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Cantata BWV 185
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe
Discussions - Part 3 |
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Continue from Part 2 |
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Discussions in the Week of June 12, 2011 (3rd round) |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (June 12, 2011):
Introduction to BWV 185 -- Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe
Weekly reminder:
This week we continue the Trinity season with BWV 185, the first of three works for the 4th Sunday after Trinity.
Details of text, commentary, recordings, and previous discussion are accessible via: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV185.htm
The link to commentary by Julian [Mincham] is especially recommended as an introduction to listening.
The BWV 185 page also has convenient access to notes from the Gardiner [7] and Koopman (notes by Christoph Wolff) CD issues [4], via links beneath the cover photos.
Chorale texts are accessible via the BWV 185 home page, and the chorale melody is accessible via the chorale text page.
The ongoing commentary by Will Hoffman and Doug Cowling regarding chorale references and related context for the Trinity season is especially illuminating. |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (June 12, 2011):
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< Details of text, commentary, recordings, and previous discussion are accessible via: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV185.htm
The link to commentary by Julian [Mincham] is especially recommended as an introduction to listening. >
Note in particular the suggestion by Julian to read his BWV 185 essay (Chapter 6) in conjunction with BWV 24 (the preceding Chapter 5), which will be our discussion topic next week. Our discussion sequence follows the chronologic composition schedule, consistent with Durrs text, while Julians organization emphasizes the position and relation of the two works within the Leipzig cantata cycle. Both were performed on Trinity 4 in 1723, early in the evolution of Jahrgang I. |
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Douglas Cowling wrote (June 12, 2011):
BWV 185 -- Bassoon part
Ed Myskowski wrote:
< This week we continue the Trinity season with BWV 185, the first of three works for the 4th Sunday after Trinity. >
The differing notation of the bassoon and continuo parts in this cantata presents a fascinating view of continuo playing.
The alto recitative, "Ihr Herzen" (Mvt. 2) has a sustained string "halo" and presumably the cello & bass sustained their line as well. However, the bassoon part is rendered in short quarter notes as if it's a secco recitative. Why did the bassoon not play sustained notes? Why is the bassoon present at all in this string ensemble? Oddly, the bassoon drops out in the last 8 bars. Is there some kind of word-painting here?
The bass recitative "Die Eigenliebe" is secco and we see the two notation systems at work: the continuo has the familiar sustained line with figures while the continuo is written out as it was played without figures. |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (June 13, 2011):
Douglas Cowling wrote:
< The alto recitative, "Ihr Herzen" (Mvt. 2) has a sustained string "halo" and presumably the cello & bass sustained their line as well. However, the bassoon part is rendered in short quarter notes as if it's a secco recitative. Why did the bassoon not play sustained notes? Why is the bassoon present at all in this string ensemble? Oddly, the bassoon drops out in the last 8 bars. Is there some kind of word-painting here? >
Gardiner notes [7]: <BWV 185 was composed in Weimar in 1715 to a text by Salomo Franck, and revived by Bach in Leipzig in 1723 and again in 1746/7. We took the last revisions as the basis of our performance.>
Is the continuo notation, and inclusion of bassoon, consistent throughout this significant span of time, with perhaps other as yet undocumented performances? Specific to one of Bach’s performances? An amalgam of editorial decisions long after Bach? |
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Continue on Part 4 |
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