Cantata BWV 11
Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen
[Himmelfahrts-Oratorium]
Discussions - Part 4

Continue from Part 3

Discussions in the Week of May 6, 2018 (4^th round)

William L. Hoffman wrote (May 5, 2018):
The Feast of Ascension, coming on the 40th day of Easter, is a singular event in the life of Jesus Christ and the Church. Bach's response, after he composed three consecutive cantata cycle settings in Leipzig between 1724 and 1726, was a decade later to create a unique oratorio setting of Jesus's ascension to the Father, completing his incarnate life on earth, while in Bach's treatment remaining connected in spirit to the believers. As part of a Christological cycle of oratorios for the major feast days and the Passion, Bach's Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11, "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen" (Praise God in his kingdoms, Rev. 19:1,11,15), is a unique work that encompasses rhetorical ingredients of symmetry of form, contrasts of symbolic "above" and below," and repetition of thematic principles, as well as theological duality. Some of the markers are: the biblical symbolism of the number 40, the Easter period liturgical shift from the Johannine Gospel to a blend of gospel and epistle in a Johannes Bugenhagen synthesis of liturgical meaning in the historia tradition; borrowed, progressive music with poetic texts that express a series of contrasts; and a contemporary work that embraces a renewed perception and understanding of all God's realms, both the sacred and secular. Subsequently, three Bach sons — Friedemann, Emmanuel, and Johann Christoph Friedrich — created extended Ascension works in the tradition of the Enlightenment, using sensitive-style poetic texts.

The result is a half-hour work in two parts with 11 movements: three recycled commentary dance-flavored da-capo movements of opening chorus and two arias (alto, soprano), newly-composed synthesized biblical texts in four narrative movements, two poetic accompagnato contemplative recitatives (bass, alto) with pairs of flutes, and two chorales, including a closing chorale chorus. The opening chorus uses the syncopated Scotch snap dance lilt while the first aria is a love song of longing and the second aria uses no bass continuo, representing innocence. This meditation on the meaning of Jesus' ascension is framed with festive choruses using trumpets and drums, with internal movements with perspectives of heaven and earth. In the choice of chorales, Bach turned to more recent, pietist-flavored hymns, as he had done in the Christmas Oratorio, setting both BWV 11 chorales in progressive triple time. For the central plain chorale (No. 6), he chose Johann Rist's 1641 devotional hymn, "Du Lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Life, Lord Jesus Christ), Stanza 4, "Nun lieget alles unter dir" (Now all lies beneath you), set to the Bar form Johann Schop nativity incarnation melody (Zahn 5741), "Ermuntre dich, mein Schwachter Geist" (Take courage, my weak spirit). The Ascension Oratorio closes (No. 11) with a chorale chorus setting of Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer’s Ascension Hymn, “Gott fahret auf gen Himmel” (God goes up to heaven), Stanza 7, "Wenn soll es doch geschehen" (When will it happen), set to the Bar form melody (Zahn 5264b), "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen" (I shall not abandon God, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Von-Gott-will-ich-nicht-lassen.htm). ¹

The Ascension Oratorio was premiered on the Feast of the Ascension, Thursday, 19 May 1735, at the early main service of the Nikolaikirche before the sermon (not extant) on the day's Gospel, Mark 16:14-20 (Great Commission, Ascension) by Superintendent Salomon Deyling (1677-1755), and later at the vespers main service of the Thomas Church before the sermon (not extant) on the day's Epistle, Luke's account, Acts 1:1-11 (Jesus' Preparation and Ascension) by Deacon Gottlieb Gauglitz (1694-1745), says Martin Petzoldt in Bach Commentary, Vol. 2, Advent to Trinityfest.² The gospel sermons of Martin Luther emphasized the following: "Christ Commissions his Disciples to Preach the Gospel," "Christ Upbraids his Disciples with their Unbelief, and his Missionary Commission," and "The Hardness of the Disciples’ Hearts, Christ’s Missionary Commission, and the Signs Following" (http://www.godrules.net/library/luther/129luther_c13.htm).³

The Ascension Day opening main service polyphonic introit setting involved as many as one of three lesser-known psalms, according to Petzoldt (Ibid.: 885): Psalm 32, Beati quorum, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven; Psalm 68, Exsurgat Deus, Let God arise; and Psalm 74, Ut quid, Deus?, O God, why hast thou cast us off forever? A Latin introit chant is Viri Galilaei (Ye men of Galilee, Acts 1:11), and another Introit Psalm is Psalm 47, Omnes gentes, plaudite (O clap your hands, all ye people). The Ascension Collect communal prayer, is based on a Gregorian chant: "Almighty God, grant that just as we believe your only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, has ascended into the heavens, so may we also set our hearts on things above, and finally dwell with him in heaven; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. The designated hymns for the Ascension Feast in Bach's Das Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB, ) of 1682 were Hymn of the Day, “Nun Freut euch Gottes Kinder all” (Now God's children are all happy); Pulpit Hymn, “Christ fuhr gen Himmel” (Christ went to heaven); and Hymns for Chancel, Communion & Closing, “Heut triumphiret Gottes Sohn” (Today God's son triumphs, Easter) “Du Lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ” ( (Thou Prince of Life, Lord Jesus Christ), “Aus Christi Himmelfahrt Allein" (On Christ’s Heaven-journey alone), and “Gott fahret auf gen Himmel” (God goes up to heaven). Bach set all these chorales except for the anonymous 1529 “Christ fuhr gen Himmel” (NLGB 111 Zahn 8586).

The Feast of the Ascension is based on a long biblical tradition of the number 40, as well as the concept of ascension as a human body carried up to heaven. Lutheran tradition preserved the early Christian practice of relating Jesus' post-resurrection appearances during the 40 days leading to the ascension as symbolic, biblical numerology, observes Eric Chafe in his theological study of the Ascension Oratorio.⁴ These include the 40 hours Jesus was dead between his crucifixion and resurrection, the 40 days of Lent (quadragesima) in the Christian church year, and the 40 days between Jesus' birth and presentation in the temple, as well as the 40 years of the Israelites wandering in the wilderness in Exodus. Besides Jesus' ascension described in the New Testament First Century gospels of Mark and Luke as well as Luke's sequel, the Acts of the Apostles, the mystical concept of the ascension of certain humans going to heaven without first dying is recorded in the ascending of Muhammed and the ascending of Enoch, ancestor of Noah (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension). The Christian Feast of the Ascension "is of great antiquity," says Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Ascension), and "the proper usage of the time was to commemorate the Ascension along with Pentecost," ten days later, signifying the "Great Fifty Days" (quinquagesima).

For the singular Feast of Ascension in Leipzig, Bach composed three original, successive choruses cantatas: 1724, BWV 37, "Wer da gläubet und getauft wird, der wird selig werden" (Whoever believes and is baptised will be blessed. (Mark 16:16); 1725, BWV 128 "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein" (On Christ's ascension [journey to heaven] alone); and 1726, BWV 43 "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen" (God ascends with shouts of joy, Psalm 47:6). All are based on original texts of different authors respectively, without any borrowed music, possibChristian Weiss Sr., Bach's confessing St. Thomas Church pastor (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Weiss-Christian.htm; Mariane von Ziegler, Leipzig poet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Mariana_von_Ziegler; and the so-called Rudolstadt text possibly of Duke Ernst Ludwig of Saxe-Meiningen (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-3-P02.htm, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV15-D.htm).

The most likely candidate for the authorship of the libretto of the Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11, is Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-1764), known as Picander (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Picander.htm). He was Bach's favorite poet with some 67 texts set to Bach's music, many involving new text underlay, called parody, and some surviving with text only, music lost. Although none of the texts of the Easter, Christmas, and Ascension Oratorios is found in Picander's published poetry, while the two oratorio Passions of Matthew and Mark are, various Bach scholars suggest that the published libretto books of the Christmas Oratorio and the 1744 St. Mark Passion, with no attribution, are his texts. In his Preface to the Bärenreiter edition (1961) from the NBA, Alfred Dürr says, "The alterations which this revision necessitated perhaps made Picander unwilling to publish the [Christmas Oratorio] text under his own name."

Picander's published church-year cantata cycle of 1728-29 includes a text, "Alles, alles Himmel-wärts," P-36 (https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_GSJLAAAAcAAJ#page/n157/mode/1up), closing with the chorale, "Valet will ich dir geben" (I want to bid you farewell, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale039-Eng3.htm), found in Bach's Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB) of 1682 as No. 345, Death & Dying (Justification), emphasizing a "joyous farewell and blessed ending" (frölichen Abscheid und seligen Ende, https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA886#v=onepage&q&f=false). Bach's settings include a plain chorale, BWV 415 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0415.htm). Bach on Ascension, 10 May 1736 presented a Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel "String Cycle" double cantata, "Es wird ein Durchbrecher vor ihnen herauf fahren," Mus. A 15:186, ands "Seid ihr nun mit Christo auferstanden" (Not extant, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1736.htm).

Ascension Oratorio movements, texts, key, meter (BCW German text, Francis Browne English translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV11-Eng3P.htm):

1. Chorus free da-capo [allegro moderato]; chordal, free polyphony; imitation; ritornelli complex; imitative choral sections; some obbligato, dominant orchestra parts [SATB; Tromba I-III, Timpani, Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: A. "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, / Preiset ihn in seinen Ehren, / Rühmet ihn in seiner Pracht" (Praise God in his kingdoms, / extol him in his honours / acclaim him in his splendour.); B. "Sucht sein Lob recht zu vergleichen, / Wenn ihr mit gesamten Chören / Ihm ein Lied zu Ehren macht!" (Seek to express his praise rightly / when with assembled choirs / you make a song to his honour!); D Major, 2/4 modern dance style.
2. Recitative secco [Tenor, Continuo]: Evangelist narrative: "Der Herr Jesus hub seine Hände auf und segnete seine Jünger, und es geschah, da er sie segnete, schied er von ihnen." (The Lord Jesus raised his hands and blessed his followers, and it happened that while he was blessing them he parted from them.); B minor to A Major; 4/4.
3. Recitative accompagnato [Bass; Flauto traverso I/II, Continuo]: "Ach, Jesu, ist dein Abschied schon so nah? / Ach, ist denn schon die Stunde da, / Da wir dich von uns lassen sollen? / Ach, siehe, wie die heißen Tränen / Von unsern blassen Wangen rollen, / Wie wir uns nach dir sehnen, / Wie uns fast aller Trost gebricht. / Ach, weiche doch noch nicht!" (Ah Jesus, is your departure already so near? / Ah, is it already the hour / when we must let you leave us? / Ah, see how the hot tears / roll down our pale cheeks, / how we gaze after you / how almost all our comfort is lost. / Ah, do not go away yet!); f-sharp to a minor; 4/4.
4. Aria free-da-capo [Larghetto]; ritornelli complex [Alto; Violini all' unisono, Continuo]: A. Ach, bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben, / Ach, fliehe nicht so bald von mir!" (Ah, stay yet, my dearest life, / ah, do not flee so soon from me.); B. Dein Abschied und dein frühes Scheiden / Bringt mir das allergrößte Leiden, / Ach ja, so bleibe doch noch hier; / Sonst werd ich ganz von Schmerz umgeben." (Your departure and your early leaving / bring me the greatest suffering. / Ah then, still stay here; / otherwise I shall be quite overwhelmed with sorrow.); a minor; 4/4.
5. Recitative secco [Tenor, Continuo]: Evangelist narrative: "Und ward aufgehoben zusehends und fuhr auf gen Himmel, / eine Wolke nahm ihn weg vor ihren Augen, und er sitzet zur rechten Hand Gottes." (And in their sight he was lifted up and went towards heaven, / a cloud took him away from their eyes, and he sits on the right hand of God.); e to f-sharp minor.
6. Chorale plain, Bar form [SATB; Flauto traverso I/II in octava e Oboe I e Violino I col Soprano, Oboe II, Violino II coll'Alto, Viola col Tenore, Continuo]: A. "Nun lieget alles unter dir, / Dich selbst nur ausgenommen;" (Now all lies beneath you, / apart only from yourself;); A'. Die Engel müssen für und für / Dir aufzuwarten kommen." (the angels must for ever and ever / come to wait on you); B. "Die Fürsten stehn auch auf der Bahn / Und sind dir willig untertan; Luft, Wasser, Feuer, Erden / Muß dir zu Dienste werden." (Princes also stand by the road / and are willingly subject to you; / air, water, fire and earth / must all be at your service.); D Major; 3/4 generic dance style.
7. Recitative secco narrative [Tenor, Continuo]: Evangelist: "Und da sie ihm nachsahen gen Himmel fahren, siehe, da stunden bei ihnen zwei Männer in weißen Kleidern, welche auch sagten:" (And as they gazed after him traveling to heaven, see, there stood by them two men in white robes, who also said:); Duet [arioso] in canon (Tenor, Bass; continuo): "Ihr Männer von Galiläa, was stehet ihr und sehet gen Himmels / Dieser Jesus, welcher von euch ist aufgenommen gen Himmel, / wird kommen, wie ihr ihn gesehen habt gen Himmel fahren." (You men of Galilee, why do you stand here and gaze towards heaven? / This Jesus, who has been taken from you to heaven / will come again , as you have seen him travel to heaven.); D Major; 4/4.
8. Recitative accompagnato [Alto; Flauto traverso I/II, Continuo]: "Ach ja! so komme bald zurück: / Tilg' einst mein trauriges Gebärden, / Sonst wird mir jeder Augenblick / Verhaßt und Jahren ähnlich werden." (Ah then ! return again soon: / wipe away once and for all my sad demeanour, / otherwise for me each moment / will be hateful and become like years.); G Major to B minor; 4/4.
9. Recitative secco[Tenor, Continuo]: Evangelist: "Sie aber beteten ihn an, wandten um gen Jerusalem von dem Berge, / der da heißet der Ölberg, welcher ist nahe bei Jerusalem und liegt einen Sabbater-Weg davon, / und sie kehreten wieder gen Jerusalem mit großer Freude." (But they worshipped him, then went back to Jerusalem from the mount / which is called the Mount of Olives and which is near Jerusalem and is situated a Sabbath's journey away / and they returned back to Jerusalem with great joy.); D to G Major; 4/4.
10. Aria da-capo [Andante], ritornelli compl, no continuo, binary dance [Soprano; Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe, Violini all' unisono]: A. Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke / Kann ich doch beständig sehn." (Jesus, your gracious look / I can still see continually.); B. "Deine Liebe bleibt zurücke, / Dass ich mich hier in der Zeit / An der künftgen Herrlichkeit / Schon voraus im Geist erquicke, / Wenn wir einst dort vor dir stehn." (Your love remains behind, / so that here in this present time / I may already beforehand refresh myself in spirit / with the glory that is to come / when we one day shall stand before you there.); G Major 3/8 minuet style.
11. Chorale plain, Bar form, ritornelli complex with interludes [SATB; Tromba I-III, Timpani, Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: A. "Wenn soll es doch geschehen / Wenn kömmt die liebe Zeit" (When will it happen / when comes the dear time); A'. "Dass ich ihn werde sehen, / In seiner Herrlichkeit?" (that I shall see him / in his glory?); B. "Du Tag, wenn wirst du sein, / Dass wir den Heiland grüßen, / Dass wir den Heiland küssen? / Komm, stelle dich doch ein!" (You day, when will you come / that we may greet the Saviour, / that we may kiss the Saviour ? / Come, be present soon!); D Major; 6/4.

Notes on Text, Description

The Ascension Oratorio uses as its narrative basis not the verbatim biblical readings from the gospels of Mark and Luke, as well as the beginning of Luke's sequel (the Acts of the Apostles), but from the Reformation Easter Evangelienharmonie (Gospel Harmony) of Martin Luther collaborator, Johannes Bugenhagen (1485-1558), as found in Movements 2, 5, 7, and 9. Bugenhagen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Bugenhagen), also wrote the popular Passionsharmonie events recounted in Bach's Leipzig Good Friday vespers sermon and multi-day Lenten Passion settings in various communities. The Evangelienharmonie is a compilation hybrid summa fusion of Ascension texts: Luke's brief Ascension account 24:50-51 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A50-51&version=KJV) in No. 2, Acts 1:9 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A9&version=KJV) and Mark 16:19 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+16%3A19&version=KJV) in No. 5, and Acts 1:10-11 in no. 7 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A10-11&version=KJV), and (no. 9) Luke 24:52 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A52&version=KJV) and Acts 1:12 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+24%3A52&version=KJV).⁵
A summary of the meaning of each movement in the Ascension Oratorio as well as the biblical sources and allusions is found in Melvin P. Unger's sacred cantata biblical concordance.⁶ The festive opening chorus, "Praise God in his glory," celebrates God's realms, honors, and pomp so that united choirs make a song of honor. The tenor briefly narrates (No. 2) Jesus' blessing to his disciples and departure. The bass responds (No. 3) with a poetic contemplation on the "grief of bereavement" of the disciples at the departure and the resulting tears, without consolation. The alto aria (No. 4) is the soul's "Prayer: Plea for Christ not to leave." The tenor (No. 5) narrates the actual ascension or parabolic Jesus "lifting up," his disappearance into a cloud, and his sitting to the right hand of God. The first half of the work ends with the congregational plain chorale (No. 6) affirming Christ's dominion over "all things put under his feet," with angels attending, earthly princes standing on the way, and all elements — air, water, fire, and earth — also placed in service.

The second part returns to earth with the tenor (No. 7) proclamation of two men clothed in white to the disciples that Jesus will return in the same manner. The alto's concise poetic response (No. 8) seeks Jesus's return in God's time. The tenor narrator (No. 9) concludes with the disciples' return from the Mount of Olives, where Jesus Passion began, to nearby Jerusalem. The soprano aria (No. 10) offers comfort that Jesus' "glances of grace" remain as love to be found in heaven. The festive closing chorale chorus asks when believers can behold Jesus in his glory, greet the Saviour, and kiss him.

The Ascension Oratorio "might have been modeled" from Part VI, Feast of Epiphany, of the Christmas Oratorio, presented four months later, suggests Richard D. P. Jones.⁷ Besides the festive opening chorus, intermediate plain chorale, and festive chorale-chorus finale are "the semi-dramatic treatment of biblical characters (here 'the two men in white')," the two meditative accompagnati, and two parodied, interpretive arias. The narrative tenor-bass duet (No. 7b), "Ihr Männer von Galiläa" (You men of Galilee; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeqUaqfkYk, No. 7, 16:22) is similar in texture and purpose to Bach's treatment of the false witnesses in the St. Matthew Passion, No. 33 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYTCxpA0uq8), points out Simon Heighes.⁸

Oratorio Themes: Seeing, Understanding

Bach's Ascension Oratorio as a major Christological vocal work is considered within the contexts of unique music, drama, and liturgy in a recent study of Marcus Rathey.⁹ It is examined along with the Easter Oratorio from the perspective of seeing and understanding of the human "at the center of concepts like perception, knowledge, and eventually the understanding of the world as it is." The perception of reality and belief are considered as these stories in music attempt to reconcile faith and the rational within the framework of the oratorio genre which narrates a biblical story and provides contemplative and interpretive music enabling oratorio listener to understand them "within the larger theological and philosophical landscape of the 1730s, even if the librettos were not intended as philosophical texts," he says (Ibid.: 141). "They exist contemporaneously and inevitably reflect that zeitgeist."

The two oratorios return to the subjective questions found in the Christmas Oratorio, a sequence of six cantatas: "What do we see? How do we perceive reality? Where do we look for Jesus Christ? How do we interpret what we see?" In both short oratorios, the women at the Easter Sunday empty tomb at Golgatha and the disciples on a Galilean hillside (Mount of Olives) experience figures in white garments that cause bewilderment, the former through faith understanding Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection (while criticizing the disciples for not understanding), and the latter 40 days later seeing the ascension but not understanding until told by two men that Jesus will return. Both Easter and Ascension narratives involve pasticcio passages from the New Testament, the former a poetic expression based primarily on the Gospel of John (20:1-18), and the latter blending verses from Luke (Chapter 24), Mark (Chapter 16) and Acts (1:10-12). The Ascension Oratorio again considers the theme of the relationship between seeing and understanding and the theme of "the presence of Christ in the heart (or soul) of the believer," says Rathey (Ibid.: 157-161). It shows Jesus Christ within three layers of divine presence: the past presence of the human figure born incarnate on the earth in the Christmas Oratorio; the current presence in the heart of the believer, of unio mystica (mystical union) with inhabitatio (indwelling) of the symbolic bride and bridegroom; and his eternal presence with humanity in the future eternity. The two accompagnatrecitatives offer contemplative music: No. 3, the bass voice expresses the disciples' bewildered sadness at Jesus' departure, and No. 8, the alto asks for Jesus' return to wipe away sadness. The two borrowed arias the alto (no. 4) expresses "longing of the soul for divine presence of Jesus" and the soprano (no. 8) "reiterates the longing for Christ's presence and everyone's hopes for Christ's return in three layers" (past, present, and future).

Parody Relationships, Connections

The opening chorus and two arias of Bach's Ascension Oratorio, are parodies (new-text underlays) of previously-composed secular congratulatory cantatas (text only): The opening da-capo chorus is a derived from "Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden" (Happy day, long hoped-for hours), BWV Anh. 18, dedication of the renovated School of St. Thomas, 5 June 1732, and virtual parody as "Frohes Volk, Vergnügte Sachsen" (Happy folk, contented Saxon, Picander text), Nameday of August III, 3 August 1732), titles translation by Z. Philip Ambrose. The music has a little figure which appears in the soprano and tenor parts in the fourth bar after the chorus enters, a written-out slide of a third followed by repeated staccato notes. It's a prominent figure in the opening chorus and Esurientes in the Magnificat, that is a variant on the Scotch snap or Lombard rhythm. Andre Piro was the first to identify the original source, says Marianne Helms and Arthur Hirsch.¹⁰ Both arias are parodies from the lost serenade, BWV Anh. 1, "Auf! süß-entzückende Gewalt" (Up, sweet-enchanting force and pow'r), Hohmann-Mencke wedding in Leipzig, 27 November 1725. The oratorio arias, No. 4, "Ach bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben" originated as No. 3, “Entfernet euch, ihr kalten Hertzen” (Remove yourselves, ye frigid spirits), later the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from the B-Minor Mass, adapted in the late 1740s, and No. 10, "Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke" from No. 5, “Unschuld! Kleinod reiner Seelen” (Chasteness, jewel of pure spirits), which has http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV210-D3.htm. The absence of continuo in BWV 11/10=Anh.196/5, replaced with basset technique in the two oboes da caccia, is used as a symbol of innocence, similar to the aria, “Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben” (From love will my Saviour die).

The final movement chorale chorus appears to be a fair copy, says Helms/Hirsch, suggesting a possible parody of the based on an earlier cantata. The melody "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen" (I shall not abandon God), was set to a multiplicity of texts while Bach also harmonized it in four plain chorale settings, BWV 417-419 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0417.htm). It's sacred cantata source is unknown. Its nearest model is the festive closing chorale chorus of the Christmas Oratorio, a setting of the Passion Chorale, known as "O sacred head now wounded," to an affirmative 1648 pre-pietist Christmas text of Georg Werner, "Ihr Christen auserkoren" (You chosen Christians). The parody source is a festive sacred cantata of unknown origin, BWV 248a, possibly for the St. Michael's Festival.

Bach also embedded the chorale in a ritornelli complex chorus that opens chorale Cantata 135, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder (Ah Lord, poor sinner that I am), for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity in 1724, which may have closed Part 1 of the St. Mark Passion (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt7UtJdCjVw). A similar setting is the chorale chorus, "Christe, du Lamm Gottes," that closes Cantata 23, "Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn" (You true God and son of David) for Quinquagesima Estomihi Sunday 1723 and may have originated in the 1717 Weimar/Gotha Passion, BC D 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITijw0-ZIl0). On a festive note, the Christmas Oratorio, Part IV New Year's 1735, closes with the chorale chorus, BWV 248/42, "Jesus richte mein Beginnen" (Jesus, guide my beginning, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oftDgIuIOYw); and the undesignated afterv1732 chorale Cantata BWV 100, "Was Gott tut, das ist Wohlgetan" (What God does, that is done well), closes with the chorale chorus, " . . . dabei will ich verbleiben (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIFqlwv0SYQ, 2355).

"In spite of the different origins of the choral and aria movements, the Ascension Day oratorio achieves the feeling of having been created as one entity," says Helms/Hirsch. "This impression of unity is also supported by the systematic shaping of the total structure. In the center stands the chorale movement (6), the first through fifth movements express the mourning of Jesus departure" while the remainder "relate the anticipation of his return."

Ascension Oratorio Chorales

Like the chorale settings in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, his Ascension Oratorio turned to two more recent, pietist-flavored chorales with an ascension emphasis, both using popular melodies set in Bar form. Besides traditional hymns of Martin Luther, Bach in the Christmas Oratorio set the texts of Paul Gerhardt five times, as well as Johann Rist twice. Bach turned to Rist for the text of the Ascension Oratorio internal plain chorale. (no 6), "Nun lieget alles unter dir" (Now all lies beneath you), Stanza four of Rist's 1641 hymn, "Du Lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Life, Lord Jesus Christ), set to the Johann Schop melody, "Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist" (Take courage, my weak spirit). For the closing chorale chorus (No. 11), Bach set the 7th, closing stanza "Wenn soll es doch geschehen"(When will it happen), of Gottfried Wilhelm Sacher's "Gott fähret auf gen Himmel" (God goes up to heaven), set to the popular melody "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen" (I shall not abandon God, Zahn 5264b, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Von-Gott-will-ich-nicht-lassen.htm.

Rist's text, "Du Lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ,"¹¹ closes his Ascension Cantata BWV 43 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0043_11.htm), as a plain chorale set to the first and 13th stanzas, and in the Schmelli Gesangbuch as No. 349, Ascension, set as BWV 454 (different melody, Zahn 5741b), as well as the associated melody in the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248/12 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0248_12.htm; music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ej3Je3l5b8;). The 14 eight-line (ABABCCDD) stanza Rist text was published in the Himlischer Lieder mit . . . Melodeien (Luneburg, 1641) to its own melody. "Invariably Bach follows Johann Cruger’s remodelling of the tune in the 1648 edition of the Praxis Pietatis Melica (Berlin)," says Charles S. Terry.¹² The St. Georg hymnals (Leipzig; 1721, 1730) for use in the Leipzig churches also contain the Rist text. It is set to Schop’s tune (Zahn 1641).

Sacher's "Gott fähret auf gen Himmel" in seven 8-line (ABABCDDC) stanzas Bar form was first published in the 1665 Stralsund Gesang-Buch (Ander Theil des erneuerten Gesang-Buchs), and later in his son in law's Geistliche, liebliche Lieder (Gotha, 1714), to the melody, “Von Gott will ich nicht lassen,” under the heading, "On the Ascension of Christ."¹³ It is not found in the SG. It is based on Psalm 47:5-7, God is gone up with a shout (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+47%3A5-7&version=KJV), with the title from Luke 24:31. It is known in English as "Lo, God to heav’n ascendeth!" by Frances E. Cox. The four-part setting of "Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist" is not Bach's harmonizatbut is attributed to Christoph Peter (1626–89), cantor in Guben, as printed in the NLGB, No. 37, Christmas (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA70#v=onepage&q&f=false, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C44c%5BBIS-SACD1791%5D.pdf).

Other Ascension Chorales

"In choosing hymns for cantatas for the Festival of the Ascension, Bach remained faithful to the direction given in the Leipzig and Dresden Hymnbooks, says Günther Stiller,¹⁴ in view of the limited number of chorales for this single feast day. Bach in his four Ascension works selectively used Ascension chorales found in his NLGB (Nos. 111-119), as well as other sources, including pietist hymnbooks and other hymnbooks found in Leipzig and Dresden which included pietist hymns. Besides the two pietist-flavored chorales in the Ascension Oratorio in 1736 and closing Cantata 43 in 1726, Bach used the morning hymn "Ich dank dir, lieber Herre" (I thank Three, Dear Lord), as a plain chorale to close Cantata 37 in 1724, and “Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein” (On Christ’s Heaven-journey alone) to open Cantata 128 in 1725.

The closing plain chorale in 1724 Ascension Cantata 37 is Johann Kolrose's c.1535 Reformation morning hymn, "Ich dank dir, lieber Herre" (I thank Three, Dear Lord), using Stanza 4, “Den Glauben mir verleihe / An dein' Sohn Jesum Christ” (Grant me faith / in your son Jesus Christ, http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0037_6.htm). It is found in the NLGB as No. 191 following the omnes tempore Catechism songs. It was published in 1662 (Frankfort) Praxis Pietatis Melica with the asociated melody (Zahn 5354), which has a secular origin, in 1532 from the song, “Entlaubt ist uns der Walde” (The woods enfold us), says Charles S. Terry (Ibid.). Bach composed two free-standing chorales of “Ich dank’ dir, lieber Herre” in different structures, BWV 347 in A Major, and 348 in Bb Major, that may survive from Bach plain settings of Stanza 6, “Dein Wort laß mich bekennen” (Let me confess thy word), that closes Cantata BWV 147a, for the 4th Sunday in Advent 1716 (?BWV 348), and possibly closes (no. 5) the Picander cycle text P-20, “Sei getreu bis in den Tod” (Be faithful unto death) for Septuagesima 1729). It is listed in the Weimar Orgelbüchlein Collection as No. 144, a Morning hymn, but not set but is found in the SG as No. 21, Morning Song. For the nine-stanza text, background and English translations see Matthew Carver's Hymnoglypt, http://matthaeusglyptes.blogspot.com/2009/04/ich-dank-dir-lieber-herre.html), Kolrose (1487-1558/60), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Kolrose.htm. Cantata 37 No. 3 is the soprano-alto aria setting of Philipp Niccolai’s versatile seven-stanza 1599 hymn, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern,” using Stanza 5, “Herr, Gott Vater, mein starker Held” (Lord, God, Father, my strong hero,” primarily for Advent and Annunciation.

The festive chorale fantasia that opens 1725 Cantata 128, “Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein” (On Christ’s Heaven-journey alone) is a three-stanza, seven-line (ABABCCD) hymn, first published in the Lüneburg Vollständiges Gesang-Buch (1661). It is an appointed Ascension hymn found in Leipzig (not in the NLGB) and Dresden hymnbooks of Bach’s day, says Stiller (Ibid.). The text (Francis Browne’s English translation (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale093-Eng3.htm) is set to the associated Trinitarian melody, “Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr” (To God alone on high be glory), the German 1525 vernacular setting of the Latin Gloria in excelsis Deo by Nikolaus Decius and Martin Luther. Information on the text and melody (Zahn 4457), as well as the various alternate texts and Bach’s uses, is found at BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Allein-Gott-in-der-Hoh.htm. The Wolfgang Sonnemann (1630-1670) BCW Short Biography is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Sonnemann.htm. It is found in the Schmelli Gesangbuch (SG) as No. 247, Ascension, to the alternate melody"As ist das Heil uns kommen her."

Two other Bach settings of Ascension hymns are set as four line (AABB) hymns with closing refrain, "Hallelujah: the NLGB Hymn of the Day, the early Reformation "Nun freut euch, Gottes Kinder, all" (Now God's children are all happy), and Martin Lither successor Nikolaus Herman's 1560 personal “Als verzig Tag’ nach Ostern war” (On the fortieth day after Easter).

Erasmus Alber before-1550 Ascension thanksgiving hymn, "Nun freut euch, Gottes Kinder, all" is in 16 four-line (AABB) stanzas with the closing refrain "Hallelujah!," emphasizing the popular Easter affirmation.¹⁵ It is set to the associated melody (Zahn 364, EKG 135), "Ein Lied von der Zuknufft des Herren Christi am Jüngsten Tag" (Wittenberg 1546), also known as "Ihr lieben Christen, freut euch nun.” It is found in the NLGB as No. 114 and in the Schmelli Gesangbuch as No. 351, Ascension. Bach set it as a plain chorale, BWV 387 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0387.htm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AAPB0wp9qU) and is listed in the Orgelbuchlein as No. 41 (Christian Friedrich Witt four-part setting Choralegesänge No. 260), Ascension, but not set. In English it in known as "0 Children of your God rejoice," by A. T. Russel. Other composers vocal settings are Michael Praetorius (1609), are Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630) vocal setting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBq3pWyuxpk, and Melchior Franck (1639), as well as chorale preludes of Georg Friedrich Kaufmann (1679-1735, http://partitura.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Kaufmann-Nun-freut-euch-Gottes-Kinder-all.pdf) and Johann Gottfried Walther (https://search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cscore%7C495052?utm_source=aspresolver&utm_medium=MARC&utm_campaign=AlexanderStreet).

“Als verzig Tag’ nach Ostern war” is Herman's 14 four-line 1560 Ascension hymn, with closing "Halleljah" refrain, set to his associated Easter melody (Zahn 1743), "Erschienen ist die Herrlich’ Tag" (Here shining is the splendid day), both published in the Sontags Evangelia (Wittenberg, 1560; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Erschienen-ist-der-herrlich-Tag.htm).¹⁶ The hymn is found in the NLGB as No. 118, Ascension (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA382#v=onepage&q&f=false), while the Easter melody is found there as No. 103, Easter (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q&f=false). An alternate melody (Zahn 370s) is the Latin Pentecost chant, Spiritus sancti gratia, NLGB 125. Bach set “Als verzig Tag’" as a plain chorale, BWV 266(PC), http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0266.htm, and set "Erschienen ist" as an Orgelbuchlein prelude, No. 38, for Easter, BWV 629 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt7GFNg-V2w; melody uses, Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag).

Another Ascension chorale that Bach listed in the Orgelbuchlein is Ob 40, is pre-pietist Melchior Franck's six stanza, two-line hymn (each ending with "Hallelujah!"), "Gen Himmel aufgefahren ist" (To heaven is ascended), to the associated melody, Coelos ascendit hodie” in the NLGB No. 115 (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA378#v=onepage&q&f=false, Zahn 188).¹⁷ Bach's Orgelbuchlein source probably was the Witt hymnal (Gotha 1715, Zahn 189, http://www.orgelbuechlein.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Witt-160-Gen-Himmel-aufgefahren-ist.pdf)_. The only extant setting possible with a connection to Bach is the Sebastian Bach Choral Book, No. 72 Zahn 188a).

The NLGB also has other Ascension chorales Bach did not set but with familiar melodies he did set: “Christ fuhr gen Himmel,” 2 stanzas with Kyrieleis refrain, anonymous 1529, melody "Christ ist erstanden" (Zahn 8586), NLGB 111, (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA371#v=onepage&q&f=false), SG 348; "Nun begehen wir das Fest," J. H. Schein, 6 stanzas to its own melody (no Zahn), NLGB 113 (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA373#v=onepage&q&f=false, SG No. 189 (Christmas); "Freut euch ihr Christen alle, der Siegsfürst," Petrus Hagius, 4 stanzas, melody "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen," NLGB 116 (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA379#v=onepage&q&f=false); and "Wir danken dir, HJC, der den gen Himmel," Biclaus Selnneccer, 13 stanzas, melody "Erschienen ist die Herrlich’ Tag," NLGB 119 (https://books.google.com/books?id=UmVkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA383#v=onepage&q&f=false), SG 353.

Sacer’s Ascension hymn, “Gott fahret auf gen Himmel” (God goes up to heaven), which closes the Ascension Oratorio also is found in the Gottfried Kirchhoff (1685-1746) cantata, "Gott fähret auf gen Himmel" (https://books.google.com/books/about/Kirchenkantaten.html?id=3O4sAQAAIAAJ. Other Ascension composers cantatas are: http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Pieces_for_Ascension_Day.

Gardiner Commentary: 1730s Church Music Continues

Bach in the 1730s, while turning to secular music, continued to present church music, focusing on oratorios for the major feasts and Passions, observes John Eliot Gardiner in his 2013 liner notes to his last works in the 2000 Cantata Pilgrimage.18 <<At first glance it seems that Bach the church cantata composer-performer disappeared from sight during the 1730s, apparently preoccupied in managing an extensive public concert series in Leipzig now centred on the coffee house. Yet in reality he had not turned his back on church music: throughout this decade we find him polishing his earlier cantatas, adding extensive new performance instructions to them, composing his short Lutheran Masses, revising his Passions (including the lost St Mark Passion), and expanding his musical reflections on the life of Christ by way of three oratorios for the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Ascension. As in Handel’s Messiah there is a thread of biblical narrative in Bach’s oratorios of 1734-5 linking the poetic texts and chorales (choruses in Handel’s case). Yet there is one fundamental difference: Messiah belonged to a commercial genre given for the edification and entertainment of an English middle class paying audience. Bach’s formed part of the church liturgy just as his cantatas and Passions did.

His Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11 Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, was first performed in Leipzig on 19 May 1735 to words cleverly selected from the Gospel accounts by Mark and Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, and some newly-written lines by an unknown librettist. It is a heart-warming work, comprising two grand flanking choruses in D major, a central chorale and two arias and recitatives, one of which expands into a short duet for ‘two men in white apparel’ who reassure the disciples of Christ’s eventual return to earth. Even by Bach’s festive standards the two choruses are moments to treasure, full of rhythmic swagger, a jazz-like nonchalance, plenty of stratospheric glitter for the high trumpets and vocal acrobatics for the choir. The first possibly derives from a lost cantata (BWV Anh. I 18) composed to mark the consecration of the rebuilt Thomasschule in 1732, and is structured like a da capo aria. The central chorale (No.6) is the fourth verse of the same hymn by Johann Rist that we heard at the conclusion of BWV 43, but the effect is quite different. There Bach underpins the verbal stresses by vaulting over the bar-lines and creating hemiola patterns of alternate 3/4 and 3/2 units, whereas in his oratorio he aims to catch the mood of humanity who ‘all now dwell beneath Thee’ (the ascended Saviour) by pitching it a fourth lower, while by doubling the melody with two flutes an octave above the rest he is able to suggest ‘the angels [who] must for evermore come to wait upon Thee.’

Perhaps most memorable of all are the two arias, both originating in a lost wedding cantata [BWV Anh. 1, 1725] with words by Johann Christoph Gottsched. The first, a touching plea for Christ to stay a little longer on earth (No.4), is more familiar in its version as the Agnus Dei from the B minor Mass. While both versions stem from a lost original, we experience the same intensity of emotion and the same imploring gestures, yet also the astonishing way Bach thoroughly reworks the material, here on a larger canvas and by introducing a new melody for the words ‘dein Abschied und dein frühes Scheiden’ that does not appear in the Latin version. In the exquisite aria for soprano scored for oboe and unison flutes (No.10), the absence of an eight-foot bass line (the bassetchen continuo is provided by the violins and violas) suggests an image of the believer gazing longingly skywards after the ascended Christ.

Bach brings his oratorio to a close with a superb D major concertante movement for full orchestra and chorus. It is almost a twin of the final number of the Christmas Oratorio in the way a chorale melody set in a foreign key is incorporated into the instrumental fabric. The first trumpet incites the whole orchestra to action (all but the two flutes, who catch on four beats later than the others) and into a syncopated canon at the third below over a bold, striding bass line in 6/4 time. In effect this is an urgent plea for Christ’s Second Coming, with the choir intoning the seventh verse of Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer’s Ascension hymn to a melody derived from a secular folksong ‘Ich ging einmal spazieren’ (‘I once went awalking’) at first simply and in dignified ‘walking’ crotchets. At their fifth entry, with the line ‘O day, when will you dawn’, Bach suddenly ratchets up the tension: the basses seem to go ballistic with an animated twelve-beat run of semiquavers and the choir and orchestra now move in ten real parts. From here to the finishing line the texture is alive with cross-accents, clamorous word repetitions, canonic variation, different permutations of instrumental doublings and a constant struggle between the calmer and noisier elements within the overall ensemble. Then, to round things off, Bach brings back his rousing orchestral introduction to end on a note of irresistible exultation.>>
© John Eliot Gardiner, 2013

Commentary: Parody Basis, Characteristics

The parody basis and characteristics of the Ascension Oratorio sources is discussed in Klaus Hofmann's 200liner notes to the Masaaki Suzuki recording of BVWV 11.19 <<Ascension Oratorio ‘Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen’ (Praise God in His Kingdoms), BWV 11. The ‘parody’ – and its inherent possibility of reworking secular occasional pieces as sacred compositions by adapting their texts – seems to have held increasing appeal for Bach during his Leipzig period. In this way he could give enduring life to works that had been written for a specific occasion and would otherwise have had no relevance. As with the Christmas and Easter Oratorios, the Ascension Oratorio can trace a substantial number of its roots back to secular predecessors. The model for the introductory chorus was the first movement of a cantata performed in 1732 and written for the inauguration of the renovated Thomasschule, Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden (Joyous Day, Desired Hours). For the music of the two arias, however, Bach turned to a wedding cantata from 1725. The only new compositions were thus the [accompagnato and narrative] recitatives and the two chorale strophes.

The work in toto was assembled for Ascension Day in 1735 (19th May). The textual basis is the New Testament story of Jesus’ ascension according to Mark 16, Luke 24 and Acts 1. As in the Christmas Oratorio and the Passions – but unlike the Easter Oratorio – the biblical story is related by an ‘Evangelist’ – who, as was traditional, is performed by a tenor. As in the above-mentioned models, the text itself is presented as secco recitatives, i.e. as Sprechgesang accompanied only by the continuo, whilst the free, contemplative recitatives (movements 3 and 7b) are given to other voices and are also accompanied by two flutes. The two textual levels thus remain clearly differentiated for the listener. Bach only departs from the solo presentation of the gospel text on one occasion, when referring to the two angels who, after Jesus’ ascension, prophecy the resurrection to the disciples (movement 7a). Bach set this as a duet for tenor and bass, in strict canon almost throughout, and some of the audience may well have remembered the duet of the two false witnesses from the St. Matthew Passion – despite the very different subject matter. In both works it is clearly intended that the second voice should confirm the words of the first.

The opening chorus exudes festive splendour, as befits Ascension Day. Three trumpets and drums, pairs of transverse flutes and oboes, and strings make up the sound stage; motifs move vigorously to and fro be- tween the instrumental groups. After an imposing instrumental introduction, a lively choral part joins in singing ‘Ihm ein Lied zu Ehren macht’ (‘Sing a song in His honour’). Of the two arias, the first, ‘Ach bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben’ (‘Ah, stay, my dearest life’), like the preceding bass recitative, adds profundity to the ‘departure’ with words and beseeching melodic gestures from the alto solo and the instrumental lines. More than a decade later, Bach was to use this music again in a fervent prayer, the Agnus Dei in his B minor Mass. The second aria, ‘Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke’ (‘Jesus, your merciful glances’) contains a peculiarity that the connoisseurs among Bach’s Leipzig audience in 1735 will have perceived as such: contrary to all precedent, the continuo is missing; the solo soprano is accompanied only by instruments of the higher and middle registers – two flutes, oboe, violins and viola. The principal explanation for this peculiarity is that the aria on which it was based was also arranged thus; the use of higher registers was clearly suitable for its text ‘Unschuld, Kleinod reiner Seelen’ (‘Innocence, jewel of pure souls’). In fact concepts such as ‘innocence’ and ‘purity’ tended to inspire Bach to this form of mu- sical illustration. The most famous example is the aria ‘Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben’ (‘For love my saviour would die’) from the St. Matthew Passion, also for soprano and requiring only instruments of the upper and middle registers – a recorder and two oboi da caccia. The aria from the Ascension Oratorio is evidently to be interpreted in a similar manner. Here too the subject is Jesus’ love, and the piece is likewise the confession of a pure soul, freed from all earthly burdens and fetters, and devoted exclusively to Jesus.

The two chorale verses, each in triple metre, have an unexpectedly vibrant character. In the sixth movement, ‘Nun lieget alles unter dir’ (‘Now everything lies beneath you’), the choir – almost like in the dramas of antiquity – assumes the task of commenting upon the story. The strophe from the well-known song Du Lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ (Lord Jesus Christ, you prince of life) by Johann Rist (1607-1667) refers to the words heard immediately beforehand from the evangelist – ‘er sitzet zur rechten Hand Gottes’ (‘[he] sat on the right hand of God’) – and explains the consequences of the Saviour’s elevation to the Lord: everything is subservient to Him, angels, earthly rulers, the four elements, i.e. all the powers of nature. The final chorale, ‘Wenn soll es doch geschehen’ (‘When shall it come to pass’) is the only major movement that Bach wrote specifically for this oratorio. Its lively writing for the different groups of instruments and voices is in no way inferior to that of the opening chorus. The strophe upon which it is based, from the hymn Gott fähret auf gen Himmel (God goes up to heaven) by Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer (1635-1699) expresses the yearning expectation of meeting Jesus again. The melody is a cantus firmus in the soprano, with free contrapuntal lines for the three lower voices. A particularly attractive feature is the manner in which Bach harmonically transforms the ceremonial minor-key presentation of the hymn into a festive, joyous major.
© Klaus Hofmann 2005

Other BWV 11 Commentary: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobet_Gott_in_seinen_Reichen,_BWV_11, Julian Mincham, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-50-bwv-11/; W. Gillies Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach (London: Oxford University Press, 1959: II: 40ff); and Alfred Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, ed. & trans. Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford University Press, 2005: 338ff).

Provenance. In the 1750 estate division Emmanuel received the score Bach P 44 (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000874) and parts doublets while Friedemann received the parts set, St. 356, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/BWV11-Ref.htm, says Thomas Braatz summary (January 17, 2003); ms. parts set Bach St 356 https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003866 with doublets. The score provenance is J. S. Bach - C. P. E. Bach - G. Poelchau (1805) - BB (now Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz) (1841). The parts set provenance is. J. S. Bach - (W. F. Bach) - ? - Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (after 1811) - BB (1855) - Kraków (= Krakau), Biblioteka Jagiellonska. The distribution of the other oratorio manuscripts shows that Emmanuel received both the score and parts set of the Christmas Oratorio as well as the score and parts set of the c1738 Easter Oratorio. Friedemann may have received the early version of the Easter Oratorio (1 April 1725). 20

FOOTNOTES

¹ Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11 Details & Discography, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV11.htm; Score Vocal & Piano, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV011-V&P.pdf; Score BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV011-BGA.pdf; references: BGA II (Cantatas 11-20, Maurice Hauptmann, 1852); NBA KB II/8 & II/8a rev. ed. (Ascension Oratorio, Paul Brainard, 1978, 1987), Bach Compendium Oratorios (BC D 9), Zwang K 197; editions: Eulenberg miniature score (Arnold Schering 1925), rev. Hänssler (Paul Horn 1961), Carus Verlag (Ulrich Leisinger 2004, https://carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien/30/3101100/3101100x.pdf), Bärenreiter (https://www.woodbrass.com/en-dz/vocal-choral-and-ensembles-barenreiter-bach-j.s.-ascension-oratorio-bwv-11-vocal-score-p186520.html).
² Martin Petzoldt, Bach Kommentar: Theologisch Musikwissenschaftlicke Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs; Vol. 2, Die Geistlichen Kantaten vom 1. Advent bis zum Trinitatisfest; Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2007: 900).
³ Ascension liturgical texts: Epistle, Gospel, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Read/Ascension.htm; Introit Psalms 32 68, 74, http://www.biblecloud.com/kjv/psalms/32, http://www.christiananswers.net/bible/psa68.html, and http://www.christianity.com/bible/bible.php?q=Psalm+74&ver=kjv; “Viri Galilaei,” http://www.sjcchoir.co.uk/listen/sjc-live/byrd-w-viri-galilaei; Psalm 47, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+47&version=KJV; Collect text, "The Historic Collects," https://acollectionofprayers.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/the-historic-collects.pdf.
⁴ Eric Chafe, "Bach's Ascension Oratorio: God's Kingdoms and Their Representation, in J. S. Bach and the Oratorio Tradition, Bach Perspectives 8, ed. Daniel R. Melamed (University of Illinois Press, 2011: 122-145), in association with the American Bach Society.
⁵ Bugenhagen sources are described in Michael Marissen, Footnote 2, "Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11)," Bach's Oratorios: The Parallel German-English Texts with Annotations (Oxford University Press, 2008: 139); Evangelienharmonie details, Martin Petzold, "Liturgy and Music in Leipzig’s Main Churches," trans. Thomas Braatz, BCW Articles, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Leipzig-Churches-Petzold.pdf: 4f.
⁶ Melvin P. Unger: Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts: An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Boblical Quotations and Allusions (Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996: 38-42).
⁷ Richard D. P. Jones, "Oratorio," Part II, the middle Leipzig years: 1729-39, in The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. II: 1717-1750, Music to Delight the Spirit (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013: 313f).
⁸ Simon Heighes, "Ascension Oratorio" essay (Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, ed. Malcolm Boyd (Oxford University Press, 1999, 23).
⁹ Marcus Rathey, Chapter 6: "Seeing and Understanding, The Oratorios for Easter and Ascension," in Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven CN: Yale University Press, 2016: 74ff).
¹⁰ Marianne Helms, Arthur Hirsch, BWV 11 1985 liner notes, Helmut Rilling recording, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rilling-Rec2.htm#C7); Cantata BWV Anh. 196, further details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV210-D3.htm.
¹¹ Johann Rist (1607-1667), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Rist.htm; German text, https://hymnary.org/text/du_lebensfuerst_herr_jesu_christ; English (on-line) translation https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://hymnary.org/text/du_lebensfuerst_herr_jesu_christ&prev=search Johann Schop (c1590-1664/65/67), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Schop.htm ; melody information, "Ermuntre dich, mein Schwachter Geist" (Take courage, my weak spirit, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/BWV454.htm).
¹² Charles S. Terry, Bach’s Chorals, Vol. 2, The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Cantatas and Motetts (Cambridge University Press, 2018) http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2056.
¹³ Gottfried Wilhelm Sacer (1635-1699), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Sacer.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Wilhelm_Sacer; German text, https://hymnary.org/text/gott_fahret_auf_den_himmel; English text "Lo, God to heav’n ascendeth!," http://www.lutheranchoralebook.com/texts/lo-god-to-heaven-ascendeth/; melody information, "Von Gott will ich nicht lassen," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Von-Gott-will-ich-nicht-lassen.htm).
¹⁴ Günther Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig, ed. Robin A. Leaver, trans. Herbert J. A. Bouman etc (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing 1984: 241).
¹⁵ Erasmus Alber (c.1500-1553), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Alberus-Erasmus.htm, https://hymnary.org/person/Alber_Erasmus; German text, https://hymnary.org/text/nun_freut_euch_gottes_kinder_all; English (on-line) translation (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://hymnary.org/text/nun_freut_euch_gottes_kinder_all&prev=search.
¹⁶ Nikolaus Herman (c.1480-1561), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Herman-Nikolaus.htm, https://hymnary.org/person/Herman_N; German text, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000336?XSL.Style=detail ; English (on-line) translation https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000336&prev=search.
¹⁷ Melchior Franck (c1579-1639), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melchior_Franck, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Franck-Melchior.htm; German text, https://hymnary.org/text/gen_himmel_aufgefahren_ist; English (on-line) translation, https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://hymnary.org/text/gen_himmel_aufgefahren_ist&prev=search; music https://www.google.com/search?q=gen+himmel+aufgefahren+ist+noten&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=HStIjeWHplsXeM%253A%252CG_Y3eWiD_Oe56M%252C_&usg=__Iha5wzuMuqmCNEUf_nEz-t7j0w4%3D&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKrLqgi-_aAhVG_oMKHaNJBr8Q9QEIUjAF#imgrc=tlwynGw1i0pivM:.
¹⁸ John Eliot Gardiner notes, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P28c[SDG-CD].pdf; BCW Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_NTmsZ8Wtk; Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec4.htm#P28, May 2012.
¹⁹ Hofmann/Suzuki BWV 11 notes, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-V09-1c[BIS-CD-1561-SA_booklet].pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec4.htm#V9.
²⁰ Easter Oratorio, 1725 version, BC D8a (https://www.bach-digital.de/servlets/solr/select?sort=worksort01+asc&fl=id%2CreturnId%2CobjectType&q=%2BobjectType%3A%22work%22+%2Bcategory%3A%22BachDigital_class_00000006%5C%3A0001%22+%2Bcategory%3A%22BachDigital_class_00000005%5C%3A0001%22+%2Bwork01%3A%22BWV+249%22&mask=search_form_work.xed&version=4.5&start=0&fl=id&rows=1&XSL.Style=browse&origrows=25.

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To come: Ascension Oratorio theology, Bach sons' Ascension settings, and the genesis of the art of parody in the Christological Passion and feast day Oratorios.

Jane Newble wrote (May 6, 2018):
[To William L. Hoffman] This most admirable and eloquent essay is 7,777 words long. Is there any significance in this?
If 7 is the symbol of completion, then nothing else can be said about BWV 11.

William L. Hoffman wrote (May 10, 2018):
Ascension Oratorio, Part 2: Theology, Parody, Later Works

The concept of an 18th century Christological cycle involved narrative oratorios of the three major feast days, Christmas with the incarnation, Easter with the resurrection, and Pentecost with the Holy Spirit, as well as the sacrificial Passion. To these works, Bach's added the one-day Feast of Ascension, linked to both Easter and Pentecost. He also created extended cantatas with biblical narrative for the six observances of the Christmas period and composed extended, two-part oratorio Passion settings of John, Matthew, and Mark. In addition, as a summary of the oratorio traditions, Bach probably oversaw the assemblage of two pasticcio Passions in the later 1740s, one again using Mark's Gospel with additional arias from Handel's poetic Brockes Passion oratorio and one of only poetic descriptions of a harmony Passion oratorio to music of Carl Heinrich Graun plus Georg Philipp Telemann, a German motet, music of Bach, and chorale settings from Johann Christoph Altnikol. These oratorios were a key, core part of his calling of a "well-ordered church music to the glory of God." In addition, the Christological cycle conceivably could have included Latin church music and sacred songs of the church year. The motets could have been part of a fifth cycle of occasional, original music of joy and sorrow.

The central Ascension Oratorio exists as a narrative and theological bridge between the triumphal Easter resurrection and the trinitarian Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, which marked the symbolic birthday of the Christian Church. As such, this work would serve as the antecedent of a poetic oratorio genre celebrating the Resurrection, later in the enlightened 18th century, set to music of Telemann, Graun, and Emmanuel Bach (see below, "German Oratorio Tradition"). Two other Bach sons, Friedemann and Johann Christoph Friedrich — would compose liturgical Ascension cantatas (see below, "Bach Sons' Ascension Works"). Meanwhile, Bach's Ascension endeavor, as was true with his other oratorios, would address the guiding Lutheran principle of the Doctrine of Justification and the supporting Theology of the Cross. As a transitional work, it would begin to address the Christian principles of the pervasive Trinitarian spirit of God in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit (Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier) and the concept of perpetual life in God's time, beyond human life in eternity. As a feast day oratorio, it is a musical sermon while telling a story. In the process, it was part of a fabric of narrative musical sermons that utilized the art of parody (see below, "New Text Underlay: Oratorio Perspective").

Musico-Theological Oratorio

Bach's Ascension Oratorio 30-minute celebration is a musico-theological creation that addresses the themes of "God's Kingdoms and their Representation." says Eric Chafe.¹ The work can be viewed as symbolic of the two realms of above, spiritual, and heaven with below, earth, and the profane. The Ascension Oratorio also represents an expression of the emerging, enlightened world's view of seeing and understanding says Marcus Rathey in his recent study of the music, drama and liturgy facets of Bach's major, Christological vocal works, particularly the oratorios for Easter and Ascension.² These two works emphasize "at the center of concepts like perception, knowledge, and eventually the understanding of the world as it is." The two oratorios return to the subjective questions found in the Christmas Oratorio: "What do we see? How do we perceive reality? Where do we look for Jesus Christ? How do we interpret what we see?"

The emphasis in Chafe's study involves the "close coordination of two approaches," theological and musical with Chafe citing a unique source, the late Martin Petzoldt's unique, multi-volume Bach Commentary, scholarly study of the sacred texts, their biblical sources, and sermon commentaries that influenced Bach.³ Noting its movement layout and content that resembles the Christmas Oratorio composed four months earlier with the use of parodied music from secular cantatas, Chafe begins with the Ascension Oratorio liturgical and scriptural background, focusing on the incipit, "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen" (Praise God in his kingdoms, Rev. 19:1; 11:15), and the implications of the word "Reichem," of kingdoms, referring (citing Petzoldt), the principal realms of the church militant on earth and the church triumphant of angels and saints in heaven, the below and above.

Most notable is the Book of Revelation line (11:15), using the plural: "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." The kingdoms are described in the Ascension Day Epistle (Acts 1:1-12, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A1-12&version=KJV), notably the references to Jesus being alive after his Passion and being among his disciples on earth, "being seen of them 40 days," "and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." In their last meeting just before the ascension, they ask him in verse six: "wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?." Jesus replies: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." Implicit is theological discussions from Luther to Bach is the implication that "God's kingdom is actually one — that is isthe human perspective that speaks of it in plural terms," says Chafe (Ibid.: 124). Further, this post-Easter resurrection period of 40 days sometimes referred to as the "Spiegle" (mirror) or "Vorbild" (model) of "des ewigen Lebens" (eternal lives).

Interestingly, while Johannes Bugenhagen's Evangelienharmonie description of the Ascension, found in BWV 11 (Movements 2, 5, 7, and 8) uses Mark 16:19c and Luke 24:50-52, the gospel harmony cites from the Epistle reading, only Acts 1:9b-12, omitting the first eight and-a-half verses of Jesus' 40 days and final meeting with the disciples. Instead, the theological underpinnings of these verses are explored in the other movements of madrigalian poetry and chorale stanzas, as noted by Petzoldt, citing other theological writings, usually sermons. These have "copious references (explicit or implicit) to the distinction between heavenly (or spiritual) versus worldly (or physical) kingdoms," observes Chafe (Ibid.: 124).

Gospel Influences

The Ascension Day Epistle plays a major role both in the text of Bach's setting and "in the formation of the liturgical year itself," where the "great 50 days" from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, "the oldest part of the Christian liturgy, the climatic fulfillment of the first half of the [church] year, centered on the life of Christ," he ays (Ibid.: 125f). While the Easter period dominant and unique Gospel of John, the so-called "Farewell Discourse" mostly addressed to his disciples (Chapters 14-16), is not cited on Ascension Day, its emphasis is on being in "the kingdom of God," and John's Chapter 17, Jesus' discourse as intercessory prayer to God for his disciples, is sometimes considered "the equivalent for John of Jesus's ascension." The 18th chapter of John is the beginning of Jesus' Passion with his arrest in the garden. The Ascension Day Gospel and Epistle readings "were chosen because of their narrative character, whereas their full meaning is supplied by the Johannine context," says Chafe, who points out in a footnote (Ibid.: 126) that Martin Luther's favorite gospel was John's because of its emphasis on Jesus' words instead of his deeds, and Luther's favorite part of this gospel was the farewell discourse.

John's gospel in its emphasis on the "transfigured nature" of Jesus, has the noted dualistic opposition between the two spheres of "above" and "below," of the spiritual and earthly realms within which he descends and ascends, where Ascension Day "completes the triumphant 'upswing' of the resurrection, and its own meaning is completed with the coming of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost)." It celebrated Jesus's triumphant return to the world above from which he came, his victorious work now completed, after which Pentecost commemorated his return and continued presence through the Holy Spirit. Many Lutheran commentaries provide a three-fold interpretation of Jesus' work in the three 50-day festivals: Easter as the conqueror [of evil and death], Ascension to God's Kingdom as the "breaker of barriers"

[between the two realms), and Pentecost as "the giver of life" to those on earth through word (Good News, gospel), sacraments and the Holy Spirit in the other kingdom, "that of the church and the faithful below," Chafe says (Ibid.: 127).

Aligned with Jesus' references to his ascending/descending and the two spheres, are the Johannine symbolic dualisms of good/evil, spirit/flesh, and light/darkness, often "creating the impression of two simultaneously existing worlds and of humanity as belonging intrinsically to one or the other." Jesus made the distinction in the gospels that he was "in" the world but not "of" the world, as were humans. This "vertical" view of salvation, says Cafe, is "John's tendency towards realized eschatology," according to which humans are saved or judged by God in the present." This characteristic are particularly associated with Ascension Day, with Jesus as the head of the church and that joined to the members as the body, a link to the assurance of salvation for the faithful, as Jesus promises with the coming of the Holy Spirit "not many days hence" with a baptism in the spirit which Jesus had received just after the baptism in water from John the Baptist.

Theological Commentary, Gospel Views

Another aspect of Jesus' Ascension found in commentaries: his ascent was a visible, perceived event, "not a simple disappearance or sudden vanishing," in contrast to the Calvinist perspective of a purely metaphysical interpretation, says Chafe (Ibid.: 128). His physical ascension in his human nature was a link to those left behind, reinforcing the certainty of salvation for the faithful below, said Lutheran theologians, while reinforcing the Doctrine of Justification instead of Preordination. The most cited theologians' Ascension commentary is that of Heinrich Müller (1631-1675) in the writings of Chafe and Rathey, and Johann Olearius (1611-1684) in Petzoldt.

Passages in the two Bach scripturally-based Ascension cantatas, BWV 128, "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein" (On Christ's ascension alone), of 1725 and BWV 43, "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen" (God ascends with shouts of joy, Psalm 47:6), of 1726, describe how the believer's will see Jesus at the right hand of God (day's Gospel, Mark 16:9c): "I see through the stars / that already from this distance he shows himself at God's right hand," the alto-tenor duet, No. 4, BWV 128, and "I see already in spirit / how at God's right hand / he smites his enemies," the alto aria, No. 9, BWV 43. This is a spiritual seeing of faith with an imaginative physical dimension. It joins those on earth "in the Spirit" with Jesus and the world above," says Chafe (Ibid.: 129). This is reinforced in the Ascension Oratorio with the soprano aria (No. 10): "Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke Kann ich doch beständig sehn." (Jesus, your gracious look / I can still see continually" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV11-Eng3P.htm). His "presence through grace" is his perpetual spiritual "presence below." While orthodox Lutherans also viewed Christ's subsequent, final coming signaling the resurrection and ascension of the believers, the pietists had "a tendency to emphasize the presentness of salvation still more," says Chafe. At the time of the composition of the Ascension Oratorio in early 1725, Bach also probably was working as editor of the Schmelli Geansgbuch, a 1736 Leipzig compendium of 964 favorite established and pietist hymns (often using popular melodies),⁴ which includes in its section of 10 Ascension sacred songs the two which Bach would use in this oratorio as well as the nine in the previous six-part Christmas Oratorio, most not found in Bach's earlier Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch of 1682.

The "ascension is the other side of Jesus return in the Holy Spirit as predicted by him in the farewell discourse" and set to music in Bach's Easter period cantatas, BWV 108, "Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe" (It is good for you that I should go away, John 16:7), for Cantate (4th Sunday after Easter), and Cantata 74, "Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten," (Whoever loves me will keep my word, John 14:23), for Pentecost Sunday, both composed in 1725 and presented in lieu of chorale cantatas to commissioned texts of Leipzig poet Marianne von Ziegler (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Mariana_von_Ziegler). Thus, the faithful are perpetually "transferred into the heavenly condition (himmlische Wesen) along with Christ," says noted pietist writer August Hermann Francke (1663-1727), cited in Chafe (Ibid.: 129).

The textual and musical design of the Ascension Oratorio reveals theological views showing two stages of meditation in each half, mediated in scripture and using the festive key of D Major for trumpets and drums, similar to the two previous oratorios for Christmas and Easter, says Chafe (Ibid: 131). The two arias have contrasting points of meditation: the first, No. 4 for alto and strings, "Ach, bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben" (Ah, stay yet, my dearest life), is "entirely sorrowful" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeSTCTue-yY), while the soprano aria with added woodwinds (No. 10), "Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke" (Jesus, your gracious look), "affirms the believers joy in the certainty or presentness of salvation" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQVzdbHe8Oc), he says (Ibid.: 132). It also reinforces the "ideas of seeing Jesus continually" in the spirit of the perpetual presence of the believer on earth. The use of the two angels in the narrative canon (No. 7b), ""Ihr Männer von Galiläa, / was stehet ihr und sehet gen Himmels" (You men of Galilee, / why do you stand here and gaze towards heaven?), turns the narrative focus to the disciples on the Mount of Olives (Luke 24:52), "drawing a parallel between Jesus's suffering on the Mount of Olives in the passion and his ascension" 40 hours and 40 days later, from his separation to his unity with mankind.

Bassetto Style: Innocence

The lack of basso continuo in the bass in this final aria, "Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke," before the closing chorale represents both a symbolic pictorial and a theological portrayal. This bassetto, basscheten baroque technique, meaning "little bass," sets the movement apart from the music that surrounds it, often emphasizing innocence, as well as theological ideas such as "God's judgment (above) and his mercy or love (below), [and] Jesus's taking away (above) the sins of the world (below)." This theme also is set to the same music as "Ach, bleibe doch, in its contrafaction in the penultimate movement of the Mass in B Minor, the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) who takes away the sins of the world, set in the late 1740s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yebm-9w6Q7A).

Another biblical meaning of bassetto may be the image of the unity of the Father and Son in the godhead, described in Johannine theology as the unity of Father and Son before the cosmos was created, equating both. Also, the aria is a representation of a vision below of the world above. A more symbolic, spiritual concept of this soprano aria, "Jesu, deine Gnadenblicke," is that in the baroque tradition it describes the current presence of Jesus Christ, in the biblical Song of Songs, in mystical union (unio mystica, love relationship) of bride and bridegroom, says Rathey (Ibid.: 161f) in their perpetual indwelling (inhabitatio), the bride also representing the soul or church. In a profane sense, the "Gnadenblicke" also could represent the "gracious gaze" of the secular ruler (by divine right) "who regarded their subjects mercifully," he says, in a "power relationship" with the efficacy of the gaze showing divine mercy and divine love united.

The relationship between the alto and soprano arias shows both the Johannine concept of human sorrow turned to joy, as well as the tonal allegory of above and below, says Chafe (Ibid.: 138f). Another shift involving major and minor tonalities, besides in the arias, is the middle section of the opening angelic chorus, which after the triumphal D Major opening (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeqUaqfkYk, turns in "Sucht sein Lob recht zu vergleichen"(Seek to express his praise rightly) in the minor and with syncopation turns to the worldly song to God's honor, the movement providing a foretaste of God's kingdom. The two accompagnato recitatives with flutes are the believer's personal, different responses to the narrative action: No. 3, bass, "Ach, Jesu, ist dein Abschied schon so nah?" (Ah Jesus, is your departure already so near?), and No. "Ach ja! so komme bald zurück" (Ah then! return again soon). The two-fold description of human consolation for the physically departed Jesus and the joy with the spirit in eternal life is reflected in the two chorales, closing each part: the first (No. 6), "Nun lieget alles unter dir" (Now all lies beneath you), that God's Son reigns above all, and the closing (No. 11), "Wenn soll es doch geschehen . . . Dass ich ihn werde sehen" (When will it happen . . . that I shall see him).

Narrative, Interpretive Balance

With its textual and affective passages that distinguish joy and sorrow/sobriety, as well as their theological under pinnings, the Ascension Oratorio offers a measured balance between straightforward narration on the one hand, and reflective pairs of poetic personal arias and accompagnati, as well as a festive opening chorus and two congregational hymns. The final chorale chorus is in mixed style (stile misto) of concerted orchestra in syncopation and homophonic hymn in triple time). Three of the madrigalian numbers — opening chorus and the two arias — are fairly straightforward, non-transformative parodies from original, congratulatory secular cantatas, retaining the affect or emotional mood of opportunity and compositional method.

In contrast to the earlier six-part narrative Christmas Oratorio, with its use of profane music from recently-composed profane, congratulatory drammi per musica, Bach in the single-day Ascension Oratorio took older music for two celebratory ceremonial events with sacred overtones: two arias from the 1725 wedding serenade, BWV Anh. 1, "Auf! süß-entzückende Gewalt" (Up, sweet-enchanting force and pow'r), with mythological figures, and the opening chorus of 1732 Cantata, BWV Anh. 18, "Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden" (Happy day, long hoped-for hours), dedication of the renovated St. Thomas School. These works were the recycled stock of occasional music, sometimes with new texts for other yet similar circumstances (see Thomas Braatz, (January 18, 2003): BWV 11 Ascension Oratorio - The Parodies, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV11-D.htm).

The common sacred elements involved two contrasting love songs in the wedding piece and the outdoor dedication of Bach's religious school remodeling with narrative gratitude to knowledge, the town fathers, and this important church-community institution (Z Philip Ambrose text, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/III.html. In another movement, beginning Part 2 after the speeches (instead of a sermon), the aria "Geist und Herze sind begierig" (Heart and spirit are most eager), later was made into the contrafaction, "Domine Deus, rex coelestis (Song of God, king of heaven) in the late 1730s Missa: Kyrie-Gloria, BWV 233. While Bach had no specific recycling applications in mind, he managed wholesale a year later to re-text this cantata into BWV Anh. 12, "Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden" (Happy day, long hoped-for hours), a quickly-assembled Leipzig tribute to the attributes of the new Saxon Prince August III, on his first Nameday, 3 August 1733 (http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/IV.html).

German Oratorio Tradition

Bach's Ascenension Oratorio fills a major niche in the development of the genre of the 18th Century German Oratorio with biblical narrative, which grew out of the north German celebratory Abendmusik and Passion traditions (see "Bach’s Dramatic Music: Serenades, Drammi per Musica, Oratorios," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/HoffmanBachDramaII.htm). It was unique in that no other composer set an Ascension Day oratorio, while many composed numerous cantatas for that single feast day. Meanwhile, Georg Philipp Telemann perfected the oratorio, both sacred and secular and blurred the lines between the two, helping establish a new genre of poetic music in his Passion oratorios while Bach was content to asa pasticcio non-narrative Passion in the late 1740s, with the music of Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Heinrich_Graunwhile also suggesting the new, fashionable trend toward the enlightened, "sensitive" style (Empfindsamkeit).

In Berlin in 1755, the younger court poet Carl Wilhelm Ramler (1725-1798, https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Wilhelm_Ramler&prev=search) produced a new style of "lyrical drama" or "spiritual opera," called "Der Tod Jesu" (the Death of Jesus, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Tod_Jesu), which further broke away from old, orthodox religious traditions, no longer having biblical texts or performed in churches. Somewhat similar to the famed Passion Play at Oberammergau, it replaced the earlier Brockes Passion (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockes_Passion), which many composers also had set and was performed widely throughout Lutheran German, until "Der Tod Jesu" was succeeded beginning in 1829 with the introduction of Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Also at the Court of Frederik the Great was Bach's second son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel from 1738 to 1767, who participated in the premiere of "Der Tod Jesu."

Bach Sons' Ascension Works

Meanwhile, in 1760 Ramler wrote a sequel to "Der Tod Jesu," entitled "Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu" (The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus), soon set by Telemann, Graun, and others. Emmanuel succeeded his godfather, Telemann, in Hamburg, also presenting annual oratorio Passions and poetic Passion oratorios, as well as biblical oratorios in the latest style. Emmanuel introduced his musical setting of Ramler's Resurrection and Ascension libretto in 1774 with a revised version in 1778. Finally, in 1788 after its publication, Emmanuel's setting was presented in Vienna, conducted by Mozart, and supported by Baron von Swieten, German ambassador who championed Sebastian and Handel to Vienna and Mozart. "Ramler’s libretto is not a dramatic narrative, but a lyrical description of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, high­lighting the feelings aroused by these events, without depicting actual personalities. Although the text is entirely a work of the imagination, it nevertheless contains several paraphrases from the Old and New Testaments" (https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67364, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgU_GSjH85Y).

Two other Bach sons composed liturgical music for the Ascension feast: Wilhelm Friedemann in Halle, "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen," BR F 11 (c1750, Johann Jakob Rambach lyrics), and "Wo geht die Lebensreise hin?," BR F 12 (Johann Friedrich Möhring lyrics), and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (so-called "Buckeburg Bach"), "Groß und mächtig, stark und prächtig," Wf XIV/8 (1777, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00002209?XSL.Style=detail). Friedemann's performance of his BR F 11 was presented c1755-58 on the same program with his father's Ascension Cantata BWV 43, which he had inherited.

In 1786 in Hamburg, Emmanuel presented a historic benefit public concert with large forces that included his father's "Credo" from the Mass in B Minor, Emmanuel's Magnificat, and music from Handel's Messiah (http://accentus.com/productions/c-p-e-bach-the-1786-charity-concert-a-revival). "This gives us a fascinating late-eighteenth-century perspective of the piece [Credo] and a window on its reception," observes Daniel R. Melamed in his just-published study of the Mass and the Christmas Oratorio.⁵ An event more historic concert was Mendelssohn's public presentation of the monumental St. Matthew Passion with the Berlin Singakademie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJNs6-FRWE0, https://www.loc.gov/item/ihas.200156436/), which initiated the "Bach Revival."

This was part of a growing romantic tradition of amateur choral societies presenting major sacred works in concert halls. "It is worth stressing that these ensembles were assembled not for any historically informed reason but to match the philosophical goals, institutional structure, and practical needs of the sponsoring organization," observes Melamed (Ibid.: 18f), a tradition that persisted until then 1950s, often reinforced with complete recordings of now varied, professional approaches to the music, including historically informed. "Whatever we do," he emphasizes, "we need to recognize that each performance reflects choices and represents an interpretation; there is no ideologically neutral presentation." The revered Bach sacred music beginning in the 19th century was part of the growing image of Bach as the "Fifth Evangelist" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n4d7OLnsrs), an image finally challenged in the later 20th century by Protestant theologian and scholar Friedrich Blume in "Outlines of a New Picture of Bach" (https://www.jstor.org/stable/731236?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents, also see Theology [by William L. Hoffman] - Bach Cantatas).

Meanwhile, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, like the B-Minor Mass, was not performed complete and did not begin to take their places in the Bach pantheon until then 1850s. Then while the Mass was accepted as an affirmative declaration in varied, diversified styles, the Christmas Oratorio was soon viewed as a lightweight progressive collection of virtual parody movements from secular sources as well as self-plagiarism bordering on idolatry. To counter this, German antiquarian Carl von Winterfield conflated the Christmas account with Bach's theologically-rich St. Matthew Passion, pointing out the former's use of the so-called "Passion Chorale," "O sacred head now wounded," near the beginning and at the close the work was also the dominant chorale in five verses in the latter. "This claim persists to this day" in popular and critical writings, notes Melamed (Ibid.: 112), although the melody is used in other contexts besides the Passion.

This view of the underlying gavitas of the Christmas Oratorio was reinforced in 1916, shows Melamed, with another German commentator's suggestion that the narrative crowd chorus, "Wo ist der neugeborne König der Jüden?" (Where is the newborn King of the Jews?), had been adapted through parody from the lost St. Mark Passion chorus, "Pfui dich, wie fein zerbrichtst du den Tempel" (Fie upon thee, how well thou dost destroy the temple; Ambrose trans.). Subsequently, beginning in 1968, other commentators have suggested the other Christmas crowd choruses also are parodies from the Passion, particularly the angel's canticle motet: "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe" (Glory to God in the Highest), originated in the Passion outburst condemnation, "Kreuzige ihn! (Crucify him) — quite a different affect.⁶ As Melamed observes: "The question posed in the Christmas Oratorio's first chorale — 'How shall I received you' — is worth asking about the work itself, and the answer does not have to include Bach's Passion settings as our point of engagement with this matchless music" (Ibid.: 124).

New Text Underlay: Oratorio Perspective

While narrative crowd chorus parody in Bach's work is continually questioned, the role of new text underlay in some of Bach's major works is accepted, particularly in his narrative oratorios, where there is a pervasive use and systematic develop, beginning in 1725 and culminating a decade later in the Christmas and Ascension Oratorios. Early 1725 was a milestone period in Bach's compositional history, especially as it relates to the development of the process of parody from existing music In the former, Bach presented the congratulatory Shepherds’ Cantata, BWV 249a, “Entflieht, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen” (O flee now and vanish, O yield now, ye sorrows), for the birthday of Duke Christian of Sachsen-Weißenfels, on Friday, February 23, 1725. It was Bach’s first active collaboration with Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici) and would soon appear as a virtual parody, except for the accompagnati, as the Easter Oratorio, "Kommt, eilet und laufet" Come, hurry and run, you swift feet), on Easter Sunday, April 1.

Based on the concept of a secular serenade with mythological and allegorical characters, the text was conveniently altered into the story of four Gospel characters: Mary daughter of James (Soprano), Mary Magdalene (Alto), Peter (Tenor), and John (Bass), at Jesus resurrection. There was no biblical narrative, only allusions to the events, and no congregational hymns — being readily transformed in the style of the Italian sacred vulgate oratorios of Carissimi, Steffani, Scarlatti, and Handel's "La Resurrezione" (1660-1720). In August 1725, Bach moved into the new, profane genre favored at the Saxon Court, the so-called drammi per musica (miniature, static opera) of occasional, celebratory music, with BWV 205, Aeolus Pacified, also to a Picander text. These "secular cantatas" (or maybe better called non-liturgical cantatas)," says Melamed (Ibid.: 75) constituted a great variety from a chamber opera, Coffee Cantata, BWV 211, to a full-scale outdoor production with double chorus and large orchestra, "Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen" (Praise your good fortune, blessed Saxony), BWV 215. As dramatic occasional works, they were particularly suitable for parody into profane and well as sacred cantatas since both shared the features of opera with collective choruses and individual arias and oratory. Being theologically and liturgically driven with narrative and congregational chorales in his Passion settings of John, Matthew, and Mark, Bach was able in the mid-1730s to create a series of drammi per musica for civic events, often involving the Saxon Court, and utilize the music for the larger form of the oratorio as liturgical music in the festive services.

FOOTNOTES

¹ Eric Chafe, "Bach's Ascension Oratorio: God's Kingdoms and Their Representation," in J. S. Bach and the Oratorio Tradition, Bach Perspectives 8, ed. Daniel R. Melamed (University of Illinois Press, 2011: 122-145), in association with the American Bach Society.
² Marcus Rathey, Chapter 6: "Seeing and Understanding, The Oratorios for Easter and Ascension," in Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven CN: Yale University Press, 2016: 74ff).
³ Martin Petzoldt, Bach Kommentar: Theologisch Musikwissenschaftlicke Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs; Vol. 2, Die Geistlichen Kantaten vom 1. Advent bis zum Trinitatisfest; Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2007: 920-37).
⁴ See Georg C. Schmelli, Friedrich Schultze, Gesangbuch, Scholar Select facsimile (Lavergne TN: Andesite Press, 2018).
⁵ Daniel R. Melamed, Listening to Bach: the Mass in B Minor and the Christmas Oratorio (Oxford University Press, 2018: 5).
⁶ For a closer examination of research of possible crowd chorus parodies, see "Narrative Parody In Bach's St. Mark Passion" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/BWV247-Hoffman.pdf), pages 10-11, 49-52.

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To Come: 1726 Ascension Cantata BWV 43, "Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen" (God ascends with shouts of joy, Psalm 47:6), two-part template of the Ascension Oratorio.

Cantata BWV 11 [Himmelfahrts-Oratorium]: Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen [Ascension Oratorio] for Ascension Day (1735)
Discography: Details & Complete Recordings | Recordings of Individual Movements
Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4