Light-minded fluttering spirits
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Light-minded fluttering spirits | |
| BWV: | 181 |
| Occasion: | Sexagesimae |
| Year of origin: | 1724 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Tr (Ft Ob) 2Vl Va Bc |
| text | |
| unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Light-minded Flattergeister ( BWV 181) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed them in Leipzig for the Sunday Sexagesimae and performed them for the first time on February 13, 1724.
Story and words
In his first year in office in Leipzig, Bach wrote the cantata for the Sunday Sexagesimae, the second Sunday before Ash Wednesday. For the occasion he had already composed the cantatas for the court in Eisenach, Like the rain and snow falls from the sky . It seems likely that in 1724 both works were performed in the service, one before and one after the sermon. The prescribed readings were 2 Cor 11,19 LUT - 2 Cor 12,9 LUT , “God is mighty in the weak”, and Lk 8,4–15 LUT , the parable of the fourfold field . The cantata text by an unknown poet is closely based on the Gospel. The obstacles to the sprouting of the seeds, rocks and thorns, are supplemented by other Bible passages, for example a reference to Moses who knocks water out of the rock ( Ex 17.6 LUT ) and on the rock in front of the tomb of Jesus ( Mt 28.2 LUT ). The cantata is not concluded with a chorale, but with a choral movement, a prayer that the word of God may fall on fertile ground in us.
Bach first performed the cantata on February 13, 1724. He performed them at least one more time between 1743 and 1746. Only then did he add two woodwind parts.
Occupation and structure
The cantata is occupied by four vocal soloists, soprano , alto , tenor , bass , four-part choir, trumpet , two violins , viola and basso continuo . In a later version, Bach added parts for flauto traverso and oboe .
music
The cantata consists of five movements, twice a sequence of aria and recitative , concluded by a choral movement. Such a sequence, heading towards a crowning choir, is typical of secular cantatas. It is very likely that the choir is based on a secular model from the Koethen time; other movements may also be parodies of unknown secular music. Bach did not add the parts for flute and oboe until a later performance. A characteristic motif in staccato jumps dominates the first movement. It is introduced by the instruments and then taken over by the voice. It illustrates the fluttering spirits, both the birds the gospel speaks of and the frivolous people. The second part mentions Belial , whose evil intervention is often mentioned in literature, for example in Milton's Paradise Lost . Both parts of the aria are repeated, a modified repetition of the second part begins after just four bars of a supposed recapitulation . The following recitative emphasizes the text “There will be rock hearts ... forfeiting their own salvation” as Arioso . The image of the breaking rock is represented by an irregularly descending passage in continuo. The tenor aria probably lacks the part for an obbligato violin. The last movement, which is dominated by the trumpet, radiates, according to Alfred Dürr, “happy simplicity”. Its middle section is a duet of soprano and alto.
Recordings
- LP / CD
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 27. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Arleen Augér , Gabriele Schnaut (No. 2), Gabriele Schreckenbach , Kurt Equiluz , Niklaus Tüller . Hänssler, 1982.
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 9. Gustav Leonhardt , Knabenchor Hannover , Collegium Vocale Gent , Leonhardt-Consort , soloist of the Knabenchor Hannover, Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz, Max van Egmond . Teldec , 1988.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 7. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Lisa Larsson , Elisabeth von Magnus , Gerd Türk , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 1997.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 20: Naarden / Southwell / For Septuagesima / For Sexagesima. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Angharad Gruffydd Jones , Robin Tyson , James Gilchrist , Stephan Loges . Archive production , 2000.
- Bach Edition Vol. 5 - Cantatas Vol. 2. Pieter Jan Leusink , Holland Boys Choir , Netherlands Bach Collegium , Marjon Strijk , Sytse Buwalda , Nico van der Meel , Bas Ramselaar . Brilliant Classics, 1999.
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 17 - Cantatas from Leipzig 1724. Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Yukari Nonoshita , Robin Blaze , Gerd Türk , Peter Kooij . UP, 2001.
- DVD
- Light-minded fluttering spirits. Cantata BWV 181. Rudolf Lutz (conductor and harpsichord), Orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Miriam Feuersinger , Alex Potter , Julius Pfeiffer , Klaus Mertens. Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Hildegard Elisabeth Keller . Gallus Media, 2015.
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, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 ; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006 (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 .
- Christoph Wolff / Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas. Verlag J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- Light-hearted Flattergeister, BWV 181 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Cantata BWV 181 Light - hearted fluttering spirits on the bach-cantatas website
- Light- minded fluttering spirits on the Bach.de website
- BWV 181 Light-minded Flattergeister Text, structure and composition on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Julian Mincham: Chapter 42 BWV 181 Light- minded Flattergeister ( English ) jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
- ↑ a b John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for Sexagesima / Southwell Minster ( English , PDF; 120 kB) bach-cantatas.com. 2009. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ↑ a b c Christoph Wolff : On the first annual cycle of Bach's cantatas for the Leipzig liturgy (1723-24) (II) ( English , PDF; 5.3 MB) bach-cantatas.com. 1998. Retrieved February 7, 2012.
- ↑ Product information ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the JS Bach Foundation, accessed on April 30, 2015.
