Praise and honor the highest good
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Praise and honor the highest good | |
| BWV: | 117 |
| Occasion: | not a special occasion |
| Year of origin: | between 1728 and 1731 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | S, A, T, B |
| Choir: | (S, A, T, B) |
| Instruments : | 2Ft; 2Ob; 2Oa |
| text | |
| Johann Jacob Schütz | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Be praise and honor to the highest good ( BWV 117) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig between 1728 and 1731 for no special occasion.
history
Johann Sebastian Bach composed this choir cantata in Leipzig between 1728 and 1731 for no special occasion. It is based on a hymn by the evangelical hymn poet Johann Jacob Schütz . The musicologist Julian Mincham named two possibilities: On the one hand, it could be an "all-purpose" cantata that could be used for almost any occasion with minimal changes; otherwise it could have been written for a ceremony, probably a wedding .
Occupation and structure
The work is written for three vocal soloists ( alto , tenor and bass ) and a four-part choir . The instruments are composed of two flutes , two oboes , two oboe d'amores , two violins , viola and figured bass .
Although the cantata is only twenty minutes long, it contains nine movements :
- Choral: Be praise and honor to the highest good
- Recitative (Bass): The Heavenly Hosts thank you
- Aria (tenor): Was our God created
- Chorale: I called the Lord in my need
- Recitative (Alto): The Lord is still and never is
- Aria (bass): When consolation and help are lacking
- Aria (alto): I want you all my life
- Recitative (tenor): You who call Christ's name
- Chorale: So come before his face.
music
Simon Crouch noted that this cantata was "imbued with the spirit of dance," particularly due to the frequent use of the three- note meter and the dominance of the major key gender.
The opening choir was composed as a chorale fantasy in which the soprano sings the chorale melody and the lower voices create chord harmonies. The long instrumental ritornello , which is composed of string instruments (with oboes and flutes ) and figured bass , appears at the beginning of the movement and four bars before its end.
The second movement is written as a bass recitative , which is mainly characterized by its last verse: Bach repeats the verse four times in an arioso . The text is about thanksgiving to encourage the listener to show glory to God .
The tenor aria adopts the minor mode, although the text is still optimistic. The movement harmoniously consists of four contrasting verses consisting of a figured bass and two oboe d'amores . Although there is no notated da capo , the music allows the opening theme to be repeated.
The main choir adopts the text from the original hymn, which, in contrast to the mostly optimistic movements, is the least optimistic. What is unusual for a Bach cantata is the simple setting of the chorale melody in the middle of the cantata and not at the end. The primary melody is based on a repeated note and a modal motif .
The alto recitative is very similar to the bass recitative of the second movement and only varies in the abundance of accompaniment at the opening. As with the first recitative, it ends with an arioso in which the last line of text is repeated.
The bass aria mirrors the earlier tenor aria in minor mode. The movement is remarkable for violin playing and word painting. The seventh movement is an alto aria in which the singer takes a personal view of devotion . The accompaniment consists of triplets from the flute ("the pounding of an excited heartbeat") and repeated chords from the strings.
The tenor recitative takes on the voice of a pastor preaching to his followers . The movement is modulated from minor mode to G major in the last movement.
Unusually for Bach, who often ends cantatas with a simple four-part version of a choir, the final chorus repeats the music of the first movement with a text that invites the listener to sing and dance.
Recordings
- Thomanerchor / Gewandhausorchester . Bach Made in Germany, vol. 1 . Eterna, 1949.
- Göttinger Stadtkantorei / Frankfurt Cantata Orchestra . JS Bach: Cantatas BWV 93 & BWV 117 . Vanguard, 1960.
- Kantorei of the Karlshöhe Ludwigsburg / Stuttgart Bach Orchestra . The cantata work . FSM, 1973.
- Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Ton Koopman J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas, Vol. 19 . Antoine Marchand, 2005.
Web links
- Structure and text
- Be praise and honor to the highest good, BWV 117 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Be praise and honor to the highest good BWV 117; BC A 187 Bach Digital
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cantata BWV 117: Be praise and honor to the highest good . Bach Cantatas. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Mincham, Julian: Chapter 52 BWV 117 . jsbachcantatas. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ↑ BWV 117 . University of Alberta. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
- ↑ a b Crouch, Simon: Cantata 117 . Classical Net. 1998. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
