In this article we will look at Bach's funeral cantatas, of which three have come down to us. This may seem a rather small number, but the fact is that motets were usually used at funerals - only at the funerals of persons of high rank or royalty, as in the case of BWV 198, were cantatas played. We will look at the funeral motets (of which seven have survived) after our discussion of the cantatas.
Incidentally, Cantata BWV 53 "Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde" is another funeral work, but since it is now generally considered to be a composition by Georg Melchior Hoffmann (1679?-1715), we will skip it. Hoffmann studied in Leipzig, where he was a member and then director of the Collegium Musicum founded by Telemann; he was also organist at the Neukirche. He composed instrumental works, masses, cantatas, as well as operas for the Leipzig Opera (for the brief time that there was an opera in Leipzig). This "cantata" is a single aria for alto, scored for strings with two bells sounding a knell, ethereally beautiful (listen here).
So below we have cantatas BWV 106, 157 and 198; as well as motets BWV 118, 226, 227, 228, 229, Anh, 159 and BWV deest (by Kuhnau).
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)
[Blasiuskirche, Muhlhausen]
Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus), BWV 106, 1707-08
1. Sonatina
2. Chor "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit"
3. Arioso (Tenor) "Ach, Herr, lehre uns bedenken"
4. Arie (Bass) "Bestelle dein Haus"
5. Chor und arioso (Sopran) "Es ist der alte Bund"
6. Arie (Alt) "In deine Hände"
7. Arioso (Bass), Choral (Alt) "Heute wirst du mit mir"
8. Chor "Glorie, Lob, Ehr und Herrlichkeit"
"God’s time is the best time"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass), two alto recorders, two violas da gamba, basso continuo.
This is one of Bach's earliest known cantatas, older even than BWV 4 and 131, cantatas that also originated in Mühlhausen, where Bach was organist at the Blasiuskirche in 1707-1708. The oldest source for this cantata is a copy made in Leipzig in 1768, which already bears the name Actus Tragicus.
The instrumentation for chamber ensemble is quite modest. The music is generally soft and slow, the opposite of showy. The music in this very special cantata is expressive and profound, the mood very sad. The cantata contains wonderfully moving moments when the recorders and viols share their grief with the singers.
Although there is speculation that the cantata was written for an uncle of Bach's (who left him 50 guilders for his upcoming marriage to Maria Barbara), we don't actually know for whom this ethereally beautiful cantata was written by the 22-year-old Bach.
The cantata is in the archaic style en vogue until the end of the 17th century: that is, the texts are borrowed from the Bible or from chorales; there are no free poetic texts, no recitatives and da-capo arias; and there is no four-part chorale setting as a finale. This brilliant work is not a youthful study, but rather the final culmination and conclusion of a past genre.
The cantata revolves around the theme of eternal life, skillfully contrasting the earthly death depicted in the Old Testament with the salvation offered in the New Testament. The text refers to various books of the Bible, in keeping with the Lutheran belief that God's plan of salvation extends throughout the entire Bible. The chorus "Es ist der alte Bund" serves as a dramatic climax and axis of symmetry, as Bach masterfully combines the familiar memento mori warning with the soprano's proclamation of Jesus' coming. In other words, this is a transition from a death to be feared ("Sterbensangst") to a death to be welcomed ("Todesfreudigkeit") as an innocent sleep from which we will be awakened in paradise. This reaches a musical and theological climax when, toward the end of the movement, Bach no longer juxtaposes these ideas but places them one above the other.
The soprano sings the texts of the soul, the alto sings the texts of the individual person (especially David), the tenor sings the texts of humanity and the sacred writer, especially Moses. Finally, as in the St. Matthew Passion, the bass sings the texts of God and Jesus. No choir is needed for this cantata: the choral setting at the end of the cantata is sung in unison by the four solo voices after the last part of the final movement. The final four words, "Through Jesus Christ. Amen." are presented in a jubilant and triumphant yet subdued manner. The recorders repeat Amen wordlessly, leading us to the finale: the major triad of the E-flat major third.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview with Mieneke van der Velden, Jos van Veldhoven en Heiko ter Schegget
Introduction to cantata BWV 106 by Rudolph Lutz (during COVID-19) - Contemplattion (in German) /
Musica Amphion en Gesualdo Consort
Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn, BWV 157, 1727
1. Duet aria (tenor and bass): Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn
2. Aria (tenor): Ich halte meinen Jesum feste
3. Recitative (tenor): Mein lieber Jesu du
4. Aria, recitative and arioso (bass): Ja, ja, ich halte Jesum feste
5. Chorale: Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht
"I cannot release You until You bless me"
Text & translation
Scored for two vocal soloists, tenor and bass, four-part choir, flauto traverso, oboe d'amore and continuo.
This cantata was commissioned as a memorial cantata for Johann von Ponickau, a chamberlain at the Saxon court. Bach composed it in Leipzig in 1726/27 to a libretto by Picander. The first known performance was on February 6, 1727, during the memorial service for the said chamberlain. The work was later assigned to the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, celebrated on February 2. The piece has come down to us only through a score and a set of parts copied by Penzel (a successor of Bach as cantor of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig) and had to be reconstructed.
It is an intimate chamber work, thoughtful and reflective in tone, without chorus or string ensemble.
The cantata opens with a fine duet between tenor and bass, introduced by a delicate accompaniment of flute, oboe, and violin. It is a highly contrapuntal movement, and the effortless flow of the music is impressive.
The tenor aria is notable for its oboe d'amore accompaniment. The idea of clinging to Jesus is expressed by several long notes on the word "hold.
The powerful bass aria has a lovely part for the flute and breaks into an arioso near the end for dramatic effect before returning to its original texture.
The cantata concludes with a simple chorale setting of Christian Keymann's hymn "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" (1658).
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)
Lass Fürstin, lass noch einen Strahl, BWV 198, 1727
First part
Chorus: Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl
Recitative (soprano): Dein Sachsen, dein bestürztes Meißen
Aria (soprano): Verstummt, verstummt, ihr holden Saiten!
Recitative (alto): Der Glocken bebendes Getön
Aria (alto): Wie starb die Heldin so vergnügt!
Recitative (tenor): Ihr Leben ließ die Kunst zu sterben
Chorus: An dir, du Fürbild großer Frauen
Second part
Aria (tenor): Der Ewigkeit saphirnes Haus
Recitative (bass): Was Wunder ists? Du bist es wert
Chorus: Doch, Königin! du stirbest nicht
"Allow Princess, just one more ray"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, two flutes, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, two violas da gamba, two lutes and basso continuo.
Funeral Ode written for the memorial service of Christiane Eberhardine, Queen of Poland and Electress of Saxony, performed in the University Church in Leipzig. Christiane Eberhardine was married to the Saxon Elector Friedrich August I. He converted to Roman Catholicism in order to become King of Poland. However, Christiane Eberhardine remained a Lutheran, which made her very popular with the people of Lutheran Saxony.
When Christiane Eberhardine died in September 1727, an official church memorial service was not possible in Leipzig because the royal family was formally Catholic. As an exception, the student Hans Carl von Kirchbach received royal permission to organize a memorial service at the University of Leipzig. Von Kirchbach asked the then young poet and philosopher Johann Christoph Gottsched to write the lyrics. The solemn commemoration took place in the St. Paulinerkirche on October 17, 1727. The performance before a select group of university, aristocratic, and civil authorities was one of the highlights of Bach's career. Bach himself presided at the harpsichord during the performance.
The text is purely secular, proclaiming how shocked the kingdom is at the death of the princess, how magnificent she was, and how sadly she will be missed. The cantata is in two parts. The first part is about the death, the second about the remembrance after the death. The second part is therefore much more cheerful. Between the two parts, a speech was given by von Kirchbach during the ceremony. Gottsched's text originally consisted of nine stanzas of eight lines each. Since Bach could not make musical sense of this, he rearranged the text: five of the nine stanzas were cut in half, and then some parts were combined with others. The result was ten stanzas, which, as in many of Bach's cantatas, were musically translated into recitatives, choruses, and arias. It is noteworthy that Bach's cutting and pasting of the text takes place mainly at the beginning of the cantata: at the end, the verses are copied unchanged. It is possible that Bach ran out of time here and left the text as it was. In fact, Bach showed no respect for the original literary style and thought only in terms of musical possibilities! The mourning instrumentation includes oboes d'amore, violas da gamba, and lute - instruments whose mellow timbres were well suited to solemn mourning music.
The opening chorus, with its dense concerted texture in the French style, begs the deceased to grant one more ray of her beauty. The first soprano aria, "Verstummt, ihr holden Saiten," contains the most energetic string writing in the entire piece - which breaks off as the soprano enters (a Bachian play on words).
The heart of the piece is the alto aria "Wie starb die Heldin so vergnügt" with its obbligato for two gambas accompanied by two lutes. In the recitative preceding this aria we find an astonishing depiction of funeral bells.
The fugal chorus at the end of the first part presents the queen as a model for great women. The chorale that concludes the second part has a dance-like character, and the chorus sings the final phrases, "She has been virtue's property, her loyal subjects joy and fame," in rare unison, as if to emphasize the special status Christiane has earned for herself.
The mood is dignified, quietly contemplative, even restrained. But each movement is a gem. Bach uses his diverse forces to give a beautifully varied musical perspective on mourning. The performance was a success. A contemporary description reads: "In a solemn procession, while the bells were ringing, the notables of the city, the rector and the professors of the university entered the church of St. Paul, where many others were present: nobles - not only from Saxony, but also foreign ministers, judges and other dignitaries, together with many women. After everyone had taken their seats, the organ played a prelude, after which the ode of mourning, written by Johann Christoph Gottsched, a member of the Collegium Marianum, was distributed among those present by the assistant sextons. A short time later, the funeral music, composed in the Italian style by Kapellmeister Johann Sebastian Bach, was played with the harpsichord, played by Bach himself, but also with the organ, violas da gamba, lutes, violins, recorders and traversos. Half of the music was played before and half after the eulogy and funeral oration".
The somber, ominous atmosphere of the music is, not surprisingly, similar to that of the Passions, and in fact Bach reused the music for the lost (but recently reconstructed) St. Mark's Passion of 1731, as well as the funeral music for Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen of 1729.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)The Funeral Motets
Motets are compositions for choir a-cappella on religious, non-liturgical texts. A-cappella means that instruments do not play an independent role, but they can be used as reinforcement of the vocal parts.
The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. Motets are highly diverse in form and style.In Bach's time motets as independent compositions were considered old-fashioned - they had been replaced by the more fashionable cantata. Bach only wrote them on commission, usually for funerals or memorial services. But the interesting fact is that, unlike Bach's cantatas, his motets remained in the repertoire during all of the 18th c. and were the first to be published in the 19th c.!
Here is an overview of Bach's funeral motets:
BWV 118, O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht, 1736-47.
There are two versions: 1736-37 for outdoor performances, 1746-47 for indoor performances. The first version is unique in that it does not include strings; instead, it includes two "litui" (an ancient horn-like instrument), cornet, three trombones, and a portable organ - outdoors, brass would have been more effective than strings. The second version includes strings and optionally three oboes and bassoon. In both versions, the chorale melody is presented phrase by phrase as a long-note cantus firmus in the soprano.
The work is known to have been performed at a funeral (possibly the funeral of Count Joachim Friedrich von Flemming, Governor of Leipzig, on October 11, 1740) and was probably a generic work intended for such occasions. At the very least, the fact that the accompaniment exists in two versions suggests that there was a subsequent revival of the work in the 1740s.
When the work was first published in the 19th century, it was called a cantata, perhaps because it has an instrumental accompaniment that plays ritornello-like interludes. Modern scholarship, however, accepts it as a motet. The text is a 1610 hymn by Martin Behm.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society
BWV 226, Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, 1729
Scored for two four-part choirs, this motet was performed in Leipzig in 1729 for the funeral of Johann Heinrich Ernesti, rector of the Thomasschule and professor at the University of Leipzig. The text is taken from the Epistle to the Romans (Romans 8:26–27) and Martin Luther's third stanza to the hymn "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott" (1524).
The motet is in one movement with several contrasting sections, the first two of which may be adapted from an older composition. The buoyant opening section is musically uncharacteristic for a motet - and also for funeral music. A change of meter and affect takes place in the fugal second section. The last section, in which the two choirs combine, is a double fugue.
The original performing parts have come down to us and provide evidence for the fact that Bach performed his motets with basso continuo and colla parte instrumentation.
This motet is often performed followed by a four-part chorale ("Du heilige Brunst," the third stanza from Luther's "Komm, heiliger Geist"), but that chorale (although also by Bach) is not originally part of the motet. It was probably sung later at the graveside, and should not be performed as if it were the concluding chorale of the kind often found in Bach's church cantatas.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society / Collegium Musicum Traiectum
BWV 227, Jesu, meine Freude (Jesus, my joy), 1723-1735
Jesu, meine Freude (1. Strophe)
Es ist nun nichts Verdammliches (nach Röm 8,1)
Unter deinem Schirmen (2. Strophe)
Denn das Gesetz (à 3, nach Röm 8,2)
Trotz dem alten Drachen (3. Strophe)
Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich (Fuge, nach Röm 8,9)
Weg mit allen Schätzen (4. Strophe)
So aber Christus in euch ist (à 3, nach Röm 8,10)
Gute Nacht, o Wesen (à 4, 5. Strophe)
So nun der Geist (nach Röm 8,11)
Weicht, ihr Trauergeister (6. Strophe)
The longest and most musically complex of Bach's motets is in eleven movements for five-part choir (SSATB). It takes its name from the Lutheran hymn "Jesu, meine Freude," with words by Johann Franck, first published in 1653. The motet contains the six verses of the hymn in its odd-numbered movements. Johann Crüger's hymn tune appears in all of these movements in various styles of chorale setting. The text for the even-numbered movements is taken from the eighth chapter of Romans, a passage that influenced important Lutheran doctrines. The hymn, written in the first person and focusing on an emotional bond with Jesus, contrasts with and expands upon the doctrinal biblical text. Bach alternates and complements both texts, creating a structure of symmetries on different levels.
Bach's treatment of Crüger's melody varies from four-part chorale harmonizations that open and close the work, to a chorale fantasia, to a free setting that merely quotes motifs from the hymn tune. Four biblical verses are set in the style of a motet, two for five voices and two for three voices. The central movement is a five-voice fugue. Bach uses word painting to enhance the theological meaning of both the hymn and epistle texts.
Despite the absence of instrumental parts, the work should not be considered an a cappella piece in the modern sense. In Bach's time, it was common practice to improvise a continuo bass or at least an organ accompaniment. While a cappella performances predominate today, there is an increasing number of performances and recordings with instrumental accompaniment that follow historical performance practices.
Musically imbued with a tone of mourning, the text expresses a turning away from worldly concerns and a turning to the spirit of Jesus, who triumphs over all sorrow.
Although it has been suggested that this motet was composed in 1723 for an actual funeral, there is no evidence to support this claim. Christoph Wolff, a Bach scholar, suggested in 2002 that the motet may have been intended for the training of the St. Thomas Boys Choir rather than for a funeral.
In fact, there is strong evidence that different movements of the motet were composed at different times in Bach's life, and the well-known 11-movement version is a compilation, albeit by Bach himself. The ninth movement, for example, seems to be the oldest part. Unfortunately, original source material is lacking.
Unique in its complex symmetrical structure, juxtaposing hymnal and biblical texts, and with movements featuring a variety of styles and vocal textures, the motet is considered one of Bach's greatest achievements in the genre.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society / Vocalconsort Berlin
BWV 228, Fürchte dich nicht, 1726 (or earlier)
A motet in A major for a funeral, scored for double choir and unspecified instruments playing colla parte. The two-movement work takes its text from the Book of Isaiah and a hymn by Paul Gerhardt. Traditionally, scholars believed that Bach composed it in Leipzig in 1726, while more recent scholarship suggests, on stylistic grounds, that it was composed during Bach's Weimar period. The motet shows its indebtedness to traditional models, but with typical Bachian twists.
The first verse of Isaiah (Isaiah 41:10: "Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir") is the text for the first movement. In the second movement, the second verse by Isaiah (Isaiah 43:1: "Fürchte dich nicht, denn ich habe dich erlöset" / "Fürchte dich nicht, du bist mein") is set as a fugue for the three lower voices, and juxtaposed with Gerhardt's chorale, sung by the soprano ("Warum sollt ich mich denn grämen"). The lower voices are set in a double fugue, with the subject derived from the beginning of the chorale melody and the counter-subject an inversion. The movement ends with a recapitulation of the music from movement 1 for double choir on the last line of the second verse of the psalm.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview MacLeod and Van VeldhovenBWV 229, Komm, Jesu, komm, 1731–1732
BWV Anh. 159, Ich lasse dich nicht, 1712
Bach scored the motet for double choir. It was probably composed for a funeral, like other of his motets, but the exact dates of composition and performance are not known. It is his only motet without a biblical text. He set a poem by Paul Thymich, which Johann Schelle set as a funeral aria in 1684. Also unusual is that the motet does not end with a chorale, but with an aria that is harmonized like a chorale.
Unlike all of Bach's other motets, Komm, Jesu, komm does not contain any excerpts directly from the Bible, but is based entirely on Thymich's poem. Its text is inspired by the Gospel of John and centers on Christ's words, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. The theme of the text is death as the happy moment when man, tired of earthly life, can trust in Jesus, who is seen as truth and life and the only way to eternal life.
The musical atmosphere of this motet has been described as intimate and touching, with a climate of trust and reassurance. The key of G minor evokes suffering, but the motet is never tragic. The music makes more use of polychorality (interplay of the two choirs) than polyphony (interplay of the voices). The music is divided into two parts, a concerto and an aria, with the concerto divided into sections.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview with soprano Klaartje van Veldhoven and conductor Stephan MacLeod / Vocalconsort Berlin
Motet scored for double chorus, SATB—SATB and unspecified instruments playing colla parte. The motet, which was formerly attributed to Bach's older cousin Johann Christoph Bach, appears to be one of Bach's earlier works, possibly composed during his Weimar period around 1712. It draws its text from a verse taken from the Book of Genesis, from the scene of Jacob's Ladder (Genesis 32:27), combined with the third stanza of the hymn "Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz" by Erasmus Alberus.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society / Schola Cantorum Basiliensis /
BWV deest, Der Gerechte kommt um, 1700
A chorale from a pasticcio passion oratorio, a parody of the motet Tristis est anima mea which was likely composed by Johann Kuhnau. The arrangement is Bach's, and possibly Bach used it as a separate funeral motet. But the basic music is by Kuhnau.Video: Vox luminis / Bach Collegium San Diego
Bach Cantata Index