Cantata BWV 72 - Provenance

Thomas Braatz wrote (April 9, 2003):
The Autograph Score:

The autograph score was inherited by C. P. E. Bach {listed in the catalog of his estate (1790.)} The next owner was the Berliner Singakademie which, at the time of the sale to the BB [Staatsbibliothek Berlin], also included 10 of the original parts. This score is in very poor condition (1996) and has not been restored since time of its original creation (1726.)

The Title on Top of Page 1:

J.J Concerto Dominica [Doica abbr. is used] 3. post Epiphanias

The Original Parts:

At the time of the distribution, the doublets went with the autograph score, while the original set went a different, but unknown path. It is assumed that set of original parts were located in Berlin, perhaps even with C. P. E. Bach.

The 3 Original Doublets:

The doublets (Violino 1 & 2) are presently located in the Bibliothek der Hochschule der Künste zu Berlin and the Continuo doublet is in the Bachhaus in Eisenach. Missing is the figured bc part which must still have existed in 1769.

At the beginning of the 19^th century, all 3 doublets may still have been in the possession of Carl Philipp Heinrich Pistor from whose estate it went to his daughter Betty who was married to Adolf Rudorff. The 2 violin doublets were inherited by Rudorff’s son, Ernst, through whom they came into the possession of the Bibliothek der Hochschule der Künste zu Berlin, while the continuo doublet went its own way until it turned up in the possession of Friedrich Wilhelm Jähns. There were one or more interim owners (unknown) before it was auctioned off by the Antiquariat Leo Liepmannssohn on May 21/22, 1909. It is now in the Bachhaus in Eisenach.

The Parts are as follows:

1. Soprano
2. Alto
3. Tenore
4. Basso
5. Hautbois 1
6. Hautbois 2
7. Violino 1
8. Violino 2
9. Viola
10. Continuo (not figured, not transposed)
11. Violino 1 (Doublet)
12. Violino 2do (Doublet)
13. Continuo (Doublet – not figured, not transposed)

The main copyist for these parts is Bach’s nephew, Johann Heinrich Bach who copied parts 1-10 with J. S. Bach doing mvt. 6 and the revision in each of these parts. The other parts were copied by Anonymous IIe, IIf, and IIIb.

Date of Composition:

This cantata belongs to the 3rd Leipzig cantata cycle and received its 1^st performance on January 27, 1726. This was determined by the watermarks of the paper used and the specific copyists involved. There is no proof of later performances under Bach’s direction.

Parody:

Sometime after 1735 Bach adapted (by revision, change of text and transposition) mvt. 1 of this work as the Gloria section of the Mass in G minor BWV 235.

Text:

The text is taken from Salomon Franck’s “Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer…in geistlichen Cantaten…zu musiciren angezündet,” (Weimar, 1715; pp. 35-37) (“Auf den dritten Sonntag | nach der Offenbahrung CHristi.”

Mvt. 6 uses the 1^st verse of the chorale “Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh allzeit” by Albrecht von Brandenburg. Franck includes only the 1^st 2 vs. of this chorale.

The only change that Bach made to Franck’s text is in mvt. 5, line 4 where Franck had “Wenn ihn der Glaube faß’t” but Bach used “Wenn es der Glaube faßt.”

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Last update: ýAugust 2, 2003 ý09:37:21