I am a good shepherd
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| I am a good shepherd | |
| BWV: | 85 |
| Occasion: | Misericordias Domini |
| Year of origin: | 1725 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | Church cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | 2Ob 2Vl Va Vp Bc |
| text | |
| unknown, Cornelius Becker , Ernst Christoph Homburg | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
I am a good shepherd ( BWV 85) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He wrote it in Leipzig for "Misericordias Domini", the 2nd Sunday after Easter , and performed it on April 15, 1725 for the first time.
Story and words
Bach composed the cantata in his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig for the Sunday “Misericordias Domini”. The prescribed readings for Sunday were 1 Pet 2:21–25 LUT , “Christ as an example”, and Joh 10,12–16 LUT , The Good Shepherd . According to John Eliot Gardiner , the unknown lyricist is the same as in the cantatas of the two previous Sundays, Stay with us, because it will be evening (BWV 6) and In the evening of the same Sabbath (BWV 42), before Bach wrote texts on the following Sundays Christiana Mariana von Ziegler set to music. The three related cantata texts were probably already planned for Bach's first cantata cycle, but he had not composed them, perhaps because of the stress caused by the first performance of the St. John Passion . The texts are based on themes from the Gospel of John . The cantata begins with verse 14 of the Sunday Gospel, “I am a good shepherd”. Sentence 2 explains that Jesus achieved this in his passion . The thought is commented on in the first stanza of Cornelius Becker's chorale “The Lord is my faithful shepherd” (1598), a repositioning of Psalm 23 . In sentence 4, the poet refers to verse 12 of the gospel, the difference between the shepherd who watches over the sheep and dedicates his life for them and the hirelings who sleep and neglect the sheep. Clause 5 names love as the Shepherd's motive for devotion. The cantata ends with the chorale “Is God my protection and faithful shepherd”, the fourth stanza of Ernst Christoph Homburg's song “Is God my shield and helper” (1658). Bach first performed the cantata on April 15, 1725.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is occupied by four vocal soloists, soprano , alto , tenor and bass , four-part choir, two oboes , two violins , viola , violoncello piccolo and basso continuo .
- Aria (bass): I am a good shepherd
- Aria (old): Jesus is a good shepherd
- Chorale: The Lord is my faithful shepherd
- Recitativo (tenor): When the tenants sleep
- Aria (tenor): See what love does
- Chorale: God is my protection and faithful shepherd
music
In the first movement the bass sings as Vox Christi “I am a good shepherd”, framed by instrumental ritornelles in a form that lies between aria and arioso . The motif sung on these words had previously appeared four times in continuo. The oboe is the concertante instrument in this opening movement, which Ernst Klaus Hofmann emphasizes. The alto aria is accompanied by an obbligato violoncello piccolo . The soprano sings the following chorale verse to the slightly ornate melody of Nikolaus Decius ' “ Alone God in the Heights Be Honor ” , while the two oboes in the ritornelles play a theme that is derived from the first line of the melody.
The only recitative is a short sermon that is accentuated by the pranks. Movement 5 is the only movement in the cantata in a pastoral 9/8 rhythm. The strings prefer to play parallel thirds and sixths in the lower register. As a result, the tenor is often the highest voice, starting with the first three calls "See". Gardiner notes the similarity of this aria to the alto aria "Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand" in the St. Matthew Passion (No. 60 in the New Bach Edition ), both in the theme of love that proceeds from the cross as well as in the Music whose warmth and intimacy are emphasized by Alfred Dürr . The cantata ends with a four-part choral movement.
Recordings
- Bach: Cantata 85; Cantata 151. Anthon van der Horst , Nederlandse Bachvereniging , Amsterdam Kamerorkest , Hélène Ludolph, Wilhelmine Matthès, Tom Brand, Hermann Schey. Telefunken, 1957.
- Les Grandes Cantates de JS Bach, Vol. 4. Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra , Ingeborg Reichelt , Hertha Töpper , Helmut Krebs , Franz Kelch . Erato, 1959.
- JS Bach: Cantata BWV 85 I am a good shepherd. Karl Ristenpart , Saarbrücken Conservatory Choir, Saar Chamber Orchestra, Eva Bornemann, Helmut Kretschmar , Jakob Stämpfli . Saarländischer Rundfunk , 1960.
- Bach cantatas, Vol. 8: BWV 103, BWV 85, BWV 86, BWV 144. Diethard Hellmann , Bach choir and Bach orchestra Mainz. DdM-Records Mitterteich, late 1960s?
- Les Grandes Cantates de JS Bach, Vol. 24. Fritz Werner , Heinrich Schütz Choir Heilbronn , Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn , Hedy Graf, Barbara Scherler, Kurt Huber, Jakob Stämpfli. Erato, 1970.
- JS Bach: The Cantata Work, Volume 22 - BWV 84–90. Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Tölzer Knabenchor , Concentus Musicus Wien , soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor, Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz , Ruud van der Meer. Teldec, 1977.
- The Bach Cantata, Vol. 13. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Arleen Augér , Gabriele Schreckenbach, Adalbert Kraus , Walter Heldwein. Hänssler, 1981.
- JS Bach: Cantatas with Violoncelle Piccolo. Christophe Coin , The Leipzig Concerto Vocale , Ensemble Baroque de Limoges , Barbara Schlick , Andreas Scholl , Christoph Prégardien , Gotthold Schwarz . Auvidis Astrée / Naïve 1994.
- Bach Edition Vol. 5 - Cantatas Vol. 2. Pieter Jan Leusink , Holland Boys Choir , Netherlands Bach Collegium , Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Nico van der Meel, Bas Ramselaar. Brilliant Classics, 1999.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 23: Arnstadt / Echternach. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Katharine Fuge , William Towers , Norbert Meyn , Stephen Varcoe . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 15. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Deborah York , Bogna Bartosz , Jörg Dürmüller , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 2001.
- JS Bach: Cantatas, Vol. 39. Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Carolyn Sampson , Robin Blaze , Gerd Türk , Peter Kooij . UP, 2007.
- JS Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year, Vol. 11. Sigiswald Kuijken , La Petite Bande , Gerlinde Sämann , Petra Noskaiová , Christoph Genz , Jan van der Crabben . Accent, 2008.
- DVD
- Johann Sebastian Bach: I am a good shepherd. Cantata BWV 85. Rudolf Lutz , Orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Gerlinde Sämann (soprano), Terry Wey (alto), Georg Poplutz (tenor), Markus Volpert (bass). Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Peter Wollny . Gallus Media, 2017.
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
- I'm a Good Shepherd , BWV 85 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 85 I am a good shepherd at Bach Cantatas (English)
- I am a good shepherd on the Bach.de website
- BWV 85 I'm a Good Shepherd Text, Structure, Cast, at the University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Second Sunday after Easter (Misericordias Domini) / Basilique St Willibrord, Echternach ( English , PDF; 115 kB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 11. 2007. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- ↑ Christoph Wolff : The transition between the second and the third yearly cycle of Bach's Leipzig cantatas (1725) ( English , PDF; 130 kB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 5. 2001. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ↑ a b Klaus Hofmann: I am a good shepherd / I am the Good Shepherd, BWV 85 (PDF; 2.0 MB) bach-cantatas.com. S. 16. 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2012.
- ↑ The Lord is my faithful shepherd / Text and Translation of Chorale ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2012.
- ↑ Julian Mincham: Chapter 44: BWV 85, BWV 108 and BWV 87, each coming with a bass aria. ( English ) jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved April 18, 2012.
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / alone God in the Höh sei Ehr / The German Gloria (in excelsis Deo) ( English ) bach-cantatas.com. 2006. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
- ↑ Booklet ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) on the JS Bach Foundation website, accessed on May 17, 2017.
