Cantatas for Purification

Purification Feast: Bach Cantatas, Motets, Chorales

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 4, 2018):
In Bach's time, between the post-Christmas observances of Epiphany Time centering on the beginnings of Jesus' ministry and the three pre-Lenten, so-called "gesima" (Lord's Days) Sundays came the fixed Marian observance of the Feast of the Visitation of Jesus, after his circumcision eight days after his birth, when the family presented him in the temple in Jerusalem for purification and redemption of the first-born, now called the Feast of the Presentation or Candelmas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_of_Jesus_at_the_Temple). This feast still observed on February 2, had several distinctions. For Bach, it was the second most important musical event, following Christmas, in which he presented at least 14 performances of nine works by himself and other composers; in the Gospel tradition, this feast involved the last canticle of praise in Luke's account (2:22-40) of the Christological incarnation of Jesus with his initial coming; the celebration established the humanity of Jesus which would end with his sacrificial atonement; and finally, the canticle of Simeon, called Nunc dimittis (Now you dismiss, Luke 2:29-32), beginning with the prayer, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunc_dimittis), expresses a celebration of salvation and an acceptance of mortality.

Bach's Visitation Feast performance calendar shows some 14 presentations of nine cantatas in Leipzig (1724-48); some seven presentations of two cantatas or two-part cantatas; four diverse original works composed and presented in Leipzig; possibly four works of three other composers (Johann Ludwig Bach, G. H. Stölzel, G. P. Telemann) presented in Leipzig; at least three cantatas that did double duty (BWV 158, 157 and 161); and three cantatas (BWV 161, 95, and 27) that have direct connections with the related 16th Sunday after Trinity. The Purification cantatas are: BWV 82 "Ich habe genug" (I have enough; Leipzig 1727); BWV 83, "Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bande" (Joyful time in the new covenant; Leipzig, 1724); BWV 125, "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" (With peace and joy I go from here; Leipzig, 1725); BWV 157, "Ich lasse du nicht, du segnest mich denn" (Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn! (I am not letting you go, unless you bless me first!; Leipzig, 1727, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV157-D4.htm); BWV 158, "Der Friede sei mit dir (Peace be with you); Leipzig, 1735?); BWV 161 Komm, du süße Todesstunde (Come, sweetest death-hour; Weimar, 1715); BWV 200, "Bekennen will ich seinen Namen" [I will confess his name, movement of Stölzel]; BWV Anh 157, "Ich habe Lust zu scheiden" (I have delight in parting; Hamburg, 1724) [by Georg Philipp Telemann]. Bach probably performed Stölzel’s "Ich habe dich zum Lichte der Heiden gemacht” [I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles; not extant] in 1736. He performed Ludwig Bach’s JLB-9, “Mache dich auf, werde licht” (Rise up and shine, be a light) in 1726 and a double bill of BWV 82 and 83 in 1727.

In the context of Bach's creative output, the Feast of the Visitation in early 1726 marked a new direction for Bach. He had begun his original version of the monumental St. Matthew Passion and also was composing cantatas for his third church-year cycle. Serendipitously, Bach was able to work on his Passion and present a series of cantatas by his Meiningen cousin Johann Ludwig Bach (Discussions in the Week of June 20, 2010, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV15-D.htm), beginning with JLB-9 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Ludwig_Bach.) This was followed the next day and for the next month on the Sundays of the 4th and 5th after Epiphany (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Bach-JL-Gen1.htm, and the three "gesima" Sundays with five more works of Ludwig Bach: "Gott ist unsre Zuversichtund Stärk" (God is our confidence) and strength, Psalm 46), "Der Gottlosen Arbeit wird fehlen" (The wicked worketh a deceitful work, Proverbs 11:18), "Darum will ich auch erwahlen" (Therefore will I be chosen), "Darum sät euch Gerechtigkeit" (Therefore justice also says), and "Ja, mir hast du Arbeit gemacht" (Yes, now hast thou labor made, Isaiah 43:24). Bach then scheduled and performed further Ludwig Bach cantatas for the Easter Season while substituting the so-called Brauns-Keiser St. Mark Passion for Good Friday (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1726.htm) and completing his St. Matthew Passion the next year for Good Friday 1727.

Another Bach vocal work appropriate for the Visitation Feast in today's lectionary is Motet, BWV Anh. 159, (Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn!, (I am not letting you go, unless you bless me first!) http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWVAnh159-Gen.htm, The music is in three parts: A prelude on Genesis 32:26b, a fugue withe the same text and a soprano canto of Stanza 3, “Weil du mein Gott und Vater bist" (Since you are my God and father), and an appended plain chorale, BWV 421, “Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz”(Why are you afflicted, my heart), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7qysPs2xQE. The Genesis passage is appropriate to Simeon's recognition of the Messiah and the prophetess Anna's fidelity, who are "content now and at peace, having been assured of God's presence in the Christ child," says John S. Setterlund.¹ He also suggests Cantata 82 as an appropriate alternate for Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord. The Lukan Gospel text for the Purification/Presentation Feast (2:22-40) is used in today's lectionary for the less-usual Sunday after Christmas, this year's Year B, and occurred on December 31. The preferred Bach Cantata for this Sunday is BWV 83, while the alternate is BWV 125, says Sutterlund (Ibid.: 16).

Chorale Cantata 125, "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin," is appropriate for a festival service for the Feast of Visitation in Bach's time in Leipzig, says Bach in Context.² The entire of Bach music is: Cantata "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" (Actus Tragicus), BWV 106; Orgelbüchlein Chorale Prelude "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin," BWV 616; Motet "Komm, Jesu, Komm!," BWV 229; Chorale Prelude "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit" (Before thy throne I now appear). BWV 668; Cantata "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin," BWV 125; Motet "O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht" (O Jesus Christ, my life's light) BWV 118. The Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, BWV 534, opens and closes the projected service (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBYjdMfE24). Introit motets for both Purification main and vesper services could include settings of the Nunc Dimittis, Ecce tu pulchra (Behold, you are beautiful, from the Song of Songs), and Senex puerum portabat (An ancient held up an Infant), antiphon to the Magnificat. These introit motets are discussed at Douglas Cowling’s BCW Motets & Chorales for Feast of Purification of Mary, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Purification.htm. The Marian feast vespers also include special music Bach composed, primarily his setting of the Latin Magnificat, BWV 243. The motets BWV 229 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2b8_eZtjvo) and BWV 118 http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV118-D3.htm), also are appropriate for a Purification Feast service, as well as chorale "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit," acceptance of death, aeschatological chorale of Death & Dying (http://bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Chorale-Devotion.htm).

"Mit Fried und Freud" is Martin Luther's paraphrase of the Nunc dimittis set to the presumed Luther melody (Zahn 3986, Dorian church mode) with collaborator Johann Walter, Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg, 1524). It is found in the Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB) of 1682 (No. 56, Purification) as a four-verse alliterative prayer of thanksgiving and reconciliation with death. It is based on the chant, Lumen ad revelationem gentium (A light to enlighten to the gentiles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01_vzG8myig). Various hymnbooks in Bach's time used the chorale for Purification, Epiphany time, and less often for the 16th Sunday after Trinity, says Peter Williams.³ It currently is found as “In Peace and Joy I Now Depart, Hymn No. 440, under the category “End Time” (Eschatology), three verse translation on Luther’s versification text with melody (EKG 310) in the current hymnbook of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The Luther text and Francis Browne English translation are found at BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale011-Eng3.htm. The melody with Bach's other uses, as well as the Use of the Chorale Melody by other composers, is found at BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Mit-Fried-und-Freud.htm.

Bach's use of Luther's paraphrase of Simeon's Canticle, "Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin" (With peace and joy I travel there), has an important early history in Bach's compositions at Mühlhausen, Weimar and Leipzig. It was the centerpiece of his Cantata BWV 83 and 125 for Purification (Presentation, "Darstellung" in German), as well as an expression in Cantatas BWV 106 (1707 funeral) and 95 (Trinity +16 1723) dealing with death. The melody is found in plain chorale, BWV 382 (?1730) as well as the Orgelbüchlein chorale prelude setting (1713-15) No. 19 for Purification (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlvAMOuYsic [83/5, 95/1, 106/3b, 125/1,3,6, 382 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0382.htm), 616 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EadXFkWQH10]. "The hymn generally considered the hymn of the day for the Purification of Mary, usually the concluding festival of the Epiphany season, Luther's 'Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin,' which also appears as the hymn of the day for that festival in all the Leipzig and Dresden hymnbooks of the 17th and 18th centuries, is the basis of Cantata 125, composed for this festival," says Günther Stiller.⁴ In later Purification cantata and motet presentations, Bach turned to and utilized other hymn settings of the Nunc dimittis as well as other hymns related to death.

"The text of BWV 229 ["Komm, Jesu, Komm!,"]⁵ is unusual for a motet since it is not based on a biblical quotation or a chorale," says Francis Browne in his "Notes on the text." "Bach has used the first and last stanzas of an 11 stanza hymn by Paul Thymich (1656-1694), who belonged to the Thomasschule in Leipzig and wrote this hymn for the funeral of the Rector Jacob Thomasius in 1684. Originally five stanzas from the text were set for five voices by the Thomaskantor Johann Schelle (1648-1701). It is uncertain whether Bach knew this setting, but the text was available in the Wagner hymnal (Andächtiger Seelen geistliches Brand und Gantz-Opfer, Leipzig 1697) which he certainly possessed. The work is known from a score copied by Christoph Nichelmann, a pupil of Bach. The score is datable to about 1731-2, and probably was written Bach's time in Leipzig. However since its exact date and purpose are unknown many questions to which we would like an answer remain uncertain."

FOOTNOTES

¹ John S. Setterlund, Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary (Minneapolis MN, Lutheran University Press 2013: 28).
² Bach in Context, https://www.etcetera-records.com/album/473/actus-tragicus, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Belder.htm#C5, Watch on YouTube: Complete Concert on Sep 25, 2014: Part 1 [49:07].
³ Peter Williams, Organ Music of J. S. Bach, 2nd. ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2003: 268f).
⁴ Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig, ed. Robin A. Leaver (Concordia Publishing: St. Louis, 1985: 238).
⁵ "Komm, Jesu, Komm!," German text and Francis Browne English translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV229-Eng3.htm; detailed information, http://bach.org/education/motet-bwv-229/.