Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer | |
| BWV: | 114 |
| Occasion: | 17th Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1724 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | Choral cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Co Ft 2Ob 2Vl Va Bc |
| text | |
|
Johannes Gigas
unknown poet |
|
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer ( BWV 114) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed the choir cantata in Leipzig in 1724 for the 17th Sunday after Trinity and performed it for the first time on October 1st, 1724. It is based on the song by Johannes Gigas .
Story and words
Bach composed the cantata in his second year in office in Leipzig , in which he created a cycle of choral cantatas. The prescribed readings for Sunday were Eph 4.1–6 LUT , the exhortation to unity in spirit, and Lk 14.1–11 LUT , the healing of a dropsy on the Sabbath and the exhortation to humility.
The cantata is based on the penitential song in six stanzas by Johannes Gigas (1561), which is sung to the melody of "Where the Lord God does not stay with us". The song is only generally related to the gospel, it focuses on the fact that the Christian sins and deserves punishment, but can be brought into joy through a "blessed death" from tribulation. An unknown poet retained the wording of the first, third and last stanzas as movements 1, 4 and 7 of the cantata. He developed movements 2 and 3, aria and recitative , from the second stanza, movement 5, another aria from the fourth stanza, and the last recitative from the fifth stanza. In sentence three he expanded the lyrics and made a connection to the Gospel by comparing sin with the disease dropsy and portraying it as also in need of salvation: "This dropsy is there for destruction and will be fatal to you". He alluded to Adam's case, out of the presumption of wanting to be like God: "The pride ate before from the forbidden fruit of becoming equal to God".
Bach first performed the cantata on October 1, 1724.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is made up of four soloists, soprano , alto , tenor and bass , four-part choir, horn to reinforce the soprano in the chorale, flauto traverso , two oboes , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Coro: Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer
- Aria (tenor): Where is this tale of tears
- Recitativo (bass): O sinner, bear with patience
- Chorale (soprano): No fruit that wheat kernels bring
- Aria (old): You do not worry me further, oh death
- Recitativo (tenor): Meanwhile, consider your soul
- Chorale: We wake up or fall asleep
music
In the opening chorus, a chorale fantasy, Bach depicts the opposing aspects of the text, comfort and fear, in different themes that appear simultaneously in the instruments: a confident theme is derived from the song melody and appears in the oboes and first violins, a fearful one trembling is played by the second violins and continuo. The soprano, reinforced by the horn, sings the song melody in long notes as cantus firmus , while the lower voices sing partly in expressive imitation, partly homophonically , depending on the interpretation of the text .
The first aria (tenor) with a virtuoso flute also clarifies the fearful question “Where will the refuge from my spirit be in this valley of misery?” And in the middle part the trusting “I want to turn to Jesus' father's hands in weakness”, yes the question returns in the da capo form. The first recitative begins secco, but the opposing words “lifted” and “humbled” from the Gospel are emphasized as Arioso . The central song verse is sung almost unadorned by the soprano and only accompanied by the continuo. The alto aria shows trust and is the only movement of the cantata in a major key . The stronger the minor coloring to the words "It must have died like that". The cantata ends with a simple four-part choral movement.
Recordings
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 52 , Helmuth Rilling , Frankfurter Kantorei , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Gabriele Schnaut , Julia Hamari , Kurt Equiluz , Wolfgang Schöne , Hänssler 1974/1981
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk Complete Cantatas Les Cantates, Episode / Vol. 28 - BWV 43-46 , Gustav Leonhardt , Knabenchor Hannover , Leonhardt-Consort , soloist of the Knabenchor Hannover, René Jacobs , Kurt Equiluz , Max van Egmond , Telefunken 1980
- Bach Edition Vol. 5 - Cantatas Vol. 2 , Pieter Jan Leusink , Holland Boys Choir , Netherlands Bach Collegium , Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Knut Schoch , Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 1999
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 12 , Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Lisa Larsson , Annette Markert, Christoph Prégardien , Klaus Mertens , Antoine Marchand 2000
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 9: Lund / Leipzig / For the 17th Sunday after Trinity / For the 18th Sunday after Trinity , John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Katharine Fuge, Charles Humphries, Mark Padmore, Stephan Loges, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 25 - Cantatas from Leipzig 1724 - BWV 78, 99, 114 , Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Yukari Nonoshita, Daniel Taylor, Makoto Sakurada, Peter Kooij , BIS 2003
literature
- Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 and Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-423-04431-4 .
- Werner Neumann : Handbook of the cantatas by JS Bach . 1947. 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4 .
- Hans-Joachim Schulze : The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas . Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig), ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verlag).
- Christoph Wolff , Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas . Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
- Andreas Marti : «… to hear the teaching of life». An analysis of the three cantatas for the 17th Sunday after Trinity by Johann Sebastian Bach from a musical, rhetorical and theological point of view . Bern 1981, ISBN 978-3-261-04867-7
Web links
- Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer, BWV 114 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 114 Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer with Bach Cantatas (English)
- Oh, dear Christians, be confident on the Bach website
- BWV 114 Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer Text, structure, occupation University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer at Bach Cantatas (English)
- ↑ Where the Lord God does not stop with us at Bach Cantatas (English)
- ↑ a b John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity / Allhelgonakyrkan, Lund ( English , PDF, 137 kB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 3. 2009. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e Klaus Hofmann: Oh, dear Christians, be comforted, BWV 114 / Ah, dear Christians, be comforted (PDF; 5.1 MB) bach-cantatas.com. 2003. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
- ↑ a b c Julian Mincham: Chapter 18 BWV 114 Oh, dear Christians, be of good cheer . jsbachcantatas.com. 2012. Retrieved September 29, 2012.
