There are three cantatas for this Sunday. Bach's first cantata, BWV 105, deals with the impossibility of a sinful human being ever justifying himself before God. The chorale cantata BWV 94 focuses on the rejection of all worldly pleasures, money, power, and high position. BWV 168 is the closest to the biblical text and is based on a libretto by the Weimar court librarian Salomon Franck: centering on the concept of "accountability," Franck has interspersed his text with numerous accounting metaphors.
Readings:
1 Corinthians 10:6–13, Warning of false gods, consolation in temptation
Luke 16:1–9, Parable of the Unjust Steward
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)
[The Parable of the Unjust Steward, Marinus van Reymerswaele, c 1540] Cantatas:
- Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht, BWV 105, 25 July 1723
1. Coro: Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht
2. Recitative (alto): Mein Gott, verwirf ich nicht
3. Aria (soprano, oboe and strings, without continuo): Wie zittern und wanken, der Sünder Gedanken
4. Recitative (bass, strings): Wohl aber dem, der seinen Bürgen weiß
5. Aria (tenor, corno, strings): Kann ich nur Jesum mir zum Freunde machen
6. Chorale: Nun, ich weiß, du wirst mir stillen
("Lord, do not pass judgment on Your servant")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, corno, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
A meditation on faith and salvation. It is likely that the anonymous librettist was a theologian from the city; the text begins with the second verse of Psalm 143, "And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified". The psalm is one of Martin Luther's Bußpsalmen, his German translations of the seven penitential psalms, first published in Wittenberg in early 1517, half a year before the Ninety-five theses. The theme of the cantata is derived from the Gospel: since mankind cannot survive before God's judgement, he should forswear earthly pleasures.
The opening lines of the cantata are taken from Psalm 143. It is a powerful chorus that begins with a mournful and harmonically complex prelude, followed by a striding and energetic fugue.
Next, the alto recitative represents the faithful who implore God not to cast them away. The soprano aria, with phrases such as "an anxious conscience is torn by its own torment," creates a world shaking with fear and doubt. Trembling strings (without bass to emphasize the uncertainty) form the basis for the pleading duet between soprano and oboe.
The bass arioso as Vox Christi introduces stability, and the tenor aria even features a confident trumpet: "If I can only make Jesus my friend, then Mammon is worth nothing to me". There is a clear change of mood to optimism in this beautiful aria.
The final chorale reintroduces the trembling strings from the soprano aria, but with each successive verse the tremolos become less rapid, as if to symbolize man's calming after reconciliation with God. It is the eleventh verse of the hymn Jesu, der du meine Seele, written by Johann Rist in 1641. The overall musical and textual unity of this cantata has been praised.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview Van Veldhoven and Vanryne /
J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German - Contemplation (in German) - Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94, 6 August 1724
Chorus: Was frag ich nach der Welt
Aria (bass): Die Welt ist wie ein Rauch und Schatten
Chorale e recitativo (tenor, oboes): Die Welt sucht Ehr und Ruhm
Aria (alto): Betörte Welt, betörte Welt!
Chorale e recitativo (bass): Die Welt bekümmert sich
Aria (tenor): Die Welt kann ihre Lust und Freud
Aria (soprano): Es halt es mit der blinden Welt
Chorale: Was frag ich nach der Welt!
("What need I of this world")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and a four-part choir, flauto traverso, two oboes, two violins, viola, organ and continuo.
Chorale cantata based on the chorale in eight verses by Balthasar Kindermann (1664) on a melody by Ahasverus Fritsch. The words of the cantata are only generally related to the readings in the theme of turning away from the transitory world.
The opening chorus is dominated by the concertante flauto traverso - it is almost a flute concerto! The chorale is sung by the soprano. The lively music in D major seems to represent the "world" rather than its negation. But for such a long cantata (30 minutes) it is also remarkably short, the weight of the piece falling on the arias and especially the chorale recitatives. The dazzling flute music represents "the treasures of life," and Bach probably keeps it short because "worldliness" is immediately rejected.
The sparsely accompanied bass aria compares the world to "mist and shadow"; tumbling motives illustrate disappearance and falling, as opposed to long held notes that speak of stability.
In the third movement, the tenor sings the chorale in rich ornamentation, accompanied by two oboes. Leipzig was a wealthy merchant city, and the subjects of Bach's criticism probably sat proudly in the church pews: "A proud man builds the most opulent palaces, he seeks the highest post of honor, he dresses himself with the best in purple, gold, silver, silk, and velvet.
The flute returns in the alto aria that calls the world deceived: "Even your riches, your goods and your money are deceit and counterfeit." The deception is symbolized by the use of "false notes.
After another chorale recitative, now for bass, which concludes, "If my Jesus honors me, what shall I ask of the world?" we have two more arias that optimistically describe this new state of being free from worldly concerns. One is for tenor with an attractive string accompaniment, the other for soprano with a delicious oboe d'amore line. Both are set in dance rhythms (pastorale and bourrée).
The cantata is closed by the last two stanzas of the chorale, emphasizing "What need I of this world?"
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort, BWV 168, 29 July 1725
1. Aria (bass): Tue Rechnung! Donnerwort
2. Recitativo (tenor): Es ist nur fremdes Gut
3. Aria (tenor): Kapital und Interessen
4. Recitativo (bass): Jedoch, erschrocknes Herz, leb und verzage nicht
5. Aria (soprano, alto): Herz, zerreiß des Mammons Kette
6. Chorale: Stärk mich mit deinem Freudengeist
("Settle account! Word of thunder")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) plus a four-part choir only in the chorale, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
Bach set a text by Salomo Franck, a librettist with whom he had worked in Weimar. The text, which Franck had published in 1715, uses the prescribed reading from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the unjust steward, as a starting point for reflections on the debt of sin and its "payment" in monetary terms. He concluded the text with a stanza from Bartholomäus Ringwaldt's hymn "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut". This intimate cantata is the first new composition of his third year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig.
A former director of the Weimar Mint, Franck frequently uses monetary metaphors, as in the tempestuous opening aria, in which the bass (Vox Christi), like an angry bank manager, demands that we "settle our accounts" - the "words of thunder" are literally shouted by the bass over the rumbling of the strings. And in the tenor's long, didactic recitative, life is presented as a loan to be repaid on Judgment Day.
The following tenor aria is accompanied by two oboes d'amore playing in unison. "Capital and interest, my debts great and small, must one day be accounted for. A turning point is reached in the bass recitative of the fourth movement, which refers to the death of Jesus, which "crossed out the debt". This is followed by an interesting soprano-alto duet in which the bass line represents the "chains of Mammon".
The cantata concludes with a solemn and quiet setting of the eighth verse of Bartholomäus Ringwaldt's chorale "Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut" (1588).
Video: Netherlands Bach Society / J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)