There are three cantatas for this Sunday. "Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn", BWV 152, is a dialog cantata composed in Weimar in 1714 to a text by Salomo Franck. It is scored as chamber music. Note that there was no Sunday after Christmas in 1723. "Das neugeborne Kindelein, BWV 122, is a 1724 chorale cantata based on a hymn celebrating the birth of Jesus. "Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende," BWV 28, from 1725 (the third cantata cycle), celebrates the passing of the old year and the coming of the new, without reference to the readings for the day. The second movement of this cantata was used for the motet "Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren," BWV 28/2a, which may also date from 1725.
Readings for the Sunday after Christmas:
Galatians 4:1–7, Through Christ we are free from the law
Luke 2:33–40, Simeon and Anna with Mary in the temple
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 Nativity of Christ (Byzantine icon)]
Cantatas:
- Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152, 30 December 1714
Sinfonia
Aria (bass): Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn
Recitative (bass): Der Heiland ist gesetzt
Aria (soprano): Stein, der über alle Schätze
Recitative (bass): Es ärgre sich die kluge Welt
Duet (soprano, bass): Wie soll ich dich, Liebster der Seelen, umfassen?
("Step upon the path of faith")
Text & translation
Scored for two soloists—soprano and bass—and four solo instruments: recorder, oboe, viola d'amore, viola da gamba and basso continuo.
Dialogue cantata composed in Weimar in 1714 on a text by Salomo Franck. It is one of Bach's early cantatas; Bach was employed at the Weimar Court from 1707 to 1717 and in 1714 he had been promoted from violinist to concertmaster, with the obligation to compose a cantata on a monthly basis. The chamber work features an exotic orchestration, including viola d’amore (an instrument with sympathetically resonating strings), viola da gamba, recorder and oboe d’amore.
The gospel text for this Sunday is about the Presentation in the Temple (which is also central to the feast of Mary Purification on February 2), but Franck was inspired by other passages in the Bible that characterize the Messiah as a stone spurned by the builders; God, however, makes it into the corner stone. While playing with the symbolism that God laid "the stone of foundation" and that Jesus is a "stone beyond all gems," the text is an allegorical dialogue between Jesus and the Soul about faith as the Rock of the Ages which never fails, and concludes with a rejection of the world.
The cantata starts with an attractive sinfonia which has some resemblance to Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A Major for organ BWV 536. The first aria is for the bass as Vox Christi, who invites the Soul to "step upon the path of faith," accompanied by purposeful music. In the ensuing recitative the bass introduces the symbol of the corner stone, which is taken up in the soprano aria, featuring an elegant accompaniment from the recorder and viola d'amore.
The final duet (there is no chorale) unites Jesus and the Soul (and the upper instruments in unisono). This cantata is the earliest extant example of a dialogue. Bach chose not to re-use this cantata in Leizig, perhaps because it was too much a chamber work and difficult to alter considering its instrumentation.
Audio: Koopman
- Das neugeborne Kindelein, BWV 122, 31 December 1724
Chorale: Das neugeborne Kindelein
Aria (bass): O Menschen, die ihr täglich sündigt
Recitative (soprano): Die Engel, welche sich zuvor
Aria (soprano, alto, tenor): Ist Gott versöhnt und unser Freund
Recitative (bass): Dies ist ein Tag, den selbst der Herr gemacht
Chorale: Es bringt das rechte Jubeljahr
("The new-born infant child")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir, three recorders, two oboes, taille, two violins, viola, and basso continuo with organ.
Chorale cantata from Bach's second Leipzig year, based on a hymn by Cyriakus Schneegaß (1597), celebrating he birth of Jesus, who was brought into the world to protect and offer salvation to mankind. In the Middle Ages, the birth of Jesus was also considered the beginning of the New Year. But instead of offering sweet "pastoral" scenes of peace and goodwill, or showing the gentleness of the child, Bach saw it as a time for his congregation to reflect on their sins and resolve to do something about them in the New Year!
The opening chorus is a chorale fantasia with a long opening and closing ritornello surrounding a chorale theme with four entries and long interspersed episodes. It is, however, rather muted and, like the rest of the cantata, very concise. The text simply states that the Christ Child has once again renewed the year. There is no call to celebrate: Bach states this fact with a minimum of embellishment.
But then comes the longest movement of the cantata: a chromatic bass aria, accompanied only by the continuo, that focuses mainly on "people who sin daily" and therefore face damnation. The vocal line here has been described as "tortuous and chromatically convoluted". Apparently it is time for some Lutheran fire and brimstone - it is as if the wrathful voice of God himself is addressing us: O Menschen, die ihr täglich sündigt (O humanity, you who sin daily).
In the next recitative, the chorale melody is played by three recorders to evoke the aura of angels: "The angels who once shunned us as the damned, now rejoice in our salvation". In the trio for soprano, alto, and tenor that follows, the alto sings the chorale line with the strings, while the soprano and tenor sing an aria in duet. The Sicilian rhythm finally brings a sense of relaxation: "If God is reconciled and is our friend, what can the spiteful enemy do to us?"
In the penultimate movement, a recitative for the bass, accompanied by the violins and violas sustaining transparent chords above the voice, the text dwells on the joyful message of Christmas (trying to break free from the melancholy of the opening movements, without quite succeeding - the serious message about sin is, after all, the heart of the cantata). The cantata ends with the usual chorale, this time very short: "Now is the time to sing, for Jesus removes all sorrow".
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Explanation "Bach Factory" (in English)
- Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, BWV 28, 30 December 1725
Aria (soprano): Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
Chorale: Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren
Recitative and arioso (bass): So spricht der Herr
Recitative (tenor): Gott ist ein Quell
Duet aria (alto and tenor): Gott hat uns im heurigen Jahre gesegnet
Chorale: All solch dein Güt wir preisen
("Praise God! The year now draws to a close")
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and four-part choir, cornetto, three trombones, two oboes, taille, two violins, viola and continuo.
Part of Bach's third Leipzig cycle. The Sunday after Christmas is the last Sunday of the year, and the main theme of this cantata is the passing of the old year and the coming of the new, without reference to the readings for the day. The text of the cantata is by Erdmann Neumeister. The virtuosic and melismatic opening soprano aria exhorts us to remember and give thanks for God's gifts in the past year.
This thanksgiving is then represented (and expanded from the individual to the collective) by Johann Gramann's hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren," here in the rare second position for a chorale. This movement (in its combined sobriety and complexity the most interesting part of this short cantata) is in the style of a motet; motets were traditionally part of Christmas music in Germany.
The theme of God's generosity is continued in the arioso for bass (quoting Jeremiah 32:41) and the tenor recitative. The duet for alto and tenor then summarizes the themes of gratitude. The cantata ends with a simple chorale harmonization, "Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen," of unknown authorship.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)
Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren, BWV 28/2a / 231, 1725?
Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren
"May there be Praise"
Text & translation
BWV 28/2a is an arrangement of the second movement of Bach's cantata Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, BWV 28, with a different text, but taken from the same Lutheran hymn, Johann Gramann's "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (1530).
This motet is deeply buried in the sources. As the website of the Netherlands Bach Society explains, it was included as the middle section of a three-part piece entitled Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt (BWV Anh.160). This complete motet was originally attributed to Bach, but because the last section was taken from Telemann's cantata Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich, and the first section was probably also by Telemann, the complete motet was classified as "probably not by Bach". In 1983, however, musicologist Klaus Hoffman discovered that the middle section - Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren - is based on the second movement of Bach's cantata Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende (BWV 28). This gave the piece its own BWV number: 231, which was later changed to 28/2a.
The motet has SATB parts. It is based on Johann Gramann's hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (1530), the melody of which provides a cantus firmus. In some editions of this motet, a basso continuo is added to support the bass part, doubling it exactly.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview with conductor Jos Van Veldhoven
Bach Cantata Index