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William L. Hoffman wrote (July 6, 2018):
Bach in Cöthen, 1719-29: Cantata 36a
Bach's tenure in Cöthen as kapellmeister to Prince Leopold was a time of joyous music making involving some dozen congratulatory vocal serenades and considerable instrumental music and a time of sorrow at the death of his first wife, Maria Barbara, buried 7 June 1720, and their 10-month-old son and last child, Leopold Augustus, buried 28 September 1719. Her older sister, Friedelena Margaretha, continued to care for the children until her death in 1729 in Leipzig. Bach's second wife, Anna Magdalena, daughter of Weißenfels court trumpeter Johann Caspar Wilcke, was recruited presumably by Sebastian and arrived at Cöthen in the spring of 1721 at age 19 and perhaps "the last musician to join the kapalle" during his tenure, says Robert L. and Traute. Marshall.1 Her annual salary was 300 thalers, second to Kapellmeister Bach at 400 thalers (plus ample family residence), and other remuneration.
By 1720, the gradual decline of the kapelle budget and reduction of salaried musicians from 17 to 14 had begun, the Marshalls point out, "and had accelerated by 1723." Already, Bach had unsuccessfully sought other possible employment: Hamburg St. James Church, November 1720; dedication of Brandenburg Concertos, March 1721; Zerbst Kapellmeister, August 1722. Other major events included Bach's marriage to Anna Magdalena, 3 December 1721; the marriage of Prince Leopold to Friedericka Henrietta of Anhalt Bernberger (1702-23) on 11 December 1721, and Bach's application to be Leipzig music director and St. Thomas cantor, by 21 December 1722.2
Meanwhile in Cöthen Bach presented his birthday serenade, Cantata BWV 173a, "Durchlauchtster Leopold" (Most illustrious Leopold, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpbsXFSsoa4), probably on 10 December 1722, to an unknown librettist, possibly Johann Friedrich Helbig (1680-1722), the late Saxe-Eisenach court poet. Since the death of noted writer and Cöthen court poet Christian Friedrich Hunold just short of his 40th birthday on 6 August 1721, the kapelle had no poet of stature to write the libretti for the birthday and New Year's serenades as well as the sacred cantatas and no record is confirmed for other performances on these subsequent dates as Prince Leopold apparently lost interest in this music. In Cantata 173a, "the two soprano arias [No. 2, gavotte-style "Güldner Sonnen frohe Stunden" (Happy hours of golden sunshine, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVAEQECbKyg), and No. 6, bouree- style "So schau dies holden Tages Licht" (Look upon this day's lovely light, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfRZn00Juds)] were no doubt sung by Anna Magdalena; they reveal a voice of considerably agility," say the Marshalls (Ibid.: 66).
Cöthen Performance Record
The performance record of Bach's vocal music in Cöthen (1719-29) remains fragmentary although the profane congratulatory serenades for Prince Leopold's birthday on December 10 and New Year's on January 1, are the most complete and extant (see https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BachCantatas/conversations/messages/39569, "Cöthen Homage Serenades"). The first four (BWV 66a, 134a, Anh. 6 and 7) were found in the published texts of Christian Friedrich Hunold (Menantes), court poet and professor at the University of Halle who died in August 1721. Only one sacred work to a Menantes text is extant, "Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen" (Praise ye the Lord, all ye of his great armies), BWV Anh 5. Consisting of seven movements, it was one of two cantatas which he composed for the twenty-fourth birthday of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen on 10 December 1718 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWVAnh5.htm, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XIII.html).
The other cantata, Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, BWV 66a, also has been reconstructed (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BachCantatas/conversations/messages/39570;_ylc=X3oDMTJxbjJicW44BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI1ODU2MzgEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTIyNDkzBG1zZ0lkAzM5NTcwBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3JwbHkEc3RpbWUDMTUyOTgxMTIxMQ--?act=reply&messageNum=39570. The music of "Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerschare" is completely lost, but there has been speculation that Bach could have reused it in another work, the opening chorus of 1724 New Year's Cantata BWV 190, "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!" (Sing to the Lord a new song!; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV190-D6.htm); Bach scholars have suggested that the chorus was derived from BWV Anh. 5, Psalm 119:175, and may have influenced the chorus "Gloria in excelsis Deo," in the 1733 Missa: Kyrie-Gloria, BWV 232a. The earlier version of Cantata 190 with Movements 1, 3 and 5 may have been premiered on 1 January 1723 in Cöthen (new recording, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LagiRcpew).
Two works survive only with Menantes' text: January 1, 1720, New Year BWV Anh 6, "Dich loben die lieblichen Strahlen der Sonne" (http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/ix.html); Dec. 10, 1720, Birthday, BWV Anh. 7, Pastoral dialogue, "Heut ist gewiß ein guter Tag" (Today indeed is one fine day, by Ambrose), http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XII.html, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001315?lang=en). Cantata BWV Anh. 7 has three allegorical figures in Hunold’s text: the shepherdess Sylvia, the huntsman Phillis, and the shepherd Thyrsis. This 10-movement work (no music survives) alternating recitatives and arias, including a terzett and a closing tutti, was Hunold’s last known collaboration with Bach (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/HoffmanBachDramaII.htm).
On January 1, 1721, New Year, Cantata 184a, no original text, was performed, instrumental parts only (2 flutes, strings, Bc, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002333) survive as 1724 Pentecost Tuesday Cantata BWV 184, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV184-D4.htm).
On January 1 or later 1723, Cantata BWV 194a, ?"Hochster-wünschtes Freudenfest" (no text), only original oboes and strings parts extant (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV194-D4.htm; 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+194a%22&mask=search_form_work.xed&version=4.5&start=0&fl=id&rows=1&XSL.Style=browse&origrows=25.
Bach also probably composed Italian secular Cantata BWV 203, “Amore traditore” in Köthen , according to Wolff (JSB:TLM, p.201f; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV203-D3.htm). Wolff speculates that bass virtuoso J.G. Riemenschneder might have sung the three-movement work, “another hint at the incalculable riches we are missing from Bach’s musical oeuvre.” Court records show singer Riemenschneider was paid on April 8, 1719. During that time, the same records show (Friedrich Smend, Bach in Köthen, 1985 Eng. ed., p. 190) that guest instrumentalists (violinists, a lutenist, horn players) were employed, as well as “Diskantists” (falsettists) and “The Castrato Ginacini” (paid March 21, 1719). Bach may have engaged Ginacini to sing Francesco Conti’s “operatic” solo devotional cantata, “Languet anima mea,” during Holy Week in the Köthen castle chapel, according to program notes in the CD recording by Magdalena Kožená and Reinhard Goebel. Bach apparently transcribed the music in Weimar, added 2 oboes at Köthen, and a basso continuo organ part for church service in Leipzig in 1724.
Other Köthen court events for which Bach may have provided music include the weddings of Prince Leopold and the Princess of Anhalt-Bernberg, December 11, 1721, as well as his wedding to Anna Magdalena on December 3, 1721, and music on the death of Leopold’s consort, Princess Frederica Henrietta (the so-called “Amusa”), on April 4, 1723. In addition, Bach may have presented music or participated in other performances elsewhere during his Köthen period (1717-1723): a homage cantata for Friedrich II of Saxe-Gotha, August 2, 1721; a church performance at the Schleiz Court of Heinrich XI Count von Reuss, around August 10, 1721; and a birthday cantata, O vergnügte Stunden, BWV Anh. 194, for Prince Johann August of Anhalt-Zerbst, July 29, 1722, or August 8, 1722. Wolff also lists (p. 208) other Bach extensive travels from Köthen to Berlin, 1719; Carlsbad, 1718 and 1720; Halle for failed attempt to meet Handel, 1719; and Hamburg audition, 1720.
Bach the Cöthen Kapellemeister and Anna Magdalena return to Cöthen on several occasions in the mid-1720s for guest appearances: 18 July 1724 (6th Sunday after Trinity), perhaps for an encore performance of Cantata 173a (surviving score); possibly June 1725 for the wedding of Leopold to his second wife, Charlotte Friederica Amalie Wilhelmina of Nassau Siegen (1702-1785), ?Cantata 202, "Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten," (Give way now, dismal shadows, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV202-D5.htm, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2CJkdOxJd4); and Bach composed "Steigt freudig in die Luft" (Soar joyfully in the air), BWV 36a, presenting it in Cothen on 30 November 1726 for the 24th birthday of the Prince Leopold's second wife, Princess Charlotte Friederike Amalie of Nassau-Siegen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeNziPADDVQ, to a text of Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), who published it in his Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Teil I of 1727 (http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV36a.html. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV36-D4.htm.
It is quite possible that Bach's first sacred version, Cantata 36(d), BC 3a, “Schwingt freudig euch empor” (Soar in your joy up), was presented the next day, the 1st Sunday in Advent, 1 December 1725, with just the opening chorus, three da-capo arias (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV36-D4.htm), and closing chorale, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” (How beautifully shines the morning star), beginning Bach's third, last extant church-year cantata cycle. In September 1726, Bach dedicated his Keyboard Partita No. 1 in B-flat, BWV 825 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGMbBZky-gA), to the couple's newborn son, Emanuel Ludwig, born 12 September (d.1728).
Picander's libretto of BWV 36a 3 "counts among the wealth of transmitted examples of courtly panegyric, pompous speeches, and laudations," says Alexander Ferdinand Grychtoloik.4 "As is adequate to its context, it incorporates any emblems of rulership," he says, "such as the sun as giver of life and center if the firmament of the planets." The vocal soloists are assigned "the contemplative perspective typical of cantatas" and in its nine movements covers "thanks and praise for the young princess" of Anhalt-Cöthen" with its Calvinist connection to the governing Prussian Court (http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV36a.html). There are many customary images of spring, like the jaunty gavotte in the closing chorus, "Flourish, blossom, live thou long yet," and most likely was performed in the Splegel-saal (hall of mirrors).
Grychtoloik's reconstruction sets the Picander text to the BWV 36c music, including the recitatives nos. 2, 4, 6, and 8 "which Bach certainly have written anew for the occasion. by applying historical techniques of composition and orchestration, and by extensively borrowing material from the recitatives in the extant versions BWV 36a and BWV 36b," he says (Ibid.: 11). Almost ten years later, in 1735, Bach performed the music a third time, on this occasion as a birthday offering (July 28) to the Leipzig University professor Johann Florens Rivinius (1681-1755). The text was again rewritten, perhaps by Picander, this time as Die Freude reget sich (Joy rouses itself) BWV36b (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV36b.htm, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000050;jsessionid=C4166A11E004985B7094BCF74C2C5B1E, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV36b.html).
Cantata 36c extant score (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000868) in its various guises was Bach's first multiple parody, beginning as a secular cantata, “Schwingt freudig euch empor,” probably written as early as April 1725 to an unpublished text possibly by Picander, and performed as a birthday tribute to a Leipzig academic. His identity has not been confirmed, but Bach scholar Werner Neumann suggested (1977) that the recipient might have been the noted poet Johann Burckhard Mencke (1675-1732), a professor at the university who celebrated his 50th birthday that year (April 8). It was the model for the succeeding versions both secular and sacred.
A comparison of the original version, BWV 36c (Schreier) and the 1726 BWV 36a reconstruction shows the following: No. 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eTK9YrRhiM; No. 3, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFAktNf1BI; No. 5, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFAktNf1BI; No. 7, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAFAktNf1BI; and comparison 36b/8 (Rilling), and 36a/9, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtHeZZTSqvI. The closing movement chorus-recitative in the three secular versions, BWV 36a-c, was replaced by the closing chorale in the 1731 final sacred version. BWV 36 which also has three internal chorale settings in place of the profane recitatives, giving in a "semi-chorale-cantata structure," observes Richard D. P. Jones.5
About 1727, Bach set one more Hunold-Mtext, extended solo soprano Cantata BWV 204, “Ich bin in mir vergnügt” (I am content in myself) or “Von der Verngnügsamkeit (On Contentedness), composed for an unspecified occasion c.1727, possibly a home event (see BCW Details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV204.htm . The text author is Christian Friedrich Hunold (1681-1721) [BCW Short Biography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Hunold.htm ], and an unknown poet (Movements 7 & 8). German text and Francis Browne English translation are found at BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV204-Eng3.htm and Z. Philip Ambrose English translation/notes at http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV204.html . The scoring is for soloist, soprano; and orchestra, transverse flute, 2 oboes, 2 violins, viola, continuo (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000974).
In 1729, following the death of Prince Leopold, Sebastian, Anna Magdalena and Friedemann returned to Cöthen to present the funeral music, BWV 244a-1143, “Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt” (Cry, children, cry to all the world), for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, 23 March 1729 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Weimar-Leipzig-Sorrow.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klagt,_Kinder,_klagt_es_aller_Welt,_BWV_244a, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BryU_l6Ixsc).
Later in 1729, it is possible that on July 21 "Des Zephyrs Atem rauscht und fliegt“ (The Zephyrs’ Breath Rushes and Flies); text Conrad Benedict Hulse; was performed as a possible tribute for Prince August Ludwig of Anhalt-Köthen (brother and heir of Prince Leopold). It is one of three texts incipits found in the Bückeburg Court Library, according to the late Hildegard Tigemann, “Unbekannte Textdrücke zu drei Gelegenheit Kantaten J. S. Bach’s aus dem Jahre 1729” (Unfamiliar Printed Texts to Three J. S. Bach Occasional Cantatas From the Year 1729), Bach Jahrbuch 1994. The text housed in the Leipzig archives is not extant (see "1729: Bach Turns to Secular Compositions," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV174-D4.htm).
FOOTNOTES
1 Robert L. and Traute M. Marshall, Exploring the World of J. S. Bach: A Traveler's Guide, with American Bach Society (Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016: 65), https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt18j8xnc.
2 Events confirmed in Robin A. Leaver, Part 6, Chronology, Chapter 20, "Life and Works 1685-1750," The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach (London, New York: Routledge, 2017: 499), also other details, BCW "Guide to Bach Tour Köthen (Anhalt)," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Tour/Kothen.htm.
3 Cantata 36a BCW Discussion & Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV36a.htm, Bach Digital, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000049;jsessionid=FBD995DAD5F08E6B22D27A6F8C2FF07D; References, BG 34 (secular cantatas, Paul Graf Waldersee, 1887), NBA I/1 KB (Advent BWV 36, Alfred Dürr, 1955) and NBA I/35 (Cöthen cantatas, Alfred Dürr, 1964), Bach Compendium G 12.
4 Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik, "Ruhn und Glück (Fame and Happiness) - J.S. Bach: Birthday Cantatas BWV 36a & 66a" (2012: 10-13, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Grychtolik-A.htm#C1).
5 Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 2, 1717-1750, Music to Delight the Spirit (Oxford UK: Oxford University Press, 2013, 194, 283).
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To Come: More serenades and drammi per musica in Leipzig |
