Just to each his own
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Just to each his own | |
| BWV: | 163 |
| Occasion: | 23rd Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1715 or 1716 |
| Place of origin: | Weimar |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | S, A, T, B |
| Choir: | (S, A, T, B) |
| Instruments : | Oa; 2Vl; Va; 2Vc; Bc |
| text | |
| Salomon Franck | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Only each his own ( BWV 163) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Weimar for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity .
Story and words
On March 2, 1714, Johann Sebastian Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court orchestra of the dukes Wilhelm Ernst and Ernst August I of Saxe-Weimar . As concertmaster, he took on the main responsibility for composing new works each month, especially cantatas for the castle church. Bach composed the cantata in 1715 for the 23rd Sunday after Trinity. The readings prescribed for Sunday came from Paul's letter to the Philippians (“For our homeland is in heaven”, ( Philippians 3:17–21 EU )) and from the Gospel according to Matthew (“So give the emperor what belongs to the emperor, and to God what belongs to God ”( Matthew 22 : 15–22 EU )). The librettist was Salomon Franck , the court poet in Weimar. He began with a paraphrase of the well-known answer “So give the emperor what belongs to the emperor” from the Gospel according to Matthew and used several allusions to money and gold (he was also a numismatist at the Weimar court).
As the sixth and last movement of this cantata, Franck recorded a stanza from a hymn by Johann Heermann , after the printed libretto the last stanza from “ Where shall I flee ” (1630). The music of this choir is lost, only the figured bass part has been preserved. Recent research has shown that Bach possibly instead used a verse from Heermann's Meinen Jesum ich nicht in a melody that he used instrumentally in movement 5 and that went with the figured bass part. Bach conducted the world premiere on November 24, 1715. It was the first cantata to be performed from August to November after the mourning period for Prince Johann Ernst IV . Nothing is known about a later performance in Leipzig, but the Bach scholar Christoph Wolff writes: "One can safely assume that it was [revived]."
Occupation and structure
The cantata is divided into six movements, starting with an aria for tenor , followed by two pairs of recitative singing and an aria, one for bass , the next for a duet for soprano and alto . The final part is a choir in which all four voices are united. As with several other cantatas based on texts by Franck, it is written for a small baroque chamber ensemble consisting of two violins , one viola , two violoncello and a figured bass .
- 1. Aria (tenor): Just to each his own
- 2. Recitativo (bass): You are, my God, the giver of all gifts
- 3. Aria (bass): Let my heart be the coin
- 4. Recitativo Deutto (soprano, alto): I wanted you
- 5. Aria Duetto (soprano, alto): Take me from me and give me to you
- 6. Chorale: Lead my heart and mind too
music
The opening aria for tenor is based on a paraphrase of “So give the Kaiser what belongs to the Kaiser”. This aria contains an unusual ritornello in which the strings play a motif introduced by the figured bass , which is then repeated several times through all voices. The movement is a da capo aria that emphasizes dualism and indebtedness. Craig Smith noted that it "is almost academic in its metric tenacity".
The second movement is a secco bass recitative “You are my God, the giver of all gifts”. It has been described as "operational in its intensity and subtle adjustments of character". The recitative is notable for its "aggressive, even martial" conclusion.
The following bass aria, “Let my heart be the coin”, has an unusual and unique accompaniment of two obligato cellos with continuo. The cellos present an imitative motif to introduce the bass. John Eliot Gardiner, who led the Bach Cantatas Pilgrimage in 2000, explains that Bach "conjures up an irresistible image of two coin-polishers at work, some kind of 18th-century magician who incites his apprentice," notes that “two cellos sneak into the air”, with a countermovement with large interval jumps. Bach was interested in coins and precious metals. The conductor Craig Smith compares the dark texture with the "descent into the earth in Wagner's Das Rheingold". The aria is divided into three thematic sections: "writing down", "melodramatic rhetorical" and "unsightly".
The fourth movement is a soprano and alto duo recitative "I wanted to give you, oh God, my heart". It is rhythmically metric and has five sections based on mood and text. The recitative is “high and light, but very complicated in its innumerable details”. The duo aria “Take me from me and give me to you!”, Again for soprano and alto, is written in a three-quarter tank. The melody of Johann Heermann's hymn "I won't let my Jesus" is interwoven as a cantus firmus of the upper strings in harmony with the texture. The movement is a “love duet” characterized by “antiphonal confessions” to God rather than a carnal desire. Musicologist Julian Mincham compares his presentation with Claudio Monteverdi L'incoronazione di Poppea. The movement starts with a sparse cast and becomes more structured over time, with the chorale melody added.
The last movement, “Lead my heart and mind”, is a four-part chorale version called “Chorale in semplice stylo”; however, only the solid line exists. While in the libretto a stanza from Heermann's “Where should I flee” based on a melody by Christian Friedrich Witt should be used, the Bach scholar Andreas Glöckner found that the continuo part corresponds to the melody of the previous movement in one published by Witt Hymn book.
Web links
- Just his own, BWV 163 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Just to each his own BWV 163; BC A 158 Bach Digital
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jan Koster: Weimar 1708-1717 . In: let.rug.nl . Retrieved December 16, 2011.
- ↑ a b Cantata BWV 163 Only to each his own! . Bach Cantatas. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity / Winchester Cathedral . Monteverdi Choir . Pp. 13-14. 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2017.
- ↑ Tadashi Isoyama: BWV 163: To Each Only His Due . Bach Cantatas. Pp. 6-7. 1996. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
- ↑ Christoph Wolff : From concert master to thomaskantor: Bach's cantata production 1713-1723 . Bach Cantatas. Pp. 21-25. 1991. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
- ^ Walter F. Bischof: BWV 163 . University of Alberta. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f Mincham, Julian: Chapter 25 BWV 163 . jsbachcantatas. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
- ^ A b Smith, Craig: BWV 163 . Emmanuel Music. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f Pamela Dellal : BWV 163 - Just everyone theirs ! . Emmanuel Music . Retrieved November 6, 2015.
