Weimar cantata (Bach)
Johann Sebastian Bach worked at the ducal court in Weimar from 1708 to 1717. The composition of cantatas for the Schlosskirche (court chapel) on a regular monthly basis started with his promotion to Konzertmeister in March 1714.[1]
Church cantatas[]
From 1714 to 1717 Bach was commissioned to compose one church cantata a month. His goal was to compose a complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year within four years. In the course of almost four years there he thus covered most occasions of the liturgical year.[2]
The first version of Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich, BWV 1136 (formerly BWV Anh. 209), a lost cantata the libretto of which was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in 1711 for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, may have been composed in Weimar.[3]
Before 1714[]
Apart from some Weimar cycle cantatas which may have been composed before they were adopted into that cycle (BWV 18, 21, 54 and 199):
- Lost council election cantatas for Mühlhausen:
- Doubtful work:
- New Year: Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 143 (likely 1709–1711)[6]
Weimar cycle[]
The expression "Weimar cycle" has been used for the cantatas composed in Weimar from 1714 (which form the bulk of extant cantatas composed before Bach's Leipzig time).[7][8]
Cantatas 54 and 199 were performed within the cycle but possibly composed earlier. BWV 18 and 21[9] may also have been composed before 1714.
- Annunciation (Mariae Verkündigung): Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182 (performed on Palm Sunday 25 March 1714)
- Jubilate (third Sunday after Easter): Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12 (22 April 1714)
- Pentecost: Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 (Weimar version in C major: 20 May 1714)
- Third Sunday after Trinity: Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 (C minor, Weimar: 17 June 1714; D minor, Köthen/Hamburg: 1720)[10]
- Oculi (Third Sunday of Lent): Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54 (4 March 1714?)
- 11th Sunday after Trinity: Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199 (12 August 1714: Weimar version in C minor; restaged in Köthen in a version in D minor)
- First Sunday of Advent: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (2 December 1714)
- Christmas Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63 (25 December 1714)[11]
- Sunday after Christmas: Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152 (30 December 1714)
- Sexagesima (Second Sunday before Lent): Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18 (early version in G minor, Chorton: 24 February 1715)[12]
- Oculi (Third Sunday of Lent): Alles, was von Gott geboren, BWV 80a (24 March 1715 or 15 March 1716; music lost)[13]
- Easter: Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31 (Weimar version: 21 April 1715)
- Cantate (fourth Sunday after Easter): Leb ich, oder leb ich nicht, BWV Anh. 191 (19 May 1715 – music lost, extant libretto by Salomon Franck published Weimar 1715)[14][15]
- Trinity: O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165 (16 June 1715)
- Fourth Sunday after Trinity: Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185 (14 July 1715)
- 20th Sunday after Trinity: Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 (25 October 1716 or possibly 3 November 1715)
- 23rd Sunday after Trinity: Nur jedem das Seine, BWV 163 (24 November 1715)
- Fourth Sunday of Advent: Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn, BWV 132 (22 December 1715)
- Second Sunday after Epiphany: Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange? BWV 155 (19 January 1716)
- 16th Sunday after Trinity: Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161 (6 October 1715 or 27 September 1716)
- Second Sunday of Advent: Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! BWV 70a (6 December 1716; in 1723 expanded to BWV 170 for Trinity XXVI)
- Third Sunday of Advent: Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186a (13 December 1716; in 1723 expanded to BWV 186 for Trinity VII)
- Fourth Sunday of Advent: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147a (20 December 1716; in 1723 expanded to BWV 147 for Visitation)
Other sacred music and cantatas of Bach's Weimar period[]
In the Bach-Jahrbuch of 2015, Peter Wollny wrote that Bach likely encountered several of the old-school contrapuntal sacred compositions, which were going to play a seminal role in the composer's output of the 1740s, for the first time in Weimar.[16] Among these compositions are,
- Masses by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:[17]
- Pietro Torri's Magnificat in C major, arranged by Bach around 1742 (BWV Anh. 30).[20][21]
- Kyrie–Gloria Mass for double choir, BWV Anh. 167, possibly performed under Bach's direction on 6 November 1713 in Weimar.[22][23]
Passions[]
Passions performed in the Weimar period, however not considered to be passion cantatas, thus not generally listed in the Weimar (cantata) cycle:
- "Keiser"'s St Mark Passion, version BC D 5a (early 1710s, with possibly a few movements added or arranged by Bach)
- Weimarer Passion (26 March 1717, lost)
Strophic aria, BWV 1127[]
In 1713 Bach composed a sacred aria, "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn", for a secular occasion, the birthday of William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.[24][25]
Secular cantatas[]
Bach composed the first version of his secular cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (Hunting Cantata) for performance on 23 February 1713.[26]
References[]
- ^ Koster, Jan. "Weimar 1708–1717". let.rug.nl. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- ^ Dürr, Alfred (2006). The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Translated by Richard D. P. Jones. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4. pp. 13–20
- ^ "Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich BWV 1136; BWV Anh. I 209". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2020-07-21.
- ^ "Zweite Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.1; BWV Anh. 192". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-08-07.
- ^ "Dritte Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.2". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-07-31.
- ^ "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 143". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-05-14.
- ^ Joshua Rifkin (2001). Liner notes to Three Weimar Cantatas, Dorian 93231
- ^ Richard D. P. Jones (2006). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume I: 1695-1717: Music to Delight the Spirit. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191513244, p. 212
- ^ Work 00024 at Bach Digital
- ^ Works 00024 and 00025 at Bach Digital
- ^ Work 00079 at Bach Digital
- ^ Work 00021 at Bach Digital
- ^ Work 00100 at Bach Digital
- ^ BWV2a, p. 454
- ^ Work 01502) at Bach Digital
- ^ Wollny, Peter (2015). "Vom "apparat der auserleßensten kirchen Stücke" zum "Vorrath an Musicalien, von J. S. Bach und andern berühmten Musicis": Quellenkundliche Ermittlungen zur frühen Thüringer Bach-Überlieferung und zu einigen Weimarer Schülern und Kollegen Bachs". Bach-Jahrbuch 2015. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). 101. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 99–154. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2015. ISBN 978-3-374-04320-0. ISSN 0084-7682 – via .
- ^ Wollny 2015, pp. 127–130.
- ^ "Missa sine nomine BWV deest (NBA Serie II:1)". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
- ^ "Missa "Ecce sacerdos magnus"". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
- ^ Wollny 2015, pp. 131–132.
- ^ "Magnificat in C BWV Anh. 30". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
- ^ Wollny 2015, pp. 132–133.
- ^ "Missa (Kyrie and Gloria), G BWV Anh. 167". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
- ^ "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn (aria) BWV 1127". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 30 March 2020.
- ^ Maul, Michael (2005). "'Alles mit Gott und nicht ohn' ihn' – Eine neu aufgefundene Aria von Johann Sebastian Bach". In Wollny, Peter (ed.). Bach-Jahrbuch 2005 [Bach Yearbook 2005]. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). 91. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt (published 2006). pp. 7–34. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2005. ISBN 3-374-02301-0. ISSN 0084-7682.
- ^ BDW 00261 at Bach Digital
- Bach cantatas by period of composition
- 1710s in music