My sighs, my tears
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| My sighs, my tears | |
| BWV: | 13 |
| Occasion: | 2nd Sunday after Epiphany |
| Year of origin: | 1726 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | 2Fl Oc 2Vl Va Bc |
| text | |
| Georg Christian Lehms , Johann Heermann , Paul Fleming | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
My sighs, my tears ( BWV 13) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany and performed it for the first time on January 20, 1726.
Story and words
In his third year in Leipzig, Bach wrote the cantata for the second Sunday after Epiphany (apparition of the Lord). The prescribed readings for the Sunday were Romans 12.6 to 16 LUT , "We have different gifts," and John 2,1-11 LUT , the wedding at Cana . The cantata text is taken from a yearbook of cantatas by Georg Christian Lehms , which was published in Darmstadt in 1711. The starting point for the poetry is a statement by Jesus from the Gospel: “My hour has not yet come”. An allusion to the wedding is in sentence 4 “God can easily turn vermouth juice into joy wine”. The text is divided into two sections, the first deals with the hopelessness of a person who feels abandoned by God, the second with confident hope in God's help. Both sections are concluded by a chorale, the first by the third stanza of Johann Heermann's “Zion laments with fear and pain”, the second by the last stanza of Paul Fleming's “In all my deeds”. Alfred Dürr concludes from the brevity of the work that the sections were probably not played before and after the sermon. Bach first performed the cantata on January 20, 1726.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is unusually orchestrated, with four vocal soloists, soprano , alto , tenor and bass , four-part chorus in the final chorale, two recorders , oboe da caccia , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Aria (tenor): My sighs, my tears
- Recitative (Alt): My dearest God still lets me
- Chorale (alto): The God who promised me
- Recitative (soprano): My grief is increasing
- Aria (bass): groaning and crying pathetically
- Chorale: So be now, soul, yours
music
The cantata begins with an aria, a lament, accompanied by recorders and the dark tone of the leading oboe da caccia. It has a da capo shape, with the middle section again divided into two parts. In it the voice is gradually led downwards to the words "road to death". The following short secco recitative ends as an arioso on the words “in vain plead”. In the chorale, the woodwinds reinforce the cantus firmus of the alto part in unison , while the strings play independent, lively figuration in F major, thereby expressing hope, although the text says that hope is not yet in sight.
A second expressive recitative leads to the second aria “Ächzen und pitiful weeping”. The bass is accompanied by the first violin, which is amplified by the recorders one octave higher, lightening it. The lament of the beginning is illustrated by motifs of sighs and tense intervals such as excessive seconds , diminished fifths and diminished sevenths . The ritornello consists of two opposing parts, a plaintive and a hopeful one, which is characterized by lively passages and jumps. In the middle section, the text “who sees heaven” is illustrated by an octave jump of the singing voice and upward striving runs of the instruments, in countermovement to the “path to death” in the first movement. The cantata ends in a four-part set with a chorale to the melody of " O world, I must let you " by Heinrich Isaac , which appears twice in Bach's St. Matthew Passion , in sets 10 (It's me, I should atone) and 37 (Who hit you like that).
Recordings
- LP / CD
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 1 - Advent and Christmas. Karl Richter , Munich Bach Choir , Munich Bach Orchestra , Edith Mathis , Anna Reynolds , Peter Schreier , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau . Archive production , 1971.
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 1. Gustav Leonhardt , Tölzer Knabenchor , King's College Choir, Leonhardt-Consort , soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor, Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz , Max van Egmond . Teldec , 1972.
- The Bach Cantata, Vol. 23. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Arleen Augér , Carolyn Watkinson , Adalbert Kraus , Walter Heldwein . Hänssler, 1981.
- Bach Edition Vol. 9 - Cantatas Vol. 4. Pieter Jan Leusink , Holland Boys Choir , Netherlands Bach Collegium , Ruth Holton , Sytse Buwalda , Knut Schoch , Bas Ramselaar . Brilliant Classics, 1999.
- Bach Cantatas, Vol. 19: Greenwich / Romsey. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Joanne Lunn , Richard Wyn Roberts , Julian Podger , Gerald Finley . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas, Vol. 17. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Sandrine Piau , Bogna Bartosz , Paul Agnew , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 2001.
- JS Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 42. Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Rachel Nicholls , Robin Blaze , Gerd Türk , Peter Kooij . UNTIL 2008.
- JS Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol. 8: “My sighs, my tears” - Cantatas BWV 13, 73, 81, 144. Sigiswald Kuijken , La Petite Bande , Gerlinde Sämann , Petra Noskaiová , Christoph Genz , Jan van der Crabs . Accent, 2008.
- DVD
- My sighs, my tears. Cantata BWV 13. Rudolf Lutz , Orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Susanne Seitter , Jan Börner , Jakob Pilgram , Wolf Matthias Friedrich . Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Stefan Stirnemann . Gallus Media, 2015.
literature
- Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 .
- Werner Neumann : Handbook of the cantatas Johann Sebastian 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, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 ; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006 (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 .
- Christoph Wolff / Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- My Sighs, My Tears, BWV 13 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 13 My sighs, my tears on the bach-cantatas website
- My sighs, my tears on the Bach.de website
- BWV 13 My Sighs, My Tears Text, structure and cast on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
- Free scores of My sighs, my tears in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zion complains with fear and pain / Text and Translation of Chorale ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ↑ In all my deeds / Text and Translation of Chorale ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2006. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ↑ John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Epiphany / Old Royal Naval College Chapel, Greenwich ( English , PDF; 85 kB) bach-cantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / O Welt, I have to let you ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- ↑ Product information ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the JS Bach Foundation, accessed on April 30, 2015.
