Easter Monday is the second day of Easter. There are two cantatas for this day.
Readings:
Acts 10:34–43, sermon of St. Peter
Luke 24:13–35, the road to Emmaus
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)
[Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus (National Gallery, London), ca. 1601]
Cantatas:
- Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66, 10 April 1724
Coro (and alto, tenor): Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen
Recitativo (bass, oboes, strings): Es bricht das Grab und damit unsre Not
Aria (bass): Lasset dem Höchsten ein Danklied erschallen
Recitativo, Arioso (alto, tenor): Bei Jesu Leben freudig sein
Aria (alto, tenor, solo violin): Ich furchte zwar/nicht des Grabes Finsternissen
Chorale: Alleluja
"Rejoice, ye Hearts"
Text and translation
Scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, trumpet, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon.
This cantata is based on the secular serenata Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, BWV 66.1, which was first performed in Köthen on December 10, 1718. Bach had little time for new Easter cantatas in 1724, as he was also composing the St. John Oratorio for performance on Good Friday. But no music could be more appropriate for the occasion.
The prescribed readings for the second of three Easter feasts included the story of the road to Emmaus. An unknown librettist solved the problem of Bach's congratulatory cantata being a dialogue between tenor and alto by retaining a dialogue assigned to Hope and Fear. They represent different attitudes to the news of Jesus' resurrection, that can be found in the two disciples as they discuss the events of their journey.
Bach divides the cantata into six movements, an exuberant choral opening, a set of recitative and aria for bass, another set for alto and tenor, and a concluding chorale taken from the medieval Easter hymn "Christ ist erstanden.
This joyful cantata begins with a large, multi-part opening chorus in a festive mood. This exuberant movement is derived from the final movement of the secular cantata. It begins with a virtuosic orchestral introduction of 24 measures that depicts a vital joy. First, the alto shouts: "Rejoice, ye hearts," the tenor continues, "Fade away, ye sorrows," then all voices proclaim in homophony, "The Savior lives and reigns in you". The middle section is given mostly to the alto and tenor, who illustrate grief and fear in a mournful series of descending chromatic passages and suspensions, though the words speak of banishing these moods.
The bass sums up in a short recitative, accompanied by the strings: "The tomb is broken and with it our suffering". He then continues in an aria: "Let a song of thanksgiving ring forth to the Highest. Music in dancing motion complements a general invitation to give thanks to God in song.
The following recitative and duet are a dialogue between Hope (that Christ is the Messiah) and Fear (because of the disappearance of Jesus' body). In fact, this is the only part of the cantata text that relates directly to the readings for the day. The recitative is introduced by the tenor (Hope), who wants to sing of victory and thanksgiving. He begins with a long melisma that shows the reawakening. But already after one bar, the alto (Fear) imitates the phrase on the words "No eye sees...". The two different points of view are presented in an argument that ends with the alto trying to believe.
In the duet that follows, the voices are homophonic for most of the time, but with small rhythmic differences that show their different attitudes to the darkness of the tomb: the alto expresses "I am truly afraid" with steady long notes, while the tenor says "I am not afraid" in an ornamented figuration. In the continuation, they also differ by only one word: the alto "klagete" (lamented), the tenor "hoffnete" (hoped). The flowing 12/8 time signature of the duet and a virtuoso solo violin recall the music's original purpose in the congratulatory cantata.
A confident setting of the chorale melody concludes this joyful cantata. It is based on the second part of the hymn "Christ is risen," which begins with a triple Alleluia. It was derived in the 12th century from the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes, originally codified by Wipo of Burgundy around 1040. The verses were substantially altered by Martin Luther with the help of Johann Walter and published in 1533.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop - Contemplation - Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, 2 April 1725
Chorus: "Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden"
Aria (alto): "Hochgelobter Gottessohn"
Chorale: "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ"
Recitative: "Es hat die Dunkelheit an vielen Orten"
Aria (tenor): "Jesu, laß uns auf dich sehen"
Chorale: "Beweis dein Macht, Herr Jesu Christ" ("Reveal your strength, Lord Jesus Christ")
"Abide with us, for it is toward evening"
Text and translation
Scored for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, two oboes, oboe da caccia, two violins, viola, violoncello piccolo and basso continuo.
In this cantata, Bach describes the contrast between faith and unbelief, light and darkness, and salvation and sin. Did Jesus - crucified a few days earlier in Jerusalem - really rise from the dead? The women standing by his empty tomb say so (listen to Bach's Easter Oratorio). The two disciples on the road to Emmaus have their doubts about Christ's resurrection. As they discuss the disappointing events on the way to the neighboring village of Emmaus, a stranger walks along with them, apparently unaware of these events. After inviting him to dinner ("Stay with us"), they recognize the risen Christ in him as he breaks bread with them. In this scene, which inspired dozens of painters, including Rembrandt and Caravaggio (see above), the approaching darkness has become a symbol of doubt, unbelief and sin, while Christ can be seen as a light and guide for those who "walk in darkness." Bach's unknown lyricist ignores the narrative element of the Gospel reading and focuses on the invitation as a plea for enlightenment.
In the large, three-part opening chorus, the solicitous invitation extended to the unknown traveling companion (Luke 24:29) provides the sole text for two slow, concertante-homophonic corner movements and a faster, motet-like polyphonic middle movement. There is also much word-painting: the orchestral introduction evokes the somber atmosphere of a twilight landscape over which heavy shadows fall. Three instrumental choirs play: three oboes, including the low oboe da caccia, form the melodic voices, unison strings provide a pulsating accompaniment with dark and lingering tone repetitions, and the continuo group lays the harmonic foundation.
The warm, comforting alto aria, accompanied by an oboe da caccia, is a plea for Christ's continued presence. The somber colors again symbolize the approaching darkness. Next, the soprano sings a solo chorale, "Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ," with a prominent violoncello piccolo (an instrument Bach may have played himself, which has a high E-string and is therefore somewhere between a viola and a cello). Bach would later adapt this chorale into an organ chorale, one of the six Schübler chorales (BWV 649).
In the bass recitative "Es hat die Dunkelheit," the contrast between light and darkness can be heard. The recitative begins in darkness ("Dunkelheit") and ends in light ("Drum hast du auch den Leuchter umgestoßen"). Then follows a tenor aria with string accompaniment, a very haunting piece that recalls the atmosphere of the opening chorus ("Let the light of your word shine brightly upon us"). It features a persistent walking rhythm, softened somewhat by the flowing triplets in the violin line.
The four-part closing chorale is a simple four-part harmonization of the second verse of Martin Luther's hymn "Erhalt' uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort."
Among the many Easter works in which Bach parodied his own earlier music out of necessity (as he had no time to write all new ones), this is a striking new and entirely original cantata.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Van Veldhoven (conductor) and Mead (altus) on this cantata.