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Cantata BWV 66
Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen
Cantata BWV 66a
Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück
Discussions - Part 5 |
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Continue from Part 4 |
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Discussions in the Week of June 24, 2018 (4th round) |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (June 24, 2018):
Cöthen Court Homage Serenade BWV 66a
When Bach arrived in Leipzig in the spring of 1723 to assume the positions of church cantor and music director, he brought with him considerable materials composed at the Weimar and Cöthen courts to begin building a "well regulated church music to the glory of God." Circumstances and serendipity had enabled him to produce some two-dozen church-year cantatas available for his first cycle of 68 services for Sundays and feast days, following the traditions of other composers: his competitors for the Leipzig position, Georg Philipp Telemann in Hamburg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann) and Christoph Graupner in Darmstadt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann), as well as colleagues Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel in Gotha https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gottfried_Heinrich_Stölzel), Johann Friedrich Fasch at Zerbst (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Fasch), and Johann Balthasar Christian Freißlich at Sondershausen and Danzig (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Balthasar_Christian_Freißlich). In addition, Bach materials from Cöthen BWV 66a, 134a, 173a, 184a, and 194a (the first three extant) — enabled him to create five sacred cantatas — as well as possible sources for as many as seven sacred Leipzig cantatas (BWV 32, 59, 69a, 75, 97, 119, and 193) through the process of parody or new-text underlay. This music of sheer joy had brought happiness to Bach in a transition from faithful and prospering court servant to fulfill his calling of a "well-regulated church music to the glory of God."
Bach the well-intentioned, resourceful, and calculating musical architect and recycler had a master plan. The first group of cantatas from Weimar, composed for the church year primarily from texts of court poet Salomo Franck, had all the ingredients of Bach's sacred musical sermons: choruses, arias, recitatives, ariosi, closing plain chorales, and chorale tropes with poetry. In most cases Bach would reperform them virtually unchanged. Church year pieces initially composed for the Weimar closed periods of Advent and Lent would be adapted with additional free-verse recitatives and closing chorales using texts appropriate for the new occasions (BWV 70a, 186a, 147a, 80a). The Cöthen works, all composed for profane occasions or non-liturgical Calvinist church services, contained da-capo arias and recitatives as well as ensembles that with new texts could be tailored to sacred services of the church year in Leizpig as well as special occasions. In particular, Bach could adapt celebratory music with appropriate affect for the festivals of Easter, Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday when he would be hard-pressed in late spring to compose a string of festive works while fulfilling his principal job as cantor and teacher at the Thomas School when completing the term on Pentecost Sunday and starting a new year. Bach also could add new commentary recitatives and select chorales settings emphasizing the specific sacred occasion. From the group of Cöthen sacred works, Bach selectively salvaged choruses and arias for new, occasional sacred compositions, such as the annual Leipzig Town Council installation with Cantatas 119, 69a, and 193.
"Bach's official inauguration was originally planned for Pentecost [Sunday, 16 May] 1723 but had to be postponed by two weeks for unknown reasons, says Christoph Wolff.1 Given the time pressure, Bach had reworked as parodies three Cöthen works for the three-day Pentecost Festival: BWV 59, 173 and 184. When the inauguration was moved back to the 1st Sunday after Trinity, he set the music aside for performance a year later to complete the first cycle. It is possible that Cantata 59 was presented on Pentecost Sunday 1723 at the University Church of St. Paul, says Wolff and Robin A. Leaver (Dok 5: B 137a).2 Bach's family arrived in Leipzig from Cöthen on 22 May, says Leaver (Ibid.: Dok 2: 138; NBR 102). Meanwhile Bach's performance schedule during this first cycle shows that he used Cöthen parodies for Cantata 69a for the 12th Sunday after Trinity and Cantata 119 for the Town Council election, says Wolff (Ibid.) as well as Cöthen serenade parodies for Easter Monday and Tuesday festivals, BWV 66 and 134, and BWV 194 for Trinity Sunday Festival.
From the collection of congratulatory serenades, Bach was able to salvage and tailor five festive sacred cantatas, reusing the choruses and arias with new texts, including a virtual parody of all the movements with both recitatives in 1722 birthday Cantata BWV 173a "Durchlauchtster Leopold" (Illustrious Leopold), https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000211?XSL.Style=detail, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV173a.html; score survives https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000865, parody text overlay BWV 173 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV173-Eng3.htm); repeat 1727, 1731. Chronologically, Bach had begun his tributes to his Cöthen employer, Prince Leopold, with 1718 birthday Cantata BWV 66a, "Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück" (Since heaven cared for Anhalt's fame and bliss,, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000083?lang=en).
First Cöthen Home Serenade BWV 66a
The initial work, BWV 66a, survives with its text by court poet Christian Friedrich Hunold known as Menantes (1681-1721, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Hunold.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Friedrich_Hunold). The original score and parts are lost but the musical setting survives in the parody 1724 Easter Tuesday Cantata 66, "Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen" (Rejoice, you hearts), https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000936). The original eight-movement work was premiered at the Cöthen castle on the evening of 10 December 1718, says Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik,3 who has reconstructed it (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwExJxmkSy4). The serenata [BWV 66a] was the musical counterpart to a no longer extant church cantata, 'Lobet den Herren, alle seine Heerscharen' (BWV Anh. 5), which was performed on the same morning [at the Calvinist Agneskirche], and the libretto which was also supplied by Hunold," he says (Ibid.: 11f). "The choice of Hunold as librettist for both the serenata and the church cantata can be explained not only by his familial ties with the circles of the Cöthen Court. It also reveals Leopold's interest in everything fashionable and exclusive: the poet had achieved great popularity under the pseudonym 'Menantes' with his 'galant' style of writing that soughto imitate natural, spoken language."
In the parody adaptation, BWV 66, Bach "preserved the original dialogue form in which two allegorical figures appear," says Grychtolik. For Die Glückseeligkeit Anhalts (Fortune of Anhalt or Happiness) and Fama (Fame), he substituted the alto 'Fear' in place of Fortune/Happiness and the tenor 'Hope' in place of Fame' [soprano] in sacred Cantata 66," "Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen" (Rejoice, you hearts), for Easter Monday 1724, says Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Himmel_dacht_auf_Anhalts_Ruhm_und_Glück,_BWV_66a). For the opening accompanied paired recitative and pastorale aria, originally sung by Glückseeligkeit (Fortune/Happiness), Bach simply set these an octave lower for bass voice in the Easter version. In addition, "John Eliot Gardiner has suggested that instrumental music from the lost cantata survives in another cantata from the composer's Leipzig years.4 The music in question, a sinfonia for strings and woodwind, is the first movement of Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats [On the evening of the same sabbath, John 20:19], BWV 42, which was first performed in 1725," Quasimodogeniti (1st Sunday after Easter), says Wikipedia (ibid.).
The first of Bach's congratulatory serenades, BWV 66a has a simple eight-movement form of alternating, opera-style pairs of elaborate recitatives and da-capo arias, with a closing tutti da-capo ensemble. It is based on the Menantes dialogue text for allegorical figures Happiness (alto) and Fame (soprano) singing the praises of Prince Leopold and his realm, with divine guidance.5 Its counterpart, BWV 66, is scored for SATB, trumpet, 2 oboes, bassoon, violin solo, 2 violins, viola, continuo. Happiness begins with a brief narrative recitative accompagnato and descriptive pastoral aria with oboes. Fame begins to elaborate and together they sing a dialogue arioso, followed by a giga-style duet in canon with violin solo and a recitative dialogue (no. 5). Fame sings a giga-style aria with oboes and the two do a closing summary recitative dialogue. The ensemble concludes with a festive gigue-passapied with regal trumpet. The 40-minute cantata has "a judicious mixture of French dance and Italian concerto and operatic styles," observes Richard D. P. Jones.6
Cantata 66a movement, scoring, text, key, meter;
Hunold German text, Z. Philip Ambrose English translation, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV66a.html).
1. Recitative accompagnato (alto; Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo): Glückselgkeit: "Der Himmel dacht' auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, / So ward Fürst Leopold gebohren. / Das Land gedenckt an diese Zeit zurück, / Und hat sie sich zum Jubel-Fest erkohren." (Happiness: Since heaven cared for Anhalt's fame and bliss, / Prince Leopold was born amongst us, / This land doth call now that same hour to mind, / And hath it for a joyful feast selected.); b minor to A Major; 4/4.
2. Aria da capo (alto, Oboe I/II, Fagotto, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo): A. Glückselgkeit: "Traget ihr Lüffte den Jubel von hinnen, / Bringet dem Himmel unsterbliches Lob." (Happiness: Waft hence, ye breezes, your glad jubilation, / Lift up to heaven undying great praise.); B. "Leopold lebet, in welchem wir leben[,] / Leopold herrschet, dem Himmel ergeben, / Welcher den göttlichen Printzen erhob. / Traget ihr Lüffte den Jubel von hinnen, / Bringet dem Himmel unsterbliches Lob." (Leopold liveth, / who gives our life meaning, / Leopold ruleth, to heaven devoted, / Which him to princes immortal did raise.); D Major; 3/8 pastorale style.
3. Recitative secco, arioso dialogue in canon (soprano, alto; continuo): Fama: "Die Klugheit auf dem Thron zu sehn, / Und Tugenden, wie sie im Purpur gehn, / Ja Gnad, und Huld, die Land und Leut erquicken, / Bey der Gewalt des Scepters zu erblicken[,] / Hab' ich der Grossen Burg beschaut. / Ich bin umsonst zu manchem Thron geflogen[,] / Der nur auf Weh' und Ach gebaut. / Kaum, daß ich hier den Edlen Hof bezogen, / So lebt mein Wunsch; Diß Kleinod treff ich an; / Man hat von jener Sternen-Bahn / Der Klugheit, Tugend, Gnad' und Güte, Die Macht und Hoheit anvertraut. / "O Fürst, von Fürstlichem Gemüthe! / Wie herrlich, wohl und fest / Hast Du den Fürsten-Stuhl gesetzet! / Der Grund ist Gott, der ihn nie wancken läst, / Der dich o Fürst nach seinem Sinn ergetzet." (Great wisdom on the throne to see, / And virtues rare, as they in purple walk, / Yea, grace and charm, which land and folk enliven, / Joined with the force of scepter, to discover, / Have I the mighty's tow'rs beheld. / I have in vain to many thrones yet flown now / Which but on `Woe and Ah' are built. / But when I here the noble court first entered, / My hope revived; this jewel did I meet; / Here were from yonder starry course To wisdom, virtue, grace and kindness / Both might and high rank put in trust. / "O Prince, of princely heart and spirit, / How glorious, well and firm / Hast thou the princely throne been sitting! / On God it rests, who holds it e'er unmoved, / Who thee, O Prince, as he intends, give favor.); Fama, Glückselgkeit: "{Ich/Du} aber {will/kanst} auf {meinem/deinem} Ehren[-]Wagen / {Dein/Sein} Lob zu allen Völckern tragen." (Fame, Happiness: {I will/Thou canst} therefore in this {my/thy} honor-chariot / {Thy/His} praise to all the nations carry."; Fama: "Wie? Find ich dich Glückseeligkeit allhier?" (Fame: What? Is it thee, O Happiness, I see?); Glückseeligkeit: Ist dieses ein so seltsam Ding? (Happiness: Is this indeed so rare a thing?); Fama: "Kaum, sah' ich dich noch auf dem Landen, / Als ich durch Anhalt Cöthen gieng." (Fame: No, I saw thee even in the country /As I through Anhalt-Cöthen went); Glückseeligkeit: "Mir gab bey seinem Fürsten-Stande / Zwar Leopold am Hofe das Quartier; / Doch auf des Landes sehnlichs Flehen, / Mich auch bey sich zu sehen, / Hat mir der Fürst, der seinen Unterthan / Nicht höher lieben kan, / Viel Wohnungen im Fürstenthum erbauet, / Du findest mich, wohin dein Auge schauet." (Happiness: Though me among his fellow princes / Did Leopold at court make resident, / Upon the land's sincere petition / That it as well receive me, / For me the Prince, who could his subjects here / Not hold in higher love, / Hath many dwellings built in his dominion, / Thou findest me where'er thine eye observeth.); G-D-A Major; 4/4.
4. Aria da capo duet in canon (soprano, alto; Violino solo, Continuo): A. Fama, Glückseeligkeit: " Ich weiche {nun; ich will/nicht; du solst} der Erden sagen: / Nur Tugend kan {Glückseeligkeit/des Landes wohl} erjagen[.]" (Fama, Happiness: I'll leave then {now; I would/not; thou shouldst} all earth be telling / Just virtue can {true happiness/the land's true health} accomplish.); B. "{Dir/Mir} Anhalt {sey/bleibt} der Himmel hold, {Ich will/Und wird} den Theuren Leopold / Mit Ruhm auf {meinen/Adlers} Flügeln tragen. / Ich weiche {nun, ich will/nicht, du solst} der Erden sagen, / Nur Tugend kan {Glückseeligkeit/des Landes wohl} erjagen." ({Thy/My} Anhalt {be/bides} to heaven dear, / {I will/Which shall} the worthy Leopold / With fame on {these my/eagle's} pinions carry.); A Major; 12/8 giga-style.
5. Recitative secco dialogue (soprano, alto, continuo): Glückseeligkeit: "Wie weit bist du mit Anhälts Götter-Ruhm, / Die noch die Welt in ihren Thaten ehrt, / Die schon im grauen Alterthum / Die Kunst zu herrschen wohl gelehrt, / Wie weit bist du mit ihrem Ruhm geflogen?" (Happiness: How far hast thou with Anhalt's fame divine, / Which all the world in action doth revere, / Which e'en in dim antiquity / The art of ruling well did learn, / How far hast thou with her great fame been flying?); Fama: "Biß an der Sternen-Bogen." (Fame: E'en to the starry heavens.); Glückseeligkeit: "Nun dieser Fürsten Tugend-Gold / Gläntzt in dem Theuren Leopold. / So bringe dann bis an der Sternen Achsen / Den edlen Zweig der Hochgepriesnen Sachsen. / Wie offt hat Gott das Land zuvor ergetzt?" (Happiness: Now doth a princely virtue's gold / Shine foin precious Leopold. / So carry then into the starry axis / The noble branch of the exalted Saxons. How oft hath God this land before this blessed?); Fama: "So offt ein Fürst sein Heil auf Gott gesetzt." (Fame: As oft a Prince his hope in God doth rest.); Glückseeligkeit: " Sprich: Leopold hat himmlische Gedancken; / Gott wird von ihm und er von Gott nie wancken. / Was hat vor dem das Land so hoch geziert, / Und ihm des Fürsten Huld verschrieben?" (Happiness: Say: Leopold hath heavenly intentions; / God shall from him and he from God ne'er waver. / What hath ere this the land so highly graced, / And it this Prince's charm alloted?); Fama: " Gehorsam, treu zu seyn und lieben." (Fame: Obedience, faithfulness and honor.); Glückseeligkeit: "Sprich: Daß noch nie ein Herr regiert, / Der im Triumph die Hertzen mehr geführt. / Nenn ihn der Unterthanen Lust; / Sprich, daß sie ihm den Namen Vater geben. Geh! Aller Welt sey unser heil bewust." (Happiness: Say: Ere this time no lord hath ruled / Who hath the hearts of all more led in triumph. Name him his subjects' pride and joy; / Say that they now the name of father give him. / Go! All the world of our good health should know.); Fama: "So sprich mit mir:" (Fame: So say with me); Fama, Glückseeligkeit: "Fürst Leopold soll leben." (Both: Prince Leopold shall prosper!); 4/4
6. Aria da capo (soprano, Oboe I, Continuo): A. Fama: "Beglücktes Land von süsser Ruh und Stille! / In deiner Brust wallt nur ein Freuden-Meer." (Fame: O happy land of sweet repose and quiet! / Within thy breast wells but a sea of joy. ); B (continuo only). "Du siehst von fern die Krieges-Fluthen schlagen, / Und Sturm und Noth so manches Ufer plagen[,] / Hier weht allein ein Gnaden-West daher. / Beglücktes Land von süsser Ruh und Stille, / In deiner Brust wallt nur ein Freuden-Meer." (Thou see'st far off the floods of warfare crashing, / And storms and need so many shores oppressing, / But here alone a gracious west wind blows.); G Major, 2/2.
7. Recitative secco dialogue (soprano, alto, contnuo): Glückseeligkeit: "Nun theurer Fürst! der seinen Purpur schmücket, / Gott mache dich je mehr und mehr beglücket." (Happiness: Now worthy Prince! God who adorns his purple, / God give to thee e'er more and more good fortune.); Fama: "Ein Palmen-Baum blüht schön bey seines gleichen: / Jedoch vielleicht denckt dieser Herr allein / Unsterblichkeit durch Tugend zu erreichen." (Fame: A palm of praise doth bloom beside such nature: / Perhaps, indeed, doth this one lord intend / His immortality to win through virtue.); Glückseeligkeit: "Die hat er schon" (Happiness: He hath it now!); Fama: "Ja, die ist ungemein. / Wird aber Anhalts Götter-Zahl / Nicht durch sein theures Fürsten-Blut / Annoch unsterblich seyn?" (Fame: Yes, exceedingly! / But will not Anhalt's godlike host / Through his most precious princely blood / As well immortal be?); Glückseeligkeit: "Du wünschest ein unschätzbahr Gut." (Happiness: Thy wish is for a pricelss gift.); Fama: "Man preist der holden Sonnen Strahl. / Die ihren Glantz auch Mond und Sternen giebt." (Fame: We praise the gracious sunlight's rays / Which give their light to moon and stars as well); Glückseeligkeit: "Ich weiß, daß mich der Himmel liebt; / Ich weiß, daß der die Zeit ersehn, / In welcher noch ein himmlisch Licht / Wird neben unsrer Sonne stehn. / Diß ist ein Wunsch, der durch die Wolcken bricht:" (Happiness: I know that I'm by heaven loved; / I know that it the time foresees / In which another heav'nly light / Will take its place beside our sun. / This is our wish which through the clouds breaks forth:); (Glückseeligkeit, Fama: "Es blühe denn durch ihn diß Götter-Haus, / Es blüh und sterbe nimmer aus." (Both: Let flourish then through him this godlike house, / Let bloom, and perish nevermore.); 4/4.
8. Tutti ensemble da-capo, free polyphony (SATB; trumpet, 2 oboes, bassoon, violin solo, 2 violins, viola, continuo): A. (Glückseeligkeit: A. "Es strahle die Sonne" (Happiness: Let sun shine forever); Fama: "Es lache die Wonne" (Fame: Let pleasure bring laughter"); (Tutti: "Es lebe Fürst Leopold ewig beglückt" (All: Let prosper Prince Leopold ever in bliss.); B. Andante, imitation, ripieno (SA); Glückseeligkeit, Fama: "Ach Himmel wir flehen; / {Diß holde Licht/Die frohe Zeit} sechzigmahl wieder zu sehen." (Happiness, Fame: Ah heaven, we pray now: / {This gracious light/This happy day} sixty times over to witness.); (Tutti: "Gib Höchster was unsern Regenten erquickt." (All: Grant, Highest, to all these our rulers good health); D Major; 3/8 gigue-passapied.
Notes on Music, Text
The idiomatic obbligato parts display a concertante element with ritornello interludes recalling Bach's instrumental concertos that are one of the hallmarks of his compositions for court orchestra. The settings are the predominate 3/8 dance of the gigue-passepied type, "with largely homophonic textures and regular phrase structures" says Jones (Ibid.).
The original BWV 66a score and parts are no longer extant (perhaps lost by Friedemann?), but given the overall structure of the dialogue libretto (free-verse narrative and rhymed arias), it appears that Bach retained the original music unchanged, and parodied with new text-underlay all the adapted movements, including the extended recitatives. "The close parallels in the text, however, make it abundantly clear that all the numbers of Cantata 66, with the exception of the final chorale, owed their origins to the Köthen work" [BWV 66a), says Friedrich Smend in his pioneering 1951 Bach in Köthen.7 This also was the case in serenade Cantata BWV 173a, "Durchlauchtster Leopold" (Illustrious Leopold), the original score survives with new text underlay (https://www.bach-digital.de/rsc/viewer/BachDigitalSource_derivate_00000539/db_bachp0042_page047.jpg). Meanwhile, Cantata BWV 134a, "Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht" (Time, which makes days and years), the second Bach/Menantes collaboration for the New Year's celebration 1719, is shown in Smend's transformation (Ibid.: Chapter 4: 45-49), of 1724 Easter Tuesday Cantata 134, "Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß" (A heart that knows its Jesus living). "Thus by careful and prudent tailoring of the fragments that have survived [from the original parts and Hunold text], we are able to completely restore the score" of Cantata 134a, says Smend (Ibid.: 49). No reconstruction of the original versions of Serenades BWV 184a and 194a are possible since to next has been found to be fitted to the surviving parts of both, Smend ascertained. Meanwhile although the Hunold texts of Serenades BWV Anh. 5-7 are extant, no parts or parodied music have been found.
In 1724, when Bach did the Cantata 66a parody as a sacred work in six movements, he made the closing ensemble an opening chorus, followed by the next four alternating recitatives and arias which began the original, and closed with an original chorale setting. Of the three movements (nos. 5-7) not utilized, the recitatives were superfluous, while the Fame da-capo aria (no. 6), "Beglücktes Land von süsser Ruh und Stille!" (O happy land of sweet repose and quiet!), with its 12/8 giga-style continuo B section, may have been parodied in the 1725 Quasimodogeneti (1st Sunday after Easter) Cantata BWV 42, "Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats" (On the evening of the same sabbath), as the alto aria in G Major (no. 3), "Wo zwei und drei versammlet sind" (Where two or three are gathered together, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFpFIEmAIq4).
A reconstruction of Cantata 66a passages was done by Smend (Ibid.: Chapter 5: 50-56) to show the Cöthen origin of Cantata 66, a parody of the Mentantes published text. The second dialogue recitative common to both, BWV 66a/3, "Die Klugheit auf dem Thron zu sehn" (Great wisdom on the throne to see), omits two lines from its adaptation as the Fear-Hope duet, BWV 66/4, "Bei Jesu Leben freudig sein" (To be joyful in Jesu' life): "Der nur auf Weh' und Ach gebaut. / Kaum, daß ich hier den Edlen Hof bezogen" (Which but on `Woe and Ah' are built. / But when I here the noble court first entered). This is done "to make the Easter cantata more direct in expression," says Smend (Ibid.: 50), complete text: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV66-Eng3.htm). The role of Glückseeligkeit (Happiness) was probably in alto in the original and was transposed an octave lower to the bass for the initial recitative-aria pairing in the Easter version. These two movements are illustrated in Smend (Ibid.: 51), who also shows that the elaborate violin solo in the aria B section is derived from the theme in the Fourth Brandenburg Concerto, also composed in Cöthen. Examples of the Happiness-Fame dialogue recitative and duet (BWV 66a/3-4) are also provided, as well as a reconstruction of the beginning of the closing ensemble movement (BWV 66a/8) which became the opening chorus in the Easter version (BWV 66/1). The initial continuo motive, found in the first recitative of both versions, is repeated at the reprise of the A section ensemble to "provide a conceptual link between the end and the beginning with its reference to the sovereign's 'jubilee'," says Smend (Ibid.: 56).
The later 1724 Easter version (BWV 66) is an introduction to the drama of the Easter Monday Walk to Emaus beginning with a collective celebration followed by the intimacy of the disciples making their uncertain way in the B section: A. "Rejoice, you hearts, / Run away, you sorrows, / the saviour lives and rules in you."; B. "You can chase away / the mourning , the fear, the anxious trembling, / the saviour refreshes his spiritual kingdom" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7NaruClfVc). The original 1718 profane version (BWV 66a) concludes with Happiness and Fame urging "Let sun shine forever" and "Let pleasure bring laughter," followed by the tutti responding, "Let prosper Prince Leopold ever in bliss," followed in the B section by the duo's petition and the collective response: "Grant, Highest, to all these our rulers good health."
Cöthen Spiritual References
"While Bach’s secular cantatas for Leipzig rarely mention the Christian God, the Cöthen cantatas frequently invoke both God and Christ, conforming to the Calvinist ideal of proper music for the domestic sphere," says Marcus Rathey. 8 Essential is the text of Christian Friedrich Hunold (1680-1721), Cöthen court poet and popular German writer known as Menantes, who lived at Halle with its pietist University https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Friedrich_Hunold), and may have been the model for Picander, Bach favorite Leipzig poet and parody adapter. The divine providence of Prince Leopold is affirmed in Cantata 66a, with its opening reference to heaven that "cared for Anhalt's fame and bliss." The Fame/Happiness dialogue (no. 3) affirms that Cöthen's throne "On God it rests, who holds it e'er unmoved, / Who thee, O Prince, as he intends, give favor." In their second dialogue (no 5), they say: "How oft hath God this land before this blessed?", "As oft a Prince his hope in God doth rest," and "God shall from him and he from God ne'er waver." In their final dialogue (no. 7) , they affirm: "God give to thee e'er more and more good fortune" The closing ensemble (no. 8) becomes a prayer of thanksgiving, that is echoed in Bach's Town Council cantatas celebrating governing authority. Whether the trumpet part was included in the original version, Alexander Grychtolik, who reconstructed BWV 66a, suggests that the trumpet as Fama's insigne (https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/A-study-for-an-allegorical-figure-of--Fa/9FE10869C3B5FB3F) in the original "is plausible, especially since the Hofkapelle in Cöthen had able trumpeters in its ranks."
"Hunold's libretto offers telling isights into the practice of courtly celebrations," says Grychtolik (Ibid.). The libretto Bach set makes allusions to the general "honour-chariot" of triumphal procession (no. 3) followed by the personal unmarried prince without heir, while the sprightly giga dialogue between Happiness and Fame (no. 4), transformed into an exchange between Christian Fear and Hope in the 1724 Easter version, takes on the dramatic personification which may have been staged with singers in costumes and gestures during the festive dinner entertainment, suggests Grychtolik (Ibid.). "The high literary quality of Menantes' 's text is demonstrated by its refined alliterations and its profundity," he says.
At the same time, says Grychtolik, "Menantes was also capable of cleverly combining contrasting affects," which Bach set to music idiomatically, and his Leipzig poet skillfully transforms through new text underlay, as in the giga aria duo. In Cantata 66a/4, Happiness and Fame sing: I'll leave then {now; I would/not; thou shouldst} all earth be telling / Just virtue can {true happiness/the land's true health} accomplish" and unite: "({Thy/My} Anhalt {be/bides} to heaven dear, / {I will/Which shall} the worthy Leopold / With fame on {these my/eagle's} pinions carry." In Cantata 66/5, parody possibly by Picander?, Fear and Hope express: "I do {do not] fear the grave's darkness" "and hoped {mourned} that my saviour should not be torn away" and unite: "Now my heart is full of comfort, / and if an enemy is infuriated / I shall know how to conquer in God" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7BH9IRfhM8). By way of analogy, Bach's Cantatas 66a and 66 are like the original da Vinci portrait of Italian noblewoman Lisa Gherardini transformed with later, new oil overlay into the enigmatic, spiritual Monna Lisa or La Gioconda in a Renaissance creative tradition.
The Grychtolik reconstruction of Cantata 66a uses a retexting and resetting of the vocal parts, both parodied arias and recitatives while in the two lost recitative dialogues (nos.5 and 7) Grychtolik uses Bach recitative dialogue compositional techniques as found in Cöthen Cantatas BWV 134a/3, 5, and 7 and BWV 173a/5.
Grychtolik composes a new setting to the extant Menantes text (no. 5), "Beglücktes Land von süsser Ruh und Stille!" (O happy land of sweet repose and quiet!), instead of using the da-capo aria BWV 42/3, which has not been resolved by Bach scholars (see "?Cöthen Serenata Source," BCML Cantata 42 Discussion Part 5, http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV42-D5.htm, April 2, 2017). The libretto format and Cantata 66a disposition suggests this Fama aria "must surely have provided a contrast and been set for solo oboe and basso continuo, and composed in duple time." Grychtolik also has done and recorded reconstructions of Bach's St. Mark Passion, BWV 247; the Köthener Trauermusik, BWV 244a=1143; and profane Cantatas BWV 210, 216a, and 36a (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Grychtolik).
FOOTNOTES
1 Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, Updated ed. (New York: W. W.Norton & Company, 2013: xxiiif).
2 Robin A. Leaver, Part 6, Chronology, Chapter 20, "Life and Works 1685-1750," The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach (London, New York: Routledge, 2017: 500).
3 Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik, "Ruhn und Glück (Fame and Happiness) - J.S. Bach: Birthday Cantatas BWV 36a & 66a" (2012: 10-13, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Grychtolik-A.htm#C1).
4 John Eliot Gardiner, "Cantatas for the First Sunday after Easter (Quasimodogeniti) / Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Kirche, Arnstadt," (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P23c%5Bsdg131_gb%5D.pdf; 5; BCW recording details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec4.htm#P23).
5 Cantata BWV 66a, Details & Discography, BCW http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV66a.htm; NBA KB I/35 (Cöthen cantatas, Alfred Dürr 1964: 59-61, Bach Compendium G-4; BWV 66 Score Vocal & Piano, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV066-V&P.pdf; Score BGA, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BGA/BWV066-BGA.pdf; digital, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000936; Carus score, https://carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien/30/3106600/3106600x.pdf.
6 Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 2, 1717-1750, Music to Delight the Spirit (Oxford University Press, 2013: 107f).
7 Friedrich Smend, Bach in Köthen, 1951; English edition, ed. & revised Stephen Daw (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1985: 50f).
8 Marcus Rathey, "The 'Theology' of Bach’s Cöthen Cantatas: Rethinking the Dichotomy of Sacred versus Secular," Journal of Musicological Research, Volume 35, 2016/4: 275-298, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411896.2016.1228358.
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To Come: Cöthen Cantatas BWV 134a, 173a, and 36a, Bach and the art of virtual parody; Hunold-Menantes and other Bach settings, BWV 204, Anh. 5-7, |
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