Weekly Cantata

~ Memories, musings, and movie script fantasies inspired by Bach cantatas, along with recommendations for recordings

Weekly Cantata

Monthly Archives: April 2016

When good fortune smiles – beware!

24 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by cantatasonmymind in After Easter, Cantatas, Leipzig

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Amsterdam Baroque Choir, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Bach, Bernhard Landauer, cantatas, Crhistoph Prégardien, Ton Koopman

Vanitas

Allegory of Vanity, Antionio de Pereda, between 1632 and 1636

Bach wrote cantata 166 Wo gehest du hin?  in 1724 for the fourth Sunday after Easter, or Cantate Sunday. I recommend listening to Koopman’s recording of the cantata. I appreciate his choices of tempo and his decision to use five voices instead of just one for the soprano chorale. Also, the tenor and alto arias are absolutely marvelous.

We are now much closer to Ascension than to Easter in the Lutheran Church year, so there is definitely some of the despair about Jesus’ imminent departure in text and music. This time the text focuses more than last week on the actual “going away,” and what that means for the disciples / the believers.

However, it is Cantate Sunday, and of course Bach could not leave that alone. He uses several terrific examples of what “singing” can mean in his church music: a Vox Christi (a bass voice representing Jesus) arioso as opening, a beautiful tenor aria, a soprano chorale, and then a piece of opera for the alto. In the cantata he wrote for this same Sunday the next year, he even includes a bit of polyphonic choral motet-writing in the middle. (cantata 108, Est ist euch gut, das ich hingehe).

The bass arioso quotes only the Wo gehest du hin? from the Gospel text (John 16):

5. Nun aber gehe ich hin zu dem, der mich gesandt hat; und niemand unter euch fraget mich: Wo gehest du hin?

 

[5] But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?

The text of the  tenor aria elaborates on this, focusing on heaven, where Jesus is going, versus world, or life on earth, that man has to do something with. Interestingly, the title of the lost Weimar cantata for this Sunday is Leb ich oder leb ich nicht (To be or not to be, freely translated).

Ich will an den Himmel denken
I want to think of heaven
Und der Welt mein Herz nicht schenken.
and not give away my heart to the world.
Denn ich gehe oder stehe,
For whether I go or stand still
So liegt mir die Frag im Sinn:
I have this question in my mind:
Mensch, ach Mensch, wo gehst du hin?
Man, ah man, where are you going?

I love this aria. It is one of the many examples in Bach cantatas where the tenor aria is a perfect trio sonata,  and I adore this soloist: Christoph Prégardien.

The soprano chorale  answers the last question of the tenor aria (and perhaps also the question asked in the bass arioso) with a firm answer from the Christian(s)  that they want to stay on the path to Christ, to heaven. Koopman’s choice to have this sung by the entire soprano section of the Amsterdam Baroque Choir is brilliant. Not only do the five sopranos (Vera Lansink, Caroline Stam, Francine van der Heijden, Annemieke Rademaker, and Melanie Greve) sound wonderful together, it is also a better balance with the string accompaniment, played unisono by the violins and violas.

Ich bitte dich, Herr Jesu Christ,
I ask you, Lord Jesus Christ,
Halt mich bei den Gedanken
keep me in your thoughts
Und lass mich ja zu keiner Frist
and do not let me at any time
Von dieser Meinung wanken,
falter in this purpose,
Sondern dabei verharren fest,
but instead let me firmly persevere
Bis dass die Seel aus ihrem Nest
until my soul from its nest
Wird in den Himmel kommen.
shall go to heaven.

The bass recitative points out the worthlessness of life on earth and worldly possesions, reminding the congregation that whenever things are going well, life can quickly take a bad turn:

Gleichwie die Regenwasser bald verfließen
Just as rainwater soon flows away
Und manche Farben leicht verschießen,
and many colours easily fade,
So geht es auch der Freude in der Welt,
so is it also with joy in this world,
Auf welche mancher Mensch so viele Stücken hält;
which many people value so highly;
Denn ob man gleich zuweilen sieht,
even though sometimes people are seen
Dass sein gewünschtes Glücke blüht,
to be flourishing with the good fortune for which they longed
So kann doch wohl in besten Tagen,
still even in the best days
Ganz unvermut’ die letzte Stunde schlagen.
quite unexpectedly the last hour may strike.

The alto aria elaborates on this thought, and Bach really shows off his vocal writing in this aria.How the friendly smile of good fortune can quickly turn into satanic laughter of sorrow/bad luck/disaster is brilliantly illustrated in the music, and wonderfully executed by countertenor Bernhard Landauer. Koopman’s and Landauer’s interpretation of this aria is unrivaled by any of the other recordings I listened to.

Man nehme sich in acht,
You should take care
Wenn das Gelücke lacht.
when good fortune smiles.
Denn es kann leicht auf Erden
For easily in this earthly life
Vor abends anders werden,
before evening things can turn out differently
Als man am Morgen nicht gedacht.
from what you thought in the morning.

Wieneke Gorter, April 23, 2016.

 

Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen

16 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by cantatasonmymind in After Easter, Cantatas, Leipzig, Weimar

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3rd Sunday after Easter, American Bach Soloists, Bach, Benjamin Butterfield, BWV 12, BWV 182, BWV 21, cantatas, Cantus Cölln, Collegium Vocale Gent, Himmelsburg, Jeffrey Thomas, Johanna Koslowsky, John Eliot Gardiner, Konrad Junghänel, Phlippe Herreweghe, Stephen Escher, Vox Luminis, Weimar

 

WeinenKlagen
Fragment from Bach’s manuscript of cantata 12 in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz

For this third Sunday after Easter, I’m jumping back in time to Weimar, 1714, and Bach’s monthly cantata cycle there. Cantata 12 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen was the second cantata Bach wrote in Weimar after having been promoted to Konzertmeister in 1714.*

Bach repeated this cantata in Leipzig in 1724.

There are several very good recordings of this cantata, but I would recommend listening to the one by Collegium Vocale/Herreweghe, or to the one by Cantus Cölln/Konrad Junghänel, and then listen again to the tenor aria on the American Bach Soloists recording (keep reading until the end to learn why).

I love the Collegium Vocale/Herreweghe recording for the excellent timing and phrasing, the sound of the alto section in the choir, and Marcel Ponseele’s oboe playing. Listen to cantata 12 by Herreweghe on YouTube

2020 update:  if you can afford to financially support the artists (especially important now, while they have no income from performances!) please consider purchasing their recordings instead of just listening on YouTube.

Buy this recording on Amazon or on iTunes.

Cantus Cölln/Konrad Junghänel’s recording is one on a part, more similar to what it would have sounded like from the small organ loft in the Himmelsburg, and soprano Johanna Koslowsky’s singing always gives me goose bumps, no matter how many times I’ve listened to it. Listen to cantata 12 by Cantus Cölln.

Buy this recording on Amazon or on iTunes

Find the German texts with English translation of this cantata here and the score here.

The beautiful but sad opening sinfonia would probably have served as an “entrada” for the Duke and his entourage. It is very similar to the one of cantata 21 Ich hatte viel bekümmernis, also written in Weimar.

Several of Bach’s Weimar cantatas were lost when the castle’s chapel burnt down in 1774. Most of the Weimar cantatas we still have today survived only because Bach performed those again in Leipzig, sometimes several times. If he did this because he was proud of these cantatas, then Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen must have been his greatest pride, since he later transformed its opening chorus into the Crucifixus for his Mass in B Minor.

Both the sinfonia and opening chorus convey enormous sadness, while it is “Jubilate” Sunday, and only three weeks after Easter. This has to do with the Gospel reading for this Sunday: Jesus’ speech to his disciples explaining that he will leave them, that they will go through immense suffering, but that their sorrow will turn into joy, comparing it to a woman going through childbirth.

So this cantata first conveys the feelings of the disciples, knowing they will soon be without Jesus, and the “tribulations” Jesus predicts for them. But then it explores the journey “from sadness to joy.”

First of all, the entire score can be seen as  uplifting, even though the general atmosphere is downcast. As many scholars have pointed out, the score ascends, movement by movement, in intervals of a third, alternating a minor key with its relative major: f, A flat, c, E flat, g, B flat. Gardiner says that this is the “escape ladder” Bach lowers into the pit of sorrow.

The “sorrow to joy”-theme is also cleverly portrayed in the texts, thanks to Salomo Franck, the Duke’s librarian, acting as librettist for all cantatas Bach wrote in Weimar. Many consider Franck’s poetry superior to most of the texts Bach had to work with in his Leipzig years. The alto aria is a good example: after the Gospel quote in the recitative “Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal” (we have to go through tribulation) comes an upbeat aria illuminating how “Kreuz und Krone” (cross and crown) and “Kampf and Kleinod” (conflict and jewel) are always connected.

While I love everything about this cantata, my absolute favorite part is the tenor aria Sei getreu.

The text of the tenor part refers to the Gospel text “A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father” and plays on that concept of “little while” – Franck decided it was not any longer than a period of rainy weather (which in Germany can be a few weeks in a row of course) …

Sei getreu, alle Pein
Be faithful, all pain
Wird doch nur ein Kleines sein.
will only be a little while.
Nach dem Regen
After the rain
Blüht der Segen,
blessing blossoms,
Alles Wetter geht vorbei.
all bad weather passes by.
Sei getreu, sei getreu!
Be faithful, be faithful!

And it gets better! Bach offers additional consolation by way of his music: through this aria, a trumpet plays the melody of “Jesu, meine Freude.” Everyone in attendance in the Himmelsburg would immediately have recognized the melody, and would have heard these words in their head:

Jesu, meine Freude,
Jesus, my joy,
Meines Herzens Weide,
My heart’s delight
Jesu, meine Zier,

Jesus, my treasure
Ach wie lang, ach lange
Ah how long,ah how long
Ist dem Herzen bange
must my heart be anxious
Und verlangt nach dir!
And full of longing for you!
Gottes Lamm, mein Bräutigam,
Lamb of God, my bridegroom
Außer dir soll mir auf Erden,
Besides you there is in on earth
Nichts sonst Liebers werden.
Nothing else that is dearer to me.

My all-time favorite recording of this particular aria is the one by American Bach Soloists, with Benjamin Butterfield singing tenor, and Stephen Escher playing the chorale melody on a cornetto. On most recordings (Herreweghe, Cantus Cölln, Gardiner) the part is played on a Baroque trumpet, on some (Koopman) on a Baroque oboe. The softer, more human sound of the cornetto combined with Escher’s fabulous playing makes this the most moving interpretation of this aria I’ve ever heard. Listen for yourself: find American Bach Soloists’ recording of Sei getreu on YouTube.

cornettplayer with singer
singer with cornetto player, anonymous, 16th century

2020 update: Since I wrote this in 2016, Vox Luminis released a wonderful recording of this cantata. They use a slide trumpet in the tenor aria, which is a beautiful middle between the Baroque trumpets of the Herreweghe, Cantus Cölln, and Gardiner recordings and the cornetto of the American Bach Soloists recording.

Find Vox Luminis’ recording of Cantata 12 on YouTube, on Amazon, or on iTunes.

Wieneke Gorter, April 16, 2016, updated April 27, 2020.

*The first cantata Bach wrote in Weimar was cantata 182 Himmelskönig, sei wilkommen for Palm Sunday.

A good shepherd, a violoncello piccolo da spalla, and a bit of St. Matthew Passion

09 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by cantatasonmymind in After Easter, Cantatas, Leipzig

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2nd Sunday after Easter, Atsuko Ozaki, Bach, Bach Collegium Japan, BWV 42, BWV 6, BWV 85, cantatas, Caroyn Sampson, Dmitry Badiarov, Georg Poplutz, Gerd Türk, Gerlinde Säman, Harnoncourt, J.S. Bach Foundation, John Eliot Gardiner, Kurt Equiluz, Markus Volpert, Martin Zeller, Peter Kooij, Peter Kooy, Robin Blaze, Rudolf Lutz, St. Matthew Passion, Terry Wey, violoncello da spalla, violoncello piccolo

640px-meister_des_mausoleums_der_galla_placidia_in_ravenna_002
The Good Shepherd, mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, 1st half of the 5th century

There are three beautiful cantatas for this second Sunday after Easter, or “Misericordias Domini” Sunday: BWV 104, 85, and 112. Illustrating the “good shepherd” scripture for this Sunday (John 10, verse 12-16), Bach incorporated pastoral themes or orchestration in each of these cantatas.*

I’ve decided to focus on cantata 85 Ich bin ein guter Hirt, written for April 15, 1725. Of all three cantatas, this is the one I remember the best from my childhood, because of the  tenor aria “Seht, was die Liebe tut.” Also: Last week, I already mentioned the similarities between cantata 6 (for Easter Monday 1725), and cantata 42 (for the first Sunday after Easter 1725). This cantata 85 is the culmination of that “sub group” within the cantatas from 1725.

Which recording to listen to?

While I have good memories of hearing Kurth Equiluz sing the tenor aria on the Harnoncourt recording from 1977, I am enamored by Bach Collegium Japan’s recording of this cantata, and I think this is the best “overall” recording, featuring fabulous soloists Carolyn Sampson, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, and Peter Kooij. It is also one of the most noteworthy because of the use of a  violoncello da spalla, played by Dmitry Badiarov.

Listen to Bach Collegium Japan’s recording of cantata 85 Ich bin ein guter Hirt on Spotify. Or better yet, if you can afford to financially support the artists (especially important now, while they have no income from performances!) please consider purchasing the digital versions of Bach Collegium Japan’s recording of cantata 85 on Amazon or on iTunes.

If you prefer to watch a live recording, there is a wonderful recording available on YouTube by the J.S. Bach Foundation. Soloists are Gerlinde Sämann, soprano; Terry Wey, alto; Georg Poplutz, tenor; Markus Volpert, bass; and Martin Zeller, violoncello piccolo.

Back to the Bach Collegium Japan recording: After lovely and convincing singing by bass Peter Kooij in the opening arioso (Jesus saying “I am a good shepherd”), we get a sublime performance by countertenor Robin Blaze of the alto aria “Jesus ist ein guter Hirt,” which also features the unusual violoncello piccolo da spalla. Someone could probably write an entire PhD thesis on the difference between the  violoncello piccolo  “da spalla” (held on the shoulder, like a violin),  and the violoncello piccolo “da gamba”  (held between the legs,  like a cello), and whether Bach meant the one or the other when he wrote a part for “violoncello piccolo.”  Most recordings (Harnoncourt, Gardiner, Coin, Koopman, and J.S. Bach Foundation) feature the one held between the legs, but Bach Collegium Japan’s recording features the “da spalla” variety, played by the same person who built it in 2004, Dmitry Badiarov.

Badiarov-Dmitry-04
Dmitry Badiarov demonstrating the violoncello piccolo da spalla

Following this, we hear a radiant soprano solo chorale with oboe accompaniment (which makes me think back to the soprano solo chorale from cantata 6, in that case with the violoncello piccolo “da gamba”), beautifully sung by soprano Carolyn Sampson and expertly played by oboists Masamitsu San’nomiya and Atsuko Ozaki.

And when you didn’t think it could get any better, here comes a tenor recitative which in text and string accompaniment strongly refers to Jesus’ recitative from the St. Matthew Passion “Ich werde den Hirten schlagen, und die Schafe der Herde werden sich zerstreuen.” (Christ, having arrived at the Mount of Olives, reminds his disciples of the prophecy that the shepherd will be slain and the sheep will scatter).

With this only recitative in cantata 85, Bach has gotten everyone’s attention, so now we’re ready for the jewel in the crown of this cantata: the tenor aria “Seht, was die Liebe tut.” It is one of the most lyrical and lovely among all Bach’s tenor arias.

Seht, was die Liebe tut.
See, what love does.
Mein Jesus hält in guter Hut
My Jesus in his own safekeeping
Die Seinen feste eingeschlossen
keeps those who are his own firmly enclosed
Und hat am Kreuzesstamm vergossen
and on the beam of the cross he has shed
Für sie sein teures Blut.
for them his own precious blood.

Again there is a strong association with the St. Matthew Passion both in text and music. In his book Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven Gardiner makes a very convincing case for his theory that Bach had wanted to perform the St. Matthew Passion on Good Friday 1725, only one year after the St. John Pasion. This didn’t happen because either the council disapproved, or Bach wasn’t ready composing the piece. If Bach had indeed been working on the St. Matthew Passion before Easter 1725, it is no wonder we’re getting glimpses of that monumental work in his cantatas after Easter 1725.

Wieneke Gorter, April 9, 2016, updated April 26, 2020

*I wrote about Cantata 104 for the Second Sunday after Easter in 1724 in this blog post.

One of my favorite cantatas

03 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by cantatasonmymind in After Easter, Cantatas, Leipzig

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1st Sunday after Easter, Barbara Schlick, BWV 21, BWV 31, BWV 4, BWV 42, BWV 6, Gérard Lesne, Howard Crook, Peter Kooij, Philippe Herreweghe

appearance-of-christ-to-his-disciples
Anthony van Dyck: Appearance of Christ to his Disciples, 1625/1626

This post is about Cantata 42 Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, written for the 1st Sunday after Easter in 1725.

For Bach, Easter season in Leipzig was extremely busy. Immediately after the passion on Good Friday, he needed to have three to four cantatas ready to go: two cantatas for Easter Sunday, one for Easter Monday, and one for Easter Tuesday. And then five days later, again one for the Sunday after Easter, the one I am discussing here. If we imagine Bach having to work on most of these in the week before Easter, that same week in which he was rehearsing the Passion for Good Friday, and often adjusting the score still too, it is not so strange that he often re-used existing music at this time of year. It would either be a repeat performance of an Easter cantata from his time in Mühlhausen (Christ lag in Todesbanden) or Weimar (Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde Jubilieret!) or a new cantata, with new text, but largely based on existing secular music he had written for the Weimar or Köthen courts.

In 1725, the performance list looked like this:

Good Friday: St. John Passion, 2nd version, significantly rewritten from the year before.

Easter Sunday: Easter-Oratorio, largely based on existing court music from Köthen + a repeat of Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Bible story: Maria Magdalena and Maria Jacobi finding the empty tomb)

Easter Monday: new composition: Cantata 6 Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden (Bible story: Jesus appeared before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus).

(If you have time, it is helpful to listen to cantata 6 (here on YouTube) before you listen to today’s cantata 42, because 42 refers to 6 in style and thought, and the use of the “two and three” in the text of the alto aria of cantata 42 might even be meant to “remind” us of these *two* disciples in that story of Easter Monday.

Easter Tuesday: we don’t know what was performed on this day in that year.

1st Sunday after Easter: Cantata 42 Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, opening sinfonia and alto aria based on existing court music from Köthen (Bible story: while a small group of his disciples are inside a house in Jerusalem, with all the doors and windows locked, Jesus appears in their midst).

Ever since I started this blog at the beginning of this year, I’ve been eagerly awaiting this first Sunday after Easter, so I can finally introduce you to cantata 42 from 1725. It is one of my favorites because of the many gems strung together: a Brandenburg concerto-like sinfonia (as if Bach wanted to continue the kind of instrumental opening he had written for the Easter Oratorio from last week), a bit of Evangelist recitative (which is missing from the Easter Oratorio, so is more a reference to the St. John Passion), a terrific alto aria, a pretty soprano-tenor duet, an impressive bass aria, and a wonderful closing chorale.

I discovered this cantata about fifteen years ago, on the Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis CD Herreweghe recorded in 2000. It took me a little while to listen past the well-known cantata 21, and thus get to know cantata 42, but then I fell in love with it, especially with the alto aria, so beautifully sung by Gérard Lesne.  Later, in 2007, while watching the documentary DVD Philippe Herreweghe by himself, it was a treat to find a couple of scenes showing Herreweghe rehearsing that same alto aria  (though sadly not with Lesne).

Listen to cantata 42 on YouTube

Soloists on this Herreweghe recording are Barbara Schlick, Gérard Lesne, Howard Crook, and Peter Kooij.

Read the German text with English translation of cantata 42 here.

For a long time I thought that the gorgeous oboe parts at the start of the alto aria were based on the opening chorus of cantata 3 (and only found one other commentator ever to remark on this too) but thanks to Gardiner’s recent research, we know that the music for the aria as well as for the opening sinfonia of this cantata was copied from a (now lost) birthday serenata Bach wrote for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (BWV 66a).

We can only guess if Bach had always meant to use the birthday music from Köthen, and selected text that would fit on the music, or if he received the “Wo zwei und drei versammlet sind” (Where two or three are gathered together) text from his librettist and only then had to think of that composition he had written in Köthen, with the groups of two and three in the orchestration …

Wieneke Gorter, April 3, 2016, updated April 26, 2020.

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