|
William L. Hoffman wrote (October 19, 2017):
Wedding Cantata 196: “Der Herr denket an uns und segnet uns”
As early as Bach’s Mühlhausen tenure 1707-08, his Cantata BWV 196,“Der Herr denket an uns und segnet uns” (The Lord thinks of us and blesses us) was preformed as a concise setting of Psalm 115, Non nobis, Domine (Not unto us, O Lord), with vocal movement of two choruses and two arias for each of four verses, 12-15, and is appropriate for a wedding. As such, it was the first of five extant sacred wedding cantatas (BWV 34a, 120a, 197, and 195), later composed in Leipzig and involving parody or new-text underlay. Like the Quodlibet, BWV 524, of 1707, for secular weddings, Bach later composed Cantatas BWV 202, Anh. 196, 216, and 210 for Saxon Court nobility in Leipzig.
In many musical respects, this 13-minute work is a typical vocal concerto proto-cantata: an opening, free-standing sinfonia that describes the intimate mood of this five-movement piece, based on liturgy Psalm 115: framing opening and closing two-part preludes & fugues for chorus (the latter, “Ihr seid die Gesegneten des Herrn" (You are the blessed of the Lord); an intimate soprano aria with solo violin, “Ihr seid die Gesegneten des Herrn” (You are the blessed of the Lord), and a tenor-bass duet in canon that paraphrases verse 14: “May the Lord bless you more and more, you and your children.” Although the place and occasion are still debated, Bach’s treatment follows a simple wedding service from entrance to announcement and biblical incipt, and benediction and conclusion (score & music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qkdoso1xWXs).1
Cantata 196 appears to be an early work composed for a wedding (see below, “Notes on the text”). Recent scholarship shows varied perspectives on its dating, with Italianate elements which may date it later to Weimar (see below, “Seeking Early Origin, Purpose”). Following below are brief commentaries (“Cantata 196: Occasion, Features” and “Cantata 196: Movements Details”) and Julian Mincham’s commentary, “Cantata 196: Style, Major Mode, Charm,” as well as discussions of “Manuscript Copies, Sources” and “Occasional Music of Sorrow, Joy.” A detailed study translation of “Wedding Service Order, Prescribed Chorales,” by Thomas Braatz concludes the discussion.
Cantata 196 movements, scoring, text, key, meter (BCW German text and English translation and Notes on text, Francis Browne, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV196-Eng3P.htm).
1. Sinfonia, imitation, round closed form, 21 mm [Violino I/II, Viola, Violoncello, Organo, Continuo]; C Major, 4/4.
2. Chorus prelude & fugue (permutation), 3-part ABA’ (brief da-capo), 42 mm [SATB; Violino I/II, Viola, Violoncello, Organo, Continuo]: “Der Herr denket an uns und segnet uns. / Er segnet das Haus Israel, er segnet das Haus Aaron.” (The Lord thinks of us and blesses us. / He blesses the house of Israel, he blesses the house of Aaron, Psalm 115:12); C Major; 4/4.
3. Aria da-capo (13, 6 mm) [Soprano; Violino I/II all' unisono, Organo e Continuo]: A. “Er segnet, die den Herrn fürchten” (He blesses those who fear the Lord); B. “beide, Kleine und Große.” (both, small and great, Psalm 115:13); a minor; 4/4.
4. Aria (Duetto) in canon with ritornelli, text repetition, 72 mm [Tenor, Bass; Violino I/II, Viola, Organo e Continuo]: “Der Herr segne euch je mehr und mehr, / euch und eure Kinder.” (May the Lord bless you more and more, / you and your children, Psalm 115:14); C Major, 3/2.
5. Chorus prelude (mostly homophonic, 16 mm) & double fugue (43 mm) with ritornelli [SATB; Violino I/II, Viola, Organo e Continuo]: A. Prelude, “Ihr seid die Gesegneten des Herrn / der Himmel und Erde gemacht hat.” (You are the blessed of the Lord, / who has made heaven and earth, Psalm 115:15); B. Fugue, “Amen.” C Major
Notes on the text
<<BWV 196 is almost certainly one of Bach's earliest vocal compositions and probably dates from his time in Mülhausen (1707/8). The original score has not survived, but there is a copy made in the early 1730s by Bach's pupil Johann Ludwig Dietel. This does not specify an occasion and the text chosen - Psalm 115:12-15 - is not linked with any particular liturgical or non-liturgical use. The brevity of the text and the absence of recitative and chorale are typical of cantatas from the very early years of the eighteenth century and so also suggest an early date.
According to Alfred Dürr,2 Wilhelm Rust, editor of the Bach Gesellschaft edition(1864), and Philipp Spitta, Bach's biographer, both reached the conclusion that the cantata was written for a wedding. Spitta suggested that that the mention in the text of the House of Aaron could mean that the bridegroom was a clergyman and the mention of children implied he may be a widower with children who was making a second marriage . On such evidence he speculated that the cantata was written for the wedding on 5 June 1708 of Johann Lorenz Stauber, who had officiated a few months earlier at Bach's own wedding and who married Regina Wiedemann, an aunt of Bach's wife [Maria Barbara Bach]. The conjecture evokes a pleasing image of the young Bach and his wife returning on a bright summer's day to the small village church (in Dornheim) where they were married with this delightful cantata as their wedding gift. As often happens what was originally speculation is repeated by later commentators and gradually changes into accepted fact.
Certainty is impossible. As Dürr argues it seems unlikely that such s biblical text taken from a single source should coincide in all details with a particular occasion. Konrad Küster casts doubt whether BWV 196 should be regarded as a wedding cantata at all since the text is equally suitable for any other occasion for praise and thanksgiving. But Psalm 115 is not an obvious text to which to turn for a celebratory text. Most of the psalm is concerned with pointing out God's superiority to false idols. Perhaps someone who knew their bible very well - Pfarrer Stauber or Bach himself - noticed that these verses in the middle of a psalm concerned with other topics could be applied to the situation of Stauber, a clergyman with children making a second marriage. The repetition of segnen (bless) in all four verses also offered musical possibilities which Bach exploited. It remains possible that Spitta's reconstruction of the origin of this cantata may contain some truth.>>
Movement summaries of Cantata 196 with related psalm sources are found in Melvin Unger’s text handbook.3 In the opening chorus, the “Lord remembers and blesses his people”(Psalm 115:12), related to Psalm 28:8-9 and Deuteronomy 26:15), as well as Psalm 67:1, the beginning of the Benediction (see below, “Wedding Service Order,” Benediction, and Psalm 95:6-7. The soprano aria says, “God blesses all who fear him,” both small and great (Psalm 115:13), an echo of Mary’s Magnificat and Psalms 103:11, 13 and 25:12-13. The tenor-bass duet is the “Blessing on you and your children” (Psalm 115:14) related to Genesis 1:217-28 and Psalms 127:3, 128:1-4, and 102:28. The closing chorus affirms: “You are the Creator’s blessed ones” (Psalm 115:15), related to Psalms 100:3 and 33:12, and 1 Peter 2:9.
Seeking Early Origin, Purpose
Recent scholarship on the origin and purpose of Cantata 196 suggests other, varied perspectives. Küster proposes a date in the early Weimar period because of Italianate influences, such as da-capo structures in the opening chorus and soprano aria. While Bach Digital lists the occasion as the Stauber-Wiedemann in mid 1708, shortly before Bach on July 14 assumed his duties as organist and chamber musician at the Weimar Court, other research suggests the date and occasion as Bach’s wedding, 17 October 1707, according to Mary Dalton Greer,4 four months after moving to Mülhausen. There “is no overwhelming reason to suppose that the cantata was composed for a pastor,” agrees Robin A. Leaver, who describes Greer’s argument in his recent Bach research guide.5 Instead Greer draws “a parallel between the house of Aaron and the ‘house of Bach’,” Leaver points out, and that the “suitably lightly score” of Cantata 196 could have been performed in the small St. Bartholomew Church in Dornheim where Stauber was the pastor. Leaver stands on the side of caution, however, not listing a first performance date for Cantata 196 in his concluding Part VI “Chronology: Life and Works 1685-1750.”
“It would be hard to imagine a more appropriate text for the nuptial celebration of two members of the Bach family,” says Greer (Ibid.: 25). Psalm 115 is “eminently applicable to the Bach musical clan,” especially given Martin Luther’s psalm summary reference, cited in the Calov Bible, to singers in the house of Aaron, which “surely resonated with Bach,” says Greer. She also cites various other references in earlier Lutheran publications to the description of Psalm 115 as expressing the glory of God, notably the German Bible under the rubric “Gott allein die Ehre” (To God alone the glory,” which is “the German equivalent of Bach’s lifelong colophon, 'Soli Deo Gloria'.”
“Both the so-called ‘Wedding or Marriage Ceremony’ Cantata 196 and the suggestive Quodlibet, BWV 524 could have been, in their very different ways, appropriate” for Bach’s wedding, says Peter Williams in his recent, final Bach biography.6 “The cantata suited this service as indeed it did or would have done the Dornheim pastor’s own marriage with another of Maria Barbara’s aunts some months later. On the other hand, the Quodlibet fitted the kind of rowdy family gathering implied by some later reports, when they wished to draw the picture of a ‘human Bach’. But there is no reliable documentation about either of these occasions.”
Three Bach vocal pieces have been dated to specific services in 1707-1708 in Mühlhausen, while the dating of Cantata 196 needs further study, says Marcus Rathey in a 2006 article.7 The sacred works and dates are: Cantata 150, 3rd Sunday after Trinity, 10 July 1707; the Kyrie in F Major, BWV 233a, 6 April 1708, Good Friday Service of Confession and General Absolution; and Cantata 106, funeral of Burgomeister Adolph Steckers, 16 September 1708. Citing studies of Konrad Küster (see above, “Notes on the Text”), Rathey questions Spitta’s initial dating of Cantata 196 to 25 June 1708 and urges more studies of Mühlhausen religious sources.
Cantata 196: Occasion, Features
The possible wedding occasion and the features of this early Bach cantata are described in Tadashi Isoyama 1995 liner notes to the first Misaaki Suzuki BIS recording of the complete Bach cantatas. Cantata No. 196: Der Herr denket an uns (BWV 196).8 “This work takes as its text a part of Psalm 115, which is a prayer asking God’s blessing and offering thanks. More specifically, the blessings being requested are those of a home and children, which leads to speculation that this cantata was probably intended for a small wedding ceremony. It has commonly been believed since Spitta that it was used at the wedding of the minister who celebrated Bach’s own wedding ceremony in Arnstadt, Pastor J. R. Stauber, and the aunt of Bach’s wife Barbara (5th June 1708), but there is no clear evidence to indicate this. There is no sense of urgency in the peaceful harmony of the music, which is infused with a sense of prayerfulness and celebration. At the beginning is set the instrumental sinfonia. This and the following are typical features of Bach’s early cantatas. Two pillar choruses, the second and fifth movements, employ an organ-like prelude and fugue form, while the fourth movement is a calm, gently-swaying duet. The surviving full score, from which the modern editions are derived, is written in the hand of J. L. Dietel, a student of Bach’s in Leipzig, and dates from 1731 or 1732.”
Tadashi Isoyama
Cantata 196: Movements Details
Details of the movements of Cantata 196 are described in Wilfrid Mellers 2005 liner notes to the Purcell Quartet’s Chandos recording of early Bach cantatas.9 “Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196 is a longer and grander act of praise in ‘white’ C major, emblematic of Light. The Sinfonia is in the French style, with a bass of flowing quavers supporting quasi-fugal entries of strings rendered more regally potent, but also more urgent, by the French double-dotted rhythms such as originally paid pompous tribute to a mortal man in the shape of Louis XIV. This Sinfonia has no complementary quick section, though the first chorus fulfils a similar function, extending the Sinfonia’s canonic theme. The words ‘Er segnet’ precipitate a new movement for solo soprano with obbligato violin, rippling, at moderate pace in the relative A minor, into semiquaver triplets and demisemiquavers. The succeeding duet for tenor and bass solo is in a spacious 3 / 2 pulse, the theme again dominated by rising fourths, but ending in a resplendently ‘white’ arpeggiated descent in C major. The final Chorus opens homophonically in F major, the subdominant, though rising scales and swirling arpeggios on strings generate modulations, and leaping octaves and trills animate consummatory ‘Amens’, now unambiguously in C major.”
© 2005 Wilfrid Mellers
Cantata 196: Style, Major Mode, Charm
Features such as the opening sinfonia, the simpler and older style, major mode emphasis and charm and are described in Julian Mincham’s Cantata 196 Commentary introduction (http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-78-bwv196/). <<Whist many aspects of this cantata remain unclear, there can be no doubt of its being a youthful work, the earliest existing of Bach’s wedding cantatas. And that presupposes that it was indeed composed for a wedding. Spitta certainly thought so and most critics have subsequently followed this line. But there is nothing in the minimal text (barely six lines for the entire work [Psalm 115:12-15]) which marks it definitively for such an occasion; it would be appropriate for any event which included the celebration of the importance and blessings of the Lord and our gratitude on receiving them. The only line which may have resonances of marriage and propagation is that of the duet [no. 4] — may the Lord bless you, and your children, increasingly.
Dürr (Ibid: 779) suggests that the work might have been composed between Bach’s periods of tenure at Mühlhausen and Weimar although a number of musical characteristics indicate that it could have been even before that; it is quite possibly Bach’s earliest surviving cantata. The movements are short and relatively undeveloped, as is the text. There is no recitative and no chorale. Like Cs 150, 152 and 4, all early works, it begins with a short instrumental sinfonia for strings. The sinfonias which herald those three religious cantatas are, however, all in minor modes whilst that for C 196 is in the major, an indication (and it can be no more than that) that it may well have been conceived for a happy event: all of Bach’s surviving cantatas for weddings begin with, and make predominate use of, major modes. It is written for a minimal number of performers, four singers, strings and continuo (no wind) and the complete work takes only about ten minutes to perform.
Additionally, the continuo makes much use of stock baroque bass lines, lacking the energetic and original shapings that were to become a feature of so much of Bach’s later music. And finally, Bach’s clear vision of the tonal principles guiding the structure and unified construction of his later massive movements is here, rather embryonic. The last movement clearly begins in F major ends in C, the main key of the cantata, and modulations throughout are few and close to home, demonstrating little of the sophisticated, organic use of key relationships that were to be exploited in the later, extended arias and choruses. But whatever the date or original function of this work may have been, it retains a certain charm and demonstrates Bach’s innate sense of expressive melody.>>
Manuscript Copies, Sources
The original Bach score and parts set are lost while two score copies survive. The first score is a copy study by Johann Ludwig Dietel (1713-1777),10 who was a Bach pupil and copyist (BCW Biography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Dietel-Johann.htm). Dietel was Bach’s main copyist of parts primarily 1729/30 and 1734/35. About 1735 he copied Bach 149 four-part chorales, 50 of which are free-standing chorales not found in extant vocal compositions. In 1730-31 Dietel made a score copy of Cantata 196 in modern notation, presumably from Bach’s original score. He also copied scores and parts for performances of Johann Bernard’s Bach’s Overtures in G and D Major, probably for the Collegium musicum, and Johann Friedrich Fasch’s Annunciation Cantata, “Gottes und Marien Kind,” probably 25 March 1732, says Andreas Glöckner.11 In the 1750 estate division, Bach’s music for various occasions was not divided between Friedemann and Emmanuel but went to various sources in Leipzig or other Bach family members or students such as Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Bach student (1739-41), and later serving the Berlin Prussian Court and as curator of the Amelienbibliothek, Kirnberger possessed the Dietel copy (BCW Biography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Kirnberger-Johann-Philipp.htm).
The second score copy was made c1835 by Berlin copyist Carl Bagans for collector Franz Hauser. “As it turned out, the latter is not simply a copy of the Dietel score, but must have been copied from another source; hence it gives important information that was not available to Rust [BGA, XIII/1] but was taken into consideration by the NBA [KB 33] almost a century later,” says Thomas Braatz (January 29, 2005, BCML Cantata 196 Discussion, Part 2, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV196-D2.htm).
Occasional Music of Sorrow, Joy
One of the most popular but obscure groups of Bach cantatas is the sacred music for various special occasions, without designation of purpose at the top of the score but most often either music of sorrow or joy, primarily for memorial and wedding services. They are found in two basic groupings: early works composed in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen in 1706-08 in the old style (Cantatas 4, 150, 131, 106, and 196) and four joyous pure-hymn chorale cantatas composed in Leipzig between 1728 and 1734 (BWV 192, BWV 117, BWV 97, BWV 100) that often have progressive elements and could have been used in extravagant bridal Masses.12
While performed in sacred Lutheran services the manuscripts were not distributed to Bach's heirs as part of the annual church cantata cycles, yet they form a major element of Bach's calling to create a "well-ordered church music to the glory of God." Their bedrock texts are drawn from biblical psalms and chorales of penitence or praise and thanksgiving. Thus, they probably were either presented during sacred memorial/funeral services or during weddings, as well as other special sacred celebrations for Reformation Day, the Town Council annual installation or other occasional services of thanksgiving. In the current discussion of the Bach Cantata Website (BCW), the music is classified variously, with added Bach Compendium (BC) catalog numbers for "Cantatas for Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year," "Unspecified Occasions" (Work Group A) or "Sacred works for special occasions" (Work Group B), as well as simply designated "Various occasions" in Dürr's cantata study (Ibid.).
Wedding Service Order, Prescribed Chorales
Insight into wedding service order and prescribed chorales is found in Braatz's commentary (Ibid.: January 30, 2005).13 <<There are three 4-pt. chorale settings which Bach used as follows: Before the wedding ceremony "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" BWV 250; After the wedding ceremony (after the couple has been pronounced man and wife): "Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut" BWV 251; and After the blessing has been spoken: "Nun danket alle Gott" BWV 252. Schweitzer speculated that BWV 97 and BWV 100 were used for wedding ceremonies. Arnold Schering added to this list BWV 9, BWV 93, BWV 99 (or BWV 100?) and BWV 111. All these conjectures, still not supported by proof, seem nevertheless to be reasonable assumptions.
The 'Agenda' which is the prescribed sequence (order of service) that needed to be followed by pastors during Bach's time in Leipzig also included the appropriate chorales, Latin hymns, collects, prayers, blessings, etc. [It is important to note that both German and Latin hymns are used as part of the ceremony.] The pastor has to announce to the congregation 3 times on subsequent Sundays the names of the couples and whether it is the 1st, 2nd or 3rd time that the announcement is given. The pastor asks: “Is there anyone who has any objection to these couples being united in marriage, let them speak up in time or remain forever silent after the marriage. The Lord give them His blessing for Christ's sake. Amen.”
These announcements were made from the lectern immediately after the sermon. The 'tempus clausum' prevented these Sunday announcements from being made during Lent or Advent (except on the 1st Sunday in Advent). In the case of the important feast days (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost), the announcements could be made only on the day following the primary holiday.
Bride and Bridegroom appear in church for the wedding (there were also home weddings possible which follow the same order of service as given here): The moment the couple enters the church, the wedding music (a chorale or 1st part of a cantata) begins. Bach has written "Vor der Trauung" ["before the wedding"] over the 1st part of a wedding cantata to be performed at this time. Pastor: “Since you have been promised to each other and have had your names announced in public and now desire to be married, I ask you: (facing the bridegroom:) [his name is spoken] do you wish to take [her name is spoken] as your properly wedded wife, then announce this confession before this assembled Christian congregation and say 'yes.' [Bridegroom:] ‘Yes.’" The same is repeated with the bride. The exchange of rings takes place
Pastor: “Whatever God has brought together, let no man break asunder, for these two Christian individuals desire to enter the married state and confess this openly here before God and the world. And now that they have exchanged rings with each other, I now, as a designated servant of the church, pronounce them before this Christian congregation to be married in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
It is possible that the singing of Psalm 127 or 128 and the reading of John 2:1-11 and the congregation singing "Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist" took place at this time. The pastor now walks toward the altar, followed by the bride and bridegroom. It is at this time that the 2nd half of a wedding cantata would be performed, either as the couple walks toward the altar or when they arrive there. Bach designates this part of the wedding cantata as "Nach der Trauung" ['after the wedding'] or 'Post Copulationem.'
Pastor: “Since you have now entered into the sacred marital bond in the name of God and so that you will begin your marriage properly in His name (not without understanding God's word the way non-believers do,) so you should now hear first of all from the Holy Bible, how holy matrimony has been instituted by God: For it is written: Genesis 2: 21-24. Also, listen to God's command regarding marriage and how you should act toward each other. Paul spoke as follows: Ephesians 5:25-29, 22-24. Listen also how the cross which has been placed on the marital condition by the fall by God was placed there with good purpose for the sake of your sins. God spoke to the wife as follows: Genesis 3:16. And to the husband God said: Genesis 3:17-19. It is for your comfort that you should know and believe how God looks favorably upon your marital state and blesses it. For it is written: Genesis: 1:27-28, 31; David also speaks about this: Psalm 128; And Solomon says: Proverbs 18:22.” Bride and Bridegroom now kneel.
“Let as pray for this new Christian married couple, for the marital condition generally as well as profess before the entire Christian church: Our Father . . . . Let us also pray: Dear Lord, you have created man and woman and have provided for marriage with the fruits of the body and the sacrament of your dear Son, Jesus Christ and have designated him as the Bride of God's churches, we ask for your endless kindness that you will not allow your creatures to change or spoil your order and blessing, but rather kindly spare us through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”
Benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord let his face shine over you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift his countenance over you and give you peace.” At this point the 'Tedeum' is sung. Now follows the prayer for all Christianity: “Almighty and eternal God, you sanctify and rule over all Christianity with your Holy Spirit, hear our request and kindly grant us that the church with all of its members should serve you through your grace, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, our Lord. Amen.”
A general blessing is given. [This might be the place where BWV 252 "Nun danket alle Gott" is sung or does this take the place of the Tedeum?]
Notes: Bach had two types of wedding services: 1) 'gantze Brautmeße' ['complete weddings'] and 2) 'halbe Brautmeße' ['half weddings'] in which case no cantata would be performed, but rather chorales such as BWV 250-252. There was also a difference between these two types regarding the employment of 'Stadtpfeifer' [waits] vs. 'Kunstgeiger' ['freelance? violinists’]. There is also evidence of a 'tragbares Trauungspositiv' ['a mobile positiv for weddings only with "1 Prinzipal von 2 Fuß' - a single 2' stop.’]. It is estimated that Bach had composed c. 60 wedding cantatas.>>
FOOTNOTES
1 Cantata 196 BCW Details & Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV196.htm. Score Vocal & Piano, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV196-V&P.pdf; Score BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV196-BGA.pdf. References: BGA XIII/1 (Wedding cantatas, Wilhelm Rust, 1864), NBA KB I/33 (wedding cantatas, Frederick Hudson, 1958:18), Bach Compendium BC B 11, Zwang K 5. Cantata 196 Score Examples: NBA KB I/33 incipits, movements 1-5, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV196-Sco.htm.
2 Sources: Alfred Dürr, Cantatas of J. S. Bach, Eng. trans. Richard D.P. Jones (New York, Oxford University Press, 2005: 779); Spitta I: 370ff (English); Konrad Küster, ‘“Der Herr denket an uns,” BWV 196: Eine frühe Bach-Kantate und ihr Kontext’, Musik und Kirche 66 (1996): 84-96.
3 Melvin Unger, Handbook to Bach’s Sacred Cantata Texts: An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions (Lanham Md.: The Scarecrow Press, 1996: 687).
4 Mary Greer, “From the House of Aaron to the House of Johann Sebastian: Old Testament Roots for the Bach Family Tree, in About Bach, an essay collection for Christoph Wolff; ed. George Butler, George B. Stauffer, and Mary Dalton Greer (Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2008: 24f).
5 Robin A. Leaver, Part II, Contexts, “Churches: The Bach Family and the Church,” in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (Abington, Oxon GB and New York, Routeledge: 2017: 158).
6 Peter Williams, Chapter 2, First appointments, 1703-1708: “First marriage and some cantatas of the time,” Bach: A Musical Biography (Cambridge University Press, 2016: 79).
7 Marcus Rathey, “Zur Datierung einger Vokalwerke Bachs in den Jahren 1707 and 1708,” in Bach Jahrbuch 2006, 65ff). Küster’s findings of Italian influence on Bach in the early Weimar period (1708-12) is discussed in “The Italian Legacy,” Chapter 1, Introduction: The Legacies of J. S. Bach, in The Worlds of Johann Sebastian Bach (New York: Amadeus Press, 2009, Footnotes 122: 62), download, http://bookmarksland.net/downloads/the_worlds_of_johann_sebastian_bach_an_aston_magna_academy_book.pdf.
8 Cantata 196 Tadashi Isoyama notes, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C01a%5BBIS-CD751%5D.pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki.htm#C1.
9 Cantata 196 Wilfred Mellers notes, see BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Purcell.htm#C1, click on “Liner Notes.”
10 Autograph Score (Facsimile): D-B Am.B 102-104, Faszikel 2 (Am.B 103) [Bach Digital], https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000456; Provenance, J. L. Dietel - ? - J. P. Kirnberger - Berlin, Amalien-Bibliothek - Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium (1788) - BB (now Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung), Amalienbibliothek (1914).
11 See Andreas Glöckner, “Neuekenntnisse zu J. S. Bach’s Auffürungskalender, 1729-35, Bach Jahrbuch 1981: 66f).
12 Alfred Dürr discusses these four chorale cantatas in his cantata study, Part 2, Section II, Various Studies, along with Cantatas 150, 131, and 196. Sacred wedding cantatas are discussed in Part 2, Section I, Chapter 9 (pages 742-757), and secular weddings cantatas are discussed in Parts 3, Secular cantatas, Chapter 6, Wedding cantatas (pages 892-901).
13 Source: NBA I/33 KB pp. 7ff. mainly in regard to the wedding ceremonies in Leipzig during Bach's tenure. Following (pages 12-15) are 30 complete sacred Leipzig weddings with cantatas held at the Thomas Church from 1723 to 1748 which also are listed in Leaver’s Routledge Research Companion to JSB (pages 501-36).
—————
To Come: Leipzig Sacred Wedding Cantatas 195, 197, 34a: Later 1720s Parody Material |
