Written for the end of the Trinity season, like those for the previous Sunday, these cantatas have a strong eschatological flavor, treating of the Last Judgement, Armageddon and the promised "abomination of desolation."
[The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem, by David Roberts (1850)]
Readings for Trinity XXV:
1 Thessalonians 4:13–18, the coming of the Lord (a vision of paradise that comes to the blessed)
Matthew 24:25–28, the Tribulation (a period full of calamities at the end of time)
Readings for Trinity XXVI:
2 Peter 3:3–13, look for new heavens and a new earth
Matthew 25:31–46, the Second Coming of Christ
Readings for Trinity XXVII:
1 Thessalonians 5:1–11, be prepared for the day of the Lord
Matthew 25:1–13, parable of the Ten Virgins
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)
[Francken, Hieronymus the Younger - Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins -
c. 1616]
c. 1616]
Cantatas for Trinity XXV:
- Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende, BWV 90, 14 November 1723
Aria (tenor): Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende
Recitative (alto): Des Höchsten Güte wird von Tag zu Tage neu
Aria (bass): So löschet im Eifer der rächende Richter
Recitative (tenor): Doch Gottes Auge sieht auf uns
Chorale: Leit uns mit deiner rechten Hand
("A horrible end will carry you off")
Text & translation
Scored for three vocal soloists—alto, tenor and bass—a four-part choir only in the closing chorale, trumpet, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
A short cantata consisting of two arias (separated by recitatives) and a chorale. The text focuses on the terrifying aspects of the Second Coming of Christ, painting a rather grim picture to make the faithful tremble in their pews. The horror of the Last Judgement was, after all, a popular theme among Baroque artists, and one that captured Bach's imagination. With its running scales and hammering in the strings, the first aria for tenor is truly ferocious, emphasizing what a terrible end awaits sinners.
The following recitative first states in great contrast that "God's goodness is renewed every day," but then reflects "despair at human failings".
The bass aria with virtuoso trumpet (the trumpet of the Last Judgement, as mentioned in the Epistle reading) heralds more wrath and destruction, as God will take vengeance in fierce anger on those who have thwarted Him. The final recitative finally turns to the idea that "God's eye looks upon us as the chosen ones".
A setting of "Vater unser im Himmelreich" concludes the cantata (with some venom in its chromatic tail).
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)
- Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 116, 26 November 1724
Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ (Chorale fantasia)
Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not (Alto aria)
Gedenke doch, o Jesu (Tenor recitative)
Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld (Terzetto by Soprano, Tenor, Bass)
Ach, laß uns durch die scharfen Ruten (Alto recitative)
Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz (Chorale)
("You Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, natural horn (enforcing the soprano in the hymn tune), two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
This choral cantata corresponds in a general way to the Gospel reading for this "Eschatological Sunday", the Tribulation from the Gospel of Matthew. Speaking of the temple in Jerusalem, Jesus proclaimed that there would not be one stone left upon another that would not be thrown down - a terrible devastation that will occur at the end of time. But the apostle Paul, in the Epistle reading (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), discusses the saving return of Christ. Both aspects play a role in the cantata: the liberating role of Jesus as "Prince of Peace" and helper in need in the corner movements, the opening chorus and the closing chorale, and the fear and guilt of sinners in the intermediate arias and recitatives.
"This cantata articulates the timeless request for peace and salvation from hardship and punishment in such an urgent and oppressive manner that for a long time Bach researchers believed that it was an actual reason for the composition (for example in the context of the Silesian Wars from 1740 onwards, which were disastrous for Saxony). The fact that all the movements are in heavily spiced sharp keys and that Bach's score is difficult to read in places due to its exalted harmony and striking notation of double sharps fits the tense atmosphere of this penitential cantata in tempore belli." (According to the website of the J.S. Bach Foundation).
The opening chorus, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (based on a hymn by Jakob Ebert) is an elaborate chorale fantasia in which the soprano sings the cantus firmus, supported by the horn. It is embedded in an instrumental concerto with ritornellos and interludes dominated by the solo violin. The composer of the melody of the hymn is unknown. It appeared in a hymnal by Bartholomäus Gesius in 1601 and is similar to "Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen".
The elegiac alto aria, with its tortured oboe d'amore obbligato, expresses the fears of us humans. The following recitative begins secco, but the idea "Remember, O Jesus, that you are still called the Prince of Peace!" is accompanied by a continuo quotation of the chorale melody.
The recitative is followed by a trio (something rare in Bach), rich in harmonic and contrapuntal interest, in which the three voices confess their guilt and ask for forgiveness. There is a theatrical element as three singers step forward to confess their guilt. It is accompanied only by the continuo. The following recitative for alto is a prayer for eternal peace, accompanied by strings, leading to an arioso. The opening chord of the strings is a dissonant diminished seventh chord, the harmony for everything that is bad and painful, made up of two intervals that are not called "diabolus in musica" for nothing, and sound distinctly out of tune in the old, tempered tunings.
The short final chorale, "Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz," is a four-part setting for choir, horn, oboes, and strings.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)
Cantata for Trinity XXVI:
- Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! BWV 70, 21 November 1723
Part I
Chorus: Wachet! betet! betet! wachet!
Recitative (bass): Erschrecket, ihr verstockten Sünder
Aria (alto): 'Wenn kömmt der Tag, an dem wir ziehen
Recitative (tenor): Auch bei dem himmlischen Verlangen
Aria (soprano): Laßt der Spötter Zungen schmähen
Recitative (tenor): Jedoch bei dem unartigen Geschlechte
Chorale: Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele
Part II
Aria (tenor): Hebt euer Haupt empor
Recitative (bass): Ach, soll nicht dieser große Tag
Aria (bass): Seligster Erquickungstag
Chorale: Nicht nach Welt, nach Himmel nicht
("Watch! Pray! Pray! Watch!")
Text & translation
Scored for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass soloists, a four-part choir, trumpet, oboe, bassoon, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.
Another cantata about the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment, based on a now-lost cantata originally composed during Bach's Weimar period. In this revision, Salomo Franck's Weimar libretto of 1717 was expanded by three recitatives, and an additional chorale movement (No. 7) was added to complete the work's transformation into a two-part "sermon cantata".
The cantata begins with a striking fanfare-like trumpet theme (repeated several times throughout the movement), after which the unaccompanied chorus enters to deliver a stirring warning of the Last Judgment. The choir contrasts short shouts of "Awake!" with long chords of "Pray!"
The next bass recitative, accompanied by all instruments, illustrates the terror of sinners and the fear of those called to be judged. The alto aria, with its mournful cello obbligato, is more relaxed, but the soprano aria, with its catchy violin accompaniment, is more spirited. The first part of the cantata ends with the chorale "Freu dich sehr.
The second half begins with a friendly tenor aria, as if the tide had turned, but the fierce bass recitative that follows is meant to shock again with its eschatological chorale, "Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit," played by the trumpet, bringing us back to the Last Judgment. This chorale was used as a kind of Dies irae during the devastating Thirty Years' War.
The following bass aria begins and ends with a gentle melody, but is interrupted by more music from the Last Judgment. A simple chorale setting concludes the cantata.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)
Cantata for Trinity XXVII:
- Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, 25 November 1731
Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Chorale fantasia)
Er kommt (Tenor recitative)
Wann kommst du, mein Heil? (Duet for Soprano and Bass)
Zion hört die Wächter singen (Chorale Tenor)
So geh herein zu mir Bass recitative)
Mein Freund ist mein! (Duet for Soprano and Bass)
Gloria sei dir gesungen (Chorale)
("Awake, calls the voice to us")
Text & translation
Scored for three vocal soloists (soprano, tenor, bass), a four-part choir (SATB), horn, two oboes, taille, violino piccolo, two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon.
This is one of the most beautiful of all Bach's cantatas, written for a Sunday that comes only once every eleven years. It is based on the reading for the day, the well-known parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and presents the second coming of Christ as if he were a bridegroom who has come to claim his bride, the soul. They wait all night with lighted lamps for the bridegroom's arrival. Five of them have brought extra oil to keep their lamp burning. The others run out of oil and go to buy more. The bridegroom arrives while they are gone. This is, of course, an allegory. The wise virgins symbolize faith and watchfulness. The arrival of the bridegroom represents the return of Christ. This moment comes right in the middle of the cantata, in the famous chorale sung by the tenor, which Bach later transcribed for organ.
The cantata is based on the Lutheran hymn "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" by Philipp Nicolai (1599), which appears unchanged in movements 1, 4 and 7. As love poetry, the other movements of the cantata are based on the Song of Songs. Now, the poems in the Song of Songs are unashamedly love poetry, even quite erotic, but the Church in its wisdom also saw it as an allegory, of Christ and the Church as bridegroom and bride.
The two arias in the cantata are dialogic, with the soprano and bass soloists representing the bride and groom, respectively. The first duet is accompanied by an ornate siciliana line in the violin, perhaps inspired by the "flickering oil lamps" of the text. The two singers sing their own text here, but in the second duet they join in parallel lines, symbolizing their union, a technique common in operatic love duets in Bach's time. The second stanza of the chorale at the center of the cantata is sung by the tenor against a ritornello theme in the strings, supposedly reflecting the joy of the night watchmen.
Bach used this popular melody for his organ chorale BWV 645. It is more or less a literal copy of "Zion heareth the watchmen singing," the fourth movement of this cantata. The viola and violin parts are played in unison in the right hand and the bass parts in the pedal, while the chorale is played in the tenor. The arrangement is simple - the lack of harmony over the now stark bass is concealed by additional suspensions and other ornamentation.
Cantata BWV 140 is justly recognized as one of Bach's best-known and best-loved pieces, and certainly one of his greatest. It was one of the first Bach cantatas to be published in the 19th century.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society; J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Bach Factory