Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

CHORALE CANTATAS.QIas to their dates is that Du ** Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ,"is the latest, falling as it does on November 15, 1744. Itwould seem, on the other hand, that among the earliest werethe following :" Was frag ich nach der Welt," " Wo sollich fliehen hin," " Ich freue mich in dir," and " Jesu nunsei gepreiset." Of these the first was probably written forAugust 7, 1735, the second for October 16, 1735, the thirdfor December 27, 1735, and the fourth for January i,1736.^^^In these thirty-five cantatas a series of the most beautifuland the best known Protestant chorales of the sixteenthand seventeenth centuries is subjected to elaborate musicaltreatment. As the subject has hitherto been only lightlytouched upon, it may be well here and now to analyse completelythe way in which the chorales were used, and thenature and character of Bach's chorale cantatas properly socalled.The particular hymn in its entirety forms the groundworkof each cantata. In the case of long hymns several versesare sometimes omitted ; but this neither alters nor impairsthe course of thought, and is in accordance with the ordinarycustom, even in congregational singing, of leaving out somestanzas for convenience ; but the first and last stanzas alwaysappear in their exact original form, and combined with theoriginal melody. In rarer cases one or more of the otherverses appear, as the work goes on, with the original words,to which the church melody is always retained as aninseparable adjunct. For the most part the verses of the1S3See Appendix A., No. 3. The autographs of 3, 33, and 34 are not known,they only exist in later copies. The following have been published after theoriginals: i B.-G., I.,2, P. 1194; 2 B.-G., I., 3, P. 1195 ;4B.-G., XXIV., 114;5 B.-G., V.,1 26, P. 43 ; 6 B.-G., VII., 33 ; 7 B.-G., VII., 38, P. 1694 ; 8 B.-G.,XXVI., 121; 9 B.-G., I., 7, P. 1198; 10 B.-G., XXVI., 122; 11 B.-G.,XXIV., 116; 12 B.-G., XXVI., 126; 13 B.-G., X^II., 91, P. 2147; 14 B.-G.,XXII., 96, P. 2142; 15 B.-G., XXVI., 130; 16 B.-G., XXIV. 113; 17 B.-G.,XXVI., 127; 19 B.-G., XXII., 92, P. 2143; 20 B.-G., XVIII., 78, P. 1294;21 B.-G., X., 41, P. 1656 ; 22 B.-G., XXVI., 123 ; 23 B.-G., XXIV., 115, P. 1687 ;24 B.-G., XXVI., 124; 25 B.-G., I., 10, P. 1278; 26 B.-G., XXVI., 125; 27B.-G., XXIII., ioi,P. 1678; 28 B.-G., XVI., 62; 30 B.-G., XXII., 94, P. 2146;31 B.G., XXIV., hi; 32 B.-G., I., i, P. 1193; 35 B.-G., I., 5, P. 1197. Theautograph score of No. 18 is in the hands of Herr Ernst Mendelssohn-Bartholdyof Berlin ; that of 29 belongs to Madame Pauline Viardot-Garcia of Paris.