So God loved the world, BWV 68
Bach cantata | |
---|---|
So God loved the world | |
BWV: | 68 |
Occasion: | 2nd day of Pentecost |
Year of origin: | 1725 |
Place of origin: | Leipzig |
Genus: | Church cantata |
Solo : | SB |
Choir: | SATB |
Instruments : | Co Cn 3Tb 2Ob Ot 2Vl Va Vp Bc |
text | |
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler , Salomo Liscow | |
List of Bach cantatas |
So God Loved the World ( BWV 68) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig for the second day of Pentecost and performed it for the first time on May 21, 1725.
Story and words
Bach wrote the cantata for the second day of Pentecost. The prescribed readings for the feast day were Acts 10.16-21 LUT and John 3.16-21 LUT , the meeting of Jesus with Nicodemus . In his second year in Leipzig, Bach consistently composed choral cantatas from the first Sunday after Trinity to Palm Sunday for his second cycle of cantatas , but at Easter he switched back to cantatas based on freer text. This included nine cantatas based on texts by the poet Christiana Mariana von Ziegler , including the cantata for the 2nd day of Pentecost. Bach later assigned them and Auf Christi Himmelfahrt alone to his second cycle of cantatas, although they are not based on a chorale, but begin with a choral fantasy. The other seven cantatas by the author, which begin predominantly with a bass solo as Vox Christi (voice of Christ), on the other hand, he took in the third cantata cycle.
The poet chose for the first movement of the Pentecost cantata with the first stanza of Solomon Liscow's hymn (1675), which begins with the same words as the sentence of the Gospel: “So God loved the world”. In the last movement of the five-movement work, she quoted verse 18 of the Gospel, which Bach worked on in an unusually extensive choral movement.
Bach first performed the cantata on May 21, 1725.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is occupied by two vocal soloists ( soprano and bass ), four-part choir, horn , zinc , three trombones , two oboes , waist (tenor oboe ), two violins , viola and basso continuo . The cantata contains five movements.
- Coro: So God loved the world
- Aria (soprano): My believing heart
- Recitativo (bass): I'm not presumptuous with Petro
- Aria (bass): You were born for my benefit
- Coro: Whoever believes in him will not be judged
music
The opening choir is a chorale fantasy, as in Bach's chorale cantatas. The melody by Gottfried Vopelius (1682) is sung by the soprano and amplified by the horn. Bach changed the rhythm of the melody to 12/8 time and decorated it.
The two arias are based on Bach's Jagdkantata What I like is only the lively hunt , BWV 208. The soprano aria “Mein belieiges Herz” is based on an aria by the goddess Pales “Because the wanting herds”. Bach uses a violoncello piccolo as an obligatory instrument , as in other cantatas in his second cycle (1724-25). The bass aria is based on an aria by the god Pan, "A prince is his country's Pan".
The last movement is not a simple four-part chorale, as in most church cantatas, but a large-scale structure based on a verse from the Gospel of John. Bach expresses the contrast between “who believes in him” and “who but does not believe” in a double fugue with two contrasting themes, with the voices reinforced by zinc (soprano) and three trombones (alto to bass).
Recordings (selection)
- JS Bach: Cantatas BWV 68 & BWV 70. Kurt Thomas , Kantorei der Dreikönigskirche Frankfurt, Collegium Musicum, Ingeborg Reichelt , Erich Wenk. L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1962?
- Bach Made in Germany Vol. 2 - Cantatas IV. Kurt Thomas , Thomanerchor , Gewandhausorchester , Elisabeth Grümmer , Theo Adam . Eterna, 1960.
- Les Grandes Cantates de JS Bach Vol. 14. Fritz Werner , Heinrich Schütz Choir Heilbronn , Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra , Agnes Giebel , Jakob Stämpfli . Erato , 1963.
- JS Bach: “Sound out, you songs”, cantata BWV 172; “So God loved the world”, cantata BWV 68. Klaus Martin Ziegler , Kassel Vocal Ensemble , German Bach soloists , Ursula Buckel , Jakob Stämpfli . Cantate, 1966.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 3 - Ascension Day, Whitsun, Trinity. Karl Richter , Munich Bach Choir , Munich Bach Orchestra , Edith Mathis , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau . Archive production , 1975.
- JS Bach: The Cantata Work, Volume 17 - BWV 65–68. Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Tölzer Knabenchor , Concentus Musicus Wien , soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor, Ruud van der Meer. Teldec , 1975.
- The Bach Cantata, Vol. 37. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Arleen Augér , Philippe Huttenlocher . Hänssler, 1981.
- Bach Made in Germany Vol. 4 - Cantatas II. Hans-Joachim Rotzsch , Thomanerchor , Gewandhausorchester , Arleen Augér , Theo Adam . Leipzig Classics, 1981.
- JS Bach: Cantatas with Violoncelle Piccolo. Christophe Coin , Chœur de Chambre Accentus , Ensemble Baroque de Limoges , Barbara Schlick , Gotthold Schwarz . Auvidis Astrée, 1995.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 26: Long Melford / For Whit Sunday / For Whit Monday. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Lisa Larsson , Panajotis Iconomou. Soli Deo Gloria 2000.
- Bach Edition Vol. 21 - Cantatas Vol. 12. Pieter Jan Leusink , Holland Boys Choir , Netherlands Bach Collegium , Marjon Strijk, Bas Ramselaar. Brilliant Classics, 2000.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 14. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Deborah York, Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 2001
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 39 - BWV 28, 68, 85, 175, 183. Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Carolyn Sampson , Peter Kooij . UP, 2007.
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 . Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig 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 2006, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 ; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig)
- Christoph Wolff, Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas. JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- So God Loved the World, BWV 68 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Data, text and sources at Bach Digital
- Cantata BWV 68 "So God loved the world" by Bach Cantatas (English)
- So God loved the world on the private website bach.de
- BWV 68 So God Loved The World Text, structure and composition on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Alfred Dürr : The Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach , 4th Edition, Volume 1, Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, 1981, ISBN 3-423-04080-7 .
- ↑ Julian Mincham: Chapter 49 BWV 68 So God loved the world / God so loved the world. ( English ) jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ↑ a b c Klaus Hofmann : So God so Loved the World / For God so Loved the World, BWV 68 (PDF; 2.0 MB) bach-cantatas.com. Pp. 5-6. 2007. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
- ↑ John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for Whit Monday / Holy Trinity, Long Melford ( English , PDF; 88 kB) bach-cantatas.com. Pp. 10-12. 2006. Retrieved May 16, 2013.