;

When your servant one day stands before

judgement,

Where his thoughts accuse him,

Then would You alone,

O Jesus, be my advocate

And to my soul say comfortingly:

Truly, truly I say to you:

When heaven and earth pass away in fire,

78

So soll doch ein Gläubiger ewig bestehen.

Er wird nicht kommen ins Gericht

Und den Tod ewig schmecken nicht. Nur halte dich,mein Kind, an mich:

Ich breche mit starker und helfender Hand

Des Todes gewaltig geschlossenes Band.

A believer shall nonetheless last for ever.

He will not come to judgement

And shall not taste everlasting death.

Just cling, my child, to Me:

I break, with strong and helping hand,

Death’s powerful, tight snare.

5. Choral SATB bc (+ tr? Rec I,II 8va

ob I,II str)

Ach, Herr, vergib all unsre Schuld,

Hilf, dass wir warten mit Geduld,

Bis unser Stündlein kömmt herbei,

Auch unser Glaub stets wacker sei,

Dein'm Wort zu trauen festiglich,

Bis wir einschlafen seliglich.

Ah, Lord, forgive all our debts;

Help us to wait with patience

Till our hour of death arrives,

And may our faith be ever bolder

To trust Your Word firmly,

Till we blessedly fall into death’s sleep.

Sehet! Wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159

1. Arioso + Recitativo AB str bc

‘Sehet!’

Komm, schaue doch, mein Sinn,

Wo geht dein Jesus hin?

‘Wir gehn hinauf’

O harter Gang! Hinauf?

O ungeheurer Berg, den meine Sünden zeigen!

Wie sauer wirst du müssen steigen!

‘Gen Jerusalem.’

Ach, gehe nicht!

Dein Kreuz ist dir schon zugericht',

Wo du dich sollst zu Tode bluten;

Hier sucht man Geißeln vor, dort bindt man

Ruten,

Die Bande warten dein;

Ach, gehe selber nicht hinein!

Doch bliebest du zurücke stehen,

So müßt ich selbst nicht nach Jerusalem,

Ach, leider in die Hölle gehen.

‘See!’

Come, behold, my soul,

Where is your Jesus going?

‘We are going up’

Oh, what hard going! Up?

Oh, what a monstrous mountain my sins display!

How tryingly You have to climb!

‘To Jerusalem.’

Ah, do not go!

Your Cross is already prepared for You,

Where You shall bleed to death;

Here they seek whips, there they bind whipping-

rods;

Bonds abide You;

Ah! Do not go there Yourself!

Yet if You would remain behind,

I myself would have to go not up to the heavenly

Jerusalem,

But alas down to Hell.

2. Aria Duetto [+ Chorale] S + ob A bc

Ich folge dir nach

Ich will hier bei dir stehen,

Verachte mich doch nicht! Durch Speichel und Schmach,

Am Kreuz will ich dich noch umfangen,

Von dir will ich nicht gehen,

Bis dir dein Herze bricht. Dich laß ich nicht aus meiner Brust,

Wenn dein Haupt wird erblassen

Im letzten Todesstoß,

I follow after You

I will here stay by You,

Do not despise me!

Through spitting and insult;

I will still embrace You on the Cross,

I will not go away You,

Until Your Heart breaks. I do not let You go from my breast;

When Your Head will turn pale

It the last stroke of death,

79

Und wenn du endlich scheiden mußt,

Alsdenn will ich dich fassen, Sollst du dein Grab in mir erlangen.

In meinen Arm und Schoß.

And when You must finally depart,

Even then I will embrace You, You shall find Your grave in me.

In my arm and bosom.

3. Recitativo T bc

Nun will ich mich,

Mein Jesu, über dich

In meinem Winkel grämen;

Die Welt mag immerhin

Den Gift der Wollust zu sich nehmen,

Ich labe mich an meinen Tränen

Und will mich eher nicht

Nach einer Freude sehnen,

Bis dich mein Angesicht

Wird in der Herrlichkeit erblicken,

Bis ich durch dich erlöset bin;

Da will ich mich mit dir erquicken.

I will now,

My Jesus,

Grieve over You in my corner;

The world may ever take to itself;

The poison of hedonism;

I comfort myself with my tears

And would sooner not

Yearn for any joy

Until my countenance

Shall see You in glory,

Until I have been redeemed by You;

Then I will be refreshed with You.

4. Aria B ob str bc

Es ist vollbracht,

Das Leid ist alle,

Wir sind von unserm Sündenfalle

In Gott gerecht gemacht.

Es ist vollbracht,

Nun will ich eilen

Und meinem Jesu Dank erteilen,

Welt, gute Nacht!

Es ist vollbracht!

It is accomplished,

Suffering is over;

From our sinful Fall we have been

Justified in God.

It is accomplished,

Now I will hasten

To give thanks to my Jesus;

World, good night!

It is accomplished!

5. Chroal SATB bc (+ instrs)

Jesu, deine Passion

Ist mir lauter Freude,

Deine Wunden, Kron und Hohn

Meines Herzens Weide;

Meine Seel auf Rosen geht,

Wenn ich d'ran gedenke,

In dem Himmel eine Stätt

Mir deswegen schenke.

Jesus, Your passion

Is to me pure joy;

Your wounds, crown, and disgrace

Are my heart's pasture;

My soul walks on roses

when I consider that, on account of this,

A place in heaven

Is given to me.

80

C. PAUL EBER’S POEM, HERR JESU CHRIST, WAHR MENSCH UND GOTT179

1 Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott,

der du littst Marter, Angst und Spott,

Für mich am Kreuz auch endlich starbst

und mir deins Vaters Huld erwarbst:

Ich bitt durch bitter Leiden dein,

du wollst mir Sünder gnädig sein!

Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God,

who suffered torture, anguish and mockery,

who also finally died for me on the cross

and gained for me your fathers grace:

I beg you through your bitter suffering,

may it be your will to be gracious to me a sinner!

2

Wenn ich nun komm in Sterbens not

und ringen werde mit dem Tod,

Wenn mir vergeht all mein Gesicht

und meine Ohren hören nicht,

Wenn meine Zunge nichts mehr spricht

und mior vor Angst mein Herz zerbrichts,

When I come to the agony of dying

and I struggle with death,

when my eyesight fails completely

and my ears hear nothing,

when my tongue can speak no more

and my heart breaks with anguish,

3

Wenn mein Verstand sich nicht versinnt

und mir all menschlich Hilf zerrinnt:

So komm, Herr Christe, mir behend

zu Hilf an meinem letzsten End

Und führ mich aus dem Jammerthal,

verkürtz mir auch des Todes Qual!

When my reason can reason no more

and all human help melts away from me

then come Lord Christ, skilfully

help me at my last hour

and lead me from the vale of sorrow,

shorten also my death agony.

4

Die bösen Geister von mir treib,

mit deinem Geist stets bei mir bleib,

Bis sich die Seel vom Leib abwend,

so nimm sie, Herr, in deine Händ!

Der Leib hab in der Erd sein Ruh,

bis sich der Jüngst Tag naht herzu.

Drive evil spirits away from me,

with your spirit stay with me always,

until my soul parts from my body,

then take it, Lord, in your hands!

Let my body have its rest of the earth

until the last day approaches

5

Ein fröhlich Urständ mir verleih,

am jüngsten Gricht mein Fürsprech sei

Und meiner Sünd nicht mehr gedenk,

aus Gnaden mir das Leben schenck,

Wie du hast zugesaget mir

in deinem Wort, das trau ich dir:

Grant me a joyful resurrection,

be my advocate at the last judgement

and do not think any more of my sins,

in your mercy grant me the life

as you have promised to me

in your word in which I trust.

6

Fürwahr, Fürwahr, euch sage ich: wer mein Wort hält und glaubt an mich,

Der wird nicht kommen ins Gericht

und den Tod ewig schmecken nicht,

Und ob er schon hier zeitlich stirbt,

mit nichten er drum gar verdirbt!

Truly truly, I say to you:

who keeps my word and believes in me

will not come to judgement

and will not taste eternal death,

and although he dies here in time,

he will therefore in no way perish!

7

Sondern ich will mit starker Hand

ihn reißen aus des Todes Band

Und zu mir nehmen in mein Reich,

da soll er dann mit mir zugleich

In Freuden leben ewiglich!

dazu hilf uns ja gnädiglich!

Instead with mighty hand I shall

snatch him from the bond of death

and take him with me to my kingdom,

where he shall be together with me

to live in joy forever!

Therefore help us mercifully.

179

Bach Cantatas Website, “Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott, Text and Translation of Chorale.”

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale133-Eng3.htm (accessed May 12, 2012).

81

8

Ach Herr, vergib all unser Schuld!

hilf, daß wir warten mit Geduld

Bis unser Stündlein kommt herbei,

auch unser Glaub stäts wacker sei,

Deim Wort zu trauen festiglich,

bis wir entschlafen seliglich!

Ah Lord, forgive all our guilt,

help us to wait patiently

until the time comes for our hour of death,

May our faith be ever vigilant,

to trust firmly in your word,

until we fall asleep in blessedness.

82

D. LEIPZIG TOWN REPORTS ABOUT BACH’S AUDITION

Newspaper report on Bach’s audition, in the Hamburg Relationscourier, datelined Leipzig,

February 2, 1723; reprinted by other papers (BC II, no. 124)180

On Sunday last {February 7} in the morning the Hon. Capellmeister of Cöthen, Mr.

Bach, gave his test here at the Church of St. Thomas for the hitherto vacant cantorate,

the music of the same having been amply praised on the occasion by all

knowledgeable persons. Mr. Schott, Director of the Collegium Musicum here, also

presented his test in the New Church on the Feast of Purification {February 2}, and

the vacant position mentioned above will now befilled very soon by the Hon. and

Most Wise {Town} Council.

Proceedings of the three councils of Leipzig on Bach’s election (BD II, no. 129)181

Dominus Consul Regens Dr. Lange related, in joint assembly of all three councils, that

it was known that for the position of Cantor at St. Thomas’s Mr. Telemann had been

thought of, and he had promised to so everything, but had not kept his promise.

Thereupon attention had been turned, though only privately, to Mr. Graupner,

Capellmeister at Darmstadt, who, however, had reported that he could not obtain his

dismissal. Thereupon Bach, Hoffmann {recte: Kauffmann}, and Schott had presented

themselves. Bach was Capellmeister in Cöthen and excelled on the clavier. Besides

music he had the teaching equipment {information}; and the Cantor must give

instruction in the Colloquia Corderi {a textbook of piety, letter, and behavior} and in

grammar, which he was willing to do. He had formally undertaken to give not only

public but also private instruction. If Bach were chosen, Telemann, in view of his

conduct, might be forgotten.

Notifications of Bach’s election: excerpts from the records of the St. Thomas School, May 5,

1723 (BD II, no. 133)182

Then appeared Mr. Johann Sebatian Bach, hitherto Capellmeister at the Court of the

Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, in the Council Chamber, and after he had taken his place

behind the chairs, Dominicus Consul Regens Dr. Lange stated that various candidates

had presented themselves for service as Cantor of the St. Thomas School; but since he

had been considered the most capable for the post, he had been unanimously elected,

and he should be introduced by the Superintendent here, and the same should be given

him as the deceased Mr. Kuhnau had had.

180

David and Mendel, eds. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and

Documents, 101. 181

Ibid., 102–103. 182

Ibid., 103.

83

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A Conductor's Guide to JS Bach's Quinquagesima Cantatas

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