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Cantata BWV 134
Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß
Cantata BWV 134a
Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht
Discussions - Part 6 |
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Continue from Part 5 |
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Discussions in the Week of July 1, 2018 (4th round) |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (June 27, 2018):
Cöthen Serenades BWV 134a, 173a; Parody Counterparts
BCML Discussion, Week of July 1
The original versions of two Bach contrasting Cöthen serenades are extant and reveal Bach the adapter and recycler at work later in Leipzig: BWV 134a, "Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht" (Time, which makes days and years) for New Years, 1719, a Menantes-texted sister piece to 1718 birthday BWV 66a, "Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück" (Since heaven cared for Anhalt's fame and bliss, and BWV 173a, "Durchlauchtster Leopold," (Most illustrious Leopold), a birthday piece with an anonymous older text but set to more progressive music using various dance styles in the manner of undated Cöthen congratulatory Cantatas, BWV 194a and 184a (no titles or texts), possibly "Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest" (Most greatly longed for feast of joy) and "Erwünschtes Freudenlicht" (Longed-for light of joy), probably composed after Cöthen court poet Hunold/Menantes' death in August 1721, the former in 11 movements derived from an orchestral suite and possibly dating to 1 January 1723 or later, and the latter a New Year's serenade for 1722 or 1723. The December 10 birthday pieces celebrated the virtues of Prince Leopold while the New Year's serenades celebrated the land of his realm, both with spiritual qualities appropriate to a Calvinist court having Lutheran subjects, as well as psalm-like references to thanksgiving that would be found in Bach's later sacred, civic cantatas for the Leipzig town council and New Year's celebrations. In Leipzig, birthday serenades BWV 66a and 134a became Pentecost festival cantatas for the birthday of the church while New Year's serenades BWV 173a and 184a became Easter festival cantatas of joy at the Risen Saviour.
Bach may have come to the attention of the Cöthen court during his residence at the Weimar Court in 1716. "Circumstances point to Leopold discovering Bach through his sister, Eleonore Wilhelmine." says Marva J. Watson.1 "She was married to Duke Ernst August of Weimar in 1716, while Bach was still employed at Weimar. Bach is the assumed composer of a wedding cantata for the event and of a birthday cantata for Eleonore only a few months later." Bach may have set Weimar court poet Salomo Franck’s texts to two cantatas (no music survives) for the wedding of Ernst August, January 24, 1716, titled “Diana, Amor, Apollo, Ilmene,” and a birthday cantata for his new Duchess Eleonore from Köthen, on May 18, 1716, titled “Amor, die Treue und die Beständigkeit,” says Christoph Wolff.2 "Leopold would most certainly have attended the wedding and possibly the birthday celebration," says Watson (Ibid.). "The music-loving Leopold would no doubt have been interested in his new brother-in-law’s talented Konzertmeister."3
New Year's Cantata 134a, Adaptation
Like initial 1718 birthday Cantata 66a, 1719 New Year's Cantata 134a, which was presented three weeks after it, has the same eight-movement Menantes structure, lasting 30 minutes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyBa5ZS4JGQ), with mostly straightforward dialogue recitatives alternating with 3/8 style da-capo arias and duets and closing with an ensemble joyous song of thanksgiving. Its operatic character is reinforced with Italian concerto ritornello-structured arias in passepied-gigue style with a central, fast menuet duet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKQMpA95Rwg, accompanied variously by oboes (or flutes), strings, and continuo alone, and contrasting narrative recitatives with solos and duet solo-homophonic passages, and in the final dialogue (no. 7) sung in arioso elaboration on selective words (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1fUeQNbcq8). Because of the structured, straightforward nature of both the arias and recitatives, Bach initially was able to transform through parody (new text underlay) all the music into equally joyous sacred settings, with only occasional adjustments for the different words (nos. 1-2, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEZV-dH-TEs; and nos. 3-4, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grvVuFWaulQ. Especially noted is the scaler repeat of the word "auf" (up) in both Time's aria (no. 2) and the same aria in Cantata 134.4
Instead of reversing the original closing ensemble as an opening sacred chorus in Easter Monday Cantata 66a, Bach in Easter Tuesday Cantata 134 preserved the original dialogue structure, beginning with a dialogue recitative of Time and Divine Providence (Past and Future), keeping the same voices but changing the flutes to oboes throughout, and closing with the original ensemble as a chorus, instead of substituting a closing chorale. In the Easter version, Bach for the sake of brevity omitted the dialogue and Divine Providence aria (nos 5-6, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CjpKfpkVns: 17:23 5. Récitatif (Alto, Ténor), Bedenke nur, beglücktes Land; 20:26 6. Aria (Alto), Der Zeiten Herr hat viel vergnügte Stunden). "Possibly he felt its [the aria's] key (G Minor) and rather sober dress (the voice is accompanied by continuo only) made it less suitable for an Easter Cantata," suggests Malcolm Boyd in his Cantata 134a essay.5
An assessment of the adaptation is found in Julian Mincham's Cantata 134a commentary (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV134-D5.htm). << Bach clearly considered it [Cantata 134a] to be suitable for his first Leipzig Easter celebrations although, oddly, he appears not to have appended a chorale. He reused the cantata in the 1730s and on this occasion re-composed the three recitatives while making some minor amendments to the other movements (ibid p 284). Some albums offer both versions; Koopman, for example, has recorded them in their complete forms in box ten of his cantata set (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Koopman.htm#C10). (Note that due to the dialogue legacy of this cantata, there are no solo roles for soprano or bass).
Whilst it is clear that in the original secular version the tenor and alto represent Time and Divine Providence respectively, it is not clear whether this still applies to the sacred arrangements. It could be that here they represent, as in Bach′s later dialogue cantatas, Christ and the Soul. However, in those works the Soul is usually portrayed initially as an unwilling and tremulous bride; the drama of these works, such as it is, comes from Christ winning its confidence and commitment. If in C 134 the alto represents the Soul, it is a very compliant one from the start, offering little more to the dialogue than agreement with, and reinforcement of, the tenor′s maxims.>>
An analysis of the recitative reworking is found in Mincham’s Commentary to BCML Discussions Part 2, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV134-D2.htm. << The original reworking of BWV 134a, however, comes at the other end of the scale, falling into the category of most minimal revision. From what we know of Bach's output we know that he must have worked at great speed and it is reasonable to conjecture that he may well have produced this particular revision in an afternoon or evening. Much of the original, including the two arias and the concluding chorus is untouched but for the occasional detail of word setting. However, the recitatives show progressive reworking. The first retains the phrase and harmonic structure of the original with some melodic embellishments. The second a degree of the structure but moves further away from the original. The last (one of the recitatives, along with the alto aria is dropped for the cantata) displays vestiges only of the original. There is doubtless a potential academic thesis here for the student who wishes to compare, analytically these recits and to attempt to determine whether Bach made changes for textual, imagic or purely musical reasons.
Two final questions. BWV 134 is dominated by the idea of dualism. All movements except the tenor aria use pairs of voices (even the chorus has a number of paired entries). Doubtless this would have had symbolic significance for Bach in the Easter context. I'd be interested in people's ideas about what this might be. Secondly, Bach did not attach the usual closing chorale. Why? Certainly it would have been unusual to end with two choral movements (chorus and choral) following each other. But he could have solved that by changing the order of the earlier movements. Any ideas? [There were occasions during the church year when Bach dispensed with a closing chorale because none was designated for that service in the hymnbook.]>>
New Year's Cantata 134a Background, Reconstruction
Bach's Cöthen profane cantatas are outlined, as well as the reconstruction of Cantata BWV 134a, in scholar Klaus Hofmann's 2012 liner notes to the Masaaki Suzuki BIS complete cantata recordings (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec5.htm#S2, "Liner Notes"). <<The years 1717–23, during which Bach was employed as Hofkapellmeister in the service of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (1694 –1728), were the only period in his career during which he had no duties to perform as regards church music. The court was Reformist and, as figurative music had no place in Calvinist church services, we do not have any [extant] sacred cantatas from this time. Bach did, however, write secular cantatas for specific occasions, in particular congratulatory cantatas for New Year’s Day and for the Prince’s birthday on 10th December. Six of each fell within Bach’s period of work in Köthen, so twelve such cantatas ought to have been composed. Only two, however, have survived in their entirety: BWV 134a and BWV 173a. For two others we possess only the texts (BWV Anh. 6 and 7), although clear traces of them can be found in three ‘parody’ cantatas from the composer’s Leipzig period (BWV 66/66a, BWV 184/184a and BWV 194/194a). In addition, the two Köthen cantatas that have survived intact were also parodied in Leipzig. A reworked version of the present cantata – Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, BWV 134 – was performed there on Easter Sunday of 1724, and a few weeks later, on the second day of Whitsun, the Köthen birthday cantata Durchlauchtster Leopold, BWV 173a, was reused as Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut, BWV 173.
In the course of preparing the parody version, the original score of the present cantata was damaged. The entire first movement and much of the second and third as well, was lost, with the consequence that the work was listed only as a fragment in the complete edition produced by the Bachgesellschaft in 1881 [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV134-BGA-Anh.pdf). At around the same time, however, the Bach researcher Philipp Spitta (1841–1894) discovered a copy of the text in a collection of poetry, which provided at least a complete picture of the wording of the cantata. Not until the 1950s, in the course of work on the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, did researchers become aware of a partial manuscript, evidently prepared at Bach’s instigation, which contained a copy of the missing passages. This manuscript contains only the music, without the text; but the text can easily be filled in from the contemporary printed version. Together, therefore, the three pieces of the puzzle come together to produce the complete work.
The contemporary printed version of the text tells us about the cantata’s occasion and purpose. It is included in a collection of poetry published in Halle in 1719 as ‘Salutation to the New Year 1719, to the Most Serene House of Anhalt-Cöthen’, the work of a certain ‘Menantes’. ‘Menantes’ was in fact the editor of the collection himself, Christian Friedrich Hunold (1680–1721), a prominent figure in German literature of the period. The cantata’s libretto is set out in dialogue form. As the dialogue partners Hunold has chosen two allegorical figures, ‘Time’ and ‘Divine Providence’: the former looks back into the past; the latter looks forward into the future. These changing perspectives give rise to a lengthy conversation that places the past, present and future of the country and its Prince in a most flattering light. As is stated in their duet aria, ‘Time’ and ‘Divine Providence’ enjoy a friendly rivalry when it comes to presenting the principality’s past and future as a golden age.
The musical character of the work is largely determined by the four aria movements. With its dance-like rhythms, ‘Time’s’ first aria, after the brief opening recitative in which the two protagonists introduce themselves, is infused with the spirit of courtly music. It epitomizes the passepied, a fashionable dance at the time, described by Bach’s learned Hamburg contemporary Johann Mattheson (1681– 1764) in Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739) as a pleasant ‘frivolity’ – intending it in the positive sense of the word as ‘joyful grace’, which is certainly radiated by the text and music of this exhortation to grateful praise of God.
If the first aria made use of the full orchestra, the instrumental part in the duet of ‘Time’ and ‘Divine Providence’ is allocated to the strings, corresponding with the text: ‘This lovely conflict moves our hearts to touch the strings...’ in a metaphorical way typical of the baroque period. The strings are then indeed touched with some vigour, especially by the first violin, which – in the manner of a perpetuum mobile – brings the concept of ‘konzertieren’ to the fore – and the musically well-educated Prince would have understood the image: the original meaning of the word concertare was ‘to fight each other’.
In the following aria, the only one in a minor key, ‘Providence’ utters a promise. Bach clothes the meditative words in a simple musical setting, accompanied only by the continuo above a basso ostinato, the constant repetitions of which lend the text emphasis and a solemn earnestness. In the final movement Bach returns not only to the key but also to the dance-like metre of the beginning. The full orchestra is now joined by four vocalists, and ‘Time’ and ‘Providence’ – in a lively alternation of soloists and choir, and with the same ‘frivolity’ as in the first aria – sing of the ‘glückseligen Zeiten’ (‘joyous times’) of the house of Anhalt-Köthen.>>
© Klaus Hofmann 2012
Production Notes. Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a. The main materials for this cantata are the composer’s own, but incomplete manuscript of the full score in the library of the Paris Conservatoire [not available], and the original parts that were used in the 1724 performance of the church cantata BWV 134, Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, housed in the National Library in Berlin. The Berlin manuscripts (St 18) include a total of sixteen parts [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002326], seven of which had already been used in performances of BWV 134a during the composer’s Cöthen period. Two of these are continuo parts, differing from each other in that one of them has rests inscribed in the latter half of the eighth movement, corresponding to the sections sung solely by alto and tenor. This would suggest that the part was intended for performance on the double bass, which consequently would also have been used in all the other movements, including recitatives. The only way to find out whether this is effective is, as always, actually to try it out in practice. © Masaaki Suzuki 2012
Easter Cant134 Genesis
<<The Easter cantata, as we know it today, is the result of a genesis and development that took place over a number of years. This was not a new composition, but a parody of the 8 movement cantata of congratulatory music Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht (Time, which makes days and years) BWV 134a that was composed in Köthen for the court there, and was first performed on 1 January 1719. Bach adopted the musical text of the original without any changes, perhaps as a result of the large workload in Leipzig, particularly at the beginning of his tenure there. Only movements 5 and 6 were omitted. However, soon the composer seemed no longer satisfied with this version that had, most probably, been composed under a deadline. For the subsequent performance at Easter 1731, he radically revised the recitative. The score and parts of the original performance were used again to save paper, work and time, and Bach glued the sections containing the newly-composed recitatives into the score. Some years later, around 1735, Bach produced a new fair copy of the score. In so doing, he altered the musical text yet again. He not only made changes to the recitative, but also to the arias and closing choral movement.>>
Tobias Rimek, 2014, English trans., David Kosviner
https://carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien/30/3113403/3113403x.pdf
Scholarly Studies Note: The most significant studies of Cantata 134a occurred in the 1950s when Friedrich Smend's Bach in Köthen was published, 1951 (English edition, ed. & revised Stephen Daw [St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1985: 45-49]). and W. Gillies Whittaker's study of the partial score, "Mit Gnaden bekröne," found in his The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach: Sacred and Secular (London: Oxford University Press, 1959; Vol. II, Part 4, Secular Cantatas, Köthen: 515-20. The Hunold/Menantes text was published in his Auserlesene und theils noch nie gedruckte Gedichte unterschiedener Berühmten und geschickten Männer (Selected and partly unpublished poems by famous and skilled men, https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.olms.de/search/Detail.aspx%3Fpr%3D2008960&prev=search).
Notes on Text: Various general sacred allusion are found in Menantes' text for the Cantata 134a New Year's celebration of Prince Leopold's domain. It begins with the Divine Providence (future), extolling, "O noble time (future)! joined with God's favour" (Menantes text and Francis Browne English translation (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV134a-Eng3P.htm). It contains double references in Time's aria (no. 2) to "divine light," "heaven crown the time with grace" to mortal souls" to "do your duty gratefully to the Almighty!" in obedience. Time does "adorn this divine house" to "praise the Almighty's goodness!" In psalm-like phrases (no. 3) that praise the governed and would be found in Bach's annual Leipzig town council and New Year's Day cantatas, the "land becomes rich in blessings" "for the greater welfare" and "to the glory of God it will become greater." The Divine Providence aria (no. 6) seeks, "You divine house, many years of contentment / Since with the harmony of souls / That choose God as shelter and salvation, / Heavenly fortune is accustomed to agree." The ensemble concludes, "They flourish, they live, everyone calls out." The final joyous music also is appropriate for the Risen Saviour and his followers in Cantata 134, in comparison to Cantata 134a (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgAhNtH_WIM).
Cantata 134a Provenance
In the estate division of 1750, Friedemann apparently received the Cantata 134 final 1735 score (P1138, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002087), which survives, and possibly the fragment, BWV 134a, "Mit Gnaden bekröne." Meanwhile, Emmanuel received the BWV 134 parts set (St.18, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002326), which includes the seven original Cöthen instrumental parts, BWV 134a, as well as the 1724 BWV 134 vocal, doublet and continuo parts, and the 1731 organ part and 1735 text changes. The provenance of the Parts St. 18 is: J. S. Bach - C. P. E. Bach - (G. Poelchau, 1805) - Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (1811?) - BB (now Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz) (1855).
Birthday Cantata BWV 173a
Bach's mastery of the concerted instrumental forms of the orchestral dance suite, the intimate church sonata and courtly partita movements, and the fast-slow-fast concerto, coalescing with his earlier mastery of the Weimar Italianate cantata arias, choruses, and recitatives, Bach in Cöthen from his first year to his fourth had mastered the cantata genre, as shown in the 1722 birthday serenade Cantata BWV 173a, "Durchlauchtster Leopold" (Most illustrious Leopold). Without the services of the popular, fashionable Hunold/Menantes, Bach was forced to find an older-style celebratory text with regular verse structure and an aria (no. 4) in tri-strophic structure. In the BWV 173a, lasting 23 minutes, he set the recitatives (nos. 1 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmjhg4K1ucE] and 5 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRj0xNQuD9M, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaQ6T9V7SYw]) as expressively yet floridly operatic as possible and the da-capo arias (nos. 2-4) to the latest and most diverse dance styles of gavotte (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnZNa9KEsAY), bouree (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBpRfVLfejU), and menuet with closing ensemble polonaise (no. 6).6
The virtual parody is BWV 173, "“Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut, / Das Gott selbst an sich nimmt” (Exalted flesh and blood / which God himself accepts), for Pentecost Monday 1724. It was repeated in 1727, 1731, and 1735. Bach in 1724 omitted the second bouree aria (BWV 173a7, "Dein Name gleich der Sonnen geh" (May your name go forth like the sun), but used it parodied (no. 4) in the 1725 Pentecost Tuesday Cantata BWV 175, "Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen" (He calls his own sheep by name, John 10:3) (music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgi6au8L4R4. Little needed changing from the profane to the church work, as Frauke Heinze notes in the 2014 Carus NBA edition:7 <<Neither the librettist of the congratulatory cantata nor the text editor of the present Pentecost cantata is known to us. The rewritten texts for the arias and the final chorus as well as the two recitatives follow the originals closely, which means that – apart from the first and the beginning of the fourth movement – there is only a rather vague reference to the Gospel for Pentecost Monday. Rather, the topic is a very general thanksgiving to God for all his deeds and praise for everything he does on earth and for human beings. Bach adopted the entire orchestral scoring as well as, where possible, the vocal parts, almost without modifications. He only changed the voice leading, particularly in the opening recitative (adaptation to the new text), and expanded the original two-part setting to a four-part choir in the final movement. Unlike its secular model, which makes provision only for soprano and bass soloists, Bach allocates solo movements to contralto and tenor in the parody.>>
Two Versions Comparison
The two versions are compared in the Klaus Hofmann 2001 liner notes to the Masaaki Suzuki BIS recording of Cantata 173.8 <<The process of revisioncan be observed especially well in the cantata “Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut” ('Elevated flesh and blood'), as in this case the original version is preserved as well. It was a cantata 'Durchlauchtster Leopold' ('to the most serene Leopold'), BWV 173a, a birthday 'serenade' for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, Bach's employer in Köthen. In the cantata text, by an unknown author the populace of Anhalt and Köthen pays tribute to the Prince in a most devoted manner, and praises him with the obsequious baroque zeal for which we nowadays feel so little empathy.
It is somewhat disarming, however, to see how soberly Bach's poet proceeded when transforming the cantata for church use. There are long passages where the heavenly ruler is simply substituted for the earthly one. Where originally there were the words 'großer Fürst' ('great Prince'), we now find 'Höichster' ('almighty'; sixth movement); 'Leopold' becomes 'God' (third movement); the princely salutation 'Durchlauchtigster' ('most serene', becomes 'Unendlichster' ('eternal': fifth movement). Instead of the people of Anhalt and Köithen we find the people of God; the 'wir' ('we') of Anhalt-Köthen becomes the 'wir' of Christians. Correspondingly, in the second movement, 'Leopolds Vofrrefflichkeiten ('Leopold's excellent qualities'), which apparently bring such joy to his people, become the 'großen Dinge' ('great things) that God does to us; and, where previously the People of Anhalt-Köthen spread Leopold's 'Nachruhm' ('fame'), the Christians should now do the same with 'Gottes Treue' ('the faith of God'). In this manner, some lines of verse could remain almost or exactly the same as in the earlier version.
The vocal parts of the cantata which originally required just two vocal soloists, a soprano and a bass - were redistributed by Bach among a quartet of soloists. The finale, originally a duet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=772yrxz8z_s), was expanded into a four-part choral setting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmwC4Na9MKI, 11:02). The instrumentation of two flutes, strings and continuo remained unchanged, although the orchestra in Leipzig was probably larger in size. In later years Bach hardly ever resorted to the reworking of recitatives or of entire cantatas. The parody of recitatives proved to be impractical and often musically unsatisfactory, and moreover imposed considerable restrictions upon the poet. In the present case the very close association between the parody text and its original apparently also led to the poet being unable to develop his ideas and to the almost complete lack of contact between the text and the Whit Monday gospel text.>> Alfred Dürr also provided commentaries of both versions of Cantata 173(a) (BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/BWV173-Guide.htm).
Cantata 173a Details
A dozen years later in 2013, Klaus Hofmann provided detailed commentary for Cantata 173a when Masaaki Suzuki undertook a BIS recording survey of Bach's profane cantatas (BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec5.htm#S3, "Liner Notes"). <<Durchlauchtster Leopold, BWV 173a (Most illustrious Leopold). During the years 1717−23, when Bach was Hofkapellmeister in the service of Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen (1694−1728), his duties included providing congratulatory cantatas each New Year’s Day and on the Prince’s birthday, 10th December. Durchlauchtster Leopold is one of these birthday cantatas. The identity of the librettist remains unknown, but in his text the people of Anhalt and Köthen pay homage to their Prince with the solicitude typical of the era. In this context, the two singers may be interpreted as allegorical figures, the soprano perhaps as an embodiment of providence, the bass as an allegory of renown.
Despite the limited instrumental and vocal forces, Bach succeeded in setting the multi-faceted text to music of great variety. It starts with an accompagnato for the soprano, addressing the Prince by name; at the end, the Prince’s title ‘Durchlauchtster’ (‘Most illustrious’) is effectively ornamented with a brilliant coloratura. The soprano sings of a golden age under the Prince’s rule in a lively aria with a rhythmically concise theme. The bass joins in too, praising ‘Leopold’s excellent attributes’; the words ‘machen uns itzt viel zu tun’ (‘give us now much to do’) are reflected in the bustling activity in the accompanying string parts.
The most remarkable movement in the cantata is the three-strophe duet for soprano and bass ‘Unter seinem Purpursaum’ (fourth movement). It is marked Al tempo di minuetto, and is indeed a genuine minuet that could be danced to. The three strophes are written as a set of variations, the key signatures rising step-wise according to the circle of fifths in each verse while at the same time the music becomes increasingly condensed. The first strophe begins in G major; the minuet melody is given to the solo bass, accompanied by the strings. In the second strophe, in D major, the soprano takes up the melody, and flutes are added to the orchestra. In the third strophe, in A major, the orchestra is augmented by a richly figured violin part; both vocal soloists take part, the bass once again with the minuet melody and the soprano with a free accompaniment.
Another duet in minuet form [or polonaise] concludes this birthday cantata. These two dance movements give the work the character of a courtly serenade, and it is therefore slightly surprising that Bach had no qualms about reusing such clearly secular music – slightly shortened, with its last movement now set for four vocal parts, and with a new sacred text – as a church cantata for Whit Monday in Leipzig (Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut, BWV 173).>>
© Klaus Hofmann 2013
A comparison of the two texts of Cantatas 173a and 173 is found at Francis Browne’s English translation, BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV173-Eng3.htm, with “Note on the texts: The secular cantata BWV 173a was composed for the birthday of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen (10 December) probably in 1722. The author of the text is unknown. Perhaps as early as 1723 the text and the original music were parodied as a Whit Monday cantata BWV 173. Movement 7 was used in BWV 175. Again the author of the revised text is unknown. To allow the changes involved in the parody to be followed easily the original text and its parody have been translated together.”
Notes on the text. A possible candidate for the libretto could have been Johann Friedrich Helbig (1680-1722). He served at the Saxe-Eisenach Court from 1709 as secretary court poet, composing poetry and church libretti, including a cantata cycle that Telemann set as his "Sicilian" Italianate dance-style cycle in Eisenach, 1719-20 (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Helbig&prev=search). Bach set a Helbig text, "Wer sich selbst erhöhet, / der soll erniedriget werden" (Who exalts himself / Will be humbled, Luke 14:11) as Cantata 47 for 17th Sunday after Trinity in 1726 during the third cycle, an austere pietist text in the cycle Auffmunterung zur Andacht ('Encouragement of Devotion'), published in 1720 in Eisenach (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV47-D4.htm).
Worldly to Divine Glory, Parody
Bach’s musical homage to prince recycled as homage to God bridges “the divide between worldly and divine glory,” suggests John Eliot Gardiner in his 2006 liner notes to his Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000.9 << It puzzles me why scholars get so hot under the collar about Bach’s self-borrowings, as though there were something innately shoddy about the practice. You’d have thought that Handel, with his habit ofplagiarising other men’s themes as starter fuel when the muse refused to co-operate, would have presented a far juicier target. It so happens that all three of Bach’s surviving Leipzig cantatas for Whit Monday originated to a greater or lesser extent in secular music he had composed a few years earlier for the Weimar and Cöthen courts – and are none the worse for that! For although he is alert to the theological emphasis on the basic disparity between God and humankind, especially at this time of year, which refers back to the miracle of God’s choice of the human heart as His dwelling place, Bach could express homage to a prince and homage to God in essentially the same way. Music – his music – was there to bridge the divide between worldly and divine glory. Each ruler exerted unquestioned authority in his own sphere. That was a basic tenet of Lutheranism and one that Bach, whose nomination as Thomaskantor in Leipzig was primarily due to the intervention of the Absolutist party in the town council, readily endorsed.>>. Two arias and their original parodies are nos. 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui1GlDJ81iQ) and nos. 4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKQMpA95Rwg).
The importance of parody as a practice of borrowing and transforming the ingredients of Bach’s musical sermons – madrigalian choruses and arias, free-verse recitatives and chorale strophic harmonizations -- into new applications in different contexts is beginning to be explored in depth. Source-critical studies involve the circumstances and the application of different texts which, beyond their poetic qualities, enabled Bach to do more than simply self-plagiarize his music and save time by recycling/borrowing existing works. This practice also enabled Bach to encourage his students to learn the art of composition through active participation with the teacher, similar to artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, who in the Renaissance challenged students to help produce the final outcome in a creative working environment. The complexity of both the form and content of the composition (or creation) through applied re-creation, transformation, and realization enabled both the scholar and the performing musician the opportunity to more fully understand and appreciate the "creative" process and the significance of collaboration.
Cantata 173a Further Details
Further details for Cantata 173a is found in Marva J. Watson's thesis (Ibid.: 32): << During the years 1717−23, when Bach was Hofkapellmeister in the service of Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen (1694−1728), his duties included providing congratulatory cantatas each New Year’s Day and on the Prince’s birthday, 10th December. Durchlauchtster Leopold is one of these birthday cantatas. The identity of the librettist remains unknown, but in his text the people of Anhalt and Köthen pay homage to their Prince with the solicitude typical of the era. In this context, the two singers may be interpreted as allegorical figures, the soprano perhaps as an embodiment of providence, the bass as an allegory of renown.
Despite the limited instrumental and vocal forces, Bach succeeded in setting the multi-faceted text to music of great variety. It starts with an accompagnato for the soprano, addressing the Prince by name; at the end, the Prince’s title ‘Durchlauchtster’ (‘Most illustrious’) is effectively ornamented with a brilliant coloratura. The soprano sings of a golden age under the Prince’s rule in a lively aria with a rhythmically concise theme. The bass joins in too, praising ‘Leopold’s excellent attributes’; the words ‘machen uns itzt viel zu tun’ (‘give us now much to do’) are reflected in the bustling activity in the accompanying string parts. The most remarkable movement in the cantata is the three-strophe duet for soprano and bass ‘Unter seinem Purpursaum’ (fourth movement). It is marked Al tempo di minuetto, and is indeed a genuine minuet that could be danced to. The three strophes are written as a set of variations, the key signatures rising stepwise according to the circle of fifths in each verse while at the same time the music becomes increasingly condensed. The first strophe begins in G major; the minuet melody is given to the solo bass, accompanied by the strings. In the second strophe, in D major, the soprano takes up the melody, and flutes are added to the orchestra. In the third strophe, in A major, the orchestra is augmented by a richly figured violin part; both vocal soloists take part, the bass once again with the minuet melody and the soprano with a free accompaniment. Another duet in minuet form concludes this birthday cantata. These two dance movements give the work the character of a courtly serenade, and it is therefore slightly surprising that Bach had no qualms about reusing such clearly secular music – slightly shortened, with its last movement now set for four vocal parts, and with a new sacred text – as a church cantata for Whit Monday in Leipzig (Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut, BWV 173).>>
Cantatas 173(a) Provenance. At the estate division in 1750, Cantata BWV 173a score may have gone to oldest son Friedemann, along with the parts, which are lost. Pentecost Monday 1724 Sacred Cantata 173 score went to Emmanuel while the parts set, probably to Friedemann, was lost. In 1850, both scores of Cantatas 134a and 134 were identified and listed together under "Occasional Cantatas," as the first entry by Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt.10 The provenance of surviving Cantata 173a score is: J. S. Bach - ?Friedemann - G. Poelchau - BB (now Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preußischer Kulturbesitz) (1841). Cantata 173a Autograph Score (Facsimile): D B Mus. ms. Bach P 42, Faszikel 2 [Bach Digital] https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000211; https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000865. More details of BWV 134a are found in the Thomas Braatz "Provenance," July 19, 2003, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/BWV173-Ref.htm.
FOOTNOTES
1 Marva J. Watson Chapter 3, "Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, in The Historical Figures of the Birthday Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach [PDF thesis], May 2010: 28; BCW: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Historical-Figures-Watson.pdf); also background on Leopold, court in Bach's tenure, and Bach's compositions.
2 Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Updated ed. (New York: W. W.Norton & Company, 2013: 177; https://books.google.com/books?id=YtJVFiHnepcC&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177&dq=Bach+Amor,+die+Treue&source=bl&ots=0h-HVaxVtC&sig=ZixvaGcNxVeEFDcPvJJsjH0CQgU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiE3OyCpe_bAhUoja0KHRGDB1QQ6AEIXDAQ#v=onepage&q=Bach%20Amor%2C%20die%20Treue&f=false).
3 Wedding event described in detail in Robert L. and Traute M. Marshall, "Nienburg an der Saale) (1716), in Exploring the World of J. S. Bach: A Traveler's Guide, with American Bach Society (Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016: 174f), https://books.google.com/books?id=6HtMDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA174&lpg=PA174&dq=Bach+Diana,+Amor,+Apollo&source=bl&ots=jA2-mj38Qt&sig=FKUrxGVoZfDmWu757E4B1NaWVNc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZi6zgou_bAhUMbawKHZlsAj0Q6AEIOzAH#v=onepage&q=Bach%20Diana%2C%20Amor%2C%20Apollo&f=false.
4 Cantata 1a, BCW Details, Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV134a.htm; Score (BWV 134) BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV134-BGA.pdf; Score BGA Anh (BWV 134a inc.), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV134-BGA-Anh.pdf. References, BGA XXXIV [inc., secular cantatas, Paul Graf Waldersee), NBA KB I/35 (Köthen cantatas, Alfred Dürr 1964), Bach Compendium BC G 5, Zwang W 6; commentary, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Zeit,_die_Tag_und_Jahre_macht,_BWV_134a.
5 Malcolm Boyd, ed., Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach (Oxford University Press, 1999: 140).
6 Cantata 173a. BCW Details & Discography, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV173a.htm; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV173a-BGA.pdf. Score BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV173a-BGA.pdf. References: BGA XXXIV (secular cantatas, Paul Graft Waldersee), NBA KB I/35 (Köthen cantatas, Alfred Dürr 1964), Bach Compendium BC G 9, Zwang W 4; commentary, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durchlauchtster_Leopold,_BWV_173a. Recordings, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpbsXFSsoa4, Koopman; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoaqCd26gf0, Rotzsch; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkIwT4sa5Zk, Harnoncourt).
7 Frauke Heinze, "Forward," Stuttgarter Bach-Ausgaben, Carus Verlag Leipzig, 31.173: 2014; English trans. David Kosviner.
8 Klaus Hofmann, Cantata 173 notes, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C20c[BIS-CD1271].pdf; Recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki.htm#C20.
9 Gardiner notes, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P26c%5Bsdg121_gb%5D.pdf
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To Come: Cöthen Cantatas BWV 184a, 194a, and 36a, Bach and the art of virtual parody; Hunold-Menantes and other Bach settings, BWV 204, Anh. 5-7, etc. |
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