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Cantata BWV 97
In allen meinen Taten
Discussions - Part 3 |
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Continue from Part 2 |
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Discussions in the Week of July 14, 2013 (3rd round) |
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No discussion. |
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Discussions in the Week of May 17, 2015 (4th round) |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (May 20, 2015):
Exaudi Sunday & Cantata BWV 97: In allen meinen Taten
Following four substantial works composed in Leipzig for the Feast of the Ascension between 1724 and 1735, Bach for Exaudi, the last or Sixth Sunday in the Easter Season in Leipzig, narrowed his emphasis to two extant, original works. Both Cantata 44 for May 21, 1724, and Cantata 183, for May 13, 1725, emphasize the same biblical dictum: "Sie werden euch in den Bann tun" (They will put you under the ban [from the synagogues]), John 16:2.
This dictum may be considered Christ's final caution to his followers. Bach’s original use in 1724 in Cantata 44, possibly to a text by his St. Thomas Pastor, Christian Weiss, who preached the sermon on the Gospel, could be part of the first of an annual emblematic series of sermons Weiss began at Easter Season 1724, which focuses on the Gospel of John, and continued in 1725 when Weiss again preached the sermon, according to the late Martin Petzoldt in Bach Commentary, Vol. 2, Advent to Trinityfest.1 In Cantata 44, it is the opening tenor-bass chorus duet in canon.
Cantata 97
Meanwhile it is quite possible that Bach began composing a chorale Cantata BWV 97, "In allen meinen taten" (In all my doings), for Exaudi Sunday 1725, as part of a 10-year odyssey, borrowing material from Köthen for an opening chorus and tenor aria. He then set two movements aside until 1731 when he added a series of recitative-aria-recitative and closing chorale (? BWV 392) for Exaudi 1731 as part of mostly repeats for Easter Season following the premiere of after the St. Mark Passion. Later, Bach set all nine versus, with three more progressive arias, totaling 26 minutes) as a pure-hymn cantata in 1734 for a special festive event, then possibly performed it again the next year at Exaudi Sunday (May 22, 1735) in between the Ascension Oratorio and the lost Pentecost Oratorio. Finally, he repeated progressive, dance-laden Cantata 97 in the 1740s,2 possibly in 1744 after the St. Mark Passion, followed by repeats of certain Easter season cantatas, as he had done in 1731,3 or outside of Leipzig at another special festival service.
This same vox Christi/Domini dictum, "Sie werden euch in den ass aria tun,” became the opening bass recitative with a quartet of oboes in the 1725 solo Cantata 183 to a text of Christiane Mariane von Ziegler, This Ziegler series of Easter-Pentecost texts, as well as Cantatas 6, 42 and 85, Bach may have originally commissioned for the 1724 season and set aside after his conflicts with the Town council over the Good Friday vespers St. John Passion required venue at the Niklauskirche, alternating with the Thomanerkirche. This is a thesis of John Eliot Gardiner, first expressed in his Bach 2000 Cantata Pilgrimage 2008 liner notes for the Soli Deo Gloria recording of the cantatas for Rogate and Exaudi Sundays final after Easter (see Cantata 97 commentary below).4
Exaudi Sunday & Sermon Cycles
Exaudi Sunday comes from the first word of the Introit opening: "Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice (Psalm 27, A Prayer of Praise; verse 7). This Sunday, following Ascension Thursday, centers on the Disciples' waiting for the Holy Spirit to come and is a brief time of expectation. The Gospel, John 15: 26 -16: 4, has the theme "The Spirit (Helper, Comforter) will come" followed by Christ's warning that the Disciples will be expelled from the synagogues. It is the penultimate Farewell Discourse of Jesus to his Disciples (John's Gospel, Chapters 14-16. The day's Gospel reading is divided into two sections: 15:26-27, "The Witness of the Paraclete" (advocate, intercessor), and 16:1-4, Persecutions. These discourses are virtually unique to John's Gospel, although Jesus warned his disciples earlier in the gospels to be careful what they said in public and to avoid the synagogues.
The situation on Exaudi Sundays 1724 and 1725 was particularly serendipitous for both Bach and Weiss, enabling the former to set musically biblical dictums, often in lieu of opening chorale stanzas with little emphasis on the Gospel in his cantata musical sermons. For Weiss (1671-1737), he was able to preach again. “In 1718 he lost his voice, but was able to preach again – with interruptions – from 1723, and then regularly from Easter 1724 onwards,” says Alfred Dürr, 5 until 1735. Since the one-year lectionary in Bach’s time required pastors to preach on the same Gospel each year, to avoid monotony, the pastors chose a new theme or “emblem” or preach on the service’s appropriate chorale (Dürr, Ibid.: 29f). It is quite possible that Weiss and Bach collaborated on the choice of chorales or sermon dicta. In the case of "Sie werden euch in den Bann tun," it is quite possible that Weiss began his sermon with the incipit warning that opened Cantatas 44 and 183, found in the second part of the Gospel and then focused on the first part, John 15:26-27, "The Witness of the Paraclete" (advocate, intercessor) with the Christian Triune Holy Spirit as Helper, Comforter,” a theme Luther often preached and appropriate for the entire church year.
The related Epistle for Exaudi is 1 Peter 4:8-11, “Minister to one another, each according to the gift he has received.” The full English (KJV) texts for the Gospel and Epistle are found at https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+15%3A26-16%3A4&version=KJV and http://www.godvine.com/bible/1-peter/4-8, and click 1 Peter 4:9 >, etc.
Also at: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Read/Exaudi.htm
In addition, Bach drafted an opening cantata recitative six-bar sketch of the same John 16:2 warning, "Sie werden euch in den Bann tun," for Exaudi Sunday, 1725, but replaced it when his librettist, Ziegler, set the same dictum to open Cantata 183. The sketch, found in the score of Cantata 79 for Reformation 1725, is catalogued as Neumann 33 (Werner Neumann Handbuch der Kantaten JSB, 5 ed. (Breitkopf & Härtel: Weisbaden, 1984: 264). It is documented in the Bärenreiter New Bach Editiion, BA 5291, Supplement Generalbaß- und Satzlehre, Skizzen, Entwürfe (German); Wollny, Peter; 2011.
Exaudi Motets & Chorales
The Sunday After Ascension Motet and Chorale Musical Context (Douglas Cowling, BCW) is:
Introit: "Exaudi Domine" (LU854); Motet: "Deus Adjutor Fortis"; "Exaudiet Te Dominus"; Hymn de Tempore: "Nun Freut Euch, Gottes Kinder"; Pulpit Hymn: "Christ fuhr gen Himmel"; and Hymns for Chancel, Communion & Closing: "Zeuch ein zu Thoren,"6 in the motet collection and NLGB Bach hymn book. Cowling adds (December 25, 2010): “Although Bach's motet collection appears only to have contained polyphonic "stile antico" motets by French composers, the text was used in several large scale grand motets in the 17th and 18th centuries. Here's Campra's setting of the text [Exaudiet Te Dominus] in a superb performance by William Christie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b02WtXB_Xxk. Is there any evidence of Bach knowing this kind of repertoire? He certainly knew the orchestral and keyboard music” (BCML Cantata 44, Discussion Part 3, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV44-D3.htm).
The Introit opening Psalms are Psalm 27, Dominus illuminatio, “The Lord is my light (KJV), and Psalm 143, Domine, exaudi, “Hear my prayer, O Lord (KJV), according to Petzoldt (Ibid.: 939). Petzoldt describes Psalm 27 as “trust and pleasure in God and his word” and Psalm 143 as a “penitential prayer on the turning away of the ill-tempered, and the attainment of good.” The full KJV texts of the two psalms is found at http://biblehub.com/kjv/psalms/27-1.htm and http://biblehub.com/kjv/psalms/143-1.htm
Bach initially used the closing stanza, "So sei nun, Seele, deine" (So be now, soul, thine) of Paul Flemming's 1642 nine-verse chorale, "In allen meinen taten," set to Paul Gerhardt's 1648 Passion melody, "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" (O world, I must leave thee) as the closing plain chorale setting of Cantata 44 for his first Leipzig cycle, Exaudi Sunday, May 21, 1724. Later Bach set the same stanza and text to close solo Cantata 13, "Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen" (My sighs, my tears), for the Second Sunday After Epiphany, June 20, 1726 in the third cycle. The Fleming (1609-40) BCW Short Biography is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Fleming.htm. The text of Stanza 9 and Francis Browne’s English translation (interlinear) are:
So sein nun, Seele, deine
Therefore, my soul, be true to yourself
Und traue dem alleine,
and trust him alone
Der ich erschaffen hat;
who has created you.
Es gehe, wie es gehe,
Come what may,
Dein Vater in der Höhe
your Father in heaven
Weiß allen Sachen Rat.
knows what is best in all situations.
Bach also set the same Fleming texts and Gerhardt melody of this hymn of submission and humility as the opening chorale chorus and closing plain chorale in per omnes versus chorale Cantata 97. The entire Fleming text set to the Johannes Quirsfeld 1679 melody found in the 1682 Vopelius Leipzig Songbook is harmonized in Bach's free-standing four-part chorale, BWV 367 in C Major. While this setting also is used to open Leipzig wedding services, Bach only set the other three prescribed wedding chorales as BWV 250-252, for the beginning, after the wedding vows, and after the benediction of a full-length sacred church wedding.
The full text of "In allen meinen taten" (EKG 292) with the two melodies (Gerhardt and Quirsfeld), is found in Francis Browne’s BCW English translation, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/Chorale100-Eng3.htm.
Details of the melody "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" (Zahn 2293b), are found at BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/O-Welt-ich-muss.htm. Details of the anonymous melody "In allen meinen taten" (Zahn 2276), is found at BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/In-allen-meinen-Taten.htm.
For Exaudi Sunday 1726 (June 2) for his third cantata cycle, Bach found no acceptable Rudolstadt text or extant Johann Ludwig Bach cantata setting. Likewise, for Exaudi Sunday 1729 (May 29) in the Picander cycle, Bach showed no apparent interest in the cantata libretto P-36, "Quäle dich nur nicht, mein Herz" (Torment thee only not, my heart), which contains no chorale setting.
Cantata 97: Purpose & Theme
The purpose and theme of Cantata 97 is discussed in Julian Mincham’s on-line overview, “Chapter 59 BWV 97 In allen meinen Taten,” http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-59-bwv-97.htm. 7 <<This is a long cantata consisting of nine movements and lasting, typically, for over half an hour. As with several of the other later chorale/fantasias (e.g. Cs 100, 117 and 192) it does not appear to be linked to a particular event or liturgical date. Dürr, however, suggests that like the others it may have originally been composed to celebrate a wedding (p 788). Wolff (booklet for Ton Koopman’s recording, box 21 p 25) gives the invaluable information that the dated score has the words ‘After a Wedding’ latterly crossed out. The assumption must be that this was its initial purpose but it may subsequently have been adapted for liturgical purposes.
It is a generally happy and expansive work with touches of elegiac sadness but no plumbing of the depths of tragic despair. It contains arias for each of the four voices and a duet for soprano and bass.
The theme of the work is fundamentally fatalistic----it does not matter what I do, aspire to or accomplish, everything will happen as God ordains----my life and death are entirely in His hands and if I trust in Him; He will protect me. This, however, is not the pessimistic fatalism it might appear to be, quite the reverse. The message is positive----trust in the God who knows, counsels and protects us in all things. This, at least as Bach depicts it, is a matter for rejoicing.
Nevertheless, this remains one of Bach’s least performed cantatas. Unknown to most listeners, it has not always had a positive reception from critics, both the ‘doggerel’ text and ‘uninspiring music’ coming in for criticisms.>>
Cantata 97 Movements, Scoring, Text Incipits (nine verses unaltered), Key, and Meter are:8
1. Chorus (Verse 1) French Overture in two-parts with ritornello [SATB; Oboe I/II, Fagotti, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]; grave instrumental introduction; A. vivace fugal chorus, “In allem meinen Taten / Laß ich den Höchsten raten” (In all that I do / I am led by God’s counsel); B. “Er muss zu allen Dingen, . . . / Selbst geben Rat und Tat.” (in everything he must give . . . / his own advice and counsel to me); B-flat major; 4/4.
2. Aria (Verse 2) two-parts with ostinato and ritornelli [Bass, Continuo]: A. Nichts ist es spät und frühe / Um alle sein Mühe” (Early or late nothing comes, / from all my efforts); B. “Er mags mit meinen Sachen / Nach seinem Willen machen” (he may deal with my affairs / according to his will); g minor; 6/8 gigue style.
3. Recitative secco [(Verse 3) Tenor, Continuo]: A. “Es kann mir nichts geschehen, / Als was er hat ersehen” (Nothing can happen to me / except what he has foreseen); 4/4, E-flat major to d minor.
4. Aria in two parts (Verse 4) dal segno opening repeat, with ritornelli, largo [Tenor, Violino solo, Continuo]: A. “Ich traue seiner Gnaden” (I trust in his grace); B. “Leb ich nach seinen Gesetzen” / So wird mich nichts verletzen (if I live according to his laws, /then there is nothing to harm me); B-flat Major; 4/4 allemande style.
5. Recitative secco (Verse 5) [Alto; Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: “Er wolle meiner Sünden / In Gnaden mich entbinden” (May it be his will from my sins / in his mercy to release me); g minor to c minor; 4/4.
6. Aria (Verse 6) in two parts with ritornelli in Lombard rhythm [Alto; Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: Leg ich mich späte nieder, / Erwache frühe wieder” (Whether I lie down late / or wake up early)’ B. In Schwachheit und in Banden . . . / So tröstet mich sein Wort.” (in weakness and in bondage, . . . / yet his word is my consolation); c minor, 4/4 generic dance style.
7. Aria (Verse 7) free da-capo (Duet) in canon with ritornelli and dal segno opening repeat [Soprano, Bass; Continuo]: A. “Hat er es denn beschlossen, / So will ich unverdrossen” (If it is his decision, / then I will go undeterred); B. “Kein Unfall unter allen / Soll mir zu harte fallen” (No misfortune whatsoever / shall be too harsh for me); E-flat major; ¾ menuett style.
8. Aria (Verse 8) in two parts with ritornelli and dal segno opening repeat [Soprano; Oboe I/II, Continuo]: A. “Ich hab mich ihm ergeben” (To him I have entrusted myself); B. “Es sei heut oder morgen, / Dafür lass ich ihn sorgen;” (whether it may be today or tomorrow / I leave to his care); F Major, 2/4 bouree style.
9. Chorale (Verse 9) with 3 obligatti parts (2 oboes, Bc) [SATB; Oboe I/II col Soprano, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo]: “So sein nun, Seele, deine” (Therefore, my soul, be true to yourself); B-Flat
Impetus, Details of Cantata 97
The impetus for Paul Fleming’s text, his “long and hazardous journey to Moscow in 1633” and details of the nine movements are found in John Eliot Gardiner’s 2008 Soli Deo Gloria liner notes to his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000 recording of cantatas for Rogate and Exaudi Sundays.9 <<The final piece in the [Rogate Sunday] programme was BWV 97, “In allen meinen Taten,” a cantata without liturgical designation first performed in 1734. It uses the haunting Heinrich Isaac hymn tune ‘Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen’ in both its opening and concluding movements. One theory is that, like the other three lachorale cantatas (BWV 100, 117 and 192), it started life as a wedding cantata. In retrospect, we should really have included this splendid cantata at the outset of our Pilgrimage, since Paul Fleming’s hymn was apparently written to mark the start of a long and hazardous journey he undertook to Moscow in 1633. Bach sets all nine verses unaltered, four of them as arias, one as a duet and two as recitatives, so ensuring variety in instrumentation (unusually, he instructs the organ not to play in movements 3, 4 and 7) and in mood, in ways that keep both the performer and the listener fully engaged. He opens in ceremonial French overture style with antiphonal exchanges between reeds and strings. Only when the grave gives way to a vivace fantasia does he introduce his voices: sopranos intoning the ‘Innsbruck’ cantus firmus, the lower voices in animated imitation, borrowing the motivic outline from the instrumental lines, and all fluently embedded in the fugally conceived structure. The voices break into an urgent homophonic concluding statement: ‘[God] must in all affairs, if they are to succeed, counsel and act’, an injunction Bach leaves ringing in the listeners’ ears by eschewing the expected symmetrical return to the opening Grave.
Verse 2 is a proto-Schubertian Lied for bass and continuo with elegant 6/8 rhythms and emphatic 6/4/2 pivotal chords. Verse 4 is an astonishing tenor aria with one of the most elaborate violin obbligatos in all the cantatas, complete with virtuosic figuration, ample double stopping and three- and four-part broken chords placed as the dramatic launch-pad for the tenor soloist’s syncopated exclamations of ‘nichts!’. One wonders whether this reversion by Bach to the style he had developed in Weimar and Cöthen in his solo violin sonatas and partitas was designed as a possible test piece for a particular virtuoso violinist, until one sees that the purpose here is to lay down the law – his laws of music, which are given a brilliant exposition in conformity with Fleming’s text, ‘I trust in His mercy... if I live by His laws’. The sixth movement is an alto aria in C minor with full strings: thick-textured, rich in passing dissonance and full of pathos, and with a natural swing adjusted to the distinct motions of preparing for bed, waking up, lying down or just walking along. The seventh verse is cast as a quirky, almost jazzy duet for soprano and bass with continuo, a line that keeps interrupting itself. This is a catch-as-catch-can stretto for the two singers, part canzonet, part Rossini. Perhaps it is the word ‘Unfall’ (‘mishap’ or ‘accident’) which triggered Bach’s musical imagination here, since he is constantly teasing the listener with the potential for false entries, collisions or collapse. There is more than a hint of cartoon chase to it; yet it is not at all frivolous, showing a distinct likeness to another ‘I-go-to-my-fate’ duet with a palpably speech-like continuo, the much more sinister ‘O Menschenkind, hör auf geschwind’ (BWV 20, No.10).
Order is restored in the delightful soprano aria with two oboes which follows (No.8): ‘I have surrendered myself to Him’, a carefree acceptance of God’s will that leaves it to Him whether to extend or conclude one’s lifespan. The final ‘Innsbruck’ chorale has three independent string parts augmenting the luminescent harmony.>> © John Eliot Gardiner 2008; From a journal written in the course of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage
Cantata 97 Purpose Explored
The purpose of Cantata 97 and interesting details of the movements are found in Klaus Hofmann’s 2012 liner notes to the Masaaki Suzuki BIS complete sacred cantatas.10
<<At the end of Bach’s autograph score stands the year 1734, but neither the score nor parts tell us anything about the circumstances of its composition or the occasion for which it was intended. The hymn is frequently sung to this day; its text is an avowal of unconditional faith in God. In its original form – which was several strophes longer – it was a song of travel. Its author, Paul Fleming (1609–40), was one of the great German baroque poets; he wrote it in 1633 before undertaking a long and dangerous journey that was to take him to Moscow as a member of a delegation from the Duke of Holstein. In the nine-strophe version used by Bach, the reference to the dangers of the journey is replaced by a message of a more general nature.11
The content of the text does not allow us to assign Bach’s cantata to any particular day of the church year. The composition itself suggests an occasion that was somehow connected to a new phase of life or activity, as Bach gives the opening chorus the form of a French overture. This not only points to an especially festive occasion but is also a form that Bach almost used with a symbolic meaning, as an indication of a new beginning – for instance on the first Sunday of Advent in 1714, for the start of the Church Year (BWV61) or in 1724 for the beginning of his chorale cantata year. Possible occasions might thus include the inauguration of a priest or similar festive event in 1734.
In accordance with the French formal pattern, the first movement begins with a solemn, slow passage in dotted rhythms, which is followed by a lively fugal section (the overture’s usual third section, which would normally also be slow, is here omitted). The choir does not enter until the second of these sections. Here the cantus firmus is in the soprano, in long note values, whilst the lower choral parts are closely linked to the rapid fugal writing in the orchestra; in this way the choral writing, too, acquires a strongly instrumental character. On two occasions Bach allows a concertante trio consisting of two oboes and bassoon to emerge; this, too, is a reminiscence of the French style.
Of the seven inner strophes, Bach chose to set two as recitatives and the remainder as solo arias (or, in the case of the seventh, a duet), paying close attention to variety in his choice of vocal and instrumental combinations. Among the arias, the fourth movement is particularly striking: here Bach combines an extremely virtuosic solo violin part, replete with double stopping, with an equally demanding, vivaciously declamatory tenor part full of coloraturas and ornamental writing. With its meticulous rhythmic patterns, rich in syncopations, and its fashionable Lombard slides, this movement reflects the influence of what was then contemporary music to an unusual degree for Bach. In another way this applies to the sixth movement too, an alto aria, which pays tribute to the musical spirit of the period especially in its emphatically melodic string writing, sometimes of a homophonic character. With its finely chiselled, rhythmically varied instrumental figuration, its lively yet expressive declamation of the text and its surprising darkening of mood for the word ‘sterben’ (‘to die’), the soprano’s last aria (eighth movement), accompanied by two oboes, is an exquisite piece of chamber music.
The cantata ends as festively as it had begun: in the final strophe, the orchestra acts independently and the four-part choir is thereby expanded to seven parts. © Klaus Hofmann 2012
Late Chorale Cantatas Overview
An overview of the late chorale cantatas with their independence, instrumental color and influences of modern trends is found in Hofmann’s “Overview” of the three cantatas on this disc (Ibid.):
<<The three cantatas on this recording [BWV 9, 97, 177] come from the first half of the 1730s, by which time all of Bach’s annual cantata cycles were already complete. Therefore, unlike in his first Leipzig years, the composer wrote a new cantata no longer every week, but just occasionally. More clearly and decisively than before, each of these cantatas is an independent piece that reveals its own artistic challenges. In addition, Bach’s characteristic affinity for instrumental colour comes more clearly to the fore in his late contributions to the genre, both in the great opening choruses and also in the solo arias. At times, too, we can detect influences from the then current trends, elements of the style galant and empfindsamer Stil with its tendency towards expressmelodies rich in syncopations and suspensions, and towards homophonic writing.
The three cantatas on this disc are linked not only by their late dates of composition but also by type: they are all chorale cantatas. As such they are contributions to a genre that had been the focus of an unparalleled large-scale project during Bach’s second year in Leipzig (1724–25): it had been his intention to compose and perform a cantata based on a well known hymn for every Sunday and feast day of the church year, starting at Whitsun 1724. A peculiarity of the form was that the first and last strophes of the hymn remained unchanged, whilst the strophes in between were reworked into recitative and aria texts. For the reworking of these texts Bach evidently had a theologically proficient poet at his disposal. Probably the poet in question was Andreas Stübel (1653–1725), the former deputy headmaster of the Thomasschule, because a few weeks after his death in January 1725 – with the cantata for Palm Sunday – Bach’s set of chorale cantatas comes to a halt, presumably because no librettist was available to make further adaptations. Bach’s ambitious project thus remained, for a while, a fragment.
Later, however, Bach continued with his plan. Soon after breaking off the project he started to fill in isolated gaps when, in the church years that followed, there was a chance to perform a chorale cantata on one of the ‘missing’ Sundays or feast days. Almost always, however, he then had to accept a deviation from the original concept: instead of using adaptations of the inner strophes for recitatives and arias, he used the original texts. Of the three cantatas here only one – BWV 9 – corresponds to the older type with re - worked inner strophes, whilst the others confine themselves to the unaltered hymn text.>>
FOOTNOTES
1 Petzoldt, Bach Kommentar: Theologisch Musikwissenschaftlicke Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastan Bachs; Vol. 2, Die Geistlichen Kantaten vom 1. Advent bis zum Trinitatisfest; Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2007: 943, 952).
2 Cantata 97, BCW Details & Recordings, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV97.htm
3 See BCML Cantata BWV 97 - Discussions - Part 2 (October 5, 2008), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV97-D2.htm. This includes details of student C.F. Penzel’s 1767 score copy, various critics and commentators views of Cantata 97, dance connections, and the long genesis of Cantata 97.
4 This thesis is detailed in Gardiner’s recent Bach musical biography, BACH: Music in the Castle of Heaven (Alfred A, Knopf: New York, 2013: 333f). Gardiner points out that Alfred Dürr notes that Cantatas 44 as well as 6, 42, and 85, and Reformation Cantata 79 have the same structure with opening biblical dicta and with the “emphasis on Christian Suffering in the world.”
5 Cited in Dürr, Cantatas of J. S. Bach, revised and translated by Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford University Press, New York, 2005: 27).
6BACH'S MOTET COLLECTION: Otto Riemer, "Erhard Bodenschatz und sein Florilegium Portense" Schünigen: Kaminsky,1927; ML 410 B67R4. NLGB, BACH'S HYMN BOOK: Jürgen Grimm, "Das neu [?] Leipziger Gesangbuch des Gottfried Vopelius (Leipzig 1682),"Berlin: Merseburger, 1969. ML 3168 G75.
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, 2 bassoons, violin obbligato, strings, cello and organ in the continuo. BGA: XXII (Cantatas 91-100, Wilhelm Rust,1875), NBA KB I/34 (various sacred cantatas, Riyuichi Higuchi, 1990) Bach Compendium BC A 189, Zwang K 189.
9 Gardiner notes, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P25c[sdg144_gb].pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec4.htm#P25 (Rogate and Exaudi Sundays)
10 Hofmann notes, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C53c[BIS-1991-SACD-booklet].pdf; BCW Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec3.htm#C53.
11 For the German text of Fleming’s other six stanzas, see Thomas Braatz’ article, Cantata 97 BCML Discussions Part 1, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV97-D.htm. “Quick summary: it's all about the protection he will receive from Christ, an angel, and God as he encounters difficulties on his journey and asks for protection of his loved ones.” There was no BCML Cantata 97 Discussion Part 3 in the Week of July 14, 2013.
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To Come: Cantata 97 Provenance |
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Aryeh Oron wrote (May 24, 2015):
Cantata BWV 97 - Revised & updated Discography
The discography pages of the Chorale Cantata BWV 97 “In allen meinen Taten” for unspecified occasion 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, 2 bassoons, violin obbligato, strings, cello & organ in the continuo. See:
Complete Recordings (13): http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV97.htm
Recordings of Individual Movements (15): http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV97-2.htm
The revised discography includes many listening/watching options to recordings directly from the discography pages, just below the recording details.
I have also added to the movement pages of this cantata an option to move back and forth between the movements and to each movement page the text and relevant portion of the BGA score. See: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/INS/BWV097-01.htm
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 97 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/BWV97-D3.htm |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (May 27, 2015):
Cantata BWV 97 - Provenance
See: Cantata BWV 97 - Provenance |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (June 1, 2015):
Cantata BWV 97 - Provenance
See: Cantata BWV 97 - Provenance |
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Nicholas Johnson wrote (May 20, 2015):
Cantata 97
Cantata 97 also has an interesting tenor aria. The companying solo violin is unusually elaborate with some interesting rhythmic elements, elegant sequences, wide leaps and challenging double and triple stoppings. |
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Charles Francis wrote (May 20, 2015):
BWV 97 - Lost Orchestral Suite
It has been conjectured – and indeed might seem self-evident - that the opening of BWV 97 derives from a lost orchestral suite. Concerning the missing sources for BWV 97 and BWV 119 Siegbert Rampe has the following:
It is unlikely that the four orchestral suites we know were the only ones Bach wrote. Notwithstanding the fact that he probably realized quite early on that he would not find much to add to what his friend Telemann had already said on the subject, he would hardly have been able to fulfil his courtly duties in Weimar and Cöthen with so few works in the genre. Some of the other exhe doubtless wrote were probably lost after the mid-eighteenth century, when the demand for orchestral suites gradually dwindled. Two definite indications seeming to confirm this assumption are found in surviving source documents. With the aid of the autographs, Alfred Dürr (1986 & 1988) was able to determine that the initial choruses of Cantatas BWV119 (1723) and BWV97 (1734) mentioned above derive from earlier instrumental overtures by Bach. The trumpet, kettledrum and recorder parts all had to be added for the Cantata BWV119. The original overture most probably called for 3 oboes, bassoon and strings, like the Orchestral Suite no. 4. In the middle section of the opening movement of BWV97 it is perfectly clear that Bach later split the existing fugal structure in order to create an opportunity for the choir to sing a chorale setting. There is no trace of the dance movements which probably followed both original introductory movements
Nova Stravaganza has issued a CD with a pleasing reconstruction that may be heard here: http://tinyurl.com/nby3buf |
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