Praise be to the Lord my God, BWV 129
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Blessed be the Lord my God | |
| BWV: | 129 |
| Occasion: | Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1726? |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | BSA |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | 3Tr Ti Ft 2Ob Oa 2Vl Va Bc |
| text | |
| Johann Olearius | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Praise be to the Lord, my God ( BWV 129) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed the choir cantata in Leipzig for Trinity and probably performed it for the first time on June 16, 1726. Its content is a general praise of the Trinity , with no particular reference to the Sunday Gospel. Therefore the cantata, which addresses God as Creator, Salvation and Consolation, could also be played on other occasions, for example at the Reformation Festival . The cantata, with which Bach subsequently concluded his annual cycle of choral cantatas that began in 1724, has a festive setting and ends with a choral fantasy like the Christmas Oratorio .
Story and words
Bach composed the choir cantata in Leipzig for the Trinity Festival. The earliest possible performance date was June 16, 1726. With this cantata, Bach added to his second cycle of choral cantatas, which he had started on the first Sunday after Trinity in 1724. For the period from Easter in 1725 he had not composed any choral cantatas. The text of the cantata is the song Praise be to the Lord, my God (1665) by Johann Olearius , who celebrates the Trinity in five stanzas.
The prescribed readings for Sunday were Rom 11,33–36 LUT and Joh 3,1–15 LUT , the meeting of Jesus with Nicodemus . In contrast to most of the choral cantatas from 1724/25, but as in the early Easter cantata Christ lay in death bands, BWV 4 , Bach kept the chorale text unchanged. Hence there are no references to the gospel.
According to Christoph Wolff , the cantata was also performed at the Reformation Festival.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is festively occupied with three soloists, alto , soprano and bass , four-part choir, three trumpets , timpani , flauto traverso , two oboes , oboe d'amore , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Coro: Praise be to the Lord my God
- Aria (Bass): Praise be to the Lord, my God, my salvation
- Aria (soprano): Blessed be the Lord my God, my consolation
- Aria (old): Blessed be the Lord my God, who lives forever
- Chorale: To whom we the holy now
music
The opening chorus to the first chorale verse begins with a concerto of instruments, an interplay of strings and woodwinds with the interplay of trumpets. The cantus firmus , a melody by O Gott, du pious god by Ahasverus Fritsch (1679), is in the soprano, while the deep voices sometimes imitate, sometimes sing homophonically . The text praises God the Creator.
This is followed by three stanzas set to music as arias . In stark contrast to the large and polyphonic opening choir, the verse, which praises God as the Savior, is entrusted to the bass and is only accompanied by the continuo . Bach may have thought of the Vox Christi (voice of Christ), and the economical accompaniment illustrates the humiliation of the Son of God. The word “praised” is set to music as an expressive melisma . In the second aria, which praises God the Comforter, the soprano is accompanied by flute and violin. In the third aria, a general hymn of praise, the alto and oboe d'amore give a very vocal concert. John Eliot Gardiner suspects that their lively dance was inspired by the text "who praises everything that floats in the air". The last chorale stanza is embedded in a jubilant orchestral concerto, similar to the closing movements in Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Ascension Oratorio .
Recordings
- JS Bach: Cantatas BWV 119 & BWV 129. Diethard Hellmann , Bach Choir Mainz, Bach Orchestra Mainz, Lotte Wolf-Matthäus , Ursula Buckel , Margrit Conrad, Carl-Heinz Müller. Cantate, 1968.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 3 - Ascension Day, Whitsun, Trinity. Karl Richter , Munich Bach Choir , Munich Bach Orchestra , Edith Mathis , Anna Reynolds , Peter Schreier , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau . Archive production , 1975.
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 10. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Arleen Augér , Gabriele Schreckenbach, Philippe Huttenlocher . Hänssler, 1982.
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 7. Gustav Leonhardt , Knabenchor Hannover , Collegium Vocale Gent , Leonhardt-Consort , Sebastian Hennig (soloist of the Boys Choir Hannover), René Jacobs , Max van Egmond . Teldec , 1983.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 27: Blythburgh / Kirkwell. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Ruth Holton, Daniel Taylor, Peter Harvey . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 19. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Johannette Zomer, Bogna Bartosz, Christoph Prégardien , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 2002.
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 45 (Cantatas from Leipzig 1725). Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Yukari Nonoshita, Robin Blaze , Peter Kooy . UNTIL 2009.
- Blessed be the Lord my God. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Ulrike Hofbauer , Claude Eichenberger, Klaus Häger. Felizitas Countess von Schönborn (reflection). DVD. Gallus Media, 2008.
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 JSBachs . 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
- Christoph Wolff , Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4
Web links
- Praise be to the Lord, my God, BWV 129 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- BWV 129 Praised be the Lord my God by Bach Cantatas (English)
- Praise be to the Lord my God on the Bach website
- BWV 129 Blessed be the Lord my God University of Vermont
- BWV 129 - Praised be the Lord my God in the performance by the JS Bach Foundation under Rudolf Lutz , on Soundcloud
Individual evidence
- ↑ O praised be the Lord my God ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
- ^ A b John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for Whit Tuesday / Holy Trinity, Blythburgh ( English ) monteverdiproductions.co.uk. 2008. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
- ↑ Julian Mincham: Chapter 16 BWV 129 Praised be the Lord ( English ) jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / O Gott, du pious God . bach-cantatas.com. 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2011.
