Now come, the Gentile Savior, BWV 61
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Now come, the Gentile Savior | |
| BWV: | 61 |
| Occasion: | 1st Advent |
| Year of origin: | 1714 |
| Place of origin: | Weimar |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | STB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Fg 2Vl 2Va Bc |
| text | |
| Erdmann Neumeister | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Come on now, the Heiden Heiland ( BWV 61) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Weimar in 1714 for the 1st Advent , December 2nd, 1714.
Story and words
In the year he was appointed concertmaster at the court of Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar, Bach wrote the cantata for the first Sunday of Advent and performed it for the first time on December 2, 1714 in the castle church. The prescribed readings were Rom 13 : 11-14 LUT and Mt 21 : 1-9 LUT , the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The lyricist Erdmann Neumeister takes over the first stanza of Martin Luther's Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland , the main song of the 1st Advent, for the opening chorus and uses the swan song of the last stanza of Philipp Nicolai's How beautifully the morning star shines as the final chorale . The third sentence contains the request for a “blessed new year”, since the new church year begins on the first Sunday in Advent . In sentence 4 Neumeister quotes from Rev 3:20 ESV “See, I stand at the door and knock. If someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and have the Lord's Supper with him, and he with me ”. The poet combines the motifs of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his return (from Revelation) with the personal request for entry into the heart of the believer.
Bach performed the cantata again in his first year in Leipzig on November 28, 1723.
Occupation and structure
Like other cantatas from Weimar, the cantata is small with three soloists, soprano , tenor and bass , four-part choir, two violins , two violas and basso continuo .
- Coro: Come on, the Gentile Savior
- Recitativo (tenor): The Savior has come
- Aria (tenor): Come, Jesus, come to your church
- Recitativo (bass): See, I'm at the door
- Aria (soprano): Open yourself, my whole heart
- Chorale: Amen, amen, come you beautiful crown of joy
music
The church year begins with the 1st Advent . On this occasion, Bach wrote the opening chorus as a chorale fantasy in the form of a French overture that slowly - quickly ( fugato ) - slowly follows the sequence . The French king used to go to a performance for the overture; Bach paid homage to another king. Two lines of the chorale melody are processed in the first slow section, the third line is designed as a moving fugato, the last line again slowly. The melody of line 1 appears first in the continuo and is then performed by all voices one after the other to the solemn dotted rhythm in the orchestra. Line 2 is embedded in the orchestral setting in four parts, while the instruments in the fast section play colla parte , line 4 is similar to line 2.
The recitative begins secco, but continues as an arioso , imitating tenor and continuo. The tenor aria is accompanied by all violins and violas in unison . Movement 4, the quotation from the Bible, is entrusted to the bass as the Vox Christi , the knocking is expressed through pizzicato of the strings. The answer is a personal soprano prayer, which is only accompanied by the continuo, with a middle section marked adagio . In the final chorale, the violins play a jubilant fifth part to the four-part choir.
Recordings
- LP / CD
- JS Bach Collector's Series. Helmut Kahlhöfer , Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke, German Bach soloists , Ingeborg Reichelt , Theo Altmeyer , Eduard Wollitz . Bach Recordings, BACH 1117 (LP), 1966.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 1 - Advent and Christmas. Karl Richter , Munich Bach Choir , Munich Bach Orchestra , Edith Mathis , Peter Schreier , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau . Archive production, 1971.
- Bach Made in Germany Vol. 4 - Cantatas VIII. Hans-Joachim Rotzsch , Thomanerchor , Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum , Arleen Augér , Peter Schreier , Siegfried Lorenz . Eterna, 1981.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 2. Sound Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Barbara Schlick , Christoph Prégardien , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 1995.
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 13: Cologne / Lüneburg. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Joanne Lunn , Jan Kobow , Dietrich Henschel . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- JS Bach: Cantatas. Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Arnold Schoenberg Choir , Concentus Musicus Wien , Christine Schäfer , Bernarda Fink , Werner Güra , Christian Gerhaher . German Harmonia Mundi, 2006.
- Bach: Cantates pour la Nativité, Intégrale des cantates sacrées Vol. 4. Conductors from the organ: Eric Milnes , Montréal Baroque, Monika Mauch , Matthew White , Charles Daniels , Harry van der Kamp . ATMA Classique , 2007.
- JS Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol. 9. Sigiswald Kuijken , La Petite Bande , Gerlinde Sämann , Petra Noskaiová , Christoph Genz , Jan van der Crabben . Accent, 2008.
- DVD
- “Now come the Savior of the Gentiles”. Cantata BWV 61. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Maria Cristina Kiehr , Gerd Türk , Manuel Walser . Including an introductory workshop and reflection by Noldi Alder . Gallus Media, St. Gallen 2012.
literature
- Alfred Dürr: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 .
- Werner Neumann : Handbook of the cantatas JSBachs . Breitkopf and Härtel, Wiesbaden 1947, 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4 .
- Hans-Joachim Schulze: The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig). Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig; Carus, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus).
- Christoph Wolff, Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas . Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Web links
- Now come, the Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 (Bach, Johann Sebastian) : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Text, data and sources on Bach digital
- Cantata BWV 61 Now come, the Gentile Savior in bach-cantatas (English)
- Now come, the Heiden Heiland BWV 61 on the Bach website
- Cantata Nun komm der Heiden Heiland : Work introduction and performance under the direction of Rudolf Lutz as well as musical reflection by Noldi Alder , on the YouTube channel of the JS Bach Foundation
- BWV 61 Come on now, the Heiden Heiland Text, structure and cast on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
