Those who love me will keep my word, BWV 74
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Just to each his own | |
| BWV: | 74 |
| Occasion: | Pentecost |
| Year of origin: | May 20, 1725 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | S, A, T, B |
| Choir: | (S, A, T, B) |
| Instruments : | 3Tr Ti; 2Ob Oc; Vs 2Vl Va |
| text | |
| Christiana Mariana from Ziegler | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Whoever loves me will keep my word ( BWV 74) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig for Pentecost Sunday 1725.
history
Bach composed this cantata for Pentecost Sunday in his second year in Leipzig . The prescribed readings for the feast day came from the Acts of the Apostles of Luke ( Acts 2.1-13 LUT ) and the Gospel according to John ( John 14.23-31 LUT ).
The librettist for this work was Christiana Mariana von Ziegler , who worked with Bach on nine cantatas after Easter 1724, beginning with You will weep and howl , BWV 103. She began several of these texts with a word from Jesus from the Gospels. For this cantata she chose three words from the Bible, for sentence 1 John 14, 23, for sentence 4 John 14, 28, and for sentence 6 Romans 8.1 LUT . She concluded the text with the second stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn, God the Father, send your Spirit . Much of her own poetry is based on the pericope from the Gospel of John.
Bach performed the cantata for the first time on May 20, 1725.
Occupation and structure
The piece is written for four solo voices ( soprano , alto , tenor and bass ), four-part choir , three trumpets , timpani , two oboes , one oboe da caccia , two violins , viola and figured bass .
The cantata has eight movements:
- Chorus: Whoever loves me will keep my word
- Aria (soprano): Come, come, my heart is open to you
- Recitative (Alto): The apartment is ready
- Aria (bass): I'll go and come back to you
- Aria (tenor): Come, hurry, tune the string and songs
- Recitative (bass): There's nothing damnable about them
- Aria (alto): Nothing can save me
- Chorale: No human child here on earth.
music
The opening chorus is shorter than in other cantatas. It is an adaptation of the opening movement from Whoever Loves Me, He Will Keep My Word, BWV 59 , which was composed two years earlier and performed again the previous year. Bach retained the structure of the original. He added a third trumpet and a three-part oboe choir, which now alternates with the strings. He reworked the original vocal duet for a four-part choir, although longer two-part passages were retained. Conductor Craig Smith said this was one of Bach's most powerful arrangements because it turned the "blotchy" and "hollow" duet into "something varied and exquisitely fine." The movement is written in C major .
The soprano aria No. 2 is an arrangement of the bass aria No. 4 from BWV 59. Bach transposed the movement from C major to F major and replaced the solo violin with an oboe da caccia. Apart from that, despite the different metering of the two texts, he left the musical structure unchanged. The new arrangement gives the sentence a “childlike openness”.
The third movement is a short alto recitative with only seven bars. The diminished chord at the end of the vocal part before the final cadence is striking.
The bass aria uses ascending and descending eighth notes in the continuo as an indication of the walking and coming of Jesus. The sentence ends with a long vowel melism. It's in E minor.
This is followed by a technically demanding tenor aria, which is dominated by swirling violin motifs. The form is a combination of three parts and ritornello, with the emphasis on the words "komm" and "eilet", and closes with a modulation in a minor key and darker harmonies .
The bass recitative, like that of the alto, is short and simple compared to the arias. It uses an unusual accompaniment of three oboes. The recitative modulates from E minor to C major .
The seventh movement, an altarie, is unusually densely composed and richly cast. It begins with a fanfare-like ritornello, followed by long melismatic passages with repeated notes in the instrumental parts that paint the “infernal chains”. In the short middle section, with a less dense accompaniment and in a minor key, the high-spirited triplets to the words “I am laughing” stand out.
The final chorale is a four-part set of the melody of Come to me, says God's Son . It is in a minor key and gives the "penance and reconciliation" rather gloomy sound.
Recordings
- Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Bogna Bartosz , Christoph Prégardien , Klaus Mertens , JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 14 , Antoine Marchand 2001
- Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart / Bach Collegium Stuttgart . The Bach cantata . Hänssler Verlag , 1972.
- Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists . JS Bach: Whitsun Cantatas . Archive production, 1999.
- Nederlands Vocaal Ensemble / German Bach Soloists . Bach: 13 Sacred Cantatas & 13 Sinfonias . Philips, 1972.
Web links
- BWV 74 Those who love me will be my host keep the text, structure and composition on Walter F. Bischof's personal homepage at the University of Alberta
- Those who love me will keep my word, BWV 74 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- Just to each his own BWV 163; BC A 158 Bach Digital
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Cantata BWV 74 . bach cantatas. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Crouch, Simon: Cantata 74 . Classical Net. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ^ A b c Smith, Craig: Bach Cantata Notes: BWV 74 . Emmanuel Music. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ^ A b Alfred Dürr: The cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach , Volume 1, Munich / Kassel etc. 1985, p. 401
- ↑ a b c d Mincham, Julian: Chapter 48 BWV 74 . jsbachcantatas. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
- ↑ a b c Traupman-Carr, Carol: Cantata BWV 74 . Bach Choir of Bethlehem. 2003. Retrieved May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Come to me, speaks God's Son . bach cantatas. 2006. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
