Christ our Lord came to Jordan
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Christ our Lord came to Jordan | |
| BWV: | 7th |
| Occasion: | Johannis |
| Year of origin: | 1724 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | Church cantata |
| Solo : | ATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | 2Oa 2Vn Va Bc |
| text | |
| Martin Luther , unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Christ our Lord came to Jordan ( BWV 7) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He wrote the choir cantata in Leipzig for Johannis and performed it for the first time on June 24, 1724. It is based on Martin Luther's baptismal song of the same name and is the third cantata in Bach's 2nd annual cycle.
Story and words
In his second year in Leipzig, Bach composed the cantata for St. John's Day as the third cantata in his second annual cycle, which he began on the first Sunday after Trinity with O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20 . The prescribed readings were as Epistle Isa 40,1–5 LUT , “It is the voice of a preacher”, and as Gospel Lk 1,57–80 LUT , the birth of John the Baptist and the Benedictus of his father Zacharias . The work is based on the Lutheran baptismal song of the same name in seven stanzas by Martin Luther . The first and last chorale stanzas have been retained in their wording in movements 1 and 7, while an unknown poet rewrote the internal stanzas into a series of as many arias and recitatives . The song was the main song for the festival day. It is based on the baptism of Jesus and is therefore not directly related to the Gospel, which deals with the birth of the Baptist.
Bach first performed the cantata on June 24, 1724.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is made up of three soloists, alto , tenor and bass , four-part choir, two oboe d'amore , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Coro: Christ our Lord came to Jordan
- Aria (bass): Notice and hear, you human children
- Recitativo (tenor): God made this clear in words
- Aria (tenor): The father's voice could be heard
- Recitativo (bass): As Jesus there after his sufferings
- Aria (old): People, believe this grace
- Chorale: The eye alone sees the water
music
In the opening choir, a chorale fantasy, the tenor sings the melody as cantus firmus , while the other voices are set in free polyphony . In the first cantata of the cycle, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort , Bach had entrusted the cantus firmus to the soprano, in the second, Oh God, from heaven see it, BWV 2 , to the alto. The movement is similar to an Italian violin concerto. The first aria is only accompanied by the continuo. A secco recitative leads to an aria with two violins, which are described as solo from a later performance by Bach. The following recitative is entrusted to the bass as the Vox Christi and is accompanied by strings, similar to the words of Jesus in Bach's St. Matthew Passion . The reference in the text to the baptismal command is emphasized as an expressive Arioso . The oboes and strings accompany the last aria, as the line-up increases from aria to aria. The final chorale is a simple four-part movement.
Recordings
- CD
- Bach cantatas No. 8. BWV 7, BWV 18, BWV 107. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Nuria Rial , Julia Doyle (soprano), Alex Potter (alto), Makato Sakurada, Julius Pfeifer (tenor), Dominik Wörner , Wolf Matthias Friedrich (bass). Gallus Media, 2013.
- DVD
- "Christ our Lord came to Jordan". Cantata BWV 7. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Alex Potter, Julius Pfeifer, Dominik Wörner . Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Hardy Ruoss. Gallus Media, 2013.
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 2006, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 ; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006 ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig).
- Christoph Wolff , Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas . Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- Cantata BWV 7 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Data, text and sources at Bach Digital
- Christ our Lord came to the Jordan at Bach Cantatas (English)
- Christ our Lord of the Jordan came to the Bach.de website
- BWV 7 Christ our Lord of the Jordan came the text, structure and cast on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ↑ Text and Translation of Chorale by Bach Cantatas (English)
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works at Bach Cantatas (English)
- ↑ Klaus Hofmann: Christ our Lord came to the Jordan, BWV 7 / Christ our Lord came to the Jordan (PDF; 2.5 MB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 15. 2002. Retrieved June 17, 2012.
