Sexagesima (Latin for "sixtieth") is the name given to the 2nd Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It falls less than 60 days before Easter - the earliest Sexagesima can occur is January 25 and the latest is February 28, or February 29 in a leap year. There are three cantatas for this day. "Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18, is a very early cantata from Weimar, probably from 1713 or 1714 (at the latest from 1715). In those years, Bach was still a court organist and chamber musician. The cantata was performed again in Leipzig on February 13, 1724 (with minor changes to the instrumentation) and is therefore part of the first cantata cycle. "Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister, BWV 181, was performed at the same Leipzig service in 1724 where Bach also repeated BWV 18 (one cantata before the sermon and one after the sermon). "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort," BWV 126, dates from the following year and belongs to Bach's second cycle of chorale cantatas.
Readings:
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:19 - 12:9, God's power is mighty in the week,
Luke 8:4–15, Parable of the Sower
Cantata Studies:
Bach Cantatas Website | Simon Crouch | Emmanuel Music | Julian Mincham | Wikipedia | Eduard van Hengel (in Dutch) | Bach Companion (Oxford U.P.) | Bach: The Learned Musician (Wolff) | Music in the Castle of Heaven (Gardiner)
Readings:
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 11:19 - 12:9, God's power is mighty in the week,
Luke 8:4–15, Parable of the Sower
Cantata Studies:
Bach Cantatas Website | Simon Crouch | Emmanuel Music | Julian Mincham | Wikipedia | Eduard van Hengel (in Dutch) | Bach Companion (Oxford U.P.) | Bach: The Learned Musician (Wolff) | Music in the Castle of Heaven (Gardiner)
[Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Parable of the Sower, 1557]
Cantatas:
- Gleich wie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18, 1713 or 1714 or at the latest February 24, 1715
Sinfonia
Recitativo (Bass): Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt
Recitativo & Chorale (Litany) (Soprano, Tenor, Bass, Chorus): Mein Gott, hier wird mein Herze sein
Aria (Soprano): Mein Seelenschatz ist Gottes Wort
Chorale: Ich bitt, o Herr, aus Herzens Grund
"Just as the Rain and Snow Fall from Heaven"
Text & translation
Scored for soprano, tenor, bass), a four-part choir only in the chorales, four violas, cello, bassoon and basso continuo.
This cantata is one of Bach's earliest. It was composed in Weimar to a text published in 1711 by Erdmann Neumeister (a pioneer in the use of recitative and aria in religious music). The text is based on the parable of the sower in Luke 8. The third movement is in the style of a sermon, combined with a litany by Martin Luther. As in all of his early cantatas, the instrumentation is unusual. Bach specifically calls for a bass group consisting of at least one bassoon, one cello, one violone, one organ, and four violas. There are no winds or high strings.
The cantata begins with a sinfonia in Italian concerto form, played only by violas and continuo, leading to a magically dark sonority (as in the 6th Brandenburg Concerto). The leaping melody represents the falling rain and snow that nourish the earth and the seeds sown there. The dark color of the instruments also symbolizes stormy weather.
The short secco bass recitative (the Vox Christi) is characterized by word painting on the same theme. The text quotes Isaiah: "For as the rain comes down and the snow from the heavens, ... so shall my word be..." (Isaiah 55:10-11), related to the Gospel about God's word as seed.
In the following recitative, "My soul's treasure is God's word," with an interpolated litany by a rather fierce soprano, the poet combines warnings about the dangers of God's word in the style of a sermon with four lines of prayer from a litany by Martin Luther. This forms the spiritual heart of the cantata and is a very intense movement. The text is a paraphrase of the parable of the sower, in which Jesus compares God's message to the seed of a sower. When it is scattered over the earth, it produces different results. Some seed falls on fertile ground and produces a good harvest, while others are trampled, dry up, rot, or are forgotten. As the tenor and bass reflect on the biblical reading, the soprano interrupts again and again with a more general call for help. She sings a litany, a plea for help. Bach is quite experimental here, for example with the intricate melisma over the word "persecution" in the text sung by the tenor.
The beautiful Italianate soprano aria, again accompanied only by the four violas in unison, is a personal reflection; the undulating soundscape imitates the "webs woven by the world and Satan. The final chorale is the eighth verse of Lazarus Spengler's hymn "Durch Adam's Fall ist ganz verderbt" (1524).
Video: Netherlands Bach Society / J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister, BWV 181, February 13, 1724)
Arie Bass: Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister
Rezitativ Alto: O unglückselger Stand verkehrter Seelen
Arie Tenor: Der schädlichen Dornen unendliche Zahl
Rezitativ Soprano: Von diesen wird die Kraft erstickt
Chor: Laß, Höchster, uns zu allen Zeiten
"Scatterbrained, Frivolous People"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, trumpet, flauto traverso, oboe, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
A short cantata (played during the same church service as BWV 18, the one before and the other after the sermon) based on the parable of the sower. The text of the cantata, by an unknown poet, is closely based on the Gospel. The obstacles to the sprouting of the seed, rocks and thorns, are supplemented by other biblical passages, such as a reference to Moses striking water from the rock and to the rock in front of Jesus' tomb. The cantata does not end with a chorale, but with a choral movement, a prayer that the Word of God may fall on fertile ground within us.
A characteristic motif in staccato jumps dominates the initial bass aria, introduced by the instruments and then taken over by the voice. It illustrates the fluttering spirits, both the birds spoken of in the Gospel and the frivolous people. The second part mentions Belial, whose evil intervention is often deescribed in literature, for example in Milton's Paradise Lost.
The alto recitative with continuo accompaniment compares the seed that fell on stony ground to hard-hearted unbelievers who die and go under the earth to await Christ's last word, when the rocks will be shattered and the tombs opened. The image of the breaking rocks is represented by an irregularly descending passage in the continuo.
The original music for the obbligato instrument of the central tenor aria is unfortunately lost, but is often substituted by a solo violin. The tenor sings about the worries and worldly desires that threaten the Christian life, which are likened to thorns choking a growing plant. The music imitates the "poisonous thorns" and the "fire of hellish torment" through rapid repetitions.
In the soprano recitative, the seed finally finds good soil. The most beautiful movement comes at the end: a joyful chorus (not a chorale!), probably borrowed from a festive cantata, since we also hear a trumpet. This chorus radiates joyful simplicity. Embedded in the chorus is a duet for soprano and alto.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort, BWV 126, February 4, 1725)
1. Coro: Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort
2. Aria (tenor): Sende deine Macht von oben
3. Recitativo e chorale (alto, tenor): Der Menschen Gunst und Macht wird wenig nützen – Gott Heiliger Geist, du Tröster wert
4. Aria (bass): Stürze zu Boden, schwülstige Stolze!
5. Recitativo (tenor): So wird dein Wort und Wahrheit offenbar
6. Chorale: Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich
"Preserve Us, Lord, with Your Word"
Text & translation
Scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, trumpet, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
This rather aggressive and militant cantata, which calls on God to destroy his enemies and bring peace and salvation to his people, is one of Bach's most controversial compositions. The enemies of the time were the Papists and the Turks (the rivalry with the Ottoman Empire culminated in the Battle of Vienna in 1683, just before Bach's birth). The cantata text is based on Martin Luther's chorale "Keep us, O Lord, by thy word" (1542), in a compilation with other verses as they appeared as a unit in hymnals during Bach's time, two stanzas by Justus Jonas, and Luther's "Verleih uns Frieden gnädiglich".
The music has pandemonium-like qualities. The cantata begins with a stormy chorus with martial trumpets ("Thwart the murderous rage of the Pope and the Turk"). A distinctive element of the opening chorus is a four-note motif derived from the beginning of the chorale melody and repeated by the trumpet throughout the movement to keep the words "Preserve us, Lord" present. The singing voices are embedded in the independent orchestra.
The two arias, with their downward movement, make clear that all salvation is to be seen as a gift coming from above, in which both the helping hand of God and the eschatological rejection of blasphemous opposition are manifested. The tenor aria is a prayer to arms, full of warlike fervor, intensified by two oboes. In the middle section, the words "delight" and "dispel" are illustrated by rapid vocal runs.
The third section is again a chorale, interspersed with anguished recitatives by the alto and tenor. The bloodthirsty bass aria is accompanied by roaring arpeggios on the strings ("Hurl to the ground the pompous proud"). The imploring prayer for the preservation of the Word of God and the Church in all tribulations leads to the touching plea of the final chorale: "Grant us merciful peace.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop - Contemplation