O eternity, you thunder word, BWV 20
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| O eternity, you word of thunder | |
| BWV: | 20th |
| Occasion: | 1st Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1724 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | Choral cantata |
| Solo : | ATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Tt 3Ob 2Vn Va Bc |
| AD : | approx. 31 min |
| text | |
| Johann Rist , unknown poet | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort ( BWV 20), is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He wrote it in Leipzig for the first Sunday after Trinity and performed it for the first time on June 11, 1724. It opened his second Leipzig cantatas year, also known as the choir cantatas year .
Story and words
Bach composed the cantata in for the first Sunday after Trinity. The second half of the church year begins on this Sunday. A year earlier, Bach had taken up his post as Thomaskantor on this occasion and began the first cycle of cantatas with Die Elenden shall eat .
The prescribed readings for Sunday were 1 Joh 4,16-21 LUT , “God is love”, and Lk 16,19–31 LUT , the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus . The two-part work is based on the hymn of the same name by Johann Rist from 1642. The wording of stanzas 1, 8 and 12 was taken over in sentences 1, 7 and 11, while an unknown poet transformed the other stanzas into a series of recitatives and arias . The directly adopted verses are based on the melody by Johann Schop . The theme of the song is related to the gospel of Sunday.
With this cantata he began the project of writing a choral cantata for each occasion of the church year, which processed the respective Lutheran main song. Leipzig had a tradition of viewing these songs. Already in 1690 was the pastor of St. Thomas Church , Johann Benedict Carpzov , announced that he was "good, beautiful, old, Protestant and Lutheran song" a preaching would each, the cantor Johann Schelle "Bringing in a graceful music, and those before Sermon ... to be heard “. Bach composed forty choral cantatas in his second year of cantatas.
Occupation and structure
The cantata consists of three vocal soloists, alto , tenor and bass , four-part choir, slide trumpet , three oboe , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
part One
- Coro: O eternity, you thunder word
- Recitativo (tenor): There is no misfortune in the world
- Aria (tenor): Eternity, you scare me
- Recitativo (bass): Suppose the damned torment lasted
- Aria (bass): God is righteous in his works
- Aria (old): O man, save your soul
- Chorale: As long as a god lives in heaven
Part II
- Aria (bass): Wake up, wake up, lost sheep
- Recitativo (Alt): Forsake, oh man, the lust of this world
- Aria (alto, tenor): O human child, stop it quickly
- Chorale: O eternity, you thunder word
music
The musical decoration of the text content and musical allusions typical of Bach are particularly pronounced in this cantata. In the lavishly designed opening movement, the style of the French overture is used for the beginning of the new cantata cycle. Their sequence slowly - fast ( Vivace ) - slowly follows the chorale melody, although it is in bar form , i.e. it repeats the beginning in the middle section (Stollen) and then brings new material in the swan song (lines 7 and 8). The melody is sung as cantus firmus by the soprano in long notes, reinforced by the slide trumpet. The thematic development takes place in the orchestra. The rising theme in the slow part is from the beginning of the song melody, while the theme in the fast part is independent of the song. This part is not a strict fugue ; Bach seems to be more interested in the interpretation of the text. For example, “Eternity” is represented by long notes, “Donnerwort” appears as a sudden change to fast notes with a melisma in the bass, “great sadness” is illustrated by a descending chromatic line, “frightened” appears in torn rhythms, that of pauses are broken, "sticks" is held by the singing voices for a long time.
The recitatives are predominantly secco, for the arioso only extended in sentence 9 to the words “splendor, courage, wealth, honor and money”, which are quoted literally from the chorale. The arias interpret the text both in its affect and in individual phrases. The text of the bass aria (movement 8) "Wake up, wake up lost sheep" is symbolized by the wake-up call of the trumpet for the Last Judgment . In movement 10, a duet, the first motif is sung by the voices in response to the words "O human child" and is constantly repeated by the instruments as a reminder of this warning. Both parts of the cantata end with the same four-part chorale, which ends with the prayer: "If you like it, Lord Jesus, take me to your tent of joy!"
Recordings (selection)
- DVD
- O eternity, you word of thunder. Cantata BWV 20. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Markus Forster , Daniel Johannsen , Wolf Matthias Friedrich . Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Sibylle Lewitscharoff . 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 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- Verl.)
- Christoph Wolff / Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (BWV 20) : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 20 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (I) on the bach-cantatas website
- O eternity, you word of thunder on the Bach.de website
- BWV 20 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort I Text, structure and composition on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the First Sunday after Trinity / St Giles Cripplegate, London ( English , PDF; 48 kB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 2. 2004. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ↑ Christoph Wolff : Bach: Essays on his Life and Music ( English ) 1991. Retrieved on June 21, 2011.
- ↑ O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort / Text and Translation of Chorale ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2003. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Wach auf, mein Geist, Rise dich ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e Klaus Hofmann: O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20 / O eternity, thunderous word (PDF; 2.5 MB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 13. 2002. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
- ↑ Product information on the JS Bach Foundation website, accessed on January 18, 2016.
