Christ was in death gangs, BWV 4
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Christ lay in the bonds of death | |
| BWV: | 4th |
| Occasion: | Easter Sunday |
| Year of origin: | 1707? |
| Place of origin: | Mulhouse? |
| Genus: | Choral cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Cn 3Tb 2Vn 2Va Bc |
| AD : | approx. 20-25 min |
| text | |
| Martin Luther , 1524 | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Christ lay in death bands ( BWV 4) is a choral cantata for Easter Sunday by Johann Sebastian Bach . Her title is sometimes written as Christ lay in death bands .
Emergence
This Easter Sunday cantata is an early work by the composer. The year of its creation, as is deduced from the compositional style, is likely to have been between 1707 and 1713, and probably still in Bach's time in Mühlhausen (1707/1708). However, only copies from his Leipzig years in 1724 and 1725 have survived, so that there is no certainty about the details of the original version. This could have been composed and premiered for Bach's application for the position of organist in Mühlhausen (Easter 1707). A cantata of the same name by Johann Pachelbel , based on the same chorale , shares a number of similarities with the composition and it is possible that Bach was inspired by Pachelbel's work. It can be assumed that the cantata in its original Mühlhausen version had a different final movement than the four-part version that was performed at Easter 1725. It concluded a series of chorale cantatas that Bach had begun in his second Leipzig cantata cycle after Trinity in 1724. After Easter he did not compose any further choral cantatas. The last newly composed chorale cantata of the cycle was How beautifully shines the morning star, BWV 1 on Palm Sunday.
Bach had also listed Christ lay in death gangs at Easter in 1724. The 1725 version differed only in an additional trombone choir, consisting of zinc and trombones , which reinforced the vocal parts colla parte .
Subject
The text is based exclusively on the Easter song of the same name by Martin Luther from 1524. Its seven stanzas with a short introductory sinfonia form the eight movements of the cantata. All movements quote the chorale melody.
- Sinfonia
- Christ lay in the bonds of death
- No one can force death (soprano, alto)
- Jesus Christ, Son of God (tenor)
- It was a strange war
- Here is the right Easter lamb (bass)
- So we celebrate the high festival (soprano, tenor)
- We eat and live well
According to the liturgical purpose, the resurrection of Christ and the triumph of God over death are celebrated. The symmetrical arrangement highlights the middle movement It was a whimsical war .
occupation
- Singing parts: soprano , alto , tenor , bass , not more precisely characterized as soloistic or choral
- Instruments: violin I / II, viola I / II, basso continuo , plus zinc in some versions and trombone I-III colla parte with the vocal parts
particularities
The style of the style of the cantata Christ was in death bands still follows the type of choir concert, as was customary in cantata compositions of the 17th century. The modern style founded by Erdmann Neumeister with recitatives and arias was not used by Bach until 1714.
literature
- Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
- Werner Neumann : Handbook of JS Bach's Cantatas , 1947, 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
- Hans-Joachim Schulze : The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas . Leipzig: Evangelical publishing company; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 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
- Public domain notes from Christ lay in death bands in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)
- BWV 4 Christ was in death bands text, structure and composition on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
- Christ was in death bonds : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Christ lay in death bonds text on the Bach Cantata Page
- Cantata BWV 4 Christ was in death bands on bach-cantatas.com (English)
