Easter Oratorio (Bach)
The Easter Oratorio ( BWV 249, D major) is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach , which he performed for the first time on Easter Sunday 1725 (April 1st). There are three different later versions with noticeable differences in scoring and text. The work is classified as an oratorio because it is based on a narrative Bible text; However, in contrast to Bach's other oratorical works, this is not performed verbatim by the evangelist and the characters involved, but is reproduced in freely adapted form.
content
The protagonists of the cantata are Maria Magdalena ( alto ), Maria Jacobi ( soprano ), Petrus ( tenor ) and Johannes ( bass ). After Mary Magdalene met the risen Jesus beforehand and reported this to the disciples (which is only hinted at very briefly in the cantata at the beginning of the first recitative ), the disciples rush to the grave and find it empty, since Jesus has risen.
construction
The work consists of eleven movements:
- Sinfonia (instrumental)
- Adagio (instrumental with oboe solo)
- Choir: Come, hurry and run (this is also the subtitle of the new version of the original cantata , edited as the “Easter Oratorio” in 1731 ), with tenor-bass duet in the middle section
- recitative
- Aria (soprano): Soul, your spices , with flute solo
- recitative
- Aria (tenor): Gentle shall my death sorrow , with two recorders
- recitative
- Aria (alto): Say, tell me quickly , with oboe d'amore solo
- recitative
- Choir: price and thanks
history
The Easter oratorio draws on the liturgical representation of the Easter run and the Easter laugh , as it has been customary in church services since the Middle Ages, in order to represent the Easter event (similar to the cradle of the children in Christmas services).
The lyricist of the Easter oratorio was probably Picander . In a parody process, Bach resorted to a shepherd cantata “Escape, disappears, escapes, you worries” (BWV 249a) written for the Weißenfelser Hof (birthday of Duke Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels ) , of which at least two different versions exist; only the recitatives of the secular versions were not included in the Easter oratorio and replaced by newly composed recitatives. The first three movements of the Easter oratorio or the shepherd's cantata are probably reworking of a lost instrumental concerto.
Web links
- Autograph score in the digitized collections of the Berlin State Library
- Score on IMSLP
- Structure and complete text of the oratorio
- Source description of the original score , source database RISM
- Data, text and sources at Bach Digital
