Bach cantata
The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas, are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest cantatas date from 1707, the year he moved to Mühlhausen, although he may have begun composing them at his previous post in Arnstadt. Most of Bach's church cantatas date from his first years as Thomaskantor and director of church music in Leipzig, a position which he took up in 1723.
Working for Leipzig's St. Thomas Church, Leipzig and St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig, it was part of Bach's job to perform a church cantata every Sunday and holiday, conducting soloists, the Thomanerchor and orchestra as part of the church service. In his first years in Leipzig, starting after Trinity of 1723, Bach regularly composed a new cantata every week, although some of these cantatas were adapted from work he had composed before his Leipzig era. Works from three annual cycles of cantatas for the liturgical calendar have survived. These relate to the readings prescribed by the Lutheran liturgy for the specific occasion. The last known cantata was composed in 1745.
In addition to the church cantatas composed for occasions of the liturgical year, Bach wrote sacred cantatas for functions like weddings or Ratswahl. His secular cantatas, around 50 known works, less than half of which surviving with both text and music, were written for academic functions of the University of Leipzig, or anniversaries and entertainment among the nobility and in society, some of them Glückwunschkantaten and Huldigungskantaten.
Bach's cantatas usually require four soloists and a four-part choir, but he also wrote solo cantatas and dialogue cantatas for two singers. The words of Bach's cantatas, almost always entirely in German, consist mostly of 18th-century poetry, Lutheran hymns and dicta. Hymns were mostly set to their Lutheran chorale tune. His chorale cantata cycle contains at least 40 chorale cantatas, each of these entirely based on text and tune of such hymn.
Titles of the cantatas
Although the German term Bachkantate became very familiar, Bach himself rarely used the title Cantata in his manuscripts. In Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, he wrote Cantata à Voce Sola e Stromenti. Another cantata in which Bach used that term is Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke, BWV 84. Typically, he began a heading with the abbreviation J.J., followed by the name of the celebration, the beginning of the words and the instrumentation, for example in Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191. Bach often signed his cantatas with SDG, short for Soli Deo Gloria.Bach often wrote a title page for the autograph score and copies of the original parts. For example, he titled the parts of Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38, using a mix of languages to describe the occasion, the incipit, the precise scoring and his name: "Dominica 21. post Trinit / Aus tieffer Noth schrey ich zu dir. / â / 4. Voc. / 2. Hautbois. / 2. Violini. / Viola. / 4. Tromboni / e / Continuo. / di / Signore / J.S.Bach". The occasion for which the piece was performed is given first, in Latin: "Dominica 21. post Trinit". The title follows, given in German in the orthography of Bach's time. The scoring and finally his name appear in a mix of French and Italian, the common languages among musicians at the time, partly abbreviated.
BWV number
Bach wrote more than 200 cantatas, of which many have survived. In the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, Wolfgang Schmieder assigned them each a number within groups: 1–200, 201–216, and 217–224. Since Schmieder's designation, several of the cantatas he thought authentic have been redesignated as "spurious." However, the spurious cantatas retain their BWV numbers. The List of Bach cantatas is organized by BWV number but sortable by other criteria.Structure of a Bach cantata
A typical Bach cantata of his first year in Leipzig follows the scheme:- Opening chorus
- Recitative
- Aria
- Recitative
- Aria
- Chorale
Bach used an expanded structure to take up his position in Leipzig with the cantatas Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, and Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76, both in two parts, to be performed before and after the sermon and during communion. Each part is a sequence of an opening movement, five movements with alternating recitatives and arias, and a chorale. In an exemplary way both cantatas cover the prescribed readings: starting with a related psalm from the Old Testament, Part I reflects the Gospel and Part II the Epistle.
Bach did not follow any strict scheme but composed as he wanted to express the words. A few cantatas are opened by an instrumental piece before the first chorus, such as the Sinfonia of Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29. A solo movement begins Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille, BWV 120, because its first words speak of silence. Many cantatas composed in Weimar are set like chamber music, mostly for soloists, with a four-part setting only in the closing chorale, which may have been sung by the soloists. In an early cantata, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172, Bach marked a repeat of the opening chorus after the chorale.
The chorale can be as simple as a traditional four-part setting, or be accompanied by an obbligato instrument, or be accompanied by the instruments of the opening chorus or even expanded by interludes based on its themes, or have the homophonic vocal parts embedded in an instrumental concerto as in the familiar Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, or have complex vocal parts embedded in the concerto as in Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186, in a form called Choralphantasie. In Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, for the first Sunday in Advent, the beginning of a new liturgical year, he rendered the opening chorus as a French overture.
Singers and instrumentation
Vocal
Typically Bach employs soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists and a four-part choir, also SATB. He sometimes assigns the voice parts to the dramatic situation, for example soprano for innocence or alto for motherly feelings. The bass is often the vox Christi, the voice of Jesus, when Jesus is quoted directly, as in Es wartet alles auf dich, BWV 187, or indirectly, as in O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60.In the absence of clear documentary evidence, there are different options as to how many singers to deploy per part in choral sections. This is reflected in the recordings discussed below. Ton Koopman, for example, is a conductor who has recorded a complete set of the cantatas and who favours a choir with four singers per part. On the other hand, some modern performances and recordings use one voice per part. Joshua Rifkin is well known is an advocate of this approach, although it has yet to be followed through in a complete set of cantatas. Nonetheless, Bach would have had more singers available at Leipzig, for example, while the space in the court chapel in Weimar was limited. One size of choir probably does not fit all the cantatas.
Instrumental
The orchestra that Bach used is based on string instruments and basso continuo, typically played by cello, violone and organ. A continuo bass is the rule in Baroque music; its absence is noteworthy and often has a special reason, such as describing fragility.The specific character of a cantata or a single movement is rather defined by wind instruments, such as oboe, oboe da caccia, oboe d'amore, flauto traverso, recorder, trumpet, horn, trombone, and timpani. In movements with winds, a bassoon usually joins the continuo group.
Festive occasions call for richer instrumentation. Some instruments also carry symbolic meaning, such as a trumpet, the royal instrument of the Baroque, for divine majesty and three trumpets for the Trinity. In an aria of BWV 172, addressing the Heiligste Dreifaltigkeit, the bass is accompanied only by three trumpets and timpani.
In many arias Bach uses obbligato instruments, which accompany the singer as an equal partner. These instrumental parts are frequently set in virtuoso repetitive patterns called figuration. Instruments include, in addition to the ones mentioned, organ, flauto piccolo, violino piccolo, viola d'amore, violoncello piccolo, tromba da tirarsi and corno da tirarsi.
In his early compositions Bach also used instruments that had become old-fashioned, such as viola da gamba. Alto recorders are sometimes used in connection with death and mourning as in Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106.
Solo cantata
Some cantatas are composed for a solo singer, as Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51, for soprano, sometimes concluded by a chorale, as in Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56, for bass.Dialogue cantata
Some cantatas are structured as a dialogue, mostly for Jesus and the Soul, set like miniature operas. Bach titled them for example Concerto in Dialogo, concerto in dialogue. An early example is Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152. He composed four such works in his third annual cycle, Selig ist der Mann, BWV 57, Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen, BWV 32, Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen, BWV 49, and Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 58.Text of Bach's sacred cantatas
Within the Lutheran liturgy, certain readings from the Bible were prescribed for every event during the church year; specifically, it was expected that an Epistel from an Epistle and Evangelium from a Gospel would be read. Music was expected for all Sundays and holidays except the quiet times of Advent and Lent; the cantatas were supposed to reflect the readings. Many opening movements are based on quotations from the Bible, such as Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65, from. Ideally, a cantata text started with an Old Testament quotation related to the readings, and reflected both the Epistle and the Gospel, as in the exemplary Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76. Most of the solo movements are based on poetry of contemporary writers, such as court poet Salomon Franck in Weimar or Georg Christian Lehms or Picander in Leipzig, with whom Bach collaborated. The final words were usually a stanza from a chorale. Bach's Chorale cantatas are based exclusively on one chorale, for example the early Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, and most cantatas of his second annual cycle in Leipzig.The German text may pose difficulties in translation and comprehension. Sometimes caused by archaic language, these issues are also a result of the different social context of modern artists and listeners, who do not share the same biblical and theological knowledge and perspectives as Bach or his audience.