Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

73 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.Bann thun") ^^— "They will cast you out."On the whole,a great freedom of formation, both in outline and detail,characterises these cantatas. A good part of this is due,of course, to the exceptional forms of the texts. As thewords were not written with constant regard to the schemeof the Italian aria, the composer had to accommodate himselfto them. This gave rise to various ingenious departuresfrom the usual form. The shorter cantata for Ascension("Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein ")^^—in which the text isincoherent and generally inferior—offers the original phenomenonof an aria which loses itself in recitative, but yetso far verifies its character that at the conclusion the openingritornel of the aria is brought in as a close. Many of the solos,for the splendid wealth of melody, the tender expressiveness,the blending of colours, the swing and m.ajestic pathos whichthey display, are worthy to rank among the very highestof Bach's productions in this kind. The choruses arecomparatively few. Chorales are for the most part introducedonly as simple closing movements ; the shortercantata for the Ascension alone begins with a choralefantasia, and in the music for the second Sunday afterEaster such a fantasia occurs in the middle, but the sopranoalone takes part in it. And yet where free choruses dooccur they are instinct with character and life, and repletewith that freedom and boldness of form which characterisetrue genius.For the third Sunday after Easter he begins with achorus, "Ihr werdet weinen und heulen "^'^— " Ye shallweep but the world shall rejoice " —in which the contrastsof tears and joy are depicted with m.arvellous power,and are at length united in a double fugue ; after thisthere comes a bass recitative, followed by the openingmovement developed at greater length and with other words.The great cantata for Ascension (" Gott fähret auf"), thecharacter of which is in the first three movements rather.that of the oratorio, while the rest is more devotional.,85Autograph score and original parts in the Royal Library at Berlia.86 B.-G. XXVI., No. 128.« B.-a, XXIIL, No. 103. P. 1697.