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Cantata BWV 183
Sie werden euch in den Bann tun [II]
Discussions - Part 4 |
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Continue from Part 3 |
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Discussions in the Week of December 19, 2010 (3rd round) |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (December 19, 2010):
Introduction to BWV 183 --Sie werden euch in den Bann tun
This weeks discussion continues the ongoing series of cantatas spanning from Easter to Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity. With BWV 183, we have the second (and final) work for the period after Ascension, anticipating the appearance of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (Whitsun). Although the reference to this date as the Sunday after Ascension is most common, Doug Cowling has pointed out that the the name for the Sunday, Exaudi, links it to the Easter season. Kuijken references it as the 6th Sunday after Easter (notes to BWV 44) , consistent with Dougs suggestion and with the Gospel reading for the day.
Details of text, commentary, recordings, and previous discussion are accessible via: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV183.htm
The link to commentary by Julian [Mincham} is especially recommended as an introduction to listening. There are no OVPP recordingsd available, but for Easter 6, we have resumed availability of the works from the Gardiner pilgrimage series, which was sadly lacking for the Ascension Day cantatas.. I will look for quotable insights from booklet notes to recordings, during the week. |
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Douglas Cowling wrote (December 20, 2010):
BWV 183 -- Symbolic Tessitura
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< This weeks discussion continues the ongoing series of cantatas spanning from Easter to Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity. With BWV 183, we have the second (and final) work for the period after Ascension, anticipating the appearance of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost (Whitsun) >
This is an astonishing cantata that I have never heard. It's almost as if Bach set himself a personal challenge: can I write an extended cantata which lies almost exclusively in the middle alto and tenor range? The orchestration features obligati for 2 oboes d'amore, 2 oboes da caccia and violoncello piccolo. The higher violins hardly have a role beyond discreet accompanying. Even the opening recitative begins with 4 oboes.
Other low-tessitura movements that come to mind are the "Quoniam " of the B Minor Mass (BWV 232) (bass soloist with horn, 2 bassoons and continuo) and the movements dominated by 3 horns, timpani and bassoon in "Lobet den Herrn" (BWV 143).
Things only begin to "lighten up" with the soprano aria. I wonder if this is meant to symbolize the ascent from the depths of persecution to the gift of the Holy Spirit signified by the soprano soloist who finally rises above
the staff and points ahead to the following Sunday's triumph at Pentecost.
The use of the bass Vox Christi suggests again that this Sunday's cantata is part of a genre of Easter cantatas which is only briefly interrupted by a Thursday celebration of Ascension Day. |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (December 20, 2010):
Douglas Cowling wrote:
< The use of the bass Vox Christi suggests again that this Sunday's cantata is part of a genre of Easter cantatas which is only briefly interrupted by a Thursday celebration of Ascension Day. >
And which may extend over two years, Jahrgang I and II?
See Gardiners comment, with respect to the previous years BWV 44:
<Durr observes that this cantata shares with three other post-Easter cantatas from the following years cycle (BWV 6, BWV 42, and BWV 85 [along with BWV 183, all 1725, Jahrgang II]) a similarity in overall design and in the emphasis placed on Christian suffering in the world. From this one might speculate that those three cantatas were perhaps planned by Bach to be incorporated into his first Leipzig cycle along with BWV 44, but were put on hold until the following year as a result of over-extending himself with the St. John Passion in March 1724. [...] in order to complete his first Leipzig cycle, he resorted to earlier cantatas (BWV 131, BWV 12, BWV 172, BWV 194) and to recycling secular material from his Cöthen years (BWV 66, BWV 134, BWV 104, BWV 173, and BWV 184).
At our leisure, we can check all those numbers, and whether the speculation is reasonable. |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (December 20, 2010):
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< in order to complete his first Leipzig cycle, he resorted to earlier cantatas (BWV 131, BWV 12, BWV 172, BWV 194) and to recycling secular material from his Cöthen years (BWV 66, BWV 134, BWV 104, BWV 173, and BWV 184).
At our leisure, we can check all those numbers, and whether the speculation is reasonable. >
It looks like I did all right transcribing those numbers, but that Gardiner should have written BWV 31 rather than BWV 131. Otherwise credible. |
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Continue on Part 5 |
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