We sing with joy of victory

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Bach cantata
We sing with joy of victory
BWV: 149
Occasion: Michaelmas day
Year of origin: 1729
Place of origin: Leipzig
Genus: cantata
Solo : S, A, T, B
Choir: (S, A, T, B)
Instruments : 3Tr, Ti; 3Ob, Fg; 2Vl, Va, Vn
text
Christian Friedrich Henrici
List of Bach cantatas

One Singing About Victory With Joy ( BWV 147) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed the work in Leipzig for Michaelmas ( Michaelmas Day ), the day of remembrance for the Archangel Michael , and performed it for the first time on September 29, 1729. It is the last of his three surviving cantatas for this festival.

Christian Friedrich Henrici (also known as Picander ) wrote the libretto for the cantata and published it in a cycle of several cantata texts in 1728/29. The libretto begins with two verses from Psalm 118 and ends with the third stanza by Martin Schalling the Younger . I love you dearly, oh Lord . The theme of the libretto corresponds to the prescribed readings of the day from the Revelation of John when Michael fought the dragon (who represents the devil , also known as Satan ). The last stanza of the Lutheran hymn concludes with a “sweet little angel” accompanying a soul in anticipation of the Last Judgment .

The cantata has seven movements and is festively cast, with four vocal parts and a baroque orchestra consisting of three trumpets , timpani , three oboes , a bassoon , strings and the figured bass . Bach derived the music for the opening choir from his cantata, known as the “Jagdkantata”. What I like is only the lively Jagd , BWV 208, which he composed in 1713.

history

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the feast of St. Michael (Michaelistag / Michaelmas), this is his third and last surviving cantata for this feast; a festival celebrated for the archangel and all angels. The prescribed readings of the Scriptures for Michaelmas Day come from the Revelation of John (the account in which Michael fights the dragon [ Revelation 12, 7-12  EU ]) and from the Gospel according to Matthew (Heaven belongs to the children and the angels see the face God [ Matthew 18, 1–11  EU ]).

The holy Archangel Michael occupies a prominent position in evangelicalism , as in Judaism . John Eliot Gardiner , who conducted all of Bach's church cantatas on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000 , notes that the meaning is given to the Sanctus , which was composed for Christmas 1724 in close relation to Isaiah's text and later integrated into Bach's B minor Mass reflects the angel for Bach's evangelicalism.

The libretto was written by Christian Friedrich Henrici (also known as Picander ). Bach began to work with him in 1725, in particular they worked on the well-known St. Matthew Passion . Picander wrote his cantata texts, including this one, with the composer Bach in mind. The poet used two verses from Psalm 118 (( Psalm 118, 15-16  EU )) as the first sentence and the third stanza from Martin Schalling the Younger's hymn “ I love you heartily, oh Lord ” as the final chorus . The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann notes that battle scenes were often depicted in art and music. In the opening lines of a verse, Michael's battle against Satan has already been won. Satan is only mentioned in the first sentence. A focus of the later sequence of alternating arias and recitatives is on guardian angels , who are seen as "holy guardians". The libretto was published in 1728/29 from his collection Ernstschertzhaffte and satyrical poems / cantatas on the Sundays and Feast days . They appeared in quarterly volumes to help the ward follow the text.

Bach conducted the St. Thomas' Choir in the world premiere of the cantata in Leipzig on September 29, either 1728 or 1729.

Occupation and structure

Bach divided this cantata into seven movements and wrote it for four vocal soloists ( soprano , alto , tenor and bass ), a four-part choir and a baroque orchestra with three trumpets , timpani , three oboes , two violins , violas , a bassoon , and a violon (Vo ) and the figured bass . The title of the autograph score is: “JNJ Festo Michaelis. / One sings with joy, etc. di ISBach. ”.

  1. Chorus : One sings of victory with joy
  2. Aria : strength and strength be sung
  3. Recitative : I'm afraid
  4. Aria: God's angels never give way
  5. Recitative: I thank you
  6. Aria: Be vigilant, you holy guardians
  7. Chorale : Oh Lord, let your dear little angel.

music

Bach supported the music of the opening chorus Man singing about victory with joy on the final movement of his secular cantata What I like is only the lively hunt (also known as the hunting cantata ), which was his first cantata with "modern" recitatives and arias from the year 1713. The polyphonic movement is described by Simon Crouch as a "high-octane beginning". John Eliot Gardiner notes that this phrase is "more festive than combative" compared to previous works on the same occasion. Bach revised the earlier movement considerably in order to adapt from the courtly musical context to joyful victory songs: he replaced two horns with three trumpets and timpani, transposed the music from F major to D major and expanded it “on every level”. The beginning according to another version suggests that the idea of ​​using old music as a basis was not planned from the start.

The bass aria Kraft und Strength is sung is accompanied by two deep instrumental melodies. It examines the conflict between God and Satan and contains a very active figured bass that represents "the fury of battle". The imagery of a “great voice” mentioned in the Book of Revelation proclaims the Lamb “who has conquered and banished Satan”.

A short alto recitative, I'm afraid , was described as "tonally unstable".

The soprano aria of God's angels never give way is lyrical and dancing . The string accompaniment uses parallel thirds and major sixths . Stylistically it resembles a minuet and is formally an adapted ternary structure .

The tenor recitative I thank you ends with an ascending phrase that is meant to represent a plea to heaven .

The duet aria for alto and tenor Be vigilant, you holy guardians use a canon and a repeatedly interrupted cadence. Its introduction has been described as "the most athletic of the bassoon lines". The tenor and alto parts repeat the first bassoon figure in the canon.

The work ends with a harmoniously complex four-part setting of the choir Oh, Lord, let your dear little angel . It is a prayer to send an angel to carry the soul in Abraham's bosom and a promise to praise God forever . Bach's setting is remarkable for his last two bars: the trumpets and timpani create a “splendid sound fire”. Bach chose the same verse from Schalling's chorale to end his St. John Passion in the first and last version of the work.

Recordings

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ People sing with joy about the victory BWV 149; BC A 181 / Sacred cantata (Michaelmas (29 September)) Bach Digital
  2. a b Michael Anderson: Les Grandes Cantates de JS Bach (Liner notes) ( German ). Erato Records .
  3. a b c d e f g Carol Traupman-Carr: Cantata BWV 149, You sing with joy of victory . The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. 2002. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  4. a b c d e Klaus Hofmann : One singing with joy about victory in the huts of the righteous / (The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous), BWV 149 . Bach Cantatas website. Pp. 5-8. 2011. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
  5. a b c Alfred Dürr : Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach ( German ), 4th edition, Volume 1, Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag , 1981, ISBN 3-423-04080-7 , pp. 574-576.
  6. a b c d e f g h John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Feast of St Michael and All Angels / Unser liebe Frauen, Bremen . Monteverdi Choir . S. 20. 2006. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  7. a b c d e Julian Mincham: Chapter 44 BWV 149 . Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  8. Aryeh Oron: Cantata BWV 149 One sing with joy of victory . Bach Cantatas website. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
  9. Walter F. Bischof: BWV 149 People sing with joy of victory . University of Alberta. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
  10. a b c d e f g Pamela Dellal : BWV 149 - One sing with joy of victory . Emmanuel Music . Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  11. a b Cantata 149 . Retrieved May 27, 2013.