Bach's Anniversaries

2023: Tricentenary of Bach Leipzig Service: Bachfest Leipzig 1723, Carus Verlag

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 10, 2023):
This year, 2023, is a banner time for Bach scholarship, marking the 300th anniversary of Bach's debut as music director and cantor in Leipzig as he began to fulfill his calling of a "well-regulated church music to the glory of God," begun when he resigned as organist at the Mühlhausen St. Blasius Church on 25 June 1708 to take the post of organist at Weimar. There, in 1714, he began as concert master to compose monthly, mostly Sunday church cantatas (see BCW) as he mastered the art of concerto writing. In his next post as Capellmeister in Köthen (1718-23), Bach composed mostly dramatic vocal serenades and mastered the art of composing dance music suites, improvised chorales, and polyphonic composition to enhance his mastery of the cantata and oratorio (great cantata). In Leipzig he was responsible for presenting annually 60 church cantatas on Sundays (except the closed period of Advent and Lent) and feast days, which were the heart of his calling),¹ as well as the annual Passion at Good Friday vespers. He also presented feast day oratorios, Latin Church music and motets, as well as sacred cantatas for the annual installation of the town council and for weddings and funerals.²

Bachfest Leipzig 2023

Recent publications and new resources from noted Bach scholarly entities reveal both a new understanding of Bach's sacred cantatas and suggestions for further Bach studies in the extant lacunae. Two important entities are the coming Bachfest Leipzig 2023 and the Carus Verlag observance involving the beginning of the tricentenary of Bach's sacred cantata compositions in Leipzig.³ This year, 1723, marks the tricentenary of the beginning of Bach's creative span of cantata composition in Leipzig through the third cycle (1725-27) where most of the librettists have been identified. Says Bachfest Leipzig 2023: <<When the 38-year-old Johann Sebastian Bach became Thomaskantor in the early summer of 1723, the »real purpose« of his life as he expressed it once in Mühlhausen, that of being in charge of »well-regulated church music to the glory of God«, for the first time became the focal centre of his work. And Bach delivered: during his first year in Leipzig, from the 1st Sunday after Trinity 1723 to the Feast of the Trinity 1724 in his first church-year cycle (Wikipedia), he performed exclusively his own works in the services in the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. In numbers: 63 cantatas on a total of 55 Sundays and feast days for which music was required. Of these, he composed 38 from scratch and another four using the »parody« technique. In 21 cases he presented older cantatas from his Weimar period, rearranged to a greater or lesser extent – while at the same time quite incidentally composing musical »eight-thousanders« such as the Magnificat or the St. John Passion>> (Source, Bachfest Leipzig 2023: Brochure: "BACH 1723: »SOLI DEO GLORIA« AT LAST").

New NBA Revised Edition Early Cantatas, Carus-Verlag Urtexts

Further research in the NBA Rev., New Edition of the Complete Works - Revised Edition, includes a forthcoming Peter Wollny study of Pre Weimar Cantatas BWV 21, 106, 131, 150 (BA 5940-01), as well as an earlier published NBA Rev. study of Andreas Glöckner, Weimar Cantatas BWV 31, 132, 143 (BA 5936-01). It is possible that Cantatas 143 and 21 contain materials that were originally composed for the Mühlhausen 1709, 1710 Town Council Cantatas, BWV 1138.1 (Bach Digital) and 1138.2 (Bach Digital). Besides the Neue Bach Ausgabe revised edition, another major work edition is Carus Verlag: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sacred Vocal Music. Complete Edition in 23 volumes (Leinfelden-Echterdingen: Carus Verlag) Just completed is the authoritative cantata Urtext of the Stuttgart Bach Edition, including alternate versions, featuring completed editions of noted Bach experts and interpreters such as Pieter Dirksen, BWV 188, 197.1; Andreas Glöckner, BWV 247.2; Klaus Hofmann, BWV 80.3, 139, 157.2; Reinhold Kubik, 50, 181, 13; Ulrich Leisinger, 249.4, 58.2, 23.3, 172.3, 184.2, 82.3; Thomas Riegler, 163.2; Detlev Schulten, 192.1; Masaaki Suzuki, 160.1, 190.2; Uwe Wolf, BWV 132.2, 147.1; and Peter Wollny, notably the final Carus cantata vol. 16, BWV 190-200 (Issuu: 6-7/8).

In recent on-line and in-person presentations, leaders of the Bach Archiv-Leipzig (Wollny, Michael Maul, Christine Blanken), recently involved in BWV 3, have suggested that further research will be added electronically, such as the identification of further copyists and source materials, in addition to thematic approaches to the BachFest in Leipzig and the creation of special compositions that complement previous scholarly findings. A new feature of the Bachfest is the commissioning of contemporary works that strengthen the understanding of Bach's compositions. "But »BACH for Future« also means that we will not only be reverently looking back over 300 years of Bach’s music in its original venues, but also presenting it in new contexts, with a host of fantastic Bachfest debutants, diverse fresh new formats and many a surprising adaptation and reinterpretation of well-known works. For example, there’ll be a kind of Judas oratorio [Pasticcio, June 17] and a requiem by Bach," says Michael Maul, Bachfest director (Bach Fest Leipzig 2023: Brochure: The 2023 Festival Edition: Talk with the Artistic Director of the Bachfest Prof. Dr. Michael Maul). For example, Bachfest 2023 on 8 June will begin with Bach’s inaugural piece, the cantata »Die Elenden sollen essen« (»The poor shall eat«), BWV 75. The concert will include "a world premiere: Jörg Widmann’s reflection, composed specially for the anniversary, on the subject of BWV 75, the parable of poor Lazarus and the rich man: in other words, about the right relationship between rich and poor," says Michael Maul, Bachfest artistic director (see Bachfest Leipzig 2023: Brochoure: "Talk with the Artistic Director of the Bachfest Prof. Dr. Michael Maul"). Widmann, Eine Kantate für Soli, Chor und Orchester (Uraufführung eines Auftragswerkes), Verleihung der Bach-Medaille der Stadt Leipzig (A cantata for soloists, choir and orchestra (world premiere of a commissioned work) Awarded the Bach Medal by the City of Leipzig). The 8 June concert features the Thomanerchor Leipzig, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, diirector: Thomaskantor Andreas Reize. Also, "The Munich Bach Orchestra conducted by Hansjörg Albrecht has compiled six ›new Brandenburg Concertos‹, the instrumentation of which follows that of the original pieces," in concert on June 18. The new Bach Requiem on June 11 "using the parody technique to compile a modern requiem from individual movements from Bach cantatas" (Ibid.: 49) is called Requiem für Vokalquartett und Kammerorchester: J. S. Bach: Et Lux (Pasticcio aus Kantatensätzen von J. S. Bach), Text: Thomas Kunst, Konzept und Adaption: Julia Sophie Wagner und Jakob Lehmann.⁴

Current Bach Works Projects

"Well, I think that the 150 or more events over eleven days [at Bachfest 2023] will show us all one thing first and foremost: Bach’s 300-year-old music has truly not aged, the history of its reception is ›in flux‹. Where it comes from, what it can tell us today and how it can also shape our future – all these things will be explored at the 2023 Bachfest. Hopefully once againwith numerous visitors from near and far. Welcome to the Bach city of Leipzig!," says Maul(Ibid.: 9). The commissioning follows in the spirit of various previous undertakings, such as the Orgelbüchlein Project to complete Bach's unfinished chorale preludes for the church year (Orgelbüchlein.co.uk). Other speculations about Bach's compositions include Morimur (EMI Records), a code realization of the implied chorales in Bach's Chaconne in the Violin Partita in D Minor, BWV 1004 (YouTube), Joseph James' Requiem After J. S. Bach framed by the Chromatic Fantasy in D Minor (YouTube), and Andre Isoir's Johann Sebastian Bach Te Deum and other chorales (Musicweb International). Another major effort has been the reconstruction of presumed original instrumental concertos, based upon extant manuscripts, most notably Bach's Harpsichord Concertos, BWV 1052-59. Best known among the second- and third-generation reconstructions is Bach's Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin, BWV 1060R (YouTube), based upon the Concerto for Two Harpsichords (YouTube), which still is not accepted in the new BWV 3rd edition (Breitkpof: Google Translatef: XXVIIII) but which will be performed at the Leipzig Bachfest on 10 June 1723. In the vocal works category are the reconstructions of Alexander Grychtolik, the St. Mark Passion, BWV 247; Köthen Funeral Music, BWV 1143=244a; and secular cantatas BWV 36a and 66a, 216a and 210a, and 205a and 249a (BCW). Diethard Hellmann (BCW) published reconstructions of Bach's Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186a for the 3^rd Sunday in Advent, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190a and the Markus-Passion (BWV 247). Hellmann's reconstruction of Markus-Passion (BWV 247) has been recorded by several conductors (see: BWV 247 Markus Passion - Recordings). One of the first anthologies of Bach's works was conductor Hans Grischkat's Cantate: Vom Reiche Gottes (From the Kingdom of God), oratorio-style excerpts from 18 cantatas arranged from sorrow to joy (BWV 146 to 137).⁵ More recent is Richard T. Gore's Advent oratorio arrangement, J. S. Bach: Good Tidings of Great Joy (St. Louis MO: Concordia, 1970), from appropriate, Advent-related cantata movements (Amazon.com): BWV 101/5,7; 147/3/6; 30/1-3,6; 62/1,2; 36/7; 70/10-3,11; 151/1' 104/1; 132/5; 22/5; 63/5, 148/1, 29/8.⁶

Cantata Cycles 1, 2 Librettists

The most challenging research is to find the librettists of Bach's first and second church-year cantata cycles in Leipzig.⁷ The key may involve the structure of mini-cycles in the first cycle (1723-24), and the poetic devices of particular librettists in the second (1724-25) chorale cantata cycle, whose principal librettist is identified by Michael Hochgartz as Hamburg theologian and poet Johann Christoph Jauch.⁸ In all likelihood, Bach, as his predecessor cantors had done, relied for librettists on a Leipzig mixture of theologians such as pastors Christian Weiße Sr (1671-1736) and Salomon Deyling, local poets such as Picander and Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, students such as Christoph Birkmann (in the third cycle), and possibly professors at Leipzig University. Surprisingly, there has been only one study of Bach's librettists in English, with significant studies only of Christiane Mariane von Ziegler (BCW, 3rd cycle, 1725 Easter season: BWV 103, 108, 87, 128, 183, 74, 68, 175, 176).⁹ Another major gap in the understanding of Bach's creative endeavors are the min-cycles of works by other composers that Bach presented in Leipzig: Johann Ludwig Bach (substitute 1726, BCW, JLB 1-19), prolific Neumeister texts associated with Bach (BCW) set mostly in Weimar while several were misattributed to Bach instead of Telemann and possibly performed between 1725 and 1734 (BWV 142=Anh. II 23, 160=TVWV 1:877, 218=TVWV 1:634, 219=TVWV 1:1328, BWV Anh. 1=TVWV 1:617, BWV Anh. 156=TVWV 1:732), and in the mid-1730s, Bach presented one church cycle of cantatas by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, "Saiten-Spiel des Herzens" (String Music of the Heart), 1734-35 (BCW), verified in the new BWV3 catalogue (651) from Bach's Music Library. Bach later may also have performed another Stölzel cycle, "Namen-Buch Christi und der Christen" (Namebook of Christ and Christians), but its is still being considered (BCW: 5f).

Anatomy of Bach's Three Cantata Cycles

Another cantata area that needs clarification is the assigning of cantatas to Bach's three extant church-year cycles, as well as gaps in all three and alternate performances of cantatas by other composers. Various scholarly editions on the cantatas, mostly in German, have been published recently: 1. the 2015-17 three volumes of sacred cantatas in Konrad Klek's Dein ist allein die Ehre (Thine Alone Are the Glory), 2. the Laaber-Verlag Bach-Handbuch of Bachs Kantaten: Das Handbuch (2012) in two volumes of topical essays by noted Bach German scholars, 3. Hans-Joachim Schulze 2006 Die Bach-Kantaten: Einfuhrungen Zu Samtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs (The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to Bach's 226 extant sacred and secular cantatas, oratorios Amazon.de), and 4. the final two volumes of Martin Petzoldt's Bach-Kommentar (see BCW: "Cantata-Type Vocal Music Studies, see footnotes 2-4).

Addendum

This 300th anniversary odyssey of Bach's tenure in Leipzig will cover a range of topics as they occur chronologically and topically. For example, prior to his official service beginning in late May 1723, Bach presented his successful test piece on February 7, Quinquagesima Estomihi Sunday, the two-part cantata, BWV 22, "Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe" (Jesus took the twelve to himself), and BWV 23, "Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn" (You true God and son of David). The competition and test dates involved the leading German composers, Georg Philipp Telemann at Hamburg (9 August 1722) and Johann Christoph Graupner at Darmstadt (17 January 1723), as well as local candidates Georg Friedrich Kauffmann at Merseburg (29 November 1722) and Johann Friedrich Fasch of Zerbst (who declined) and two others who had been heard (no dates), Georg Balthazar Schott at the Leipzig Neukirche and Christian Friedrich Rolle of Magdeburg. While Bach was Capellmeister at Köthen, he had begun compiling instrumental and vocal compositions for his Leipzig test and once chosen te enterprising Bach had come to Leipzig in May1723 to explore possible connections and opportunities involving the formative institutions of church-school, town council, and university.

ENDNOTES

¹ See William L. Hoffman, Cantata Odyssey: Print, On-Line Sources From Bach's Musical World, BCW; see also Bach Cantatas, A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, BCW; Cantata Favorites: Discussion, Food for Thought, BCW; Leipzig Sacred Cantata Cycles 1 and 2: Structures, Librettists, BCW; Leipzig Sacred Cantatas: 1725 Interim (Trinity Time), BCW; Third Cantata Cycle: Librettists, Structures, BCW; and Bach Texts as Cantata Mini-Cycles, BCW.
² See Martin Petzoldt, Bach-Kommentar: Theologisch-musikalische Kommentierung der geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs (Theological-Musical Commentary on the Sacred Vocal Works of Johann Sebastian Bach): Vol. 1 (2004), Trinity Sunday Cantatas; Vol. 2, (2007), Advent to Trinityfest Cantatas; Vol. 3 2018), Fest- und Kasualkantaten, Passionen (Festive and Occasional Cantatas, Passions), and Vol. 4 (2019), Latin Church Music (Masses, Magnificat), Motets (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2018, 2019).
³ Carus Verlag offers two new documents: 1. a calendar of Bach's first church-year cycle (Carus-Verlag) with the original 1723-24 dates and the current 2023-24 dates, beginning with the First Sunday after Trinity, and 2. the Carus Blog, Christoph Wolff, Bach "300: The year 1723 and its repercussions: 'a new epoch in his creative life'" (Carus Verlag Blog). "The numbers of vocal works written in the first calendar years speak for themselves: 39 (1723), 56 (1724), 40 (1725) and 44 (1726–1727)," says Wolff, who also authors the new Bach Vocal: Ein Handbuch from Carus (BCW).
⁴ Bach Requiem details: Bachfest Leipzig, MDR Klassik Radio).
⁵ Hans Grischkat, Vom Reiche Gottes (From the Kingdom of God) (Stuttgart: Hänssler, 1950), Bach Bibliography, Bach-Bibliographie; score, Carus Media; details, recording, KUK Art.
⁶ Other Bachfest Topical Studies: Beyond the various recent scholarly studies of the cantatas and related works are music cycles and special studies (see BCW: "Special Cantata-Type Studies"), such as Bach's "Messiah" cycle from Christoph Wolf (2020, <<Wolff: Bach Oratorios as "A Grand Liturgical Messiah Cycle:" Passions>> (BCW) and Michael Maul's Bachfest 2021 "Messiah" Cycle (Bachfest Leipzig), also known at Bach's Christological Cycle (see BCW), as well as Maul 2022 "Bach — We are Family" (Bachfest Leipzig: "Talk with the Artistic Director of the Bachfest Prof. Dr. Michael Maul") and the Bachfest 2020 complete chorale cantata cycle (Netherlands Bach Society).
⁷ Bach librettists: James Day, The Literary Background to Bach's Cantatas [Historical & Critical Studies] (London: Dobson,1961; New York, Dover, 1966), Amazon.com.
⁸ Michael Hochgartz, Bachforschung, Bachforschung, Github; Johann Christoph Jauch biography, Wikipedia, the text of Georg Böhm's lost St. Luke Passion is attributed to Jauch while Böhm composed a funeral ode for Jauch, who died on 21 January 1725 as Bach curtailed his chorale cantata cycle.
⁹ Christiane Mariane von Ziegler studies: 1. Eric Chafe, J. S. Bach's Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014: 433-583), Amazon.com; 2. Mark A. Peters, A Woman's Voice in Baroque Music: Mariane von Ziegler and J. S. Bach (London, Routledge, 2016), Amazon.com.

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To come: The Leipzig composer competition and the musings of an "Historical Capriccio."

Bach Leipzig Tercentenary: Calling Pursued

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 17, 2023):
Exactly three hundred years ago, Bach in 1723 began his quest for the Leipzig cantor and music director's position, an odyssey that followed 200 years of the Protestant Reformation that had brought Lutheran theology and music first to the churches and schools and then to various governing venues such as the regional court, town council, church, and university in Leipzig. Then, Bach was in the midst of an extended bicentenary Reformation Jubilee that observed in 1717 the beginning of the Reformation with Martin Luther's posting of his 95 theses, the 1730 three-day observance of the Augsburg Confession, and in 1739, Leipzig's official acceptance of the Lutheran Confession. It was part of Bach's calling to achieve a "well-regulated church music to the glory of God" (see BCW). Central to this was the church-year cycle of cantatas as musical sermons for the Sundays and feast days main services. To this end, Bach in his final tenure through 1750 first fashioned three sacred cantata cycles (1723-27), and then compiled a cycle of occasional sacred music of joy and sorrow (cantatas, motets, BCW), and a Christological cycle of oratorios (great cantatas), Latin Church music, and Lutheran sacred songs — a total of five cycles of Kirchen Stücke (church pieces). This Leipzig calling fit perfectly with the cantor's church position at the Thomas School, Germany's leading music school, which required him to present music for all regular and special occasions such as weddings and funerals, as well as train and direct the various choirs, and teach music students. The other main task, director of Leipzig city music, was more loosely defined ancould include non-sacred works such as opera and profane commissions from the university and other institutions, such as drammi per musica, as well as conducting professional ensembles such as the Collegium Musicum. While Bach was skilled at both pursuits, he got caught in a classic confrontation between two opposing Leipzig governing factions on the Town Council: the cantor perspective of conservative, indigenous, reactionary figures and the more progressive posture of those associated with the Dresden Court and University who favored dramatic music such as opera and serenades composed through the prestigious position of a Capellmeister.

Bach had significant experience in his previous tenure as Cöthen Court Capellmeiser (1717-23). There he annually had fashioned birthday and New Year's vocal serenades which were celebratory, static-opera with mythological or allegorical figures addressing human issues such as morality and allegiance. His first "modern" cantata, the "Hunting Cantata" at the Saxe-Weißenfels Court in 1713, follows a similar vein with the Arcadian movement of Italian neo-classicism, especially the pastorale emphasizing simple rural characters and settings with song and dance.¹ The very intentional and enterprising Bach had previously sought and ultimately rejected positions at Halle in 1714 and Hamburg in 1717, as well as Anhalt-Zerbst in 1722, says Barbara M. Reul.² Then, Bach's position at Cöthen had become untenable. "In early December (1721), Prince Leopold married the musically less inclined Princess Henrietta of Anhalt-Bernburg. Soon after, not only was Bach’s Kapelle budget cut, but the princely family began to quarrel, his beloved employer experienced health problems, Lutherans and Calvinists in Cöthen entered into a religious feud, and Bach’s children were forced to attend a local school that lacked classroom space and teachers," says Reul (Ibid.: 9) The saga of the Leipzig opera is a tale of its own, having closed in 1720 for lack of support.³ Meanwhile, the overseeing Dresden Court, which particularly favored Italian opera, sought to have the Leipzig opera revived in order to allow the royal family to attend during visits to the popular fall business fairs at Epiphany, Easter, and Michaelmas.

Leipzig Audition Candidates, Test Pieces

The defining moment for Bach was his Leipzig Audition on Feb. 7 1723. Observes Michael Maul:⁴ "And we know that he did a very good job [in his audition] with the performance of two cantatas on Sunday Estomihi, and that these two pieces pleased the audience, even though there were people who were rather skeptical about operatic and dramatic church music [the council cantor faction]. Bach very carefully introduced theatrical effects into these two audition cantatas." The road to this event had been a complicated, challenging one for Bach. Following the death of his predecessor, Johann Kuhnau, on 9 June 1722, the Leipzig Town Council had successively approached the leading German composers, Georg Philipp Telemann, director of music and cantor of the Johanneum School in Hamburg (BCW), and Johann Christoph Graupner, Capellmeister at the Hesse-Darmstadt court (BCW). The Leipzig candidates and auditions⁵ involved the following: Telemann auditioned on 9 August 1722 (10th Sunday after Trinity) but stayed in Hamburg after a raise and Graupner auditioned on 17 January 1723 (2nd Sunday after Epiphany) but was forced to stay. Local candidates Georg Friedrich Kauffmann at Merseburg auditioned on 29 November 1722 (1st Sunday in Advent) while Johann Friedrich Fasch of Zerbst (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Kauffmann-Georg-Friedrich.htm) was invited but eventually declined, and two others had been heard (no dates), Georg Balthazar Schott at the Leipzig Neukirche (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Schott-Georg-Balthasar.htm) and Christian Friedrich Rolle of Magdeburg. It should be noted that the three leading candidates — Telemann, Graupner, and Fasch — all had extensive experience writing opera while also composing sacred cantata cycles, both favorable to the Capellmeister faction on the town council, as well as major learning and performing experiences in Leipzig, including degrees from the university.

Bach Leipzig Cantorate Preparation, Test

The account of the competition for the Leipzig position and Bach's involvement are best documented in Christoph Wolff's Bach biography.⁶ Wolff has mined a mother lode of information about Bach in Köthen and elsewhere, as well as recovering various lost Bach cantatas in his Bach Compendium (BCW), now superseded with the NBA works catalogue 3rd edition (see Footnote 2) with its various cantata additions to the Bach canon. Bach, like the other candidates, used various connections to stay abreast of events. Telemann during his probe in August 2022 could have met with Bach in Cöthen on the way back to Hamburg from Leipzig, says Wolff (Ibid.: 219f). "Was it perhaps Telemann himself who encouraged Bach to throw his hat into the ring when the competition was reopened?," Wolff wonders. By 21 December 1722, "Bach applies for the vacant Cantorate at Leipzig," says Robin A. Leaver, citing Bach Dok 2: 119.⁷ Bach's extensive preparations and subsequent credentials are described in Wolff (Ibid.: 221f, 225ff). Leipzig Burgomaster Gottfried Lange of the Capellmeister faction was responsible for communicating with the candidates and he probably compiled and submitted the texts for Bach's two cantatas, BWV 22-23, says Wolff, who in his NBA I/8 critical commentary (p. 23) details the music's genesis. Lange, who had experience as a poet and opera librettist and could have authored other Bach early Leipzig cantatas, "also had a personal interest in shaping the Kuhnau succession in what he though would be the right way," says Wolff (Ibid.: 221). Bach came to Leipzig with the scores of BWV 22-23 and most of the parts and probably stayed for more than a week. "Bach and the Leipzig authorities needed time for all kinds of discussions relating to the position, but of utmost importance for Bach were the preparations for performing the two cantatas," says Wolff (Ibid.: 222), which "were ambitious compositions" both in scoring and form. Cantata 23, "with its expansive duet solos, clearly follows the model of the Cöthen congratulatory cantatas," while Bach added the closing, elaborate chorale fantasia setting of the German Agnus Dei, "Christe, du Lamm Gottes," from his 1717 Weimar-Gotha Passion, to add liturgical character in a large-scale composition appropriate for the Leipzig Good Friday Vespers instituted in 1721 with Kuhnau's St. Mark Passion oratorio. Cantata 22 "more readily foreshadows the cantata type that would prevail in the first months of Bach's tenure as the new cantor." Besides the annual Passion performance, the cantor also was responsible for the sacred cantata annual installation of the Town Council, special events, weddings, and funerals. "Graupner was forced to decline the Leipzig offer, as he informed the Leipzig authorities on March 22," says Wolff (Ibid.: 223). "On April 9, almost two weeks after Easter, the city council returned to the matter of the cantorate." It can be assumed that the two-part cantata was presented before and after the sermon with Bach leading the Thomas School choir and possibly members of the instrumental Collegium Musicum. The observance of the final pre-Lenten Sunday of Quinquagesimae Estomihi was a major event for Bach before the closed six-week period of Lent when Bach only worked on the annual Passion, "hence he quite deliberately designed his cantatas intended for this day as musical highlights of the church year," says Peter Wollny.⁸ "It is already clear on a first attentive hearing of these two compositio[BWV 22-23] that Bach strove here to set forth his full technical capabilities and at the same time his 'artistic programme.'" The title of Cantata 23, “Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn” (You true God and son of David), represents the Christus Paradox (UMC: Discipleship Ministries).

Transfiguration Sunday

The Last Sunday after Epiphany, also known as Shrove Sunday and Quinquagesimae Estomihi, today is observed as Transfiguration Sunday on 19 February. Transfiguration as the anticipation of the Resurrection was an important event for Martin Luther Stead Fast Lutherans). It is an affirmation of eternal life, the prophets Moses and Elijah also affirming Jesus as the Messiah through the Theology of the Cross. Historically, the Transfiguration as the last Sunday after Epiphany was not officially part of the Lutheran Church Year with no designated hymns, yet like Jesus' Baptism is an event essential to the Christian. Weimar Cantata 80.1 (80a), “Alles, was von Gott geboren” (All that which of God is fathered), with the Luther chorale "A Mighty Fortress is our God" was originally designed to emphasize its origins in 1526-26 as a Lenten Psalm Hymn, based on Psalm 46:1, Deus noster refugiam (God is our refuge and strength, full text, King James Bible Online), which is most appropriate as a Transfiguration hymn. In Leipzig, Cantata 80.1 eventually was transformed into the hybrid chorale Cantata 80.3 for the 1739 Leipzig Reformation Festival.

There are several Bach vocal works appropriate for today's three-year lectionary on the Transfiguration of our Lord. For Year A, Matthew's Gospel (17:1-9), is the 1724 chorale Cantata 130 for the feast of Michael and All-Angels, with its majesty of the transfigured Christ, the defeat of evil, and Elijah's chariot in heaven, says John S. Sutterlund.⁹ For Year B and the Gospel of Mark 9:2-9 (Bible Gateway), is the 1727 Motet BWV 225, "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied" (Sing to the Lord a new song, Psalm 149:1) which reveals the heavenly splendor as well as brevity of the Transfiguration and life itself, "Wir sind nur Staub" (We are only dust), 225/2/6b. The Year B alternate is 1725 Ascension festival Cantata 128, "Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein" (On Christ's ascension [journey to heaven] alone) which us Christ's final transfiguration. For Year C, the Gospel of Luke 9:28-36, Bible Gateway) is the undated St. Michael's Motet, BWV 50, "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft" (Now is the salvation and the strength, Rev. 12:10) with the triumph of the Kingdom of God over evil. The Year C alternative is 1723 pre-Lenten Quinquagesima Cantata 22, "Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe" (Jesus took the twelve to himself, Luke 18:31), with Jesus' announcement of their trip to Jerusalem with the commentary (no. 3): "Sie wollen beiderseits, wenn du verkläret bist, / Zwar eine feste Burg auf Tabors Berge bauen; / Hingegen Golgatha, so voller Leiden ist" (they want on both sides, when you have been transfigured, / to build indeed a strong fortress on Mount Tabor; / in contrast, Golgotha, that is full of suffering), YouTube.

Appendix

In the two months between his probe and the final vote by the Town Council, covering Lent and the beginning of the Easter Season, Bach amassed manuscripts showing his mastery of keyboard composition and performance, as well as five years of serenade composition and possibly sacred cantata performances. Bach also assembled two dozen church cantatas composed in Weimar to be integrated into the first church-year cantata cycle for some 60 Sundays and feast days.

ENDNOTES

¹ See William L. Hoffman, Bach Cantatas Website Article, "Bach’s Dramatic Music: Serenades, Drammi per Musica, Oratorios," BCW.
² Bach's auditions for Halle and Hamburg are well-documented but his test application for Anhalt-Zerbst has only recently come to light: <<Bach received 10 Reichsthaler for setting a secular cantata text, O Vergnügte Stunden [BWV 1154], to music in honour of Prince Johann August of Anhalt-Zerbst’s birthday on 9 August 1722. Curiously, the honorarium was only paid in spring 1723. Michael Maul has speculated that the low amount and its lateness could mean that it was a supplementary payment by the court, with the text’s author—Georg Rudolf von Kayn, a high-ranking Zerbst court official—having asked Bach to set the libretto to music and possibly paying him out of his own pocket.>> See Barbara M. Reul, "‘Dream Job: Next Exit?’ A Comparative Examination of Selected Career Choices by J. S. Bach and J. F. Fasch," Understanding Bach, 9 (© Bach Network UK 2014: 16), Bach Network; see also Bach-Werke Verzeichnis (3rd edition, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2022: 288), Breikopf.
³ Leipzig Opera, See Michael Maul, "New Evidence on Thomaskantor Kuhnau’s Operatic Activities, or: Could Bach have been allowed to compose an Opera," Understanding Bach, 9 (© Bach Network UK 2014: 9-24), Bach Network.
⁴ See Michael Maul "Bach and the Thomaskantorat, Bach Network Discussing Bach 3 (October 2021): Editorial Introduction (full text: 9), Authorised Transcript with Illustrations (full text) and video, YouTube; participants Steven Zohn, Barbara M. Reul, Ursula Kramer (UK), and Michael Maul; moderator Ruth Tatlow. Accompanying articles: Steven Zohn, Telemann as Thomaskantor? An Historical Capriccio (full text), Reul, Barbara M. ‘It was impossible for me to leave’ – Johann Friedrich Fasch and the Thomaskantorat in 1722 (full text).
⁵ Leipzig audition pieces: Telemann, "Ich muß auf den Bergen weinen und heulen," TVWV 1:851, and "Wenn du es wüsstest so würdest du auch bedenken, TVWV 1:deest (text only extant); Graupner, "Aus der Tiefen rufen wir," GWV 1113/23a, and "Lobet den Herrn alle Heiden, GWV 1113/23b; and Kaufmann, "O ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen."
⁶ Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, (New York: Norton, 2000, updated edition 2013: "Travels and Trials," 219-225; "A Canon of Principles, and Pushing the Limits," 225-235); Google Books, W.W. Norton).
⁷ Robin A. Leaver, exact dating in Köthen of major events and performances, Part VI, Chronology, Chapter 20, Life and Work, The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London: Routledge, 2017, 487-539), Amazon.com.
⁸ Peter Wollny, liner notes, translation Charles Johnston, "Jesu, deine Passion," Estomihi Sunday Cantatas 22, 23, 127, 159; BCW; performance dates, BCW; Motets and Chorales for Gesimae Sundays, BCW; discussions, Cantata 22 BCW, Cantata 23 BCW.
⁹ 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: 8), Amazon.com; Transfiguration Sunday source, BCW: "Transfiguration."

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To come: Bach's Cöthen Apprenticeship: Instrumental Music, Vocal Serenades/Cantatas.

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 17, 2023):
New at BachCantataTexts.org: "Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe" BWV 22 and "Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn" BWV 23; https://groups.io/g/Bach/message/1081.