Cantata BWV 174 - Provenance

Thomas Braatz wrote (July 25, 2003):
BWV 174 - Provenance:

This report will only attempt to highlight some of the myriad details involved in the NBA KB’s analysis of the sources of this cantata. Many aspects of the provenance are unusual, but one fact that is usually open to speculation and difficult to prove (by using paper watermarks, noting the copyists involved, etc.) is here very authoritatively confirmed: the copyist of the original alto part wrote at the end: “Fine d. 5 Junii 1729. Lipsiae.” which means that the cantata was 1^st performed on June 6, 1729. The text is based upon “Cantaten | Auf die Sonn- | und | Fest-Tage | durch | das gantze Jahre…Leipzig, 1728, by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), who expressed a hope in the foreword that Bach would set these texts to music.

The fact that Bach left out the 1^st 3 lines of the recitative has been understood (by Spitta and confirmed by the NBA editors) as just one indication among many that Bach was working very hurriedly under time pressure. Contrary to Bach’s usual method of composition, the autograph score for this cantata is not entirely autograph. Most of the string parts of mvt. 1 (based upon the 1^st mvt. of BWV 1048 – the 3^rd Brandenburg Concerto which is dated by Bach: March 24^th, 1721) were entered into the score by Copyist 1. Essentially what happened here is that the copyist copied from an original version of the 1^st mvt. of Brandenburg Concerto Nr. 3, after which Bach ‘composed in’ the horn parts (similar to ‘Vokaleinbau’ or ‘Choreinbau.’) In addition to J.S. & C.P.E. Bach, there were 6 other copyists involved in copying the original parts (not Anna Magdalena.) J.S. Bach would begin a part (ms. 1-86), such as the Violino 1 Ripieno part, after which C.P.E Bach would copy ms. 87 to 136. Or, more typically, in another part, Copyist 2 would copy a string part from ms. 1 – 85 and Copyist 2 would finish it.

On the title page of the semi-autograph score, Bach wrote:

J. J. Feria 2. Pentecostes. Concerto à 4 Voci. 2 Corni da Caccia. 2 Hautb. | Taille. 3 Violini. 3 Violi. 3 Violoncelli e Co [ntinuo].

Other marks and titles as follows:

Sinfonia
Baßon e Violone con Cont.
DC. DCapo
Recit.
3 Violini e | 3 Viole in unisono | Tenor
Aria Violin e Viola, tutti al unisono
Choral
Fine | SDG [with a fancy paraph]

The Original Set of Parts:

These are strewn over 2 continents of which most of them are under private ownership (USA) as follows:

1. Corno I (lost)
2. Corno II Private
3. Oboe I Private
4. Violino I ripieno Tübingen
5. Oboe II Private
6. Violino II ripieno Tübingen
7. Taille London
8. Viola ripiena Tübingen
9. Violino I concertato Private
10. Violino II concertato Private
11. Violino III concertato Private
12. Viola I concertata until 1961: Switzerland (where is it now?)
13. Viola II concertata Washington
14. Viola III concertata Private
15. Violoncello I concertato Marburg, Basel
16. Violoncello II concertato Private
17. Violoncello III concertato Private
18. Soprano Private
19. Alto Private
20. Tenore Private
21. Basso Stanford, California
22. Continuo Private
23. Organo (transposed, figured) Tübingen

This cantata probably originally belonged W. F. Bach after which the dispersal of the score and parts can not be completely traced. The score appears in possession of the Berliner Singakademie at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1854 it was acquired by the BB.

Of the original set of parts, 13 parts are part of private collection in the USA.

Cantata BWV 174: Complete Recordings | Recordings of Individual Movements | Discussions

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Last update: ýJuly 25, 2003 ý17:25:14