You gates to Zion

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Bach cantata
You gates to Zion,
you houses of heaven, you shining lights
BWV: 193 / 193a
Occasion: Change of council / name day
Year of origin: 1727
Place of origin: Leipzig
Genus: sacred cantata / drama per musica
Solo : SA (T / B)?
Choir: SA (TB)
Instruments : (3Tr Ti)? 2Ob 2Vl Va (Bc)
text
unknown / Picander
List of Bach cantatas

Ihr Tore zu Zion (sometimes Ihr Pforten zu Zion , BWV 193) is a sacred cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He wrote it in Leipzig in 1727 for the change of council and performed it for the first time on August 25, 1727. Part of the music is lost and has been reconstructed on various occasions. At about the same time, Bach composed the drama per musica Ye Houses of Heaven, You Shining Lights (BWV 193a). Both works have a few sentences in common.

Story and words

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the change of council, the festive church service to introduce the newly elected city council. The introduction of the city council was regularly celebrated in Leipzig in a festive service on the Monday following Bartholomew's Day (August 24th). Bach first performed the cantata on August 25, 1727. The text of an unknown poet contains ideas from Psalms, at the beginning Ps 87.2  LUT , “The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the apartments in Jacob”, in sentence 2 Ps 121.4  LUT , “See, the guardian of Israel sleeps and does not slumber ”. God is praised as the maintainer of the “Leipzig Jerusalem”.

Some movements, namely 1, 3 and 5, are probably parodies of parts of the drama per musica Ihr Houses des Himmels, ihr shining lights (BWV 193a), which Bach had composed for the name day of August the Strong on August 3, 1727. The text of the secular work in eleven sentences was written by Picander and published in Ernst-Schertzhaffte and Satyrische Gedichte , Part II, in Leipzig in 1729. The allegorical figures are Providentia (providence), Fama (fame), Salus (salvation) and Pietas (piety). The title page bears the dedication “Bey der / Hohen Nahmens-Feyer / Ihro / Koenigl. Maj. In Pohlen / and Churfl. Passed through to Saxony etc. / demonstrated / In a low MUSIC / His most entertaining congratulations / Christian Friedrich Henrici / Leipzig, August 3, 1727 ”.

Alfred Dürr suspects that the music goes back in part to earlier compositions, perhaps from the time in Koethen. Christoph Wolff assumes that the text of the sacred cantata was also written by Picander. However, since the libretto of the sacred work has not survived either in print or in manuscript, and since the original score of Bach and two of the four original vocal parts of the work have been lost, the text for the third recitative is completely missing .

Occupation and structure

While the music of BWV 193a has been lost, the sacred cantata BWV 193 has been partially preserved. The voices of soprano and alto are available, which are missing for tenor and bass . There are instrumental parts for two oboes , two violins and viola , while basso continuo is missing. In view of the festive purpose, it can be assumed that Bach also planned trumpets and timpani, and sometimes flutes.

BWV 193

  1. Coro: You gates to Zion
  2. Recitativo (soprano): The guardian of Israel is not asleep yet
  3. Aria (soprano): God, we thank your kindness
  4. Recitativo (old): O Leipzig Jerusalem
  5. Aria (old): Send in, Lord, the blessing
  6. Recitativo: [missing]
  7. Coro: "Ab initio repetatur", like 1.

BWV 193a

  1. Coro (The Council of the Gods): You houses of heaven, you shining lights
  2. Recitativo (Providentia): Most worthwhile August
  3. Aria (Providentia): Name your August: God!
  4. Recitativo (Fama): O! nice day, o! beautiful looks
  5. Aria (Fama, Providentia): {I want / you should} ruehmen, {I want / you should} say
  6. Recitativo (Providentia, Fama, Salus): So AUGUSTUS not in fame and deeds of his like
  7. Aria (Salus): Lord! as big as your exaltation
  8. Recitativo (Pietas): How am I crushed
  9. Aria (Pietas): Saxony, come to the Opffer-Heerd
  10. Recitativo (Pietas): But why do we want to build a lot of temples?
  11. Aria (Pietas, Coro): Heaven, raise the land of prayer

music

The opening chorus opens with a long ritornello that is repeated in full in the middle of the movement, but not at the end. The vocal parts preserved indicate that Bach had created the vocal part predominantly homophonically .

The first aria is a minuet in da capo form. Julian Mincham reminds the interplay of oboe and strings to music by Handel . In the second aria for alto, oboe and continuo, the rich ornamentation of the oboe illustrates God's blessing.

Reconstructions of the work

Bernhard Todt tried to restore the work as early as the 19th century (around 1890). In 1983 Reinhold Kubik made another reconstruction for the conductor Helmuth Rilling . In 1999 a version by Ton Koopman followed , which he used for his cantatas recording. Further work reconstructions come from Michael Radulescu and Alan Dergal Rautenberg. All versions have in common that they complement the tenor and bass parts in the entrance (and final) choir as well as the basso continuo, trumpets and timpani. In the Koopman version, a bass soloist is also provided for the last recitative. Here Koopman used the text of the tenor recitative of the cantata Gott, one praises you in silence , BWV 120 (“Well, Lord, then initiate the regiment yourself with your blessing”) for its completion.

Recordings

literature

Web links

BWV 193

BWV 193a

Individual evidence

  1. a b Christoph Wolff : The cantatas of the period 1726-1731 and of the Picander cycle (1728-29) ( en , PDF), bach-cantatas.com, 1999, pp. 12, 15 (accessed on August 20, 2012 ).
  2. a b BWV 193a your houses of heaven, you shining lights ( en ) University of Vermont . Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  3. a b Julian Mincham: Chapter 87 BWV 193 Your gates to Zion ( en ) jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2016.