Readings:
Acts 10:42–48, "Sermon of St. Peter for Cornelius"
John 3:16–21, "God loved the world so much"
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)
[Jesus und Nicodemus,
Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn (1601–1645)]
Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn (1601–1645)]
Cantatas:
- Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut, BWV 173, 29 May 1724
Recitative (tenor): Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut
Aria (tenor): Ein geheiligtes Gemüte
Aria (alto): Gott will, o ihr Menschenkinder
Aria (soprano, bass): So hat Gott die Welt geliebt
Recitative (soprano, tenor): Unendlichster, den man doch Vater nennt
Chorus: Rühre, Höchster, unsern Geist
"Exalted flesh and blood"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, two flauto traverso, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
Based movement for movement on a secular cantata (a tribute to Bach's employer, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, Durchlauchtster Leopold BWV 173a). This means that the librettist had to invent a new text that would fit the existing music and create a connection to Pentecost. In this case, the unknown librettist only slightly adapted some phrases from the feast cantata for the new purpose, or even used them verbatim. The sixth and seventh movements of the original work were omitted and the vocal scoring was changed. The biblical reference of the cantata is the Gospel of the day, John 3:16-21: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
It begins with an introductory recitative for tenor, followed by an graceful aria for the same, an appropriate song of praise. After an alto aria comes the most interesting part of the cantata, a duet for soprano and bass with sweet strings and ethereal flutes. Three verses are treated in increasingly rich variations, and the praise of the noble employer is effortlessly transformed into praise of God. The music ends with an uplifting chorus, a minuet, carefree dance music - the instrumental music could be taken directly from an orchestral suite. The best wishes to the sovereign have been replaced by a prayer referring to the event of Pentecost and the prescribed reading from the Epistle: "May God's Spirit be at work in us.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, BWV 68, 21 May 1725
Chor: Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt
Arie S: Mein gläubiges Herze
Rezitativ B: Ich bin mit Petro nicht vermessen
Arie B: Du bist geboren mir zugute
Chor: Wer an ihn gläubet, der wird nicht gerichtet
"Thus has God loved the world"
Text & translation
Scored for soprano and bass, a four-part choir, horn, cornett, three trombones, two oboes, taille (tenor oboe), two violins, viola, violoncello piccolo and basso continuo.
Bach wrote this cantata for the second day of Pentecost. In his second year in Leipzig, Bach continued to compose chorale cantatas from the first Sunday after Trinity to Palm Sunday for his second cantata cycle, but at Easter he switched back to cantatas based on a freer text (perhaps out of necessity, if it is true that the lyricist who served him until Easter with the characteristic chorale cantata libretti was the former rector Andreas Stübel, who died suddenly at the end of January). These included nine cantatas based on texts by the poet Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, including this cantata for the second day of Pentecost. Bach later assigned this cantata and Auf Christi Himmelfahrt to his second cantata cycle, although they are not based on a chorale but begin with a chorale fantasy. However, he included the author's other seven cantatas, most of which begin with a bass solo as Vox Christi (Voice of Christ), in the third cantata cycle.
For the first movement of the Pentecost cantata, the poet chose the first verse of Solomon Liscow's hymn (1675), provided with a self-composed melody by Gottfried Vopelius, the compiler of the Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch of 1682, from which Bach borrows most of his chorales. The hymn begins with the same words as the Gospel: "Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt" (So God loved the world). In the last movement of the five-movement cantata, the poet quotes John 3:18, which Bach adapts in an unusually extended choral movement.
This cantata has a very symmetrical structure: chorus-aria-recitative-aria-chorus. The austere chorale opening and closing movements contain an abstract theological message, to which the two arias give a personal meaning in a lighter tone. The first chorus is a stately Siciliano.
Both arias are based on Bach's hunting cantata "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208". The soprano aria "Mein gläubiges Herze" resembles the earlier aria of the shepherd goddess Pales "Weil die wollenreichen Herden". In the church cantata, Bach used an obbligato violoncello piccolo, an instrument he experimented with in the cantatas of the second cantata cycle. The almost cheerful accompaniment contrasts sharply with the austere chorus that precedes it. The bass aria with three oboes is based on the aria of the god Pan, "A prince is his country's Pan" - the splendid wind writing gives a hint of the pathos with which Pan is portrayed in Bach's hunting music. But if, like me, you are familiar with the Hunt Cantata, it is a bit strange to hear these two arias virtually unchanged here in a very different setting.
The final movement is not, as in many church cantatas, a simple four-part chorale, but a motet-like structure that conveys a verse from the Gospel of John. The juxtaposition of "those who believe in him" and "those who do not believe" is expressed in a double fugue with two contrasting themes. The voices are doubled by a trombone chorus.
Video: J.S. Bach-Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) / Kay Johannsen - Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174, 6 June 1729
Sinfonia
Arie A: Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte
Rezitativ T: O Liebe, welcher keine gleich!
Arie B: Greifet zu, Faßt das Heil, ihr Glaubenshände!
Choral: Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr
"I love the Highest with my entire being"
Text & translation
Scored for three soloists, alto, tenor and bass, a four-part choir only in the chorale, two corni da caccia, two oboes, taille (tenor oboe), three solo violins, three solo violas, three solo cellos and basso continuo.
Bach composed Cantata 174 for Pentecost Monday, June 6, 1729. By this time, he had served as Thomas Cantor in Leipzig for nearly six years and had completed most of his known cantatas. The texts were written by Christian Friedrich Henrici, also known as Picander, a postal clerk and amateur poet. Picander also provided texts for Bach's St. Matthew and St. Mark Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, and numerous festive cantatas in the 1730s.
Around this time, Bach's focus on cantata composition seemed to be waning. In March 1729, however, he began a new chapter when he was appointed director of the Collegium Musicum, originally founded by Telemann. This group, composed of Leipzig's finest instrumentalists, served as a breeding ground for Germany's most promising musicians. It later evolved into the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the world's first civic symphony orchestra. Despite Bach's longtime involvement as a guest conductor and occasional recruitment of student volunteers for his church music, BWV 174 shows his intensified collaboration with the students, as evidenced by the creation of a Sinfonia derived from a Brandenburg Concerto. Bach augmented the original nine string parts with two new parts for corno da caccia and a ripieno trio for oboe I and violin I, oboe II and violin II, and taille and viola.
Besides the sinfonia, the concise cantata consists of two arias and a concluding chorus. The long alto aria exudes a charming pastoral atmosphere, embellished with two obbligato oboes introducing themes echoed by the voice. The recitative, accompanied by three upper string parts reminiscent of the original Brandenburg concerto movement, leads to the bass aria. Here the violins and violas merge into an obbligato part with a "knocking" motif of repeated notes that emphasizes the urgency of the text and culminates in a beautiful string melody.
Finally, the cantata concludes with a four-part chorale arrangement of a familiar melody that Bach used to close his St. John Passion with, "Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein.
Video: Bach Bewegt (Berlin)