Cantata BWV 81 - Discussions

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Thomas Braatz wrote (February 27, 2006):
These facsimiles taken from the Appendix to NBA KB I/6 pp. 160-162 (Bärenreiter, 1996) give:

1. The complete text of BWV 81 as printed in Leipzig, 1724 before the 1^st performance

2. A portion of the handwritten text by Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (probably after 1750 and before 1763)

Thomas Braatz wrote (February 27, 2006):
BWV 81: mvt. 3 Facsimiles

For those interested in viewing facsimiles of the evidence supporting the appearance of 'Wellen' twice in the same aria text, Aryeh Oron has kindly provided space on the discussion page of BWV 81:
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV81-D2.htm

for the inclusion of

1. the printed libretto from the cantata text booklet which Bach had personally prepared in advance of the first performance in 1724 (This was the text J. S. Bach used as the basis for his setting of the words in BWV 81)

2. a portion of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach's (1732-1795) handwritten copy of the cantata text as further confirmation of the actual words which appear in the autograph score (In 1750 when the distribution of the Bach cantata scores took place, J.C.F. Bach became the recipient of the original set of parts for BWV 81 and they remained in his possession probably until his death.)

Raymond Jolly wrote (February 28, 2006):
[To Thomas Braatz] Wonderful ! This shows that the Web can be of marvelous assistance to scholarly discussion when wielded by devoted and competent partakers. Now, Belial is very wicked indeed and can goad his followers to frightful obstinacy. I never doubted that WELLEN stood in the sources, but I am still not entirely convinced that it did rightfully so. Those who believe it is right:

1) Still have to satisfy us that that poet could conceivably have intended such a pun (then it is one, as Peter Smaill very aptly dubbed it) -- and please do not come around with the notion that any pun is typically Baroque;

2) Must explain what kind of contraption exactly is supposed to rise suddenly from the storm-tossed depths and thereafter stand unmoved. You would not go out of your way to use a technical term in a poem if you did not mean something very precise.

I will not write on this matter again until I am have found something sufficiently rock-like to engage the attention of our Circle.

This is all great fun, thanks to everybody.

Cantata BWV 81: Complete Recordings | Recordings of Individual Movements | Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2

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Last update: ýMarch 23, 2006 ý20:08:11