|
|
Cantata BWV 14
Wär' Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit
Discussions - Part 4 |
|
Continue from Part 3 |
|
Discussions in the Week of January 28, 2018, 2010 (4th round) |
|
William L. Hoffman wrote (February 2, 2018):
Epiphany Sunday 4: Cantata 14,"Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit"
One of the last surviving church cantatas of Bach is chorale Cantata BWV 14, "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit" (If God were not with us at this time), a setting of Martin Luther's Reformation Trust hymn paraphrase of Psalm 124, Nisi quia Dominus (If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, kjv), published in Johann Walter's hymnal, Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (Wittenberg 1524). Cantata 14 was composed and presented in 1735 three weeks after the Christmas Oratorio, on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany. A "semi-chorale cantata," it has a chorale motet chorus setting of the first stanza, a closing plain chorale setting of Stanza 3, "Gott Lob und Dank" (Praise and thanks to God), and a paraphrase of Stanza 2, "Auf uns ist so zornig ihr Sinn" (Their sense of anger is so angry in us), in the central (No. 3) tenor recitative, "Ja, hätt es Gott nur zugegeben" (Indeed, if God had only allowed it), as well as the two freely-reworked, free-da capo arias which frame the recitative, (No. 2), soprano, "Unsre Stärke heißt zu schwach" (Our strength is said to be too weak), and (No. 4), bass, "Gott, bei deinem starken Schützen" (God, by your mighty protection).1 Collectively, they comprise a symmetrical,18-minute musical sermon, that moves from struggle to affirmation.
Cantata 14 was premiered on 30 January 1735 at the early main service of the Thomas Church, before the sermon (not extant) of Pastor Christian Weise Sr. (1671-1736) on the day's Gospel, Matt. 8:23-27 (Christ stills the tempest on the sea of Galilee, kjv), and the Epistle (Rom. 13:8-10, Love is the fulfilling of the law), says Martin Petzoldt in Bach Commentary, vol. 2, Advent to Trinityfest.2 The Introit Psalm for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany was Psalm 46, Deus noster refugium (God is our refuge, KJV, or “Gott ist unser Zuversicht”), says Petzoldt (Ibid.: 503), which he describes as “Der Kirche Trost und Sicherheit” (The Church’s trust and certainty). Luther's popular Reformation hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A Mighty Fortress is our God) (4 stanzas) is a setting of Psalm 46. For the full text of Psalm 46, see http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-Chapter-46/. There are Psalm 46 Latin motet settings of Frescobaldi, Hassler, Palestrina, di Lasso, and Schütz. The source is BCW Musical Context of Bach Cantatas, Motets & Chorales for Epiphany Time, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Epiphany-Time.htm.
As one of Bach's last original cantatas, BWV 14 with its impressive compositional method raises questions regarding its context and Bach's opportunity and motive. Luther's metrical chorale paraphrase of Psalm 124, along with his colleague Justus Jonas' setting, played an important role in Reformation hymns of the Church Militant. Also see below the Cantata 14 commentaries of Klaus Hofmann and John Eliot Gardiner, as well as other topics such as connections to the Jesus Hymn, "Jesu, meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy), the significance of the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, and the Cantata 14 Provenance.
Cantata 14 movements, scoring, text, key, meter (German text and Francis Browne English translation: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV14-Eng3P.htm):
1. Chorus motet (Pachelbel) style, in imitation, instrumental doubling (free continuo), no ritornellli (through-composed) [SATB; Corno da caccia, Oboe I/II all' unisono, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, / So soll Israel sagen, / Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, / Wir hätten müssen verzagen, / Die so ein armes Häuflein sind, / Veracht' von so viel Menschenkind, / Die an uns setzen alle." (If God were not with us at this time, / so should Israel say, / if God were not with us at this time, / we would have had to lose heart / since we are such a poor little flock / despised by so much of mankind, / Who all set themselves against us."; g minor; 3/8 gigue style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcLRHoNZqds).
2. Aria free da-capo, ritornelli complex (Allegro moderato) [Soprano; Corno da caccia, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: A. "Unsre Stärke heißt zu schwach, / Unserm Feind zu widerstehen." (Our strength is said to be too weak / To withstand our enemy." B. "Stünd uns nicht der Höchste bei, / Würd uns ihre Tyrannei / Bald bis an das Leben gehen." (If the Highest did not stand by us / their tyranny would / Soon touch our very life."; B-Flat Major; 3/4 menuett-passepied style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neq0xsvaRUQ).
3. Recitative secco, agitated accomnpanyment [Tenor, Continuo]: "Ja, hätt es Gott nur zugegeben, / Wir wären längst nicht mehr am Leben, / Sie rissen uns aus Rachgier hin, / So zornig ist auf uns ihr Sinn. / Es hätt uns ihre Wut / Wie eine wilde Flut / Und als beschäumte Wasser überschwemmet, / Und niemand hätte die Gewalt gehemmet." (Indeed, if God had only allowed it / we would long since no longer be alive, / their thirst for vengeance would tears us apart / So wrathful are their thoughts towards us. / By their fury / like a wild flood / with foaming water we had been drowned / And no one could have checked their force; g to d minor; 4/4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcPEZzrV0AM).
4. Aria free da-capo, ritornello complex (Vivace)n[Bass; Oboe I/II, Continuo]: A. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsD6vdYfK7o starken Schützen / Sind wir vor den Feinden frei." (God, by your mighty protection / We are free from enemies.); B. "Wenn sie sich als wilde Wellen / Uns aus Grimm entgegenstellen, / Stehn uns deine Hände bei." (when like wild waves / they furiously confront us / Your hands help us.); g minor; 4/4 gavotte style (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zukzBLRV45E).
5. Chorale Bar Form (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0014_5.htm) [SATB; Corno da caccia e Oboe I/II e Violino I col Soprano, Violino II coll'Alto, Viola col Tenore, Continuo]: A. Stollen, "Gott Lob und Dank, der nicht zugab, / Dass ihr Schlund uns möcht fangen." (Praise and thanks to God, who did not allow / That their throats should seize us.); A'. "Wie ein Vogel des Stricks kömmt ab, / Ist unsre Seel entgangen:" (As a bird escapes from the snare / our soul has got away); B. Abgesang, "Strick ist entzwei, und wir sind frei; / Des Herren Name steht uns bei, / Des Gottes Himmels und Erden." (The snare is torn in two and we are free / The Name of the Lord stands by us /of the God of heaven and earth.); g minor; 4/4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsD6vdYfK7o)
Chorale Cantata Cycle Gaps, Luther's Chorale
The gaps in Bach's chorale cantata cycle and Luther's chorale are discussed in Klaus Hofmann's 2012 liner notes to the Maasaki Suzuki BIS complete cantata recordings.3 <<Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit, BWV 14 (If God were not with us at this time). This cantata for the fourth Sunday after Epiphany in 1735 is a late addition to Bach’s unfinished chorale cantata year of 1724–25. Soon after breaking off this project Bach started to fill in the gaps that remained but – as with BWV 100 – he generally used the hymn texts in their original form. In the case of the hymn upon which this cantata is based, howev, this would have been impossible, as it had only three strophes. The expansion of the middle strophe into a three-movement sequence – aria, recitative, aria – thus required a certain amount of skill. The identity of the person to whom Bach entrusted this task is unknown.
The original hymn text was by Martin Luther (1483−1546) and is in turn based on Psalm 124. This psalm praises God as a provider of help at times of need or when we are threatened by enemies: ‘If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul’. The adaptation ends: ‘Wir wärn als die ein Flut ersäuft / und über die groß Wasser läuft / und mit Gewalt verschwemmet’ (‘We would be like those drowned by a flood, / Over whom the mighty water flows / and submerges with violence’). This passage was evidently the reason for selecting this hymn for the cantata for the fourth Sunday after Epiphany: on this day, the gospel reading is Matthew 8:23−27, telling how Jesus and his disciples are caught in a storm on the Sea of Galilee, but Jesus calms the winds and the waves.
The cantata’s opening chorus may have surprised the more receptive members of Bach’s audience who a few weeks earlier, at the turn of the year 1734/35, had experienced the Christmas Oratorio with its joyful musical splendour. Compared with that, the chorus in the cantata, with its motet-like structure, appears strict and introverted. All seven melody lines of the cantus firmus are prepared in the choir by counter-fugues on a theme that is taken in each case from the chorale melody – in other words, the theme is always answered by its inversion. In this respect Bach’s music belongs to the ‘highest order’ of counterpoint, anticipating his late music, especially Die Kunst der Fuge. The structure of the opening chorus alludes to Bach’s preferred scheme from 1724–25, but at the same time distances itself to some extent from it. As in so many of these movements, the cantus firmus is presented line by line. A novelty here, though, is that it is here in purely instrumental form – horn and oboes. It is also striking that the melody is transformed from duple to triple time, provided with all sorts of passing notes and trills, and sometimes even chromatically altered. The choral writing is also coloured by chromaticism right from the outset, thus leading us into the emotional areas of danger and threat.
By contrast, the following soprano aria oozes confidence. It concerns individual weakness and the dependable support of God. Tumultuous motifs in the orchestra suggest battle situations, and the highly virtuosic horn writing with its signal-like ideas contributes a tone of heroism. The tenor recitative is about dangers that have been overcome with God’s help. Referring to the above-mentioned passages from the psalm and chorale, the text runs: ‘Es hätt uns ihre Wut wie eine wilde Flut und als beschäumte Wasser überschwemmet’ (‘Their fury would have submerged us like a wild torrent and like the foaming waters’). Bach illustrates this impressively with wild activity in the continuo. In the bass aria, Bach clothes the praise of the divine protector in a dense weft of musical imitation. The vocal part contrasts at first with the thematically independent trio (two oboes and continuo). The vocal and instrumental lines are more closely related in the middle part of the aria, however, where the ‘wilden Wellen’ (‘wild waves’) are once again illustrated by means of lively coloraturas. The final chorale rounds off the cantata with rich harmonies and all the parts in lively motion.>>
© Klaus Hofmann 2012
Background, Opening Motet
Bachground and the opeing motet of Cantata 14 are discussed in John Eliot Gardiner liner notes to his 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage on Soli Deo Gloria recordings.4 <<There was no danger of bathos in Bach’s sequel for the same Sunday the following year: it did not exist! Easter came so early in 1725 there was no Fourth Sunday after Epiphany, and it was not until ten years later, just after the first performance of his Christmas Oratorio, that Bach sat down to compose BWV 14 Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit. Here he reverts deliberately to the chorale-based structure of his second Leipzig cycle, taking as his starting point Luther’s hymn (a paraphrase of Psalm 124) which, apparently, had been sung on this Sunday in Leipzig from time immemorial. But instead of opening with a chorale fantasia he sets himself a fresh challenge: to present each chorale line equally between the four vocal parts (doubled by strings), first in fugal exposition and immediately answered by its inversion, and then in augmentation by unison oboes and corno di caccia. This creates a complex polyphony in five real parts (six, when the continuo line peels off from doubling the vocal bass), and suggests an affinity in technique and even mood with the opening chorus of BWV 80 Ein feste Burg. It is a defiant, awe-inspiring riposte to the earlier Jesus schläft [Cantata 81], one which presents a clear image of God’s indispensable protection to the beleaguered community of believers – ‘We who are such a tiny band’ – by means of the dense web of supporting counterpoint.
Both of the ensuing arias are considerably easier on the ear, though technically demanding. The one for soprano (No.2) with string textures reminiscent of Brandenburg No.3 features the horn in its highest register (referred to in the autograph part as Corne.a force and tromba), defiant in support of the singer’s show of strength against the enemy’s ‘tyranny’. Bach wisely did not attempt to emulate his prodigious seascapes from BWV 81 and here makes only passing reference to the storm in the angular tenor recitative (No.3) and a vigorous gavotte-derived aria for bass and two oboes (No.4) which focuses on God’s rebuff to the ‘violent waves’ of enemies which ‘rage against us’. The gentle lapping motion of unthreatening passing quavers in the final chorale is perhaps accidental, since the imagery has now switched to the soul’s escape from the fowler’s snare.
With comparatively little for the choir in these cantatas – both for Epiphany 2 and 4 – I decided to include the longest of Bach’s motets, BWV 227 Jesu, meine Freude (which happens to be one of the set hymns for the feast) to both this and the Greenwich programmes. Even after countless attempts over many years to get to its heart, I still find it hugely – and rewardingly – challenging. One needs to ensure that there are none of ‘those primordial collisions between song and words’ (George Steiner), and to relish both its fruitful interleaving of St Paul’s stern homilies to the Romans with Johann Franck’s vivid and sometimes sugary hymn stanzas and the way Bach harmonises them with matchless ingenuity. Fashionable musicology would have it that the motet is a compilation, put together from the rump of ‘Es ist nun nichts’ (movement 2) and the central fugue ‘Ihr aber seid nicht fleischlich’. I find it difficult to believe that anyone but Bach could possibly have concocted the brilliant, chiastic structure of this eleven-movement motet, and done so as the very first stage of its compositional planning.
© John Eliot Gardiner 2006
Notes on Text, Music
The chorale "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit," Luther's paraphrase of Psalm 124,5 is found in Das neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB) of 1682 in the omnes tempore (Ordinary Time) section under the rubric, Persecution & Tribulation (No. 266), and is an assigned pulpit/communion hymn for the 4th Sunday in Epiphany, as well as “Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir,”and ”Es ist das Heil uns kommen Her"; the Hymn of the Day was “Wenn wir in Höchsten Nöten sein.” Luther's "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit" also is listed in the NLGB as a pulpit/communion hymn for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity and the Hymn of the Day for the 5th Sunday after Trinity. It is listed in Bach's Weimar Orgelbüchlein chorale preludes as No. 118, Psalm Hymns, but not set, while Bach'chorale source probably was the Gotha 1715 Hymnal (http://www.orgelbuechlein.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Witt-485-Wär-Gott-nicht-mit-uns-diese-Zeit.pdf). It was "generally considered the hymn of the day for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany and was sung on this day from time immemorial also in Leipzig, says Güther Stiller.6 "In the Dresden hymnbooks, too, this hymn is assigned to the 4th Sunday after Epiphany." Bach's source for Cantata 14 chorale probably was the Dresdener Gesangbuch of 1725, says Petzoldt (Ibid.).
In his setting of the Luther hymn (Stanza 3) as a plain chorale closing Cantata 14 (No. 5, http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0014_5.htm), "Bach has elaborated and chromaticised the original" melody (http://www.orgelbuechlein.co.uk/the-missing-chorales/, Ob. 118. The original Dorian melody (Zahn 4434, EKG 192)) is attributed to Johann Walther and is the same melody Justus Jonas used for his 1524 setting of the Psalm 124 paraphrase in eight stanzas, "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält" (If the Lord God does not stay with us; text http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale086-Eng3.htm), with both printed in the 1526 Enchyridion version. Subsequently, Jonas used a different melody (Zahn 4441a, EKG 193) to his same text in the 1529 Joseph Klug Gesangbuch (not extant). This version is found in Bach's harmonizations, BWV 256-258 (the four text versions of the two melodies are discussed at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Wo-Gott-der-Herr.htm), with Bach possibly using two of these harmonizations in the St. Mark Passion, Movements 3 and 26 https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0257.htm&prev=searc; "Speculations Regarding the Original Liturgical Occasions of the Individual BWV 253-438 Chorales; Jump to: St. Mark Passion Speculations Picander Vintage Speculations Other Speculations").
In 1523, as Luther began to assemble the first chorale book with Walther, he solicited from other colleagues versifications of penitential & trust metrical Psalm settings and the following were published: 10, 12, 13, 51, 67, 117, 124 , 127 and 130, as outlined by Robin A. Leaver.7 A comparison of the two Psalm 124 settings of Luther and Jonas to the same melody shows that the Jonas was "much smoother and more elegant," while Luther's was concise but "rough-edged," says Ulrich S. Leupold.8 "Perhaps Luther found Jonas' hymn too long and wordy," says Leupold. In The Lutheran Hymnal (St. Louis: Concordia 1941), "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit" is "If God Had Not Been on Our Side, No. 267, "Reformation" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5CFQ_9zihI).
Bach set ""Wo Gott der Herr" as chorale Cantata BWV 178 for the 8th Sunday after Trinity 1724 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV178-D4.htm). The subsequent Jonas melody (Zahn 4441a) also was set to the text of "Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost," which Bach set as chorale Cantata 114 for the 17th Sunday 1724, and the text of "Herr, wie du willst, so schick's mit mir," which opens Cantata 73 for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany 1724.
Alfred Dürr, Biblical Allusions
"A certain connection with the Gospel narrative of the storm at sea is already found in the original psalm: the image of streams of water which, according to the psalmist, would drown our soul if the lord were not with us (vv. 4-5) recurs both in Luther's hymn and in the cantata libretto (at the end of no. 3 and in the middle of no. 4), says Alfred Dürr.9 "The specific properties of this [opening] movement, however, render it all Bach," he says, with "only one appropriate parallel," the opening movement of Cantata 80.
The significance and import of each movement of Cantata 14 is described in Melvin P. Unger's concordance of biblical allusions in Bach's cantatas.10 The opening chorus portrays "God's children lost without his aid (Psalm 124:1-3)"; no. 2, soprano aria, "Murderous foe too strong for our small strength"; no. 3, tenor recitative, "Foes would have killed us if God had not intervened (Psalm 124:3-5 paraphrase"; No. 4, bass aria, "Deliverance from the furious waves of our foes"; and No. 5, chorale, "Thanks to God that we escaped like a bird (Psalm 124: 6-8 paraphrase."
4th Sunday after Epiphany
As can be seen in the church year calendar in Bach's time, the 4th Sunday after Epiphany did not occur every year but less frequently, although it often was the Last Sunday after Epiphany and sometimes took place on February 2, the Feast of the Purification (Mariä Reinigung). The 4th Sunday after Epiphany early in Jesus' ministry was known as the "Lord of Nature" Sunday because of the Gospel (Matt. 8:23-27), Jesus' calming the storm on the sea of Galilee, says Paul Zeller Strodach.11 This event also is described in the gospels of Mark (4:35-41) and Luke (8:22-25) when the frightened disciples (mostly fishermen with little faith) urge Jesus to save them. The accompanying Epistle (Rom. 13:8-10, Love is the fulfilling of the law, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A8-10&version=KJV), is Paul's teaching to the congregation in Rome that Christians must observe in their duties to each other the Great Commandment to love the neighbor as oneself, that all followers of Jesus share in all challenges, says Strodach.
In today's common three-year Lectionary focusing on Mark's Gospel (1:21-28), the 4th Sunday in Epiphany deals with Jesus healing the man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum, also found in the Gospel of Luke (4:33-37). The equivalent reading for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany in Bach's time (Mark 4:35-41), is today the Gospel for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (11th Sunday after Trinity), June 17. For the gospel event in Bach time, he presented two other cantatas, BWV 81, "Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?" (Jesus sleeps, what should be my hope?), closing with Johann Franck's hymn, "Jesu, meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy), on 30 January 1724 and cousin Johann Ludwig Bach's "Gott ist unsre Zuversicht" (God is our trust), JLB-1, 3 February 1725, closing with a plain chorale setting of "Jesu, meine Freude" (https://www.bach-digital.de/rsc/viewer/BachDigitalSource_derivate_00059513/db_bachp0397_page013.jpg). Cantata 81 addresses fears "whenever God seems remote or uncaring," says John S. Setterlund.12 "The word of peace that is heard from Jesus brings comfort and confidence." In Cantata 14, he says, "Jesus calms the storm and rouses awe and faith in his disciples." In addition, the Picander published church cycle for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany in 1729, Cantata P-15, "Wie bist du dich in mir," closes with the third stanza of "Herr Jesu Christ, ich schrei zu dir" (NLGB No. 341, Death & Dying), which is set as a plain chorale, BWV 334 (http://www.bach-chorales.com/BWV0334.htm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIpV6dN57Rg).
Along with the chorale “Jesu mein Freunde” as used in BWV 81 for this day in the church calendar, Luther’s chorale "Wär Gonicht mit uns diese Zeit," which forms the incipit of BWV 14, is definitely identified by Stiller as being strongly correlated to the 4th Sunday after Epiphany at Leipzig (and Dresden). A liturgical format for Cantata 81 is found in the CD book "Bach in Context," vol. 1, "Jesu meine Freude."13 "The Prelude and Fugue in E Minor [BWV 548] forms a frame, as it did in Bach’s time, around this program, designed to fit the liturgical format that gave Bach’s music its purpose; the Fantasia [BWV 713] precedes the motet on which it is based and follows Cantata BWV 64, which quotes the fifth stanza of Johann Franck’s poem," “Jesu, meine Freude,” "Gute Nacht, o Wesen" (Good night, existence), and precedes Cantata 81, which uses closes with Stanza 2, "Unter deinem Schirmen" (Beneath your protection). The Kirnberger chorale fantasia, BWV 713 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAml0dTMWkI) is set in e minor and could have preceded motet BWV 227 in e minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqBMP0J0-Ag). The Prelude & Fugue in E Minor, BWV 548 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJCuew6mIFE) could have opened and closed a service for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, which also could have included Cantatas 81 and 14, as well as motet BWV 227 and Bach's settings Orgelbüchlein BWV 610 and Neumeister BWV 1105 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqBMP0J0-Ag).
Today's current lectionary omits the three so-called "gesima" pre-Lenten Sundays of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Estomihi, found in Bach's time in the single lectionary which was replaced by more Sundays in Epiphany following the Roman Catholic Vatican 2 Council in the 1960s. Instead, the moveable Last Sunday in Epiphany is designated as Transfiguration Sunday (this year, February 11; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfiguration_of_Jesus). Thus, this week is observed as the 4th Sunday after Epiphany while prior to 1970, this week observed Septuagesima Sunday (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Gesima.htm).
Opportunity, Context, Motive
While Bach's method in Cantata 14 is impressive and displays his mastery in the opening motet, his opportunity, particularly the context(s), and his motive(s) remain to be considered. First is Bach's historical-biographical situation. "Gilles Cantagrel (Le moulin et la rivière, page 448) presents 1735 as the beginning of a difficult period for Bach," relates Thérèse Hanquet in her BCW Introduction to Cantata 14. 14 "In 1735, he turns 50, and his two sons from his first wedding, Wilhelm Friedmann and Carl Philip Emmanuel, have recently left the family home to start a career on their own. A third son, Johann Gottfried Bernhardt will soon do the same. In 1735, the Clavier Übung II will be published, but after this and for more than 3 years Bach will not produce any original work of importance. Maybe a mid-life crisis, according to Cantagrel, which will be capital in his mental and artistic itinerary. In addition, in the years 1736-1738, there will be the quarrels with rector Ernesti, then aesthetic polemics with his previous pupil Johann Adolf Scheibe." Says Hanquet, "I tend to feel that the mood of BWV 14 prefigures somehow this feeling of crisis. Of course the text of Luther . . . sets the tune."
Another historical concern was the War of Polish Secession, which early Bach scholars, notably Philipp Spitta and W. Gillies Whittaker, thought were major influences on Cantata 14.15 However, there "is no evidence to support the idea" "that its severity reflects the privations suffered by Saxony during the War of the Polish Succession (1733-38)," says Nicholas Anderson in his Cantata 14 essay.16 Other studies do suggest a connection between Cantata 14 and the militant Reformation chorale Cantata 80, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A mighty fortress is our God), whose similarly monumental opening chorale fantasia probably was completed about 1735-40.
The form and text of both cantata musical sermons, BWV 14 and 80, speaks volumes. "Four of the most important cantatas from the 1730s, Nos. 140, 36, 14, and 80, might be described as semi-chorale cantatas," says Richard D. P. Jones.17 Essentially these works have movements with unaltered chorale stanzas and original poetry — yet another imaginative variation on Bach's original 1724-25 chorale cantata form found in the Church Year Cycle 2 pieces. Of particular note is the opening chorus of Cantata 14, says Jones: "The product is an imaginative rethinking of the antiquated chorale-motet form and one of the outstanding contrapuntal achievements among Bach's chorale-choruses."
Cantata 14 is a hybrid (pasticcio) form of chorale cantata with the opening chorus and closing plain chorale set to the first and last stanzas, unaltered, with the middle movement (no. 3), a tenor recitative which is a paraphrase of Stanza 2 in Luther's three-stanza hymn, commenting on lines 3-5 of eight-line Psalm 124. Flanking this Bach composed two free-da capo arias which added musical substance to the whole while only freely alluding to Luther's chorale. In a similar manner, Bach in 1731 in hybrid, three-stanza chorale Cantata 140, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" (Wake up, the voice calls us), for the most-rare 27th Sunday after Trinity, added to Philipp Nicolai's three stanzas (Nos. 1, 4 & 7) pairs of madrigalian recitatives and arias (Nos. 2, 3, 5 & 6) — achieving another symmetrical form and a more well-ordered church music for lesser-occurring services. It is possible that Picander was the librettist for Cantatas 140 and 14, particularly in the latter since he is presumed to be the poet for the Christmas Oratorio of 1734-35.
Luther's three-stanza setting of Psalm 124 provided Bach with serendipity. Besides being a preferred chorale for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany in Bach's time, Luther's setting is part of a tradition of Protestant tradition of Psalm settings of the Word of God and the concept of the Reformation as Church Militant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_Militant,_Penitent,_and_Triumphant). After their composition in 1524, the Luther and Jonas settings of "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit" became part of the hymns for Reformation in the Lutheran hymnbooks, as did "A mighty fortress," an original setting of Psalm 46, as well as Psalm 12, “Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein,” and Psalm 67, “Es woll’ uns Gott gnädig sein,” and eventually in 1543, the Luther-Jonas "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" (Preserve us, Lord, with your word; NLGB 305 "Word of God & Christian Church), which Bach set as chorale Cantata 126 for pre-Lenten Sexagesima Sunday 1725. In Bach's time, the psalm hymns appeared under the rubric, “Christian Life and Conduct” (NLGB 241-274), and in the Orgelbüchlein as Psalm Hymns (Nos. 101-119).
While Bach's attitude toward war and peace is still a subject of debate and discussion, his music with militant overtones also is found in the Christmas Oratorio opening chorus of the Epiphany Cantata, "Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben" (Lord, when our arrogant enemies snort with rage, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhczQxpeIGE), presented three weeks earlier then Cantata 14 in 1735. The parody original of this lost cantata, BWV 248a, is thought to have been composed in 1734 for the militant Fest of Michael and All-Angels, September 29 or a Thanksgiving Service for the War of PolSuccession, on July 6 in Leipzig. After Cantata 14, Bach in 1735 seems to have been unusually busy, presenting the apocryphal St. Luke Passion on Good Friday followed by reperformances during the Easter Season and, most notably, the premiere of the Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11, on May 19, as well as a possible, lost Pentecost Oratorio on May 31, and a week later the beginning of at least one full cycle of cantatas of Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1735.htm). Increasingly, Bach in the 1730s selectively composed original music for special occasions such as feast days, Reformation-observances, or services of thanksgiving such as the end of the Second Silesian War, 25 December 1745, possibly with Cantata 191, and/or 9 January 1746, Cantata 192 reperformance (see "Peace Dankfest Services," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV1045-D2.htm).
Provenance
The original score and parts set of Cantata 14 were part of the 1750 estate division of the second cycle chorale cantatas, with Friedemann receiving the autograph score (D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 879, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001915) and doublets (D-B Mus. ms. Bach St 398, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002590,18
and Anna Magdalena the parts set in Bach's handwriting (D-LEb Thomana 14, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003225) which she donated to the Thomas School. The Thomas School parts set cover is in the hand of Bach son-in-law J. C. Altnickol and an unknown scribe (c1750). This led to the Bach Digital provision that either Friedemann or Altnikol's wife (Elisabeth Juliane Friederica, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Christoph_Altnickol) received the score in 1750 which then went to J. G. Nacke. The score provenance is described in detail in Thomas Braatz's BCW "Provenance" article (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/BWV14-Ref.htm). At the end of this "composing score with numerous corrections," says Braatz, is in Bach's hand, "Fine | SDGl. | 1735." Further details of the score, parts set and a separate study, "Which type of brass instrument did Bach want in BWV 14?," are found in Braatz's Provenance article.
"The next owner of the [Cantata 14] score is documented as being the cantor from Oelsnitz, Johann Georg Nacke (1718-1804). His initials and the year of acquisition appear on the title page as: J.G.N.|1762," says Braatz. Another set of 12 new parts of Cantata BWV 14 was copied after 1762 by Nacke with the parts folder written by Christian Friedrich Penzel (1737-1801, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Penzel-Christian-Friedrich.htm, student of Nacke and Bach copyist, says Braatz. It is possible that Penzel may have performed Cantata 14 between 1765 and 1770 when he was cantor at Merseburg and copied and possibly performed eight other Bach Cantatas (BWV 97, 157, 159, 106, 158, 112, 25 and 38).
FOOTNOTES
1 Cantata BWV 14, Details & Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV14.htm; Score Vocal & Piano, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV014-V&P.pdf; Score BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV014-BGA.pdf; Score NBA & Foreward, https://www.carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien/30/3101400/3101400x.pdf. References: BGA II (Cantata 11-20, Moritz Hauptmann, 1862), NBA KB I/6 (Epiphany 3-4 Cantatas, Peter Wollny, 1996: 131-153), Bach Compendium BC A 40, Zwang K 196. Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wär_Gott_nicht_mit_uns_diese_Zeit,_BWV_14; video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_Yi_iCyU-U.
2 Martin Petzold, Bach Kommentar: Theologisch Musikwissenschaftlicke Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastan Bachs; Vol. 2, Die Geistlichen Kantaten vom 1. Advent bis zum Trinitatisfest; Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2007: 516). 4th Sunday in Epiphany German text, Martin Luther 1545, English translation KJV 1611 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Read/Epiphany4.htm.
3 Klaus Hofmann notes, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV14.htm, No. 8; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec3.htm#C54.
4 John Eliot Gardiner notes, http://www.monteverdi.co.uk/downloads/booklets/sdg115.pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec3.htm#P19; music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADuB6aI0a7c.
5 Psalm 124, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+124&version=KJV; chorale German text http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/german/tlh267g.htm; English translation, http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh267.htm; details, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wär_Gott_nicht_mit_uns_diese_Zeit.
6 Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig, ed. Robin A. Leaver (St. Louis MO: Concordia Publishing, 1985: 238).
7 Robin A. Leaver, Chaper 4, "The Initial Repertory of Hymns: 1523-24," The Whole Congregation Sings: Congregational Singing in Luther's Wittenberg (Grand Rapids MI: William B. Eerdmanns Publishing, 2017: 76).
8 Ulrich S. Leupold, "Were God Not with us at This Time," Liturgy and Hymns, Vol. 53, Luther's Works (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1965: 245).
9 Alfred Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach, ed. & trans. Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2005: 219f).
10 Melvin P. Unger, Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts: An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotation and Allusions. (Lanham Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1996: 48-50).
11 Paul Zeller Strodach, The Church Year: Studies in the Introit, Collects, Epistles and Gospels (Philadelphia PA: United Lutheran Publication House: 1924).
12 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: 75).
13 Bach in Context source: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Belder.htm, C-1; http://www.classicalacarte.net/Textes/Fanfare/KTC1440_fanfare.htm.
14 Cantata 14, Discussions in the Week of October 19, 2008, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV14-D2.htm.
15 Also, see Peter Smaill's BCML Cantata 14 Discussion, Part 4 (Week of February 14, 2010), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV14-D3.htm, specifically "Thanksgiving in Time of War?," "BWV as part of a creative surge in late 1734/1735?," and "The Last Original Cantata for the Church Year?.", as well as "Julian Mincham wrote (February 15, 2009): Some reflections on the opening chorus from BWV 14 (Mvt. 1)"
16 Nicholas Anderson, Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999: 503).
17 Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. II, 1717-1750, Music to Delight the Spirit (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013: 282f). |
| |
|
|
