Vox Christi
In a church cantata , oratorio or passion, solo passages in which Jesus Christ speaks in the first person are referred to as Vox Christi ( Latin for 'voice of Christ') . According to medieval tradition, these passages are entrusted to a bass . This was originally the task of the priest when it was reproduced in mass. The oldest form is the recitative reading of the Bible text in full, with the part of the evangelist (narrator) being taken over from the tenor . In baroque music practice , especially in workJohann Sebastian Bachs , there are also ariosi and arias , which are based on a word of Christ as the text, as well as free madrigal poems that are placed in Christ's mouth, often in the context of dialogues with the soul , the part of which is sung by the soprano .
Vox Christi in Bach cantatas
The Vox Christi appears in a number of Bach cantatas :
- 1714
- In Himmelskönig, sein Willkommen (March 25, 1714), Bach's first cantata in Weimar, for Palm Sunday , the year with the preaching of the Lord , psalm verses are treated as if Jesus were speaking them. The only recitative of the cantata expands to the arioso : "See, I come, in the book is written about me" Ps 40,7-8 LUT .
- In resound, you songs, resound, you strings! (May 20, 1714) for Pentecost the bass sings the words of Jesus from the Gospel, "Whoever loves me will keep my word", Jn 14:23 LUT .
- In Now come, the Gentile Savior, BWV 61 (December 2, 1714) the bass sings the words of Christ from Revelation 3:20 NIV : “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. "
- 1715
- In Merciful Heart of Eternal Love (BWV 185, July 14, 1715) the bass summarizes exhortations from the Sermon on the Mount, each time introduced by “This is the Christian art”.
- In Prepares the way, preparing the web! BWV 132 (December 22, 1715) the bass sings the question “Who are you?”, Which in the Gospel is addressed to John, as if Jesus were asking the listener this question.
- 1723
- In O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 (November 7, 1723) in sentence 4 the recitative of the fear of the bass as the Vox Christi is answered with “Blessed are the dead”.
- 1724
- In Look, dear God, like my enemies, BWV 153 (January 2nd, 1724) the bass sings the biblical phrase “Do not be afraid, I am with you” ( Isa 41,10 EU ) as if Jesus said it himself.
- In My dearest Jesus is lost (January 9th, 1724) the bass sings in an Arioso the answer of the twelve-year-old Jesus to the question of his desperate parents: "Don't you know that I have to be in what is my father?" Lk 2.49 EU ).
- Sleeping in Jesus, what should I hope for? (BWV 81, January 30, 1724) the bass sings in the central arioso of the cantata "You of little faith, why are you so scared?" ( Mt 8.26 EU )
- The cantata Where are you going? (BWV 166, May 7, 1724) is opened by Bass with a quote from the third farewell speech, which is also to be understood as a question of the fundamental direction of life.
- In Truly, Truly, I say to you (BWV 86, May 14th 1724) the bass sings in the first movement the promise from Jesus' farewell speech ( Joh 16,23 EU ).
- In Jesu, der du mein Seele, BWV 78 (September 10, 1724) the bass recitative “Die Wunden, Nägel, Kron und Grab” is accompanied by strings like the Vox Christi in Bach's St. Matthew Passion .
- The cantata Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57 (December 26, 1724) is a dialogue between Jesus and the anima (soul).
- 1725
- In the first movement of They will cast a spell on you, BWV 183 (May 13, 1725), the announcement from the farewell speeches is performed as a short recitative in bars only, accompanied by long chords of four oboes, two oboes da caccia and two oboes d 'amore over a continuo organ point .
- 1726
- The central rate of the cantata with the hungry thy bread, BWV 39 (June 23, 1726) is a line from Hebrews 13:16 LUT : "But to do good and to communicate forget not," the Bach Jesus can speak.
- In See, I want to send out a lot of fishermen (BWV 88, June 23, 1726), sentence 4, a verse from the Gospel, is the center of the composition. The tenor announces as an evangelist : "Jesus spoke to Simon". The verbatim speech of Jesus, who called Peter as a disciple, is sung by the bass: “Do not be afraid; because from now on you will catch people ”.
- In the central movement of It is told to you, man, what is good (BWV 45, August 11, 1726), which begins Part II, the Vox Christi appears in a highly virtuoso aria, half Vivaldi concerto, half opera scene, according to John Eliot Gardiner .
- In It's all waiting for you, BWV 187 (4 August 1726), the fourth sentence Bible words from the Sermon on the bass as the Vox Christi entrusted, accompanied by the violins in unison and the continuo , which participates in the motifs.
- In Lord, Your Eyes Look to Faith, BWV 102 (August 25, 1726), the bass part in movement 4, referred to by Bach himself as Arioso, is treated similarly to the voice of Jesus in the Passions .
- 1731
- In Wake up, the voice calls us, BWV 140 (November 25, 1731) Jesus appears with the soul in a duet: “When are you coming, my salvation?”.
- 1732?
In the chorale cantata Es ist das Heil unskommen, BWV 9 , three bass recitatives, rephrases of many stanzas of the chant of the same name , can be understood as a Lutheran sermon on topics from the Sermon on the Mount.
Singer
Some basses and baritones are particularly known for their shaping of the Jesus words in the Passions, including:
- Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
- Franz Kelch
- Peter Kooij
- Hermann Prey
- Peter Lika
- Klaus Mertens
- Max van Egmond
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Eliot Gardiner : Cantatas for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity All Saints, Tooting ( English ) solideogloria.co.uk. 2010. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved on November 5, 2010.
- ^ A b Alfred Dürr : The cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bärenreiter 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 .
- ↑ It is salvation and we come here / Text and Translation of Chorale . bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved July 25, 2011.