In my post for the first Sunday of Advent about Cantata 62 Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, I explained how Bach’s chorale cantatas were most likely influenced by Johann Martin Schamel‘s annotations in his publication “Evangelischer Lieder-Commentarius.” Still, in that post, I gave just a few examples of how Bach used Schamel’s explanations.

Only after I wrote that post, I realized that Lydia Vroegindeweij had already created a “Read and Listen” guide for this cantata on her Luther 500 / Bach 300 website, shining a very clear light on the relation between Schamel’s explanations and Bach’s music. However, that article was in Dutch. So over the past few weeks, I translated Lydia’s Dutch text into English, and then Lydia transformed that text into a beautiful web page, with listening examples for every single movement of the cantata. Please find that brand-new English “Read and Listen” guide for Cantata 62 here.

In the process of translating and re-reading, I became more familiar with Luther’s and Schamel’s key themes for Advent and Christmas, especially these three:

1. The importance of light: the light comes from the manger (as pictured in the painting above), from within, and is a metonym for Christ, always conquering the darkness. It is mentioned again and again.
2. Jesus is always there, he is living in the hearts of the people, he is always with them as if he were a family friend, a house guest. In other words, he is already here and one doesn’t have to wait for him.
3. Christ’s divine character and human character exist simultaneously, in one and the same person.

During that same time, I was rehearsing and performing cantatas 1, 2, 5, and 6 of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio as a chorus member, as well as attending an excellent performance by the Netherlands Bach Society of cantatas 1, 4, 5, and 6. Singing these texts and reading them in a program booklet with my newly acquired knowledge, I became much more conscious how strongly Luther’s and Schamel’s way of thinking are also present in the text and music of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

The theme of the inner light is especially present in one of my favorite parts of the Christmas Oratorio, the fifth cantata, written for the Sunday after New Year. Please find a live video recording here of the Netherlands Bach Society’s performance of this cantata in Utrecht on December 13, 2024, the same production I attended two days earlier in Naarden.

Following the chorus that talks about the sighting of the star, Bach and his librettist present an alto recitative (performed here by Alex Potter), which at first still refers to the star, but then turns to Jesus / to the core of the faith, and explains that Jesus is the light:

Wohl euch, die ihr dies Licht gesehen,
Happy are you who have seen the light,
Es ist zu eurem Heil geschehen!
It has appeared for your salvation!
Mein Heiland, du, du bist das Licht,
My saviour, you, you are the light
Das auch den Heiden scheinen sollen,
Which shall shine on the Gentiles also
Und sie, sie kennen dich noch nicht,
And they, they do not know you yet,
Als sie dich schon verehren wollen.
Though they would already worship you
Wie hell, wie klar muss nicht dein Schein,
How bright, how clear must your radiance be,
Geliebter Jesu, sein!
Beloved Jesus!

More illustrations of this special light follow in the bass aria (performed here by baritone Tomáš Král and oboist Rodrigo Lopez-Paz)

Erleucht auch meine finstre Sinnen,
Illuminate also my gloomy thoughts
Erleuchte mein Herze
Illuminate my heart
Durch der Strahlen klaren Schein!
With the rays of your clear light!
Dein Wort soll mir die hellste Kerze
Your word will be the brightest candle for me
In allen meinen Werken sein;
In all my deeds;
Dies lässet die Seele nichts Böses beginnen.
This lets my soul begin nothing evil

In the terzetto (performed here by violinist Cecilia Bernardini, soprano Carine Tinney, alto Alex Potter, and tenor Daniel Johannsen), we also see the theme of “Jesus who dwells in the heart” appear. In this trio, the alto interrupts the tenor and soprano with the very strong statement “er ist schon wirklich hier!” (he really is already here!). The tenor and soprano represent the people who think the Messiah is yet to come, singing:

Ach, wenn wird die Zeit erscheinen?
Ah, When will the time appear ?
Ach, wenn kömmt der Trost der Seinen?
Ah, When will he who is the comfort of his people come ?

While the alto voice represents the Lutheran doctrine that Jesus is always with you, that he dwells in your heart, singing:
Schweigt, er ist schon würklich hier!
Be silent, he is really already here!

The text of the closing chorale combines the theme of Jesus dwelling in the heart with that of the inner light:

Zwar ist solche Herzensstube
Indeed such a room in my heart
Wohl kein schöner Fürstensaal,
Is certainly no fine royal palace
Sondern eine finstre Grube;
But rather a dark pit;
Doch, sobald dein Gnadenstrahl
Yet, as soon as the rays of your mercy
In denselben nur wird blinken,
Only gleam within there
Wird es voller Sonnen dünken.
It will seem filled with sunlight.

Wieneke Gorter, December 21, 2024.