God, you are praised in silence
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| God, you are praised in silence | |
| BWV: | 120 |
| Occasion: | Council election |
| Year of origin: | 1728? 1729? |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | S, A, T, B |
| Choir: | S, A, T, B |
| Instruments : | Tr I-III, Ti, Ob I / II; Str; BC |
| text | |
| unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
God, you are praised in silence ( BWV 120) is a sacred cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig for the council election. Bach used parts of the cantata for a wedding cantata (BWV 120a) and edited it in 1730 as a cantata to celebrate the Augsburg Confession (BWV 120b). He later reworked the beginning of the choral movement for the Et expecto in the Credo of his B minor Mass .
history
God, you are praised in the silence was written in Leipzig for the council election. This introduction by the elected city council was regularly celebrated in a service on the Monday after St. Bartholomew (August 24). A first performance in 1728 or 1729 appears likely. The cantata was performed again in 1742. The score of this performance has been preserved, overwritten
- JJ Concerto à 4 Voci. due skin b. due violini, viola, 3 trombone, tamburi è continuo.
Bach used parts of the cantata for the wedding cantata Herr Gott, Ruler of all things (BWV 120a) and 1730 for a cantata God, One Praises You in Silence (BWV 120b) on the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession . The music of the latter work is lost. Bach reworked the first part of the second movement, Jauchzet, you delighted voices , as Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum ( and expect the resurrection of the dead ) in the Symbolum Nicaenum (Credo) of his B minor mass .
Cast, words and structure
The instrumentation is festive according to the occasion, with four soloists and the four-part choir playing three trumpets , timpani , two oboe d'amore , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Aria: (Alt): God, you are praised in silence
- Coro: Shout, you delighted voices
- Recitativo (bass): Up, you beloved Lindenstadt
- Aria (soprano): Heil und Blessing
- Recitativo (tenor): Well, sir, consecrate the regiment yourself
- Chorale: Now help us, Lord, the servants of yours
The first movement sets Psalm 65: 2 to music. It is unusual for a Bach cantata to begin with a singing voice, but perhaps he wanted to clarify the words out of silence by setting them for alto and two oboes d'amore. The following choral movement is dominated in great contrast by trumpet fanfares, which are picked up by the voices. The soprano aria with solo violin probably goes back to an earlier work: an arrangement of the piece for violin and harpsichord obbligato is part of the early version (BWV 1019a) of the violin sonata in G major BWV 1019, which Bach in all probability already featured in his Koethener Zeit (1717–1723) had composed. The tenor recitative, a prayer for justice and blessings, is accompanied by strings. The words of the final chorale are taken from Martin Luther's German Te Deum , Lord God, we praise you .
Recordings
- Cantatas, BWV 119-120 , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Tölzer Knabenchor , Concentus Musicus Wien , Markus Huber (boy soprano), Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz , Robert Holl , Philippe Huttenlocher , Teldec 1971
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 67 , Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Helen Donath , Hildegard Laurich , Adalbert Kraus , Wolfgang Schöne , Hänssler 1973
- JS Bach Cantatas BWV 29 "We thank you, God"; BWV 119 "Prizes, Jerusalem, the Lord"; BWV 120 "God, you are praised in silence" , Philippe Herreweghe , Collegium Vocale Gent , Deborah York , Ingeborg Danz , Mark Padmore , Peter Kooij , Harmonia Mundi 1999 review by David Hurwitz (English)
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 20 , BWV 120 and BVW 120a, Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Sandrine Piau , Bogna Bartosz (120) - Nathalie Stutzmann (120a), James Gilchrist , Klaus Mertens , Antoine Marchand 2003
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cantata BWV 120 Provenance on the website bach-cantatas (English)
- ↑ Christoph Wolff : The Cantatas of the Picander cycle and of the early 1730s (PDF; 5.3 MB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 14, 18. 2003. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
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
- Cantata BWV 120 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 120 God, you are praised in silence, BWV 120 in bach-cantatas (English)
- God, you are praised in silence, BWV 120 on the Bach website
