The time that makes days and years
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| The time that makes days and years | |
| BWV: | 134a |
| Occasion: | Congratulations on new year |
| Year of origin: | 1719 |
| Place of origin: | Koethen |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | AT |
| Choir: | S, A, T, B |
| Instruments : | Oboes; Str; BC |
| text | |
| Christian Friedrich Hunold | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
The time that makes days and years , BWV 134a, is a secular cantata or serenata by Johann Sebastian Bach . It was written for the court of Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen as a congratulatory cantata for the New Year 1719.
Origin and text
The cantata was written on a poem that Christian Friedrich Hunold published in Halle in 1719 in Auserlesene and partly never printed poems by distinguished famous and skilled men , part 2. Bach used the music in Leipzig in 1724 as the basis for his Easter cantata Ein Herz, who knows his Jesus alive . The music of the earlier work was lost because Bach used parts of the performance material in Leipzig. Therefore, only a fragment was published in the first edition of the Leipzig Bach Society under the title Heaven crowns the times with grace . But Philipp Spitta found the printed text that made a reconstruction possible.
Most of the text of the Serenata is a dialogue between two allegorical figures, time for the past and Divine Providence for the future.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is composed for two soloists, a four-part choir, two oboes , strings and basso continuo. The time is sung by the tenor , Divine Providence by the alto , only the final chorus is four-part.
- Recitativo (tenor, alto): The time that makes days and years
- Aria (tenor, strings): Up, mortals, let out a whoop
- Recitativo (tenor, alto, oboes): As soon as the stars hold you
- Aria (alto, tenor, strings): It argue, it wins, the future times
- Recitativo (alto, tenor): Just think about it, happy country
- Aria (alto): The Lord of Times has many happy hours
- Recitativo (tenor, alto): Help, Most High, help that people praise me
- Chorus: Delighted on earth, rejoiced from above
music
In contrast to most of Bach's church cantatas, the cantata increases to a large-scale final chorus in a series of recitatives and arias .
The dialogic recitatives are predominantly secco recitatives, accompanied by the continuo. The first aria of the time is dominated by the first oboe. The second aria is a duet that speaks of the competition of times, which is illustrated by figurations in the first violin. In the last aria the voice of Divine Providence is accompanied only by the continuo and can expressively sing of the harmony of souls .
The cantata culminates in a choral movement, which the tenor opens with Ergetzet auf Erden , immediately followed by the alto rejoices from above , then all voices sing homophonically Happy times, this house rejoices ! The pattern is repeated twice, each time slightly expanded. The middle part of the movement starts again with alto and tenor, this time at the same time. A fugitive development begins on the words they blossom, they live , similar to the opening chorus to heart and mouth and deed and life : a rapid sequence of voices and an extensive melisma on the word Leben create very lively music. Two more times, alto and tenor begin a fugal section in which they in turn increasingly adorn the words of the most lucid souls . At the end of the middle section, the word calls out twice by all voices and accented by a subsequent pause. Then the whole first part is repeated da capo .
Recordings
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 10 , Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Michael Chance , Paul Agnew , Erato / Antoine Marchand 1998
- Edition Bachakademie Vol. 139 - Congratulatory and Hommage Cantatas , Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Ingeborg Danz , Marcus Ullmann , Hänssler 2000
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
- The time that makes days and years, BWV 134a : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- The time, the day and the years on the Bach website
- Structure and complete text of the cantata
- Cantata BWV 134a The time that makes days and years in bach-cantatas (English)
