How beautifully the morning star shines, BWV 1

Bach cantata
How beautiful the morning star shines
BWV:	1
Occasion:	Annunciation
Year of origin:	1725
Place of origin:	Leipzig
Genus:	Choral cantata
Solo :	STB
Choir:	SATB
Instruments :	2Co 2Oc 2Vs 2Vn Va Bc
AD :	approx. 25 min
text
	unknown poet Philipp Nicolai
List of Bach cantatas

How beautifully the morning star shines ( BWV 1) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach based on the chorale of the same name by Philipp Nicolai from 1599.

Emergence

The work was composed by Bach as a choral cantata for the feast of the Annunciation (March 25th) in 1725 . The unknown lyricist only took over the wording of the first and seventh stanzas, the other stanzas were rewritten as recitatives and arias .

Subject

Nicolai's choral text celebrates the believer's joy over the birth of Jesus.

occupation

Solos: soprano , tenor , bass
Choir: soprano, alto , tenor, bass
Instrumental parts: Horn I / II, oboe da caccia I / II, solo violin I / II, tutti violin I / II, viola , basso continuo

particularities

While the horns support the orchestra and song melody in the lavishly designed entrance choir, the violins, with their concertante playing in a high register, represent the sparkle of the morning star .

literature

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

Web links

Commons : How beautifully the morning star shines, BWV 1 - Collection of images, videos and audio files

How beautifully the morning star shines, BWV 1 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
How beautifully the morning star shines, BWV 1 : Text, structure, cast, 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)