Chorale Cantata Cycle: Challenges, Ingredients, Scope

William L. Hoffman wrote (June 21, 2024):
Bach's plan for a homogeneous church year unique chorale cantata cycle, initially conceived in the summer of 1723 when he was presenting his first, heterogeneous cycle, was a most challenging undertaking. It began a year later on the 1st Sunday after Trinity, 11 June 1724, the start of the omnes tempore (ordinary time) Trinity Time, second half of the church year on the life and teachings of the church when Bach selected the most appropriate chorale for each of the some 30 services, secured a librettist to write poetic paraphrases of the internal stanzas, and observed 1724 as the bicentenary of Luther’s foundational three hymnals first published in 1524. The basic goal was another cycle of some 60 services on Sundays and feast days with Bach pacing himself at the composer's desk. Bachfest Leipzig 1724 just completed the chorale cantata cycle with 52 works in 16 concerts (BCW).

Chorale Cantata Challenges

The first cycle had yielded some 30 previously composed cantatas from Weimar and Cöthen with some musical and textual adjustments and the composition of 30 new works, primarily chorus cantatas. Bach designed the first cycle as a series of new cantatas with mini-cycles of movement structures: opening biblical text, closing plain chorale with alternating internal recitatives and arias with two-thirds having an added internal plain chorale (see BCW: "Heterogeneous Cantata Cycle 1"). Where the initial cycle had 30 new works now for the Chorale Cantata (CC) second cycle, Bach would begin composing 60 new works, a doubly ambitious challenge. He composed new chorale cantatas for the initial 40 services through the feast of the Annunciation of Mary on 25 March 1725 during Lent, followed with a repetition of Cantata BWV 4.2 on Easter Sunday (the schedule is outlined at Carus-Verlag) while the current Bachfest Leipzig 1724 proceeds with a series of 16 chorale cantata concerts involving 52 services of chorale cantatas, an incomplete cycle of 1724/25 (BCW: LCY 1724, BCW: LCY 1725). Besides the 41 cycle services are 10 later added Chorale Cantatas (BWV 128, Ascension; BWV 68, Pentecost Monday (assigned to chorale cantata cycle); BWV 137, Trinity 12 (POV 1725); BWV 129, Trinity Sunday (POV 1726-27); BWV 112, 2nd Sunday of Easter (POV 1729, 31); BWV 140, for rare Trinity 27 (POV-CC 1731); BWV 177, Trinity 4 (POV, ?1725 or 1732); BWV 9, Trinity 6 (CC c1732-35); BWV 58, Sunday after New Year (incl., assigned to chorale cantata cycle, 1727); and BWV 14, Epiphany 4 (CC, 1735). There are five works not assigned to the Chorale Cantata cycle, four of which are without CC designation: BWV 80, Rerformationfest (1739; CC plus trope, two recits, 2 arias); BWV 117 (?? 5th Sunday of Easter, ?wedding; POV 1730-35); BWV 192 (?Reformationfest, ?wedding; POV, 1730); BWV 97 (??6th Sunday of Easter, ?wedding; POV, 1734); and BWV 100 (?Trinity 15, ?? 3rd Sunday in Easter, ??wedding; POV, 1732-35).

Proto Chorale Cantatas

In addition to these 55 chorale cantatas, there are others in the first or third cycle that have some makings of a proto chorale cantata, such as an opening chorale fantasia chorus and closing plain chorale or chorale melody, and internal arias-recitatives, showing Bach's rich versatility and invention. These works began with his probe pieces, Cantatas 22 (BCW) and 23 (BCW) for pre-Lenten Quinquagesima Estomihi Sunday, 7 February 1723, originally a two-part cantata, separated into two cantatas. "They use closing extended chorale choruses in the basic format of ritornelli episodes in two parts, a homophonic four-part chorus and elaborate instrumental accompaniment. These were the precursor of the opening chorale chorus fantasia found in almost all Bach’s chorale cantatas. Cantata 23 also has a tenor recitative with cantus firmus in a four-part instrumental setting – a unique and important form found in the chorale cantata inner movements poetic paraphrase in 15 cantatas. Bach also had made effective use of hybrid chorale and poetic materials in original Leipzig Cantatas BWV 138, 95, and 73 in the first cycle, and BWV 43 in the third cycle. “In all three cases [BWV 138, 95, 73], however, the chorale is troped by recitative,” says Richard D. P. Jones in his recent The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume 2.¹ “Of all the cycle 1 cantatas, No. 138, approaches nearest to the chorale cantatas of Cycle II, for three of its six movements, nos. 1, 2, and 6 are based on the first three verses of one and the same chorale,” says Jones (Ibid.: 127). Cantata 95, “Christus, der ist mein Leben,” for the 16^th Sunday after Trinity 1723, has an opening with two different chorale choruses flanking a recitative followed by a separate recitative leading to a different chorale aria. Cantata 173, “Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir,” for the third Sunday after Epiphany 1724, has an elaborate opening of a chorale chorus with three troping recitatives for tenor, bass and soprano responding to the chorale text. Chorus Cantata 43, “Gott fähret auf mit Jauchzen” for Ascension Festival 1726 is divided into two parts with an old Rudolstadt poetic and original chorale texts. Another third cycle chorale-type cantata is BWV 98, "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" (What God doth, that is rightly done, trans. Philip Ambrose), Trinity 21, 1726 (Christoph Birkmann libretto, BCW).

Cantata Chorale Elements

Interestingly, another 12 earlier cycle 1 compositions, says Jones (Ibid.: 126) have elaborate closing chorale choruses (BWV 75, 76, 25 and 49 in two parts; 23, 48, and 190 in different arrangements of the same chorale; and 77, 25, 48, and 107 in wordless instrumental chorales sounded in choruses. Bach composed only one chorale cantata of the second cycle, BWV 107, that has a closing chorale chorus, instead of the usual plain chorale setting. It also is Bach’s only Cycle 2 example of a complete original hymn text setting (seven stanzas), called per omnes versus (POV), in one internal recitative and four successive arias. The reason for this sole example is that “perhaps on this occasion Bach’s librettist was for some reason unable to supply the usual hymn paraphrase. The significance of this cycle is the “great composer at the height of his powers meeting the challenges of a self-imposed regimen week by week and adjusting his choice of form, his approach and tone of voice to each underlying theme, each symbol and each metaphor arising from the text laid out in front of him,” says John Eliot Gardiner.² This second cycle afforded Bach the opportunity, particularly with fresh, tailored poetic texts, to be “flexible and prone to widely different responses from one year to the next.”

Chorale Cantata Cycle

The opportunity to compose a set of chorale cantatas enabled Bach to begin with four distinct and representative works observing the first Sundays in Trinity Time, the omnes tempore last half of the church year emphasizing doctrinal thematic teachings based on specific chorales. Each of the works is introduced with a chorus using a striking hymn tune in different voice and musical style: BWV 20, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort I (Trinity +1), soprano voice, French Overture; BWV 2, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein (Trinity +2), alto voice, motet; BWV 7, Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam (John the Baptist); tenor voice Italianate concertante; and BWV 135, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünde (Trinity +3), bass voice, chorale fantasia. To better understand the compositional challenges that chorale cantatas pose, see BCW: scroll down to "Compositional Challenges." Another topic is the librettist(s) of the chorale cantata cycle with two perspectives: BCW: scroll down to "Cycle Cessation, Librettists," then to Michael Hochgartz wrote (December 14, 2020): Stubel-Theory without Stubel?

Chorale Cantata Accounting

An accounting of the actual performances of the chorale cantatas shows that from the period of the First Sunday after Trinity with Cantata BWV 20 (11 June 1724), Bach composed 40 chorale cantatas until the Feast of the Annunciation (25 March 1725) with Cantata BWV 1, “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.” During that nine-month period, Bach systematically produced chorale cantatas for virtually every Sunday and all the feasts days. At that time he did not compose and present three chorale cantatas for the following services: the 4th Sunday after Trinity since it coincided with the Feast of John the Baptist (24 June 1724, BWV 7); the 6th Sunday after Trinity (16 July 1724), when no work was presented but a chorale cantata text completed and later set as BWV 9; the 12th Sunday after Trinity 27 August 1724), when no work was presented. Interestingly, Bach subsequently filled these three gaps with chorale cantatas composed individually and added to the cycle until 1735: Cantata BWV 177 for Trinity +4 in 1731, Cantata BWV 9 for Trinity +6 in 1735, and Cantata BWV 137 for Trinity +12 in 1725). In addition, for the period of Trinity Time through the Feast of the Annunciation during Lent, Bach composed two additional chorale cantatas on Sundays that did not occur in 1724-25: Cantata BWV 140 was composed in 1731 for the last Sunday in Trinity Time (+27), and Cantata BWV 14 for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany that did not occur in 1725. During the Easter-Pentecost Season of 1725, Bach composed no chorale cantatas for the 12 services, ending with the Trinity Sunday Festival. Bach did repeat chorale Cantata BWV 4 for Easter Sunday (1 April 1725) and in 1730 completed Cantata BWV 80 for the Reformation Festival. For the three-month Easter-Pentecost period, Bach did compose Cantata BWV 129 in 1726-27 for the Trinity Sunday Festival and Cantata BWV 112 for Misericordias Domini (2nd Sunday after Easter), c.1731. Thus Bach added seven chorale cantatas to the cycle and included Cantata 4 and Cantata 80 in this cycle for a total of 49. In addition, between 1730 and 1735 Bach composed four undesignated, pure-hymn chorale cantatas that are appropriate for weddings or for anytime: BWV 97, 100, 117, and 192 – for a grand total of 53. Virtually all the chorale cantatas composed from 1725 onwards are set to original, pure-hymn texts, also known as per omnes versus.

Chorale Cantata Categories

The most used category of chorale cantatas is the standard model: opening chorus (Stanza 1), alternating recitatives and arias (stanzas paraphrased), and closing plain chorale (final stanza). In all, 27 cantatas follow this pattern and are primarily found in the de tempore first-half of the church year of seasons in the life of Jesus Christ. They are: 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 14, 20, 26, 33, 41, 62, 78, 96, 99, 111, 114, 115, 116, 121, 123, 124, 127, 130, 133, 135, 138, 139. Within this model form Bach composed BWV 127 with three chorales, BWV 135 with a closing chorale chorus, and BWV 138 with three chorale choruses: one opening fantasia, one closing chorale chorus, and a troped chorale chorus within a recitative. Cantata BWV 114 has a chorale aria, set to one stanza and first found in Cantata BWV 4. The next category were chorale cantatas with interpolated chorale and poetic recitative materials in the chorale paraphrased inner movements, treated in various ways and usually found during the omnes tempore Trinity Time having lesser-known chorales. The most common insertions are the chorale trope in the recitative found in seven cantatas: BWV 3, 38, 91, 94 (2 tropes), 122, 125, and 126. In eight cantatas Bach used multiple insertions, with as many as two troped recitatives and a separate chorale aria in BWV 92, 93, 101, 113, 122, 125, 126, and 178. Cantata 180 has a troped recitative and chorale aria. In all, Bach composed 11 pure-hymn cantatas (per ones versus). Six are written for church year services: BWV 4 (Easter Sunday), 107 (Tr. +7), 112 (Easter +2), 129 (Trinity Fest), 137 (Tr.+12), and 177 (Tr.+4). Two of Bach’s most popular chorale cantatas use all the stanzas and insert additional poetic material. Cantata BWV 80, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,” for the Reformation Fest, has all four stanzas including an opening chorale fantasia, an internal chorale chorus, a closing plain chorale, and a chorale duet, plus two recitatives and two arias in original Salomo Franck poetry. Cantata BWV 140, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” for the last Sunday in Trinity Time, uses all three stanzas as a chorus fantasia, chorale trio aria, and closing plain chorale, plus a recitative and two dialogues for soprano-Soul and bass-Jesus.

Addendum: Besides the various movement patterns found in Bach's chorale cantatas, other templates which Bach probably pursued during Trinity Time focusing on the teachings of the Christian Church, emphasizes both general Christian themes, such as “Christian Life and Conduct” and “Trusting in God, Cross and Consolation,” as well as New Testament teachings as shown in Doug Cowling’s Thematic Patterns in Bach's Gospels: parables, miracles and other teachings (source, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-1.htm). When Bach selected the specific chorale for the second cycle, he generally chose those that were appropriate for the particular service. During the omnes tempore Trinity Time, the chosen chorale rarely addressed the lectionary Gospel or Epistle readings. Instead the hymn theme related to the teachings of the particular day’s reading. The period of Sundays after Trinity has never seen the scholarly interest that the Christmas and Easter narratives have received and there is a certain assumption that the Gospel readings do not have the same dramatic significance. It is worth looking at several literary patterns which Bach would have known intimately. In general, there are three genres in the Trinity season: Parables - short moralized allegories within the larger narratives of events in the life of Christ; Miracles - short self-contained narratives of miraculous healings; and Teachings ­ excerpts from longer hortatory discourses by Christ. There is also a series of groupings which would have been part of the critical apparatus of both theologians and musicians such as Bach who had such a finely-tuned ear for the literary shape of scriptural passages. Although there are no formal divisions in the official books, we see some important groupings which may have influenced Bach¹s cantata composition. A brief outline of the half season: 1) Sundays after Trinity 1-4 is a four week sequence of parables; 2) Trinity 5-8 has a series of paired miracles and teachings; 3) Trinity 9-19 generally alternates a parable with a teaching or miracle. Whether these literary patterns influenced Bach deserves investigation in both librettos and scores.

ENDNOTES

¹ Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume II: 1717-1750. “Music to Delight the Spirit” (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013: 146), Amazon.com.
² John Eliot Gardiner, Bach biography BACH: Music in the Castle of Heaven (Alfred A, Knopf: New York, 2013: 320), Amazon.com.

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To Come: Chorale Cantatas: Unity through diversity