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Cantata BWV 116
Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ
Discussions - Part 5 |
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Continue from Part 4 |
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Discussions in the Week of November 23, 2014 (4th round) |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (November 26, 2014):
Cantata BWV 116, 'Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ': Intro.
Bach closes his Trinity Time chorale cantata series with a work, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ), that represents both traditional form and the Last Things eschatological theme while embracing conflicting metaphors and images, particularly the Christus Paradox, bound in positive music with negative texts. Scholars and commentators generally have rated this a superior work with its summary of Trinity Time themes, particularly the Jakob Ebert 1601 chorale in early Bar form which emphasizes Christ as the Prince of Peace in a general sense.1
Here the hymn is variously described as penitential, under thehymn book rubric “in time of distress” (see John Eliot Gardner, below), and in Bach’s hymnbook, Neu Leipzgier Gesangbuch (1682)2 under the category: “Persecution & Tribulation” (NLGB 275-304), and in the 1715 Orgelbuchlein collection of chorale preludes as “The Church Militant,” OB 125. “Du Friedefurst, Herr Jesu Christ”; CC BWV 116 (Tr.+25) (SBCB 212), 1102, 143. Later, in 1731, Bach set chorale Cantata 140, “Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme”; (per omnes versus, plus original material), for the rare 27th Sunday after Trinity, ending Trinity Time on a positive note (SBCB 256-57 (Zahn 8405), also in “The Church Militant category.”
The 20-minute work has a typical opening chorale fantasia with a modified concerto form using variations in positive music, two distinctive free da-capo arias in ¾ time signifying not dance style by the Trinity, an alto-oboe d‘amore love song (Mvt. 2), and a trio of salvation (Mvt. 4), and two straight-forward recitatives that include the cantus firmus in the continuo opening (Mvt. 3) and a positive-ending arioso (Mvt. 5). As with virtually all Bach’s chorale cantatas, Cantata 116 closes with the affirmative
Chorale Cantata for the 25th Sunday after Trinity
Readings for the Twenty Fifth Sunday after Trinity are: Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (Paul’s Letter: Christ’s second coming); Gospel: Matthew 24:15-28 (Christ’s prophecy: Then shall the end come); complete text, Martin Luther 1545 English translation, English translation Authorised (King James) Version [KJV] 1611; for complete texts, see BCW Readings, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Read/Trinity25.htm.
The eschatological or End Times of the Last Days/Things are the subject of both New Testament lessons in the lectionary for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's time. They are: +Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 "Christ's Second Coming" (sleeping in Jesus, rapture); & +Gospel: Matthew Chapter 24: Verses 15-28, Teaching "The Awful Horror," Christ's prediction (apocalypse, tribulation). "The Epistle (is) filled with comfort and peace and glory for His own; the Gospel (is) a message of dread and terror and doom for His enemies," says Paul Zeller Strodach in The Church Year.3
The Introit Psalm for Trinity +25 is Psalm 70, Deus, in adjutorium (Make haste, O God, to deliver me, KJV), says Martin Petzoldt in BACH Commentary, Vol. 1, Trinity Sundays.4 He calls Psalm 70 “David’s plea for help against the devil.” The full text is found at http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Psalms-Chapter-70/. Polyphonic motet settings for the 12th Sunday after Trinity are found in Bach’s motet collection, Bodenschatz’s Florilegium Portense;5 MOTETS for Introit, Before Sermon at mass and vespers for Choir II, and During Communion: Domine in Adjutorium (6 voices) Orlando di Lasso [Rolandus Lassus] (1532-94); Biography: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Lasso-Orlando.htm. Live streaming sample; (organ arrangement of motet)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deus-adjutorium-Lasso/dp/B001LA878U. Lassus: "Lauda Anima Mea" [from same collection as "Deus in Adjutorium," http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTiUfaKjmyQ. Also, Domine in Adjutorium (8 voices) Anonymous. Monteverdi also composed a setting for his 1610 Vespers for the Virgin Mary.
The first performance of Cantata 116 was on November 26, 1724 before the sermon of Superintendent Salomon Deyling (1677-1755) at the early main service at the Nikolaikirche, says Petoldt (Ibid.: 680). The Cantata 116 Text involves Jakob Ebert chorale (Mvts. 1, 6 unaltered); Anonymous librettist (Mvts. 2-5 paraphrased); Francis Browne BCW English translation is http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV116-Eng3.htm. Ebert (1549-1615) BCW Short Biography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ebert-Jakob.htm
The original Chorale Text: “Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ;” was published in 1601 (Orthodoxy/Scholasticism hymn period), chorale text of Jakob Ebert (7 stanzas, BAR form, EKG 391) is in the NLGB as No. 321 under “Word of God & Christian Church. It is found in Francis Browne's BCW English Translation, with a comparison of the Cantata 116 and Ebert texts, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale001-Eng3.htm
The associated, anonymous melody, same title (Zahn: 4373, EKG: 391) is "found in a collection by Bartholomäus Gesius (Gese) (1601) and is loosely based upon Heinrich Isaac’s `Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen' " (BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Du-Friedefurst.htm. . The hymn was first published in Gesius’ Geistliche deutsche Lieder (Frankfort a. Oder, 1601). Gesius’ (1533-1613/21) Short Biography is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Gesius.htm.
An overview of the chorale is found in Alfred Dürr’s BCW Commentary, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV116-Guide.htm (Cantatas of JSB, Thomas Braatz BCW translation, Commentary (April 29.2003):6 “The text of this chorale laments the misfortune that has deservedly befallen mankind and it prays for forgiveness and salvation from all dangers among which the perils of war are considered the greatest. The paraphrase follows rather closely the chorale text. As apparent as the connection with the Sunday’s Gospel might appear on the surface, the librettist makes no effort to clarify it with specific references.” A detailed description of the opening fantasia, with Stollen 1 and 2 and Abgesang, and the instrumentation are found in this Commentary.
Eric Chafe’s Cantata 116 tonal allegory and the images and meaning of specific texts in the various movements are described in Braatz’ Commentary (Ibid.). Of particular interest are: “The basic elements of Luther’s Passion Sermon – human tribulation and acknowledgement of sin, prayer, God’s judgment and Jesus’ love,” as found in Cantata 116.
Of particular note in Julian Mincham's commentary on Cantata BWV 116 is the memorable alto trio free da-capo aria, "Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not" (Ah, unspeakable is our distress), BCW, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-26-bwv-116.htm. 7
Cantata 116 movements, scoring, text, key, and meter are:8
1. Chorus chorale fantasia (Stanza 1, unaltered) dal segno in two parts with independent orchestra including concertante violin [S, A, T, B; Corno [C.f.] col Soprano, Oboe d'amore I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: A. “Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ” (You prince of peace, Lord Jesus Christ); B. “Ein starker Nothelfer du bist” [you are a strong helper in distress]; A major, 2/2.
2. Aria (Stanza 2 paraphrased)free da-capo repetition of phrases [Alto; Oboe d'amore solo, Continuo]: “Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not”(Ah, unspeakable is our distress); F-sharp minor, ¾ time.
3. Recitative secco (Stanza 3 paraphrased), cantus firmus in continuo introduction, first 8 notes [Tenor, Continuo]: “Gedenke doch, / O Jesu, daß du noch / Ein Fürst des Friedens heißest!” (Remember then, / o Jesus, that you still / are called a prince of peace!); 4/4; A major to E major.
4. Aria (Stanza 4 paraphrased), imitative free da-capo (Terzetto) [Soprano, Tenor, Bass; Continuo]: A. “Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld” (Ah, we acknowledge our guilt); B. “Es brach ja dein erbarmend Herz” (Your compassionate heart was broken); A. repeat; E major, ¾ time.
5. Recitative (Stanzas 5-6 paraphrased) with arioso conclusion [Alto; Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: “Ach, laß uns durch die scharfen Ruten / Nicht allzu heftig bluten!” (Ah, under the sharp rods / do not make us bleed too heavily!, 1 Cor. 14:33); 4/4, C-sharp minor to A Major.
6. Chorale (Stanza 7 unaltered), four part with instrumental accompaniment [S, A, T, B; Corno(C.f.) e Oboe d'amore I e Violino I col Soprano, Oboe d'amore II e Violino II coll'Alto, Viola col Tenore, Continuo]: “Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz” (Enlighten also our hearts and minds); 4/4, A Major.
The established format of the chorale cantatas involves the use of the first and last stanzas unaltered in the opening chorale chorus fantasia and closing four-voice harmonization respectively. The melody "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" appears in the soprano in No. 1, the initial chorale chorus; No. 3. tenor secco recitative paraphrases Stanza 3, "Gedenke doch, O Jesu, daß du noch Ein Fürst des Friedens heißest!" (Remember then, o Jesus, that you still are called a prince of peace!), with Bach using the chorale melody in the basso continuo; and in No. 6, "Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz" (Enlighten also our hearts and minds), the melody is harmonized in the closing plain chorale. Stanza 2 is paraphrased in No. 2, the alto aria cited in the previous paragraph; Stanza 4 is paraphrased in No. 4, a rare trio aria (terzette), "Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld" (Ah, we acknowledge our guilt), for soprano, tenor, and bass; and Stanzas 5 and 6 are paraphrased in No. 5, the alto recitative with strings, "Ach, laß uns durch die scharfen Ruten/ Nicht allzu heftig bluten!" (Ah, under the sharp rods/ do not make us bleed too heavily!)
Gingrich Trinity Time Closing
“Bach now turns to his final cantata of the sequence, the work that ties together his eschatological themes, wraps up the Trinity season, and lays the last bit of groundwork for Advent,” says Linda Gingrich, dissertation, “Hidden allegorical links in the Trinity season chorale cantatas of J. S. Bach,” “The A minor bleakness of Cantata 26 gives way to an almost equally disturbing cantata, BWV 116, Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ (You Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ), for November 26 [1724], a work that springs from the twenty-fifth Sunday’s distressing vision of Christ’s Second Coming and the end of the world. The day’s Gospel reading, Matthew 24:15-28, contains dreadful prophecies concerning the great tribulation which will wrack the world prior to Jesus’ return; Cantata 116 combines this with a penitential chorale that laments diverse calamities, deserved indeed but still horrific, to construct a fearful image of judgment and a [p. 118] powerful prayer for mercy, a cry from the deeps like Cantata 38 [Trinity +21]. But all is not completely dark, for Christ is also presented as the Prince of Peace, the strong Helper who descended to earth to save mankind. In keeping with these paradoxes of faith, Bach sets the Cantata in A major, the parallel to Cantata 26’s A minor, the closest of relatives to the sequence key, E, and a precipitous leap upward in allegorical terms [Chafe, Tonal Allegory, 152n]. The key of A usually carries positive, even triumphant connotations in Bach’s works, and it is surely no accident that he grounds this woeful cantata in such an affirmative tonality, for Christ’s return ultimately means all things will be set right. He once again frames the work in one of two tonal metaphors that have ruled throughout the sequence, in this case an ascent/descent plan that tops out at the E Major fourth movement [tercet], and then arranges the number as a vocal trio to help define the outer edge of the sequence. Just as the trio in Cantata 38 helped mark the inner edge . . . . But unlike the earlier cantatas, there are no movements paired through identical keys. Instead. The fourth movement stands alone, an abject confession of sin, and a recognition that Christ’s merciful heart drove hi to earth as Savior, encased in the high key of salvation, resurrection and blessedness.”
The opening chorale fantasia “is a typical chorale cantata opener,” says Gingrich [Ibid.: 118] but one that “plows some interesting ground.” “The forthright mood of the music belies the text’s prayer of distress, but underscores hope in Christ, the One appealed to, Helper, and Prince of Peace.” In the second movement [page 119], the alto free da-capo aria, “there is a symbolic glimmer of hope; the grieving character and tonal descent of 116/2 are offset by the accompanying oboe d’amore, the instrument that so often represents love in Bach’s work. Here, as it lyrically intertwines with the voice in a delicate duet, it suggests the love of God poured out through the incarnate Savior, underscored by the Trinitarian ¾ meter,” also found in the tercet. The use of the hymn in the basso continuo at the beginning of the third movement, tenor recitative, “solidifies the sequential connection, and acts as one more metaphorical device to bring the beginning and end of the series full circle.”
“Bach now arcs upward to the apex of the cantata [page 120], as the theological thrust arrows downward to 116/4, the highest tonal point and the moment of deepest humility, for it is here that the congregation confesses its guilt, “Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld” [Ah, we acknowledge our guilt]. “The triple meter and three-voice ensemble [soprano, tenor, bass] point to the Trinity as the source of salvation.” “Mankind has been raised through Christ’s descent [page 121], hope is now possible, and the trajectories reverse; the tonality moves downward to C sharp minor for the fifth movement alto recitative even as the text, for the first time, looks upward to the defeat of the enemy and the possibility of lasting peace [arioso conclusion], Die kann der Feinde Macht bezwingen und uns beständig Friede bringen! [your hand that is able to overcome the might of our enemies and bring us lasting peace!]. The trajectories meet in the sixth movement [closing plain chorale] as the key settles back [page 122] into A major and the text invokes the Spirit of Grace . . . .”
“Bach has now brought the Trinity season to a close and primed his congregation for a new beginning, the turning of the church year to Advent, through his musical sermons. He has called his people to wake up, repent, for life is speeding by, and judgment is looming for the unprepared. He also reminded them that God is the friend and Savior of the ready-in-spirit, and the One to turn to in distress. In a sequence marked by antithesis he has placed sober images of the end of the world within opposing tonal figures that cancel out fear through symbols of comfort, and soaring visions of God’s help and friendship within designs that signify the spiritual depths from which sinners turn to God.”
Gardiner: Prince of Peace Chorale
The various elements of Jesus Christ as Prince of Peace are found in John Eliot Gardner’s 2009 liner notes to the 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage on Soli Deo Gloria recordings.10 The <<superb chorale cantata BWV 116 Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ, [was] first performed on 26 November 1724 as the final cantata of the Trinity season in Bach’s second year. Lutheran theological themes in this tail end to the liturgical year frequently deal with Armageddon, with the Second Coming or with the promised ‘abomination of desolation’. Though the text of Jakob Ebert’s seven-verse (1601), retained literally for the two outer movements but paraphrased for the four inner ones, focuses on human misdemeanour and refers to ‘a land that suffers horribly’, its opening movement speaks of Jesus as the Prince of Peace to whom humankind turns ‘in need, in life and in death’. This is in line with a rubric that appears above the melody in hymn collections of the time: ‘in time of distress’ (‘in allgemeine Not’), and in particular a plea ‘for peace in time of war’ (‘zur Zeit des Krieges um Frieden zu bitten’). The orchestral ritornello for strings with two oboes d’amore has the feel of a modified concerto movement in A major to it: curiously positive, assured and lively, an impression confirmed by the block harmonies of the opening choral lines against independent instrumental material. It is not until the penultimate line of the Abgesang (the ‘B’ part of a so-called ‘Bar-form’ structure: AAB) that there is a hint of the Last Judgement in the way thelower three voices respond to the cantus firmus (soprano and cornetto) with nervous, broken, homophonic commentary in imitative cahoots with the instrumental lines.
Such dread as experienced by the terrified soul summoned to judgement is more palpable in the alto aria with its tortuous oboe d’amore obbligato (No.2). Voice and oboe interlock thematically as in a true duet, with the expressive word-underlay constantly implied in the oboe line, the perfect riposte to Beaumarchais’ quip that ‘that which isn’t worth the trouble of being said, is sung’. Some people, admittedly those more familiar with his keyboard works than with his cantatas, and who accuse Bach of (or applaud him for) an austere nobility in the controlled formality of his compositions, might be surprised by the sheer intensity of this passionate cry of anguish. It is utterly of its time in the way it makes full use of the newly invented oboe d’amore’s chromatic range and in its exploration of wildly unstable tonal centres such as G sharp minor that leave one guessing where the modulation is headed, yet it also harks back to those freely experimental modes of expression explored by Bach’s older cousin Johann Christoph.
A reminder of the centrality of this hymn by Ebert occurs in the continuo introduction to the tenor recitative (No.3), invoking Jesus as ‘Prince of Peace’. In place of a second aria, Bach sets this confession of human guilt as a vocal trio (a relative rarity in his cantatas) with continuo for support, just as he did four weeks earlier in Aus tiefer Not, BWV 38. In both trios he seems to have set himself deliberately knotty compositional challenges, in the earlier one to forge a reciprocal and wholly unlikely connective link between tribulation (Trübsal) and comfort (Trost), here to mine the thematic potential of his opening ritornello motif and to explore its modulatory permutations through a circle of falling fifths, guiding the listener through rich subterranean tunnels, the point of exit always uncertain. Having achieved normality of a kind by ending his ‘B’ section in the relative minor (C sharp), he leads us to expect a modified da capo of the ‘A’ section, but then gives it in unaltered form to which he appends a truncated repeat of the ‘B’ section, leading us back to where we began, the home key of E major. Perhaps a clue to these convolutions, and to these pronounced ascent/descent patterns that Eric Chafe calls ‘tonal allegory’, lies in the words of the middle section, ‘Did not Thy merciful heart break when the anguish of fallen man drove Thee to us into the world?’, set by Bach with exceptional pathos. He brings back his string ensemble for the penultimate movement, the alto’s plea for peace leading us, now with a glimmer of hope, back to the serenity of A major and to a collective prayer for illumination and enlightenment.>> © John Eliot Gardiner 2009; From a journal written in the course of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage
Hofmann: Two Arias of Distinction
In the alto aria, “Bach has captured the expression of deep sadness” while the tercet shows “a theatrical character,” following a festive opening chorale fantasia, observes Klaus Hofmann’s 2005 liner notes to the Masaaki Suzuki complete sacred cantatas on BIS recordings.11 << Bach's chorale cantata for the 25th Sunday after Trinity was first heard on 26th November 1724 at a service in Leipzig. The hymn, which is still sung today, is by Jakob Ebert (1549-1614), who taught at the university of Frunkfurt am der Oder around 1600; the melody is found in a collection of song settings published in 1601 by the Kantor
in that city, Bartholomiius Gesius (c.1560-1613). The choice of this hymn, in which Jesus is apostrophized as 'Friedefürst' ('prince of peace') and 'starker Nothelfer' (provider of 'strong succour'), has only a very generalized link to the gospel reading for that Sunday, Matthew 21, 15-28, which tells of the perils of mankind and them abomination of desolation at the end of the world. It will have been left to the preacher to connect the cantata with the content of the sermon.
In the opening chorus, Bach again remains true to type: the hymn strophe is presented line by line within a concertante orchestral setting. The hymn tune is used as a cantus firmus in the soprano, supported and emphasized by a horn. In the first two lines of text the other voices which Bach normally prefers to employ polyphonically are used homophonically with the soprano's cantus firmus and thereby lend weight and a festive character to the salutation 'Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und wahrer Gott' (You prince of peace, Lord Jesus Christ, true man and true God'). Polyphony comes to the fore all the more in the next two lines of the hymn, however: each of these starts with a fugato in the three lower voices, held above the beginning of the theme of the orchestral ritornello.
The second movement. the alto aria, 'Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not' ('Oh, inexpressible is the distress') is a lament that appeals directly to the listener. The solo voice and oboe d'amore perform a genuine duet full of sighing and bewailing. Bach has captured the expression of deep sadness in the music with all the tools of his trade: sighing figures, suspensions and augmented, diminished or chromatic melodic intervals: the harmony is full of dissonances. The tenor recitative that follows includes the text 'Gedenke durch. o Jesu. dass du nach ein Fürst des Friedens heißest!' ('Remember, however, o Jesus, that you are still called a prince of peace!'). The continuo surrounds this text with a melodic quotation from the hymn - its first eight notes. Bach could be certain that the congregation would have understood this allusion and would in their own minds have added the relevant words. 'Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ' ('You prince of peace, Lord Jesus Christ').
With the tercet 'Ach. wir bekennen unsre Schuld' ('Oh, we confess our guilt'), the cantata temporarily acquires a theatrical character. Here, too, there is no lack of sighing figures. The words 'Herz' ('heart') and 'Schmerz' ('pain') re-emphasized with long notes, and the phrase 'es brach ja dein erbmend Herz' ('Your merciful heart did indeed break') illustrates the 'breaking' with striking interruptions to the melodic line. This illustrative moment is also characterized by the unusual ritornello theme that frames and divides the movement.
The alto recitative, 'Ach. lass uns durch die scharfen Ruten' ('Oh, let us not bleed too violently'), in which Bach illustrates the'scharfen Ruten' ('sharp rods'; God's punishment) with had dissonances, ending in a plea for lasting peace, expressed in a delicately ornamented cadence.>> © Klaus Hofmann 2005
FOOTNOTES
1Cantata 116, Details & Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116.htm.
2NLGB, BACH'S HYMN BOOK: Jürgen Grimm, "Das neu [?] Leipziger Gesangbuch des Gottfried Vopelius (Leipzig 1682),"Berlin: Merseburger, 1969. ML 3168 G75.
3 Strodach, Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles and Gospels> (Philadelphia PA, United Lutheran Publication House: 261f).
4 Petzoldt, Bach Kommentar: Die geistlichen Kandes 1. Bis 27. Trinitas-Sontagges, Vol. 1; Theologisch Musikwissenschaftlicke Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastan Bachs, Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2004: Trinity +25 Commentary 669-671; Cantata 116 text & Jakob Ebert chorale text, 676-79; Cantata 116 Commentary, 680-684).
5 BACH'S MOTET COLLECTION: Otto Riemer, "Erhard Bodenschatz und sein Florilegium Portense" Schünigen: Kaminsky,1927; ML 410 B67R4; cited in BCW, Motets and Chorales for the 12th Sunday after Trinity (Trinity 12), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Trinity12.htm.
6 Dürr’s Commentary, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV116-Guide.htm; also found in Cantatas of J. S. Bach, revised and translated by Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford University Press, New York, 2005: 641).
7 Mincham, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach: A listener and student guide, Revised 2014; Home Page, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/index.htm.
8 Scoring, Soloists: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass; 4-part Chorus; Orchestra: 2 oboes d’amore, 2 violins, viola, continuo (with horn added for the two chorale movements). Score Vocal& Piano [1.73 MB], http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV116-V&P.pdf, Score BGA [2.19 MB], http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV116-BGA.pdf. References: BGA: XXIV (Cantatas 110-119, Alfred Dörffel 1876), NBA KB I/27 (Trinity 24-27 Cantatas, Dürr 1968), Bach Compendium BC A 164, Zwang: K 99. Provenance (Thomas Braatz; April 29, 2003), Autograph Score, Original Set of Parts, Date of First Performance), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/BWV116-Ref.htm.
9 Gingrich, D.M.A., University of Washington, 2008; 3303284: 102f). The Sixth (and final) Sequence involves the five chorale Cantatas BWV 38, 115, 139, 26, and 116, running from the 21st to the 25th Sunday after Trinity (http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/pqdtopen/doc/251359759.html?FMT=AI): 117ff.
10 Gardner notes, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P09c[sdg159_gb].pdf; BCW Recordings details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec2.htm#P9.
11 Hofmann liner notes, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C28c[BIS-SACD1451].pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec2.htm#C28
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To Come: Cantata 116, Part 2, liturgy, theology and the “Christus Paradox”; late Trinity Time lessons, then and now; Christ the King and Christology; other Trinity +25 chorales; and Provenance. |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (November 27, 2014):
Cantata BWV 116, Part 2, Liturgy, Theology, Christus Paradox
Cantata 116 Part 2, liturgy, theology and the “Christus Paradox”; late Trinity Time lessons, then and now; Christ the King and Christology; Cantata 116 “Notes on the Text”; other Trinity +25 chorales; and Provenance.
During his first four years of active composing of three cycles of church year cantatas in Leipzig, Bach managed to present two new cantatas in extended Late Trinity Time on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, using well-known affirmative chorales,1 They are "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Take from us, you faithful God), and "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ).
The two works are solo Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende" (A dreadful ending carries you away) in 1723 and Chorale Cantata BWV 116, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ) in 1724. The chorales in Cantatas 90 and 116, under the <omne tempore> heading of hymns of the "Word of God & Christian Church," NLGB 305-22, are used to contrast with the Sunday's gospel of apocalypse and tribulation. This contrast represents the Christological concept of the "Christus Paradox."
The eschatological or End Times of the Last Days/Things are the subject of both New Testament lessons in the lectionary for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's time. They are: +Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 "Christ's Second Coming" (sleeping in Jesus, rapture); & +Gospel: Matthew Chapter 24: Verses 15-28, Teaching "The Awful Horror," Christ's prediction (apocalypse, tribulation).
"The Epistle (is) filled with comfort and peace and glory for His own; the Gospel (is) a message of dread and terror and doom for His enemies," says Paul Zeller Strodach in The Church Year.2
Last Trinity Time Lessons
Interestingly, the eschatological Gospel lesson (Mat. 24:15-28) for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's historic, mixed One-Year Lectionary of teachings from all four Gospels is not found in the current, Three-Year Lectionary of Catholic and liturgical Protestant denominations, first adopted at Vatican II in the 1960s, and later by progressive Protestant denominations. The current Gospel readings are: Year A. Matthew, Year B. Mark, Year C. Luke, with John readings primarily in the Easter Season of all three years.
The two teachings from Matthew Chapter 25 for the final two Trinity Time Sundays (the 26th and 27th) in Bach's one-year lectionary are retained in the final three Sundays in the current Sundays after Pentecost (Trinity) in Year A of the <omne tempore> (Ordinary Time) non-festival half of the church year.
In the contemporary lectionary of service readings for the final three Sundays in Trinity, other Bach <omne tempore> cantatas are particularly relevant in these eschatological Last Days, Omega, or End Times. The Appendix to the 1994 Evangelisches Kirchen Gesangbuch (EKG)3 lists the following as appropriate for the Second to Last Sunday in the Church Year: Cantatas 105 (Trinity 9), 114 (Trinity 17), 115 (Trinity 22), and 127 (Septuagesima); Next to the Last Sunday, BWV 70 (Trinity 26), 94 (Trinity 9), 105 (Trinity 9), and 168 (Trinity 9); and the Last Sunday, BWV 140 (Trinity 27).
Here are the final three Sundays in the current Three-Year Lectionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with the lessons from Year A, Chapter 25 of Matthew's Gospel:4
+Second to Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 32 (November 6-12), Mat. 25:1-13 (Bach's 27th Sunday after Trinity), "Parable of the 10 Young Women";
+Next to Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 33 (November 13-19), Mat. 25:14-30 (no Bach Sundays after Trinity), "Parable of the Three Servants";
+Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 34 (November 20-26), Christ the King Sunday, Mat. 25:31-46 (Bach's Trinity 26), "The Final Judgement."
Thus, in the final three Sundays in the one-year lectionary, Mat. 25:14:30, "Parable of the Three Servants" is omitted, while in the three-year lectionary Year A, Mat. 24:15-28, "The Awful Horror" (25th Sunday after Trinity in the One-Year Lectionary) is omitted.
Christus Paradox
That Bach late in 1724 chose to set the Christological hymn, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," as Chorale Cantata BWV 116, for the 25th Sunday after Trinity with its End Times theme may seem paradoxical as it embodies the concept of the "Christus Paradox." The Christus Paradox is best expressed in the 20th century hymn, "Let all mortal flesh keep silence," set to the Byzantine Greek Liturgy of St. James and the 17th century French carol, "Picardy" (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_(hymn). "Christus Paradox" is a 1991 "Chorale Variations for SATB and organ, with the text of the late Sylvia Dunstan (incipit, "You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd") and "Picard" music arranged by Alfred Fedak (GIA Publications G5463.)
Throughout Christian history, writers have explored the richness of what they perceive as the uniqueness of Jesus Christ through the study of Christology. Central to this concept are the two paradoxical doctrines of Jesus' nature in the gospels as Son of God (fully divine) and Son of Man (fully human) and the three states of Christ in the< kenosis> (emptying) parabola (descent-ascent) hymn of Phillippians 2:5-11 or Col. 1:15-20: pre-incarnational glory, death, and resurrection, says noted theologian Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in the article "Christus Paradox" (Calvin College, Grand Rapids MI, 1991). Other paradoxical images include Jesus as lamb and shepherd, prince and slave, steward and servant.
Increasingly within churches using the Three-Year Lectionary, the Christological Feast days of Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Christ the King Sunday incorporate the Christus Paradox readings of Phillippians 2:5-11 or Col. 1:15-20, as well as the two passages in Isaiah that prophecy the two different aspects of Christ's dual identity, Chapter 53, The Suffering Servant, and Chapter 11, The Peaceful Kingdom.
Bach's choice of another chorale for his other cantata for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, also reflects the Christus Paradox found in Late Trinity Time, in the transition from End Times of the Church Year to the Advent of the New Church year cycle. Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende" (A dreadful ending carries you away) closes with the affirmative chorale, "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Take from us, you faithful God), set to the Lutheran melody of the Lord's Prayer. Both affirmative chorale texts, "Nimm von uns" and "Du Friedefürst," are <omne tempore> hymns on the "Word of God and the Christian Church." Both chorales "are found in the Dresden hymnbooks of that time among the "Hymns of Lament and Comfort," says Günther Stiller in JSB and Liturgical Life in Leipzig.5
Cantata BWV 90, has as "its subject matter the polarity between the `schrecklich Ende', the terrifying outcome awaiting all sinners at the Last Judgment given graphic articulation in the tenor and bass arias, and the genial protection God gives to His elect described in the final recitative and chorale," says John Elliot Gardiner in his Bach 2000 Cantata Pilgrimage recording notes (see BCW cover page, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV90.htm, Recordings, No. 8).
Christ the King & Christology
Christ the King Sunday is a 20th Century designation begun in the Roman Catholic Church (see Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_King): "Originally, the liturgical calendar had this feast on the last Sunday of October prior to All Saints' Day. . . ." Luther's Reformation rejected the Catholic All Saints Day, occurring on November 1, instituting instead the Feast of the Reformation on October 31. In Bach's Lutheran tradition, a similar day is the Feast of the Apostles (St. Simon & St. Jude, October 28), listed in Bach's <Das Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch> of 1682 (NLGB: pp. 473-90). The Apostles Feast is recognized in Bach's <Orgelbüchlein> (OB, Little Organ Book) with preludes on two chorales: *OB No. 59. "Herr Gott, dich loben wir" (Te Deum, NLGB 167, Feast of the Apostles); and * OB No. 60. "O Herre Gott, dein göttlich Wort" (NLGB 308, Word of God & Christian Church). Although Bach set neither chorale in the <Orgelbüchlein>, he previously set both as organ chorale preludes and later as harmonized four-voice chorales.
The concepts of Christ the King and Christology are embedded in Lutheran theology. "The heart of Reformation theology was Christology, the <solus Christus> aspect of the Christian Gospel that was summarized by three further Latin formulae: <sola scriptura>, <sola fidei>, and <sola gratia>" (also known as the Word, Faith, and Grace Alone), says Robin A. Leaver, Luther's Liturgical Music.6
These concepts are expressed in the Lutheran utilization of the Te Deum canticle of praise, both in Latin and vernacular German, and celebrated on the Feast of New Year's Day when Bach also used the popular hymn, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ), found in three movements in Cantata BWV 143. It was an evolving work that Bach originally composed in Weimar about1708-14 and may have performed again between 1728-35. Bach did not include it in his Leipzig three cantatas cycles of music for the church year.
Cantata BWV 90, Chorale `Nimm von uns'
For the 25th Sunday after Trinity, Nov. 11, 1723, Bach premiered Solo (ATB) Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende." It was the penultimate Cycle 1 cantata for Trinity Time, that ended a week later, November 18, with Cantata BWV 70. Francis Browne's English translation of Cantata BWV 90 is found at BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV90-Eng3.htm.
Cantata BWV 90 closes with the last stanza of Martin Moller's 1584 7-stanza chorale text, "Nimm von uns": "Leit uns mit deiner rechten Hand" (Lead us with your right hand). It is set to the chorale melody (Zahn 2561), anonymous/Martin Luther 1539 "Vater unser im Himmelreich" (Our Father in Heaven). Moller's words are the "1st Alternate Text:" to the melody, says BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Vater-unser-im-Himmelreich.htm.
The other Bach use of "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" is for Chorale Cantata BWV 101, Trinity 10, 1724. The hymn is found in the NLGB No. 316, Word of God & Christian Church (<omne tempore> general use, no designated Sunday hymn). "Vater unser im Himmelreich" is the Hymn of the Day (<de tempore>) for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's hymnbook, Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB),7 Chorale No. 175, under the< omne temore> general category of Catechism chorales and also is a designated hymn for Sundays after Trinity 5, 8, 11, 15, 25 and Epiphany 3.
Julian Mincham's telling commentary on the Cantata BWV 90/5 setting of Luther's chorale melody, and its harmonization as plain chorales in two other Bach words, BWV 245/5 (SJP), and Cantata BWV 102/7 (Trinity 10), is found at BCW, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-27-bwv-90.htm, "telling Chorale."
Chorale Cantata BWV 116, `Du Friedefürst"
For the final 25th Sunday after Trinity in 1724, on November 26, Bach premiered Chorale Cantata BWV 116, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ). Cantata BWV 116 BCW cover page is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116.htm. Francis Browne BCW English translation is http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV116-Eng3.htm. The 1601 chorale text of Jakob Ebert (7 stanzas) is found in Francis Browne's BCW English Translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale001-Eng3.htm.
The associated, anonymous melody is "found in a collection by Bartholomäus Gesius (Gese) (1601) and is loosely based upon `Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen' " (BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Du-Friedefurst.htm. Of particular note in Julian Mincham's commentary on Cantata BWV 116 is the memorable alto trio free da-capo aria, "Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not" (Ah, unspeakable is our distress), BCW, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-26-bwv-116.htm.
The established format of the chorale cantatas involves the use of the first and last stanzas unaltered in the opening chorale chorus fantasia and closing four-voice harmonization respectively. The melody "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" appears in the soprano in No. 1, the initial chorale choru; No. 3. tenor secco recitative paraphrases Stanza 3, "Gedenke doch, O Jesu, daß du noch Ein Fürst des Friedens heißest!"
(Remember then, o Jesus, that you still are called a prince of peace!), with Bach using the chorale melody in the basso continuo; and in No. 6, "Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz" (Enlighten also our hearts and minds), the melody is harmonized in the closing plain chorale. Stanza 2 is paraphrased in No. 2, the alto aria cited in the previous paragraph; Stanza 4 is paraphrased in No. 4, a rare trio aria (terzette), "Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld" (Ah, we acknowledge our guilt), for soprano, tenor, and bass; and Stanzas 5 and 6 are paraphrased in No. 5, the alto recitative with strings, "Ach, laß uns durch die scharfen Ruten/ Nicht allzu heftig bluten!" (Ah, under the sharp rods/ do not make us bleed too heavily!)
Notes on the text 8
<<In 1724 Protestant Germany celebrated Easter a week earlier than the rest of Christendom and so it was an extra Sunday after Trinity for which Bach produced this cantata. It was performed on 26 November 1724 and forms part of the series of choral cantatas which Bach wrote in his second annual cycle at Leipzig. (Earlier commentators mistakenly dated this cantata to 1744).
The text is based on a seven verse hymn sometimes ascribed to Ludwig Helmbold but written in fact by Jakob Ebert in 1601. It is directed to be used to ask for peace in times of war. In the gospel of the day Christ speaks of the distress of the last times but the anonymous librettist of Bach’s cantata has not made specific references to the gospel text. As is customary with chorale cantatas the first and last stanzas are used unchanged while the remaining stanzas are adapted to recitatives and arias.
Texts of chorale and cantata have been printed together to facilitate understanding of how the librettist has used the chorale. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale001-Eng3.htm.
In general the cantata text makes the specific references to distress and danger in war refer more generally to the difficulties of leading a Christian life. The additions made may be seen as reflecting the more personal tone of devotion developed by the Pietist movement in the Lutheran church in the 120 years between the composition of the hymn and the cantata .
As is usual the opening verse is used unchanged. Jesus is addressed by the title ‘Prince of peace’ [Isaiah 9:7] and seen as a source of help in life and in death.
The second verse of the chorale objectively presents war and hardship as the cause of distress and asks Jesus to pray his father on our behalf. The cantata text more subjectively sees the source of distress rather as God’s anger against our sins and places greater emphasis on our difficulties in prayer.
A similar contrast can be seen in the third and fourth verses. The chorale asks for Christ’s help, the cantata text again strikes a more subjective note with its mention of God’s love and rhetorical question about whether the heart of Jesus is now turned away from us. Again, the chorale text more or less instructs God as to what should be doing, while the cantata talks of the immeasurable love and compassionate heart of God.
The fifth and six stanzas of the chorale are concerned with the situation in a time of war. The corresponding verse of the cantata departs almost completely from this to ask in general terms for God's assistance in living in a world hostile to Christian values.
The final stanza is a prayer for enlightenment to Christ. As is customary in chorale cantatas, it is used unchanged.>>
Cantata 143 Notes
Notes from Cantata BWV 143 Discussion: "The chorale, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," was primarily used for weekly Penitential (Confessional) services on Fridays (Stiller, <JSB & Liturgical Life in Leipzig, p. 114) and occasionally during Easter season. Bach utilized all seven verses in his chorale Cantata BWV 116 for the final Sunday in Trinity, 1724, and as the closing plain chorale in Cantata BWV 67 for the first Sunday after Easter in 1724. The Jakob Ebert 1601 chorale originally was written as a prayer for peace, similar to the <Dona nobis pacem>. In Bach's time, peace through praise and thanksgiving was particularly appropriate on New Year's Day."
Meanwhile, Bach had used "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" in three movements of Cantata BWV 143: No. 2 (Stanza 1), soprano aria; No. 7 (Stanza 3), closing chorale chorus; and the melody only in the upper strings, in No. 6, the tenor aria with text of original poetry
The chorale, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," is listed as No. 331 in the NLGB, of the "Word of God & Christian Church," for general use, with no designated Sunday hymn. It also is appropriate for New Year's Day, the Easter Season, and Thanksgiving services.
The melody is listed in Bach's <Orgelbüchlein> chorale preludes (1713), under the heading of "In time of War" (Word of God & Christian Church): No. 125, "Du Friedefurst, Herr Jesu Christ," and previously set by 1700 in the Neumeister Collection of organ chorale preludes (c.1701), BWV 1102, found under the same heading, "Word of God & Christian Church."
Other Trinity 25 Chorales
The NLGB lists four chorales that could be sung on the 25th Sunday after Trinity: "Vater unser im Himmelreich" and three little-known pulplit and communion chorales, all under the heading "Last Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life" that Bach never set:
+"Es wird schier der letzten Tag herk," NLGB 393 (Last Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life); Bohemian brothers and martyrs; German, Michael Weissen 12 stazas (Zahn 1423);d
+"Gott hat das Evangelium" (Mat. 24), Erasmi Alberi, Magdeburg; Leipzig 1638), Last Days, 14 stanzas, NLGB No. 390 melody Zahn 1788; and
+"Ach Gott tu dich erbarmen"; Erasmi Alberi, Last Days NLGB 396, 12 stanzas Zahn 7228c
Bach's Other Trinity 25 Opportunities:
+It seems likely that Bach composed no cantatas at Trinity Time 1725, that ended with the 24th Sunday after Trinity, November 25. Instead Bach searched for published texts (Lehms, Rudolstadt) for the new and final third cycle, which began at the traditional start of the church year, the First Sunday in Advent, December 2, 1725.
+The Picander published annual cycle of 70 Cantatas for 1728-29, lists a libretto for the 25th Sunday after Trinity (November 14, 1728), P-69, "Eile, rette deine Seele" (Hurry, save thy soul), but with no closing chorale
+For the 25th Sunday after Trinity on November 11, 1731, it is possible that Bach repeated solo Cantata BWV 90, Es reißet euch ein schrechliche Ende" (There ripens for you a dreadful ending), possibly as part of Bach's first annual cantata cycle repeat in 1731 when he systematically reperformed cantatas from his first and third cycle during the entire Easter Season (see BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1731.htm
+There is the possibility of a repeat of Cantata BWV 116 in the first half of the 1730s when Bach composed several <per omnes versus> chorale cantatas to fill gaps and may have presented a revival of the entire Chorale Cantata second cycle. The best possible date on the 25th Sunday after Trinity is November 22, 1733, the final Sunday of Trinity Time that year.
+About November 18, 1736, Bach may have performed a Stözel two-part cantata, from the cantata cycle "Das Namenbuch Christi," (Book of Names of Christ), Schmolck text, No. 68. No musical source with the presumed chorales is extant.
Cantata 116 Provenance:
Thomas Braatz wrote (April 29, 2003): “The Autograph Score: “This autograph score was inherited by W. F. Bach. The next owner (unnamed/unknown) purchased(?) it from W. F. Bach (or from his estate) and later put it up for auction at the beginning of the 19th century. The purchaser at this auction was Carl Pistor who later passed it on in his family to his son-in-law, Adolf Rudorff. While the manuscript was in the latter’s son, Ernst Rudorff’s, possession, the BG used it as a basis for their publication of the cantata in 1876. Later, Ernst Rudorff put it up for auin 1893. It seems to have been in Count Waldstein’s possession in Prague before it became the property of Charles Malherbe (1853-1911) who later presented it as a gift to the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire de Musique in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris. This is where it is still located today. At the top of 1st page, Bach wrote: “J. J. Dominica 25 post Trinit: Du Friede-Fürst, Herr Jesu Christ” [The words “Dominica” and “Herr” are abbreviated].”
The first Breitkopf catalog of music available for copying, Fall 1761, lists Cantata 116 in the church year category, mostly from Friedemann Bach. It is one of eight chorale cantatas (others BWV 62, 133, 124, 92, 96, 5, 90) in a collection of 17 scores listed by church year order from Advent to late Trinity Time. Other Bach works listed in the catalog (Passions BWV 246 and 247, Luke and Mark) apparently came from Friedemann, the Christmas Oratorio parts from Emmanuel, while other cantatas, motets, and missae came mostly from Leipzig sources such as the churches and the estates of musicians associated with Bach as sought and purchased by the publisher.
Chorale Cantata Librettists Collaboration
As for the nature of the collaboration, Harald Streck's 1971 dissertation9 on the verse art in the poetic texts of Bach's cantatas suggests that by Middle Trinity Time, Bach had found two paraphrase collaborators for the chorale cantatas. Arthur Hirsch’s article, “JSB’s Cantatas in Chronological Order,10 confirms this pattern. The one in question for Cantata BWV 26 is identified as the lyricist of Group 1 cantatas, actually beginning previously with the text for Cantata BWV 181 at Septuagesima (February 13) 1724 late in the first cycle. Streck suggests that this poet began the chorale cantata paraphrases with BWV 78, "Jesu, der du meine Selle," for the 14th Sunday after Trinity, September 10, 1724. It appears that the writer began alternating the production of individual cantata texts with the lyricist of group 3, who had began a week earlier with Cantata BWV 33, "Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ," for the 13th Sunday after Trinity, September 3, 1724. Their putative alternate production continued until the end of Trinity Time 1724. Beginning at Christmas through the Lenten season, when Bach abandoned weekly composing of chorale cantatas, Group 3 lyricist took over, producing 10 libretti while Group 1 lyricist wrote only BWV 124 for the First Sunday after Epiphany and Bach's final chorale cantata, BWV 1, for Annunciation/Palm Sunday, March 1, 1725.
FOOTNOTES:
1 William L. Hoffman wrote (September 23, 2012): “Musical Context: Motets and Chorales for the 25th Sunday after Trinity” (Trinity 25), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Trinity25.htm.
2 Strodach, Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles and Gospels> (Philadelphia PA, United Lutheran Publication House: 261f).
3 Evangelisches Kirchen Gesangbuch (Niedersachsen, Bremen), Taschenausgabe, Cryluxe rot, 1994.
4 “The Church Year,” Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress Press, Minneapolis MI, 2006: 52f).
5 Stiller (Concordia Publishing, St. Louis MO, 1985: 246f).
6 Leaver, Lutheran Quarterly Books (William B. Eerdmanns Publishing, Grand Rapids MI, 2007: 297).
7 NLGB, BACH'S HYMN BOOK: Jürgen Grimm, "Das neu [?] Leipziger Gesangbuch des Gottfried Vopelius (Leipzig 1682),"Berlin: Merseburger, 1969. ML 3168 G75.
8 “Notes on the Text,” Francis Browne, BCW Cantata116 German text and Browne English translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV116-Eng3.htm.
9 Streck, Harald. Die Verskunst in den poetischen Texten zu den Kantaten J. S. Bachs. Dissertation: University Hamburg 1971.
10 Hirsch, “JSB’s Cantatas in Chronological Order,” BACH, Riemenschneider Institute 11 (July 1980): 18-35. |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (November 27, 2014):
Cantata BWV 116, Part 2, Liturgy, Theology, Christus Paradox
Cantata 116 Part 2, liturgy, theology and the “Christus Paradox”; late Trinity Time lessons, then and now; Christ the King and Christology; Cantata 116 “Notes on the Text”; other Trinity +25 chorales; and Provenance.
During his first four years of active composing of three cycles of church year cantatas in Leipzig, Bach managed to present two new cantatas in extended Late Trinity Time on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, using well-known affirmative chorales,1 They are "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Take from us, you faithful God), and "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ).
The two works are solo Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende" (A dreadful ending carries you away) in 1723 and Chorale Cantata BWV 116, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ) in 1724. The chorales in Cantatas 90 and 116, under the <omne tempore> heading of hymns of the "Word of God & Christian Church," NLGB 305-22, are used to contrast with the Sunday's gospel of apocalypse and tribulation. This contrast represents the Christological concept of the "Christus Paradox."
The eschatological or End Times of the Last Days/Things are the subject of both New Testament lessons in the lectionary for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's time. They are: +Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 "Christ's Second Coming" (sleeping in Jesus, rapture); & +Gospel: Matthew Chapter 24: Verses 15-28, Teaching "The Awful Horror," Christ's prediction (apocalypse, tribulation).
"The Epistle (is) filled with comfort and peace and glory for His own; the Gospel (is) a message of dread and terror and doom for His enemies," says Paul Zeller Strodach in The Church Year.2
Last Trinity Time Lessons
Interestingly, the eschatological Gospel lesson (Mat. 24:15-28) for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's historic, mixed One-Year Lectionary of teachings from all four Gospels is not found in the current, Three-Year Lectionary of Catholic and liturgical Protestant denominations, first adopted at Vatican II in the 1960s, and later by progressive Protestant denominations. The current Gospel readings are: Year A. Matthew, Year B. Mark, Year C. Luke, with John readings primarily in the Easter Season of all three years.
The two teachings from Matthew Chapter 25 for the final two Trinity Time Sundays (the 26th and 27th) in Bach's one-year lectionary are retained in the final three Sundays in the current Sundays after Pentecost (Trinity) in Year A of the <omne tempore> (Ordinary Time) non-festival half of the church year.
In the contemporary lectionary of service readings for the final three Sundays in Trinity, other Bach <omne tempore> cantatas are particularly relevant in these eschatological Last Days, Omega, or End Times. The Appendix to the 1994 Evangelisches Kirchen Gesangbuch (EKG)3 lists the following as appropriate for the Second to Last Sunday in the Church Year: Cantatas 105 (Trinity 9), 114 (Trinity 17), 115 (Trinity 22), and 127 (Septuagesima); Next to the Last Sunday, BWV 70 (Trinity 26), 94 (Trinity 9), 105 (Trinity 9), and 168 (Trinity 9); and the Last Sunday, BWV 140 (Trinity 27).
Here are the final three Sundays in the current Three-Year Lectionary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with the lessons from Year A, Chapter 25 of Matthew's Gospel:4
+Second to Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 32 (November 6-12), Mat. 25:1-13 (Bach's 27th Sunday after Trinity), "Parable of the 10 Young Women";
+Next to Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 33 (November 13-19), Mat. 25:14-30 (no Bach Sundays after Trinity), "Parable of the Three Servants";
+Last Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 34 (November 20-26), Christ the King Sunday, Mat. 25:31-46 (Bach's Trinity 26), "The Final Judgement."
Thus, in the final three Sundays in the one-year lectionary, Mat. 25:14:30, "Parable of the Three Servants" is omitted, while in the three-year lectionary Year A, Mat. 24:15-28, "The Awful Horror" (25th Sunday after Trinity in the One-Year Lectionary) is omitted.
Christus Paradox
That Bach late in 1724 chose to set the Christological hymn, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," as ChoraleCantata BWV 116, for the 25th Sunday after Trinity with its End Times theme may seem paradoxical as it embodies the concept of the "Christus Paradox." The Christus Paradox is best expressed in the 20th century hymn, "Let all mortal flesh keep silence," set to the Byzantine Greek Liturgy of St. James and the 17th century French carol, "Picardy" (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picardy_(hymn). "Christus Paradox" is a 1991 "Chorale Variations for SATB and organ, with the text of the late Sylvia Dunstan (incipit, "You, Lord, are both Lamb and Shepherd") and "Picardy" music arranged by Alfred Fedak (GIA Publications G5463.)
Throughout Christian history, writers have explored the richness of what they perceive as the uniqueness of Jesus Christ through the study of Christology. Central to this concept are the two paradoxical doctrines of Jesus' nature in the gospels as Son of God (fully divine) and Son of Man (fully human) and the three states of Christ in the< kenosis> (emptying) parabola (descent-ascent) hymn of Phillippians 2:5-11 or Col. 1:15-20: pre-incarnational glory, death, and resurrection, says noted theologian Cornelius Plantinga Jr. in the article "Christus Paradox" (Calvin College, Grand Rapids MI, 1991). Other paradoxical images include Jesus as lamb and shepherd, prince and slave, steward and servant.
Increasingly within churches using the Three-Year Lectionary, the Christological Feast days of Christmas, Easter, Ascension, and Christ the King Sunday incorporate the Christus Paradox readings of Phillippians 2:5-11 or Col. 1:15-20, as well as the two passages in Isaiah that prophecy the two different aspects of Christ's dual identity, Chapter 53, The Suffering Servant, and Chapter 11, The Peaceful Kingdom.
Bach's choice of another chorale for his other cantata for the 25th Sunday after Trinity, also reflects the Christus Paradox found in Late Trinity Time, in the transition from End Times of the Church Year to the Advent of the New Church year cycle. Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende" (A dreadful ending carries you away) closes with the affirmative chorale, "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" (Take from us, you faithful God), set to the Lutheran melody of the Lord's Prayer. Both affirmative chorale texts, "Nimm von uns" and "Du Friedefürst," are <omne tempore> hymns on the "Word of God and the Christian Church." Both chorales "are found in the Dresden hymnbooks of that time among the "Hymns of Lament and Comfort," says Günther Stiller in JSB and Liturgical Life in Leipzig.5
Cantata BWV 90, has as "its subject matter the polarity between the `schrecklich Ende', the terrifying outcome awaiting all sinners at the Last Judgment given graphic articulation in the tenor and bass arias, and the genial protection God gives to His elect described in the final recitative and chorale," says John Elliot Gardiner in his Bach 2000 Cantata Pilgrimage recording notes (see BCW cover page, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV90.htm, Recordings, No. 8).
Christ the King & Christology
Christ the King Sunday is a 20th Century designation begun in the Roman Catholic Church (see Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_the_King): "Originally, the liturgical calendar had this feast on the last Sunday of October prior to All Saints' Day. . . ." Luther's Reformation rejected the Catholic All Saints Day, occurring on November 1, instituting instead the Feast of the Reformation on October 31. In Bach's Lutheran tradition, a similar day is the Feast of the Apostles (St. Simon & St. Jude, October 28), listed in Bach's <Das Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch> of 1682 (NLGB: pp. 473-90). The Apostles Feast is recognized in Bach's <Orgelbüchlein> (OB, Little Organ Book) with preludes on two chorales: *OB No. 59. "Herr Gott, dich loben wir" (Te Deum, NLGB 167, Feast of the Apostles); and * OB No. 60. "O Herre Gott, dein göttlich Wort" (NLGB 308, Word of God & Christian Church). Although Bach set neither chorale in the <Orgelbüchlein>, he previously set both as organ chorale preludes and later as harmonized four-voice chorales.
The concepts of Christ the King and Christology are embedded in Lutheran theology. "The heart of Reformation theology was Christology, the <solus Christus> aspect of the Christian Gospel that was summarized by three further Latin formulae: <sola scriptura>, <sola fidei>, and <sola gratia>" (also known as the Word, Faith, and Grace Alone), says Robin A. Leaver, Luther's Liturgical Music.6
These concepts are expressed in the Lutheran utilization of the Te Deum canticle of praise, both in Latin and vernacular German, and celebrated on the Feast of New Year's Day when Bach also used the popular hymn, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ), found in three movements in Cantata BWV 143. It was an evolving work that Bach originally composed in Weimar about1708-14 and may have performed again between 1728-35. Bach did not include it in his Leipzig three cantatas cycles of music for the church year.
Cantata BWV 90, Chorale `Nimm von uns'
For the 25th Sunday after Trinity, Nov. 11, 1723, Bach premiered Solo (ATB) Cantata BWV 90, "Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende." It was the penultimate Cycle 1 cantata for Trinity Time, that ended a week later, November 18, with Cantata BWV 70. Francis Browne's English translation of Cantata BWV 90 is found at BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV90-Eng3.htm.
Cantata BWV 90 closes with the last stanza of Martin Moller's 1584 7-stanza chorale text, "Nimm von uns": "Leit uns mit deiner rechten Hand" (Lead us with your right hand). It is set to the chorale melody (Zahn 2561), anonymous/Martin Luther 1539 "Vater unser im Himmelreich" (Our Father in Heaven). Moller's words are the "1st Alternate Text:" to the melody, says BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Vater-unser-im-Himmelreich.htm.
The other Bach use of "Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott" is for Chorale Cantata BWV 101, Trinity 10, 1724. The hymn is found in the NLGB No. 316, Word of God & Christian Church (<omne tempore> general use, no designated Sunday hymn). "Vater unser im Himmelreich" is the Hymn of the Day (<de tempore>) for the 25th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's hymnbook, Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (NLGB),7 Chorale No. 175, under the< omne temore> general category of Catechism chorales and also is a designated hymn for Sundays after Trinity 5, 8, 11, 15, 25 and Epiphany 3.
Julian Mincham's telling commentary on the Cantata BWV 90/5 setting of Luther's chorale melody, and its harmonization as plain chorales in two other Bach words, BWV 245/5 (SJP), and Cantata BWV 102/7 (Trinity 10), is found at BCW, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-27-bwv-90.htm, "telling Chorale."
Chorale Cantata BWV 116, `Du Friedefürst"
For the final 25th Sunday after Trinity in 1724, on November 26, Bach premiered Chorale Cantata BWV 116, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ). Cantata BWV 116 BCW cover page is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116.htm. Francis Browne BCW English translation is http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV116-Eng3.htm. The 1601 chorale text of Jakob Ebert (7 stanzas) is found in Francis Browne's BCW English Translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale001-Eng3.htm.
The associated, anonymous melody is "found in a collection by Bartholomäus Gesius (Gese) (1601) and is loosely based upon `Innsbruck, ich muß dich lassen' " (BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Du-Friedefurst.htm. Of particular note in Julian Mincham's commentary on Cantata BWV 116 is the memorable alto trio free da-capo aria, "Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Not" (Ah, unspeakable is our distress), BCW, http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-26-bwv-116.htm.
The established format of the chorale cantatas involves the use of the first and last stanzas unaltered in the opening chorale chorus fantasia and closing four-voice harmonization respectively. The melody "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" appears in the soprano in No. 1, the initial chorale chorus; No. 3. tenor secco recitative paraphrases Stanza 3, "Gedenke doch, O Jesu, daß du noch Ein Fürst des Friedens heißest!"
(Remember then, o Jesus, that you still are called a prince of peace!), with Bach using the chorale melody in the basso continuo; and in No. 6, "Erleucht auch unser Sinn und Herz" (Enlighten also our hearts and minds), the melody is harmonized in the closing plain chorale. Stanza 2 is paraphrased in No. 2, the alto aria cited in the previous paragraph; Stanza 4 is paraphrased in No. 4, a rare trio aria (terzette), "Ach, wir bekennen unsre Schuld" (Ah, we acknowledge our guilt), for soprano, tenor, and bass; and Stanzas 5 and 6 are paraphrased in No. 5, the alto recitative with strings, "Ach, laß uns durch die scharfen Ruten/ Nicht allzu heftig bluten!" (Ah, under the sharp rods/ do not make us bleed too heavily!)
Notes on the text 8
<<In 1724 Protestant Germany celebrated Easter a week earlier than the rest of Christendom and so it was an extra Sunday after Trinity for which Bach produced this cantata. It was performed on 26 November 1724 and forms part of the series of choral cantatas which Bach wrote in his second annual cycle at Leipzig. (Earlier commentators mistakenly dated this cantata to 1744).
The text is based on a seven verse hymn sometimes ascribed to Ludwig Helmbold but written in fact by Jakob Ebert in 1601. It is directed to be used to ask for peace in times of war. In the gospel of the day Christ speaks of the distress of the last times but the anonymous librettist of Bach’s cantata has not made specific references to the gospel text. As is customary with chorale cantatas the first and last stanzas are used unchanged while the remaining stanzas are adapted to recitatives and arias.
Texts of chorale and cantata have been printed together to facilitate understanding of how the librettist has used the chorale. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale001-Eng3.htm.
In general the cantata text makes the specific references to distress and danger in war refer more generally to the difficulties of leading a Christian life. The additions made may be seen as reflecting the more personal tone of devotion developed by the Pietist movement in the Lutheran church in the 120 years between the composition of the hymn and the cantata .
As is usual the opening verse is used unchanged. Jesus is addressed by the title ‘Prince of peace’ [Isaiah 9:7] and seen as a source of help in life and in death.
The second verse of the chorale objectively presents war and hardship as the cause of distress and asks Jesus to pray his father on our behalf. The cantata text more subjectively sees the source of distress rather as God’s anger against our sins and places greater emphasis on our difficulties in prayer.
A similar contrast can be seen in the third and fourth verses. The chorale asks for Christ’s help, the cantata text again strikes a more subjective note with its mention of God’s love and rhetorical question about whether the heart of Jesus is now turned away from us. Again, the chorale text more or less instructs God as to what should be doing, while the cantata talks of the immeasurable love and compassionate heart of God.
The fifth and six stanzas of the chorale are concerned with the situation in a time of war. The corresponding verse of the cantata departs almost completely from this to ask in general terms for God's assistance in living in a world hostile to Christian values.
The final stanza is a prayer for enlightenment to Christ. As is customary in chorale cantatas, it is used unchanged.>>
Cantata 143 Notes
Notes from Cantata BWV 143 Discussion: "The chorale, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," was primarily used for weekly Penitential (Confessional) services on Fridays (Stiller, <JSB & Liturgical Life in Leipzig, p. 114) and occasionally during Easter season. Bach utilized all seven verses in his chorale Cantata BWV 116 for the final Sunday in Trinity, 1724, and as the closing plain chorale in Cantata BWV 67 for the first Sunday after Easter in 1724. The Jakob Ebert 1601 chorale originally was written as a prayer for peace, similar to the <Dona nobis pacem>. In Bach's time, peace through praise and thanksgiving was particularly appropriate on New Year's Day."
Meanwhile, Bach had used "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" in three movements of Cantata BWV 143: No. 2 (Stanza 1), soprano aria; No. 7 (Stanza 3), closing chorale chorus; and the melody only in the upper strings, in No. 6, the tenor aria with text of original poetry
The chorale, "Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ," is listed as No. 331 in the NLGB, of the "Word of God & Christian Church," for general use, with no designated Sunday hymn. It also is appropriate for New Year's Day, the Easter Season, and Thanksgiving services.
The melody is listed in Bach's <Orgelbüchlein> chorale preludes (1713), under the heading of "In time of War" (Word of God & Christian Church): No. 125, "Du Friedefurst, Herr Jesu Christ," and previously set by 1700 in the Neumeister Collection of organ chorale preludes (c.1701), BWV 1102, found under the same heading, "Word of God & Christian Church."
Other Trinity 25 Chorales
The NLGB lists four chorales that could be sung on the 25th Sunday after Trinity: "Vater unser im Himmelreich" and three little-known pulplit and communion chorales, all under the heading "Last Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life" that Bach never set:
+"Es wird schier der letzten Tag herk," NLGB 393 (Last Days, Resurrection of the Dead, and Eternal Life); Bohemian brothers and martyrs; German, Michael Weissen 12 stazas (Zahn 1423);d
+"Gott hat das Evangelium" (Mat. 24), Erasmi Alberi, Magdeburg; Leipzig 1638), Last Days, 14 stanzas, NLGB No. 390 melody Zahn 1788; and
+"Ach Gott tu dich erbarmen"; Erasmi Alberi, Last Days NLGB 396, 12 stanzas Zahn 7228c
Bach's Other Trinity 25 Opportunities:
+It seems likely that Bach composed no cantatas at Trinity Time 1725, that ended with the 24th Sunday after Trinity, November 25. Instead Bach searched for published texts (Lehms, Rudolstadt) for the new and final third cycle, which began at the traditional start of the church year, the First Sunday in Advent, December 2, 1725.
+The Picander published annual cycle of 70 Cantatas for 1728-29, lists a libretto for the 25th Sunday after Trinity (November 14, 1728), P-69, "Eile, rette deine Seele" (Hurry, save thy soul), but with no closing chorale
+For the 25th Sunday after Trinity on November 11, 1731, it is possible that Bach repeated solo Cantata BWV 90, Es reißet euch ein schrechliche Ende" (There ripens for you a dreadful ending), possibly as part of Bach's first annual cantata cycle repeat in 1731 when he systematically reperformed cantatas from his first and third cycle during the entire Easter Season (see BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1731.htm
+There is the possibility of a repeat of Cantata BWV 116 in the first half of the 1730s when Bach composed several <per omnes versus> chorale cantatas to fill gaps and may have presented a revival of the entire Chorale Cantata second cycle. The best possible date on the 25th Sunday after Trinity is November 22, 1733, the final Sunday of Trinity Time that year.
+About November 18, 1736, Bach may have performed a Stözel two-part cantata, from the cantata cycle "Das Namenbuch Christi," (Book of Names of Christ), Schmolck text, No. 68. No musical sourcewith the presumed chorales is extant.
Cantata 116 Provenance:
Thomas Braatz wrote (April 29, 2003): “The Autograph Score: “This autograph score was inherited by W. F. Bach. The next owner (unnamed/unknown) purchased(?) it from W. F. Bach (or from his estate) and later put it up for auction at the beginning of the 19th century. The purchaser at this auction was Carl Pistor who later passed it on in his family to his son-in-law, Adolf Rudorff. While the manuscript was in the latter’s son, Ernst Rudorff’s, possession, the BG used it as a basis for their publication of the cantata in 1876. Later, Ernst Rudorff put it up for auction in 1893. It seems to have been in Count Waldstein’s possession in Prague before it became the property of Charles Malherbe (1853-1911) who later presented it as a gift to the Bibliothèque du Conservatoire de Musique in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris. This is where it is still located today. At the top of 1st page, Bach wrote: “J. J. Dominica 25 post Trinit: Du Friede-Fürst, Herr Jesu Christ” [The words “Dominica” and “Herr” are abbreviated].”
The first Breitkopf catalog of music available for copying, Fall 1761, lists Cantata 116 in the church year category, mostly from Friedemann Bach. It is one of eight chorale cantatas (others BWV 62, 133, 124, 92, 96, 5, 90) in a collection of 17 scores listed by church year order from Advent to late Trinity Time. Other Bach works listed in the catalog (Passions BWV 246 and 247, Luke and Mark) apparently came from Friedemann, the Christmas Oratorio parts from Emmanuel, while other cantatas, motets, and missae came mostly from Leipzig sources such as the churches and the estates of musicians associated with Bach as sought and purchased by the publisher.
Chorale Cantata Librettists Collaboration
As for the nature of the collaboration, Harald Streck's 1971 dissertation9 on the verse art in the poetic texts of Bach's cantatas suggests that by Middle Trinity Time, Bach had found two paraphrase collaborators for the chorale cantatas. Arthur Hirsch’s article, “JSB’s Cantatas in Chronological Order,10 confirms this pattern. The one in question for Cantata BWV 26 is identified as the lyricist of Group 1 cantatas, actually beginning previously with the text for Cantata BWV 181 at Septuagesima (February 13) 1724 late in the first cycle. Streck suggests that this poet began the chorale cantata paraphrases with BWV 78, "Jesu, der du meine Selle," for the 14th Sunday after Trinity, September 10, 1724. It appears that the writer began alternating the production of individual cantata texts with the lyricist of group 3, who had began a week earlier with Cantata BWV 33, "Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ," for the 13th Sunday after Trinity, September 3, 1724. Their putative alternate production continued until the end of Trinity Time 1724. Beginning at Christmas through the Lenten season, when Bach abandoned weekly composing of chorale cantatas, Group 3 lyricist took over, producing 10 libretti while Group 1 lyricist wrote only BWV 124 for the First Sunday after Epiphany and Bach's final chorale cantata, BWV 1, for Annunciation/Palm Sunday, March 1, 1725.
FOOTNOTES:
1 William L. Hoffman wrote (September 23, 2012): “Musical Context: Motets and Chorales for the 25th Sunday after Trinity” (Trinity 25), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/LCY/M&C-Trinity25.htm.
2 Strodach, Studies in the Introits, Collects, Epistles and Gospels> (Philadelphia PA, United Lutheran Publication House: 261f).
3 Evangelisches Kirchen Gesangbuch (Niedersachsen, Bremen), Taschenausgabe, Cryluxe rot, 1994.
4 “The Church Year,” Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress Press, Minneapolis MI, 2006: 52f).
5 Stiller (Concordia Publishing, St. Louis MO, 1985: 246f).
6 Leaver, Lutheran Quarterly Books (William B. Eerdmanns Publishing, Grand Rapids MI, 2007: 297).
7 NLGB, BACH'S HYMN BOOK: Jürgen Grimm, "Das neu [?] Leipziger Gesangbuch des Gottfried Vopelius (Leipzig 1682),"Berlin: Merseburger, 1969. ML 3168 G75.
8 “Notes on the Text,” Francis Browne, BCW Cantata116 German text and Browne English translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV116-Eng3.htm.
9 Streck, Harald. Die Verskunst in den poetischen Texten zu den Kantaten J. S. Bachs. Dissertation: University Hamburg 1971.
10 Hirsch, “JSB’s Cantatas in Chronological Order,” BACH, Riemenschneider Institute 11 (July 1980): 18-35. |
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Aryeh Oron wrote (November 28, 2014):
Cantata BWV 116 - Revised & updated Discography
The discography pages of the Chorale Cantata BWV 116 “Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ” for the 25h Sunday after Trinity on the BCW have been revised and updated.
The cantata is scored for soprano, alto, tenor & bass soloists; 4-part chorus; and orchestra of 2 oboes d’amore, 2 violins, viola, continuo (with horn added for the two chorale movements). See:
Complete Recordings (9): http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116.htm
Recordings of Individual Movements (4): http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116-2.htm
The revised discography includes many listening/watching options to recordings directly from the discography pages, just below the recording details.
I also put at the BCW Home Page: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/
2 audios of the cantata. A short description below the audio/video image is linked to the full details at the discography pages.
I believe this is the most comprehensive discography of this chorale cantata. If you are aware of a recording of BWV 116 missing from these pages, or want to correct/add details of a recording already presented on the BCW, please do not hesitate to inform me.
You can also read on the BCW William L. Hoffman's detailed introduction to this week's discussion of the cantata in the BCML (4th round): http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV116-D5.htm |
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