Wake up, the voice calls us, BWV 140

Bach cantata
Awake, the voice is calling us
BWV:	140
Occasion:	27. Sunday after Trinity
Year of origin:	1731
Place of origin:	Leipzig
Genus:	Choral cantata
Solo :	STB
Choir:	SATB
Instruments :	Co 2Ob Waist Vp 2Vl Va Bc
AD :	approx. 31 min
text
	Philipp Nicolai (chorale); ; unknown poet (recitatives and arias)
List of Bach cantatas

Wake up, the voice calls us ( BWV 140) is one of the most famous cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach . The work is based on the well-known chorale of the same name by Philipp Nicolai from 1599 .

Emergence

This choral cantata was composed for the 27th Sunday after Trinity , which rarely occurs in the church year . The premiere was on November 25, 1731 .

Subject

The unknown lyricist took over all three stanzas of the chorale literally for movements 1, 4 and 7; in between he inserted freely composed recitatives and arias that draw on biblical motifs from Solomon 's Song of Songs.

The basic idea of the text is to equate the connection between Jesus and the human soul with a wedding. Just as in ancient oriental weddings the bridegroom apparently appeared at an unspecified time, but then expected a proper celebration, so the soul should always be ready to meet God.

Sentence sequence

Movement 1 is a particularly wide-ranging chorale arrangement, which, with its dotted rhythm, is reminiscent of the beginning of a French overture : the chorale melody sounds line by line in long notes as cantus firmus in the soprano, which alto, tenor and bass play around imitating each other . The orchestral section contains deep oboe instruments, which underlines the “nocturnal” mood of the work at the beginning.
Movement 2 is a tenor recitative that announces the imminent arrival of the bridegroom.
Movement 3 is a soprano-bass duet that illustrates the soul (soprano) waiting for Jesus (bass). The virtuoso and passionate solo violino piccolo should be noted .
Set 4 performs by suspensions embossed melody of the unison a -Streicher in which the operative part of the cantus firmus hineinsingt line by line. Bach later included this movement in his collection of organ transcriptions of cantata movements (the so-called Schübler chorales ). In this form the phrase has become very popular; it is often arranged for other line-ups and adapted for pop music.
Movement 5 is a bass recitative, accompanied by strings, in which Jesus calls the soul to himself and promises security.
Movement 6 is another soprano bass duet in which soul and Jesus are now happily united. This is represented musically by numerous melisms and a lively oboe part.
The cantata closes with a 4-part movement from the last chorale verse.

title	be right	Sound recording
1. Chorale: Wake up, the voice calls us	Choir
2. Recitative: He is coming, the groom is coming	tenor
3rd aria: When are you coming, my salvation?	Soprano, bass
4. Chorale: Zion hears the watchmen singing	tenor
5. Recitative: So come in to me	bass
6. Aria: My friend is mine! And I am his!	Soprano, bass
7. Chorale: Gloria be sung to you	Choir

occupation

Narrator ( tenor )
The soul ( soprano )
Jesus ( bass )
Choir (SATB)
Orchestra with 2 oboes , waist (score name of the oboe da caccia ), horn (as melody reinforcement), violino piccolo, 2 violins , viola , basso continuo

literature

Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
Werner Neumann : Handbook of the cantatas by JS Bach . 1947. 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
Hans-Joachim Schulze: The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas . Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-374-02390-8 ; Carus-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Edition Bach Archive Leipzig)
Christoph Wolff, Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas . Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4

Web links

Commons : Wake up, the voice calls us, BWV 140 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wake up, the voice calls us, BWV 140 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
BWV 140 Wake up, the voice calls us text, structure and cast on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta


Sacred cantatas	1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69a • 70 / 70a • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 80a • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 • 108 • 109 • 110 • 111 • 112 • 113 • 114 • 115 • 116 • 117 • 118 • 119 • 120 • 121 • 122 • 123 • 124 • 125 • 126 • 127 • 128 • 129 • 130 • 131 • 132 • 133 • 134 • 135 • 136 • 137 • 138 • 139 • 140 • 143 • 144 • 145 • 146 • 147 / 147a • 148 • 149 • 150 • 151 • 152 • 153 • 154 • 155 • 156 • 157 • 158 • 159 • 161 • 162 • 163 • 164 • 165 • 166 • 167 • 168 • 169 • 170 • 171 • 172 • 173 • 174 • 175 • 176 • 177 • 178 • 179 • 180 • 181 • 182 • 183 • 184 • 185 • 186 • 187 • 188 • 190 • 191 • 192 • 193 • 194 • 195 • 196 • 197 • 199 • 244a
Secular cantatas	30a • 34a • 36c • 134a • 173a • 198 • 201 • 202 • 203 • 204 • 205 • 206 • 207 • 207a • 208 • 209 • 210 • 210a • 211 • 212 • 213 • 214 • 215 • 216a • 249a
Cantatas not preserved	App. 1 • App. 2 • App. 3 • App. 4 • App. 4a • App. 5 • App. 6 • App. 7 • App. 8 • App. 9 • App. 10 • App. 11 • App. 12 • App. 13 • App. 14 • App. 15 • App. 16 • App. 17 • App. 18 • App. 19
Passions	St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) • St. John Passion (BWV 245) • St. Luke Passion (BWV 246) (Bach's authorship questioned) • St. Mark Passion (BWV 247)
Oratorios	Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) • Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) • Easter Oratorio (BWV 249)