In Leipzig, where Bach wrote most of his cantatas, a "quiet time" without music was observed during Lent, that is, on the Sundays between Ash Wednesday and Easter. The only exception was the Feast of the Annunciation on the fixed date of March 25.
In Weimar, however, church customs were different, and Bach wrote a few cantatas for this period. Only one has survived intact, BWV 54, "Widerstehe doch der Sünde," which was written for the third Sunday in Lent, called Oculi. Of a second one, BWV 80.1, the text has survived, but the music has been lost - however, a reconstruction was possible based on parts of BWV 80.
Readings:
Ephesians 5:1–9, Exhortation to lead a pure life
Luke 11:14–28, How does Jesus drive out devils?
Cantata Studies:
Bach Cantatas Website | Simon Crouch | Emmanuel Music | Julian Mincham | Wikipedia | Eduard van Hengel (in Dutch) | Bachipedia (Bach-Stiftung) | All of Bach (Netherlands Bach Society) | Companion (Oxford U.P.) | Bach: The Learned Musician (Wolff) | Music in the Castle of Heaven (Gardiner)
In Weimar, however, church customs were different, and Bach wrote a few cantatas for this period. Only one has survived intact, BWV 54, "Widerstehe doch der Sünde," which was written for the third Sunday in Lent, called Oculi. Of a second one, BWV 80.1, the text has survived, but the music has been lost - however, a reconstruction was possible based on parts of BWV 80.
Readings:
Ephesians 5:1–9, Exhortation to lead a pure life
Luke 11:14–28, How does Jesus drive out devils?
Cantata Studies:
Bach Cantatas Website | Simon Crouch | Emmanuel Music | Julian Mincham | Wikipedia | Eduard van Hengel (in Dutch) | Bachipedia (Bach-Stiftung) | All of Bach (Netherlands Bach Society) | Companion (Oxford U.P.) | Bach: The Learned Musician (Wolff) | Music in the Castle of Heaven (Gardiner)
[Exorcising the blind and mute man, by James Tissot]
Cantata:
- Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54, 4 March 1714 (or for Trinity VII)
Aria for Alto: Widerstehe doch der Sünde
Recitative for Alto: Die Art verruchter Sünden
Aria for Alto: Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel
"Resist Sin Indeed"
Text & translation
Scored for a solo alto voice, two violins, two violas, and basso continuo.
It is not certain when and on what Sunday this short chamber cantata for alto was written. What is certain is that it is one of Bach's early cantatas, composed during his time in Weimar. The text of the cantata was written in 1711 by the court librarian and poet Georg Christian Lehms, who assigned it to Oculi Sunday (the third Sunday of Lent). Some believe that the cantata was composed in 1713 or 1714 and premiered on March 4, 1714 (two days earlier, Bach had been officially appointed concertmaster at the Weimar court, and he immediately demonstrated that he was fully capable of fulfilling his new obligation to provide a new piece of church music every month). Others believe that Bach did not write this cantata specifically for Oculi - it is also possible that Bach composed the work as a cantata in ogni tempo (Italian for "at any time"), that is, without a fixed assignment to the church year.
Compared to the cantatas Bach would later compose in Leipzig, the cantata is minimal in both instrumentation and length (it was long thought to be incomplete, but that is not the case). The form of the cantata (aria - recitative - aria, without chorales) is reminiscent of opera. The text is about the importance of avoiding sin and the temptations of Satan.
The first aria, Widerstehe doch der Sünde, is about the disaster that will befall man if he is unable to resist sin and cast out the devil. The tension between temptation and resistance to sin is musically expressed in long dissonances between the bass and strings. The driving rhythmic pattern, combined with tense harmonies and a sustained rising melodic line, suggests a great deal of toil and trouble. The alto, on the other hand, is rich and sumptuous, as if Bach wanted us to feel the temptation of sin at the same time. This beautiful aria takes up two-thirds of the entire cantata. Bach would later reuse this aria in the St. Mark's Passion (No. 19, Falsche Welt, dein schmeichelndes Küssen).
The recitative is about the fate of sinners - the grave. It is secco, accompanied only by basso continuo. The final chromatic aria paints a rosy picture of the future if we resist evil. The devil quickly takes to his heels, pursued only by fast notes. The aria is in four-part fugal style - making it, as far as we know, the first fugue aria composed by Bach. The theme is taken up first by the two violins, then by the two violas, the solo alto and the basso continuo.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interviews with conductor Lars Ulrik Mortensen & alto Maarten Engeltjes /
J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - closing chorale - Alles, was von Gott geboren, BWV 80.1, March 15, 1715
Aria (bass): Alles, was von Gott geboren
Recitative (bass): Erwäge doch, Kind Gottes, die so große Liebe
Aria (soprano): Komm in mein Herzenshaus
Recitative (tenor): So stehe denn bei Christi blutgefärbten Fahne
Aria (alto, tenor): Wie selig ist der Leib
Chorale: Mit unser Macht ist nichts getan
"All that is of God's creation"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, oboe, Violino I, Violino II, Viola, Basso continuo.
The musical sources for BWV 80.1 have not survived, but the music can be largely reconstructed from the printed text and its parody, BWV 80, the 1730 chorale cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, performed in Leipzig on Reformation Day (October 31). The text is from Salomon Franck's "Evangelisches Andachts-Opfer" (Weimar, 1715).
The first aria was the basis for BWV 80/2, the first recitative for BWV 80/3, the soprano aria for BWV 80/4, the tenor recitative for BWV 80/6, and the duet for alto and tenor for BWV 80/7. The music for the final chorale is from BWV 303.
In the bass aria, the oboe plays the cantus firmus of Luther's chorale Ein feste Burg; in BWV 80, this melody is sung by the soprano to the text of the second verse, "Mit unser Macht ist nichts getan", which here stands at the end of the cantata.
Both recitatives begin secco and end arioso. The first emphasizes the text "daß Christi Geist mit dir sich fest verbinde" (that Christ's spirit be firmly united with yours), the second "dein Heiland bleibt dein Hort" (your Savior remains your shield).
The concluding chorale is a four-part setting of the second verse of Luther's hymn. Bach's harmonization of this movement may survive in BWV 303.
Audio: Barockorchester L'arpa festante - Christoph Hesse