|
|
Leipzig Church-Year Cantata Cycles: Bach's Grand Design |
|
William L. Hoffman wrote (September 3, 2024):
When Bach assumed his cantor and music director post in Leipzig on Pentecost Sunday 1723 he had a grand design for his first two church-year cantata cycles. For the heterogeneous first cycle of some 60 services, he recycled 30 cantatas originally composed in Weimar and Cothen, altering some from services not available in Leipzig during the closed periods of Advent and Lent or serenades to be parodied for new services. Bach's compositional process required him to secure a series of libretto books with consecutive services from available librettists in which he picked the appropriate chorale and liturgical text and outlined the internal movements to be paraphrased. Bach was following various compositional patterns. Bach's employer, the Leipzig Town Council, had authority over the location of the service and approval of the texts for the next series of services. Only a handful of such libretto books is extant, primarily covering de tempore festive services in the first half of the church year. As Bach compiled his first cycle he examined the recommended hymns for each service and focused on the Hymn of the Day in the second half of the church year, omnes tempore for Trinity Time, now called the Pentecost Season on the life of the Christian Church. Here, Bach was guided by the appropriate motets and chorales for each service (see events in the church year, BCW: scroll down to 1st Sunday after Trinity [Trinity 1]).
A special template is found in the "Trinity Time Thematic Patterns in the Gospels," focusing on three literary patterns or genres: 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. The first four Sundays after Trinity is a sequence of four gospel parables: Trinity 1, Luke 16: 19-31 Dives and Lazarus; Trinity 2, Luke 14: 16-24 Parable of the great supper; Trinity 3, Luke 15: 1-10 Parable of the lost sheep; and Trinity 4, Luke 6: 36-42 Be merciful and do not judge. Overall, the Trinity season seems to explore the human condition, its weakness, wavering, sinfulness, and mortality, emphasizing these qualities so as to demonstrate the need for both fear of God’s judgment and trust in His mercy.” The first third (1-8) emphasizes Lutheran fundamental teachings, the second third (9-19) on the theological underpinnings, while the final third is the eschatological (Last Time) themes of “Last Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life" found in the last pages of Bach’s hymnbook, Das neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB Nos. 836-992. Wikipedia).
Chorale Cantata Cycle Schedule
An accounting of the actual performances of the homogeneous 2nd church year cycle of chorale cantatas (Wikipedia) 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.
Church Year Extended Works
As Bach began shaping his first two church cantata cycles he also began to compose and integrate extended works for the church year, beginning with single feast days such as the Magnificat, BWV 243.1 for the Marian Feast of the Visitation on 2 July 1723 and Christmas Day, as well as mini-cycles of cantatas and Passion oratorios for Good Friday Vespers and eventually the first Easter Oratorio. One project early on involved Johannine Theology built around Jesus' Farewell Discourse to his Disciples in the nine Easter Season cantatas from Jubilate (3rd Sunday after Easter) to Trinity Sunday, originally commissioned for Spring 1724 from Leipzig poetess Mariane von Ziegler but completed and presented in the Spring of 17251 when Bach also shaped and presented the 2nd version of the St. John Passion, BWV 245.2 with additional chorales as well as "Kommt, gehet und eilt," BWV 249.3 (first sacred version of the Shepherd's Cantata BWV 249.1, at the same time the original form of the Easter Oratorio BWV 249.4–5 (see 2nd cycle schedule, Carus-Verlag). During this time, Bach also experimented with the Passionsoratorium, BWV Anh. 169, a sketch by Picander for a Passion oratorio in the style of Brockes, with six passages "that Picander later took from the Passion libretto and placed in the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244.1)," says Alexander Grychtolik, in 1727 (see BCW, Amazon.com). While no libretto books are extant for the initial cantatas in the first two cycles, the first cantata year of 1723/24 yields three volumes (BCW: scroll down to "Vision Bach Series," VB-1, 2, 3) Vol. 1 (BWV 75, 76, 21.3, 185.2, and 24), Vol. 2 (BWV 167, 147, 186, 136), and Vol. 3 (BWV 105, 46, 179, 199.3, 69.1, 77, 25, 119). These three volumes at the beginning of the first cycle, as well as the incomplete second cycle lacking chorale cantatas for the Easter Season, nevertheless constitute two significant mini-cycles with a third cycle, also homogeneous and incomplete, providing more mini-cycles. This was in contrast to Bach's prolific colleagues Georg Philip Telemann in Hamburg, Johann Friedrich Fasch in Zerbst, Christoph Graupner in Darmstadt, and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel in Gotha, who produced multitudes of homogeneous cantata cycles with one author.
Third Church Year Cantata Mini Cycles
Bach in contrast in his third cyclproduced a series of striking min-cycles (BCW), involving dialogue solo cantatas; symbolic bride-groom cantatas; Vox Dei, Vox Christi, Unio Mystica cantatas; and third-cycle mini-cantatas by single librettists: Christoph Birkmann, eight cantatas (BWV 49, 52, 55, 56, 58, 82, 98, 169; BCW), Georg Christian Lehms, nine cantatas (BWV 13, 16, 32, 35, 57, 110, 151, 170, 1135-Anh. 209; BCW), Rudolstadt/Meinengen (Helms), seven cantatas (BCW; BWV 17, 39, 43, 45, 88, 102, BWV 187) and Johann Ludwig Bach (substitute 1726, BCW, JLB 1-19); as well as seven Picander (BWV 19, 157, 84, 30, 249, 145, 36); seven possibly Christian Weiss (BWV 6, 42, 85, 79, 76a, 75a, 1135=Anh. 199); three Salomo Franck (BWV 168, 164, 72); Erdmann Neumeister, BWV 24, Johann Friedrich Helbig, BWV 47. various (BWV 27). and anonymous (BWV 22, 51). Bach also produced mini-cycles involving concerted organ obbligato instruments, psalm and psalm-paraphrases, and special obbligato instruments.
Trinity Time 1725: Diversified Compositions
Instead of presenting chorale cantatas in the spring of 1725 to complete his homogeneous 2nd cycle, Bach switched gears and presented the Johannine Theology mini-cycle of nine cantatas (Jubilate, Cantata, Rogate, and Exaudi Sundays after Easter; Ascension feast, Pentecost 3-day feast, and closing with Cantata 176 on Trinity Sunday feast (27 May) which became part of his third cycle of heterogeneous church-year cantatas. Having produced cantatas virtually weekly in the church-years 1723/24 and 1724/25, Bach took a break during the Trinity Time second half of the church year from the 1st to the 26th Sunday after Trinity (25 November). He began to diversify his compositions, turning to an array of diverse instrumental music, family music, extended compositions such as annual oratorio Passion, and profane music of serenades and drammi per musica, as well as selectively composing a third church cantata cycle, based primarily on pre-existing librettos, spread over a period of two years while he took time to compose his monumental St. Matthew Passion for Good Friday 1727.
The early part of Trinity and Time in the first two cycles proved to be a challenge for Bach since the single fixed feast days of John the Baptist (June 24) and the Marian Feast of the Visitation (July 2) fell during the set days of Sundays after Trinity. In the first cycle 1723/24 (Carus-Verlag), St. John's Day on Thursday (June 24) fell before the 6th Sunday after Trinity (July 4) when no performance was found. The fixed feast of the Visitation was observed on Friday (July 2) with two-part Cantata 147 and the Magnificat in E-Flat, BWV 243. Then for the early Trinity time in the second cycle of 1724/25 (Carus-Verlag), the services of the fixed feast days and most Trinity Sundays were observed with new chorale cantatas except for the 4th Sunday after Trinity which also was the feast of the Visitation on July 2 when Visitation Cantata 10 was presented but "therefore no cantata for Sunday," while the 6th Sunday after Trinity fell on July 16 when there was "No evidence of a cantata performance."
Bach Music at St. Paul University Church, Leipzig New Church
Although Bach cantata performances seemed restricted, as Leipzig music director, he had the opportunity to present cantatas beyond the usual alternation between the two leading Leipzig churches of St. Nikolaus and St. Thomas. On the three-day multi-day feasts of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost Bach was able to present special music at the St. Paul University Church while Bach was welcomed to present music at the progressive Leipzig New Church with music director Georg Balthasar Schott which favored the works of Telemann. Thus, Bach took his first vacation two years after coming to Leipzig on Pentecost Sunday 1723. <<At the beginning of the new St. Thomas School Year (3 June 1725, 1st Sunday after Trinity), Bach arranged for the presentation of extant cantatas of various composers at least for the next six weeks, often without elaborate choruses. The first two Sundays after Trinity entailed abridged and altered versions of Bach's first two Cycle 1 cantatas: BWV 75a, Part 1 only, beginning with the first recitative, "Was hilft des Purpurs Majestät" (What use are royal robes [lit.purple]" and closing with the chorale No. 7, “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” (What God does, that is well-done, BCW). For the 2nd Sunday after Trinity (10 June) Part II of Cantata 76a was presented, opening with the sinfonia (No. 8, see ), followed by the bass recitative, “Gott segne noch die treue Schar” (May God bless his faithful flock, BCW). Previously, BWV 76a (Part II) may have been used as early as the 31 October 1724, Reformation Festival in St. Paul's University Church, says Robin A. Leaver, possibly on a double bill with Telemann's cantata/motet, Der Herr ist König (The Lord Is King, Ps. 97:1), TWV 8:6>> (source, BCW: scroll down to "Trinity Time Beginning 1725: Bach, Telemann Works.").
Telemann Compositions
Bach arranged for Schott to present the following works in early Trinity Time, based on a libretto book described by William H. Scheide2 (BCW: Trinity 3, 17 June 1725, ?Telemann "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ," TVWV 1:857 (?possible composition of Aurora von Königsmarck, mistress of Augustus II, “the Strong,” Saxon Court); Trinity 4, 24 June 1725, ?Telemann, "Gelobet sei der Herr," TVWV 1:596 (Erdmann Neumeister text 1711, but "St. John's Day (June 24) was not observed in 1725" while "the text is engraved for the 4th Sunday after Trinity"); Trinity 5, 1 July 1725, ?Telemann, "Der Segen des machet reich ohne Muhe," TVWV 1:310 (Neumeister text 1711); Visitation (2 July 1725), "Meine Seel erhebt den Heer," Luther's German Magnificat text, identified as a possible 1716 composition of Reinhard Keiser or Johann Mattheson of Hamburg, previously thought to be Melchior Hoffmann, BWV Anh. 21 (BCW, Bach Digital); Trinity 6 (8 July 1725); "Wer sich rachet," TVWV 1:1600 (Neumeister text 1711). The one Telemann work with a direct link to Bach is "Der Herr ist König" (The Lord is King; text author and purpose unknown), TVWV 8:6 or I:deest, found in Bach's musical library. It is possible that Bach performed this work on Easter Sunday (1 April 1725) at the University Church of St. Paul where he was responsible for feast-day presentations.
Third Church Year Cantata Cycle Takes Shape
The Spring 1725 period involved new cantatas for the Easter Season, many composed or planned a year earlier, including the Johannine Theology mini-series of Jesus' Last Farewell to His Disciples (Jubilate to Trinity Sunday) (see BCW beginning 1725-04-01 So Ostersonntag (Easter Sunday), Easter Oratorio, BWV 249; Easter Monday, Cantata 6; Easter Tuesday, no performance recorded, possibly Cantata 145; 1st Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti), Cantata 42; 2nd Sunday after Easter (Misericordias Domini), Cantata 85; 3rd Sunday after Easter (Jubilate), Cantata 103; 4th Sunday after Easter (Kantate), Cantata 108; 5th Sunday after Easter (Rogate), Cantata 87; Ascension feast (Christi Himmelfahrt), Cantata 128; 6th Sunday after Eas(Exaudi), Cantata 183; Pentecost Sunday, Cantata 74; Pentecost Monday, Cantata 68; Pentecost Tuesday, Cantata 175; and Trinity Sunday festival, Cantata 176.
While he was completing the Easter Season with the Johannine Theology nine cantatas, Bach began planning the rest of his homogeneous third church year cantata cycle of striking mini-cycles by librettists Christoph Birkmann, Georg Christian Lehms, Rudolstadt/Meinengen (Helms), Picander, Christian Weiss, Salomo Franck, Erdmann Neumeister, and Johann Friedrich Helbig. He also supplemented this with two-part cantatas of cousin Johann Ludwig Bach (JLB 1-19, BCW) to fill in gaps in the seasons of Epiphany, Easter, and Trinity. In this third cycle there were some 40 original works and 19 Ludwig Bach Cantatas as outlined in Wikipedia, Wikipedia: scroll down to "J. S. Bach's 3rd, 4th and 5th year as director musices in Leipzig" (1725-28).
Early Trinity Time Special Events
In these discussions on the chorale cantata cycle 1724/25, there are two topics that merit interest: +Trinity Time special events in today's Revised Common Lectionary such as Sunday services, apostles days and occasional observances (see BCW). The Trinity Time Lectionary (BCW) lists each cantata as found in Hans-Joachim Schulze's Bach cantata study3 and continues with the 5th Sunday after Trinity (6th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B Mark gospel 5:21-43 (Christ heals woman & Jairus' daughter, Lectionary Library, Proper 8 (13), 30 June 2024), preferred Cantata 109 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 26 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C Luke Gospel 9:51-62 (Jesus says, Follow me, Lectionary Library; Proper 8 (13), 29 June 2025), preferred Cantata 12 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 146 (IOPN Library Illnois). Year A Matthew Gospel 10:40-42 (Welcome Christ in those Christ sends, Proper 8 (13), 28 June 2026, preferred Cantata 111 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 184 (IOPN Library Illinois).
6th Sunday after Trinity (7th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B Mark gospel 6:1-13 (Twelve sent to preach & heal, Lecionary Library, Proper 9 (14), 7 July 2024), preferred Cantata 126 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate 183 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 10:1-11, 16-20 (Jesus sends 70 disciples, Lectionary Library, Proper 9 (14), 6 July 2025, preferred Cantata 44 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 139 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 11:16-19, 25-30 (Yoke of discipleship, Lectionary Library, Proper 9 (14), 9 July 2026), preferred Cantata 113 (IOPN Library Illinoisy), alternate Cantata 155 (IOPN Library Illinois).
7th Sunday after Trinity (8th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, Mark Gospel 6:14-29 (Death of John the Baptist, Lectionary Library: Proper 10 (15), 14 July 2024), preferred Cantata 60 II (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 20 I (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 10:25-37 (Parable of merciful Samaritan, Lectionary Library, Proper 10 (15), 13 July 2025), preferred Cantata 164 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 77 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A Matthew gospel 13:1-9, 18-23 (Parable of sower and seed, Lecionary Library, Proper 10(15), 12 July 2026, preferred Cantata 18 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 181 (IOPN Library Illinois).
8th Sunday after Trinity (7th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B Mark gospel, 6:30-34, 53-56 (Christ healing multitudes, Lectionary Library, Proper 11 (16), 20 July 2024), preferred Cantata 13 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 3 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 10:38-42 (Choosing the better part, Lectionary Library, Proper 11 (16), 20 July 2025), preferred Cantata 3 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 186 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 13:24-30, 36-43 (Parable of the weeds, Lectionary Library, Proper 11 (16), 19 July 2026), preferred Cantata 92 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 174 (IOPN Library Illinois).
9th Sunday after Trinity (8th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, John gospel 6:1-21 (Jesfeeds 5000, IOPN Library Illinois, Proper 12 (17), 28 July 2024, preferred Cantata 21/1 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate, Cantata 177 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 11:1-13 (Jesus teaches prayer, Lectoinary Library, Proper 12 (17), 27 July 2025), preferred Cantata 86 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 87 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew gospel 13:31-33, 44-52 (Parables of reign of heaven, Lectionary Library, Proper 12 (17), 26 July 2026), preferred Cantata 71 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 69.2 I (IOPN Library Illinois).
10th Sunday after Trinity (9th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, John gospel 6:24-35 (Christ, bread of life, Lectionary Library, Proper 13 (18), 4 August 2024), preferred Cantata Cantata 21/2 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate, Cantata 186 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 12:13-21 (Be rich toward God, your treasure, Lectionary Library, Proper 13 (18), 3 August 2025), preferred Cantata 94 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 29 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 14:13-21 (Jesus feeds 5000, Lectionary Library, Proper 13 (18), 2 August 2026), preferred Cantata 196 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate 186 (IOPN Library Illinois).
11th Sunday after Trinity (10th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, John gospel 6:35, 41-51 (Christ, Bread of Life, Lectionary Library, Proper 14 (19), 11 August 2024), preferred Cantata 84 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 196 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke gospel 12:32-40 (Treasure of the kingdom, Lectionary Library: Proper 14 (19), 10 August 2025), preferred Cantata 115 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 140 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 14:22-33 (Jesus walking on the sea, Lectionary Library: Proper 14 (19), 9 August 2026), preferred Motet 228 (BCW), alternate Cantata 92 (IOPN Library Illinois).
12th Sunday after Trinity (11th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, John gospel 6:51-58 (Christ, true food and drink, Lectionary Library: Proper 15 (20), 18 August 2924), preferred Cantata 27 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate 186 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 12:49-56 (Jesus brings fire on earth, Lectionary Library: Proper 15 (20), 15 August 2025), preferred Cantata 146 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 116 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew gospel 15:10-28 (Canaanite woman's daughter is healed, Lectionary Library: Proper 15 (20), 16 August 2026), preferred Cantata 51 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 152 (IOPN Library Illinois).
13th Sunday after Trinity (12th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B John gospel 6:56-69 (Bread of eternal life, Lectionary Library: Proper 16 (21), 25 August 2024), preferred Cantata 49 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 163 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 13:10-17 (Jesus heals on sabbath, Lectionary Library, Proper 16 (21), 24 August 2025), preferred Motet BWV A-160 (BCW, alternate Cantata 148 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 16:13-20 (Profession of Peter's faith, Lectionary Library: Proper 16 (21), 23 August 2026), preferred Cantata 92 (IOPN Library Illinois, alternate Cantata 174 (IOPN Library Illinois).
14th Sunday after Trinity (13th Sunday after Pentecost): Year B, Mark gospel 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (Authentic religion, https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?y=382&z=p&d=71#pericope_gospel_main: Proper 17 (22), 1 September 2024): Cantata 131 (IOPN Library Illinois, alternate Cantata 132 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year C, Luke Gospel 14:1, 7-14 (Israel forsakes the Lord, Lectionary Library: Proper 17 (22), 31 August 2025), preferred Cantata 47 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 114 (IOPN Library Illinois). Year A, Matthew Gospel 18:15-20 (Rebuke to Peter, Lectionary Library: Proper 17 (23), 30 August 2026), preferred Cantata 22 (IOPN Library Illinois), alternate Cantata 166 (IOPN Library Illinois).
Special single-day festive events during earlier Trinity Time: Mary, Mother of Our Lord, August 15, Gospel Luke 1:46-55 (Magnificat, Bible Gateway), preferred Cantata 1 (IOPN Library Illinois; Bartholomew, Apostle, August 24, Gospel John 1:43-51 (Follow me, Philip & Nathanael, Bible Gateway, preferred Cantata 79 (IOPN Library Illinois).
BACH for Future: Newly Commissioned Works
+Musical explorations of newly-commissioned works is the theme "BACH for Future" of the 1723 Bachfest Leipzig, "BACH for Future" (see BCW), with two that stand out, Landsgemeindekantate (Country community cantata) in the style of a Bach chorale cantata with the title "Alles Leben strömt aus dir" (All life flows from you), and "J. S. Bach — The Apocalypse — The opera Bach never wrote," from the Netherlands Bach Society and OPERA2DAY, an original work using quotations from Bach works. Mini operas are found in various Bach profane cantatas, the latest being Cantata 213, "Herkules auf dem Scheidewege" (Hercules at the Crossroads), a dramma per musica entitled "Lasst uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen" (Let us watch him, let us guard him), details at Blog Carus-Vewrlag, with a related article just released, a new text and translation, "Lasst uns sorgen, lasst uns wachen" BWV 213 (English-13). Other Bach secular cantatas with operatic scenes are Cantatas 201, BCW, IOPN Library Illinois; Cantata 205.1, BCW, IOPN Library Illinois; Coffee Cantata 211, IOPN Library Illinois; Peasant Cantata 212, IOPN Library Illinois; Cantata 214, IOPN Library Illinois; BWV 249.1, IOPN Library Illinois.
New Drammi per Musica
Among the other drammi per musica with opera connections realized in parody (new text underlay) from existing work are: Jörg Widmann, Kantate "War and Hope,"4 peace cantata from Cantata 75, "Die Elenden sollen essen" ("The Wretched Shall Eat"), for the 1st Sunday after Trinity; Bach Requiem "Et Lux"5 is a pasticcio from Bach cantata movements with new texts by Thomas Kunst with unifying chorale "Wer nur den Lieben Gott läßt Walten" (Whoever lets only the dear God reign), described as Bachfest Leipzig: 2023 Programme Book: scroll down to 49); "Judas"6 is a pasticcio tenor aria cantata with Benedickt Kristjánsson eight arias and five recitatives using passages from the novel Judas by Amos Oz (Teh Guardian: Book Review); a description of Rudolf Lutz's Bach-Luther-Kantate 7 is found at BCW): scroll down to "Original Compositions." Soon afterwards, Lutz with his librettist Graf wrote another cantata "in a style inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach, the Landsgemeinde [Country community] cantata,"8 which premiered in April 2018 in St. Gallen, with the title "Alles Leben strömt aus dir" (All life flows from you). In the style of a nine-movement chorale cantata (see tracklist, footnote 5), it recreates a Swiss community assembly. "It is an hommage to this ancient ritual of direct democracy," says the discussion video, YouTube. The impetus for these extended cantatas began in 2011 when the J. S. Bach Foundation, as part of its 25-year project to record all of Bach' works, directed Arthur Godel and Lutz to compile "a thematic collage of selected [well-known] movements from cantatas and instrumental works," called "Bach Im Fluss"9 — "Bach and the river of time," contemplations on life and eternity, says the description (Bachipedia). The 25 movements (see tracklist, footnote 5) includes arias, recitatives, chorales, and choruses as well as instrumental sinfonias, sonatas, solo, and keyboard movements.
ENDNOTES
1 Mariane von Ziegler Spring 1725 Johannine Theology Monographs: Eric Chafe, J. S. Bach''s Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2014), Amazon.com, BCW; Mrk A. Peters, A Woman's Voice in Baroque Music: Mariane von Ziegler and J. S. Bach (London: Routledge, 2016), Amazon.com.
2 William H. Scheide, "The Relationship of the Printed Texts Books and the Musical Sources of Johann Sebastian Bach's Church Cantatas," in Bach Jahrbuch 1976 (Leipzig: Bärenreiter: 79ff), Bach-Bibliographie; source: Wolf Hobom, "Neue Texte zur Leipziger Kirchen-Musik," Bach Jahrbuch 1973: 5-32; source, Bach-Jahrbuch 1973.
3 Hans-Joachim Schulze, Bach cantata study, Commentaries on the Cantatas of JohanSebastian Bach: A Selective Guide, trans. James A. Brokaw II (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2024: xii); Amazon.com, BCW.
4 Jörg Widmann, Kantate "War and Hope": commission, Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung; details found at Shott Music; chorale-like varied texts of five writers, Wikipedia; score, Schott Music.
5 Bach Requiem "Et Lux": Julia Wagner descriptions, Amazon.com, Julia Sophie Wagner; Bachfest Leipzig notes: Bachfest Leipzig: 2023 Programme Book: 49. Bach Requiem Mass, JSBachFOA: Bach's Requiem Mass: Trailer recording, YouTube; for another Bach Requiem, see "Bach Works Projects," Joseph James' Requiem After J. S. Bach framed by the Chromatic Fantasy in D Minor (YouTube).
6 "Judas — A Pasticcio," Arias and Recitatives by Bach, description: Bachfest Leipzig: 2023 Programme Book: 51; Novello Classics (recording, playlist, YouTube), Amazon.com.
7 Bach-Luther-Kantate, "Von der Freiheit eines Christenmenschen" (On the Freedom of a Christian), ed. Rudolf Lutz, libretto Karl Graf (St. Gallen: J. S. Bach Stiftung, 2021); liner notes, text (17) Bachtage St. Gallen: 14-20; Lutherkantate wikipedia, Wikipedia; discussion, J.S. Bach Stiftung St. Gallen.
8 Landsgemeindekantate: Lutz and Graf discuss the «Lan» J. S. Bach-Stiftung, YouTube; description, Bachipedia, J.S. Bach Stiftung St. Gallen; recording, YouTube; tracklist, JPC.
9 Bach in Fluss: description, Bachpiedia; program & text notes BCW: D-50; recording with playlist, YouTube, J.S. Bach Stiftung St. Gallen.
__________
To Come: Chorale Cantata Cycle: Middle-Late Trinity Time |
| |
|
|
