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Bach Books
Bach Bibliography - Part 1 |
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Continue from Part 2 |
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Bach Bibliography |
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Jean Laaninen wrote (August 6, 2007):
I'm interested in knowing if anyone has used either of the following texts, and in hearing some general impressions about these two books.
The first is Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts by Melvin Unger (pricey even used) and the second is J. S. Bach, J. S. Bach The Complete Cantatas by Martin Neary.
I believe I have previously used Analyzing Bach Cantatas, by Eric Thomas Chafe, when I was a student.
Thanks for any thoughts on these texts. I might mention that as I have before that I found the Dürr text valuable, and have added it to my library. I discovered early this afternoon that our music library has eighty-five web pages of material on Bach, and significant resources on the Cantatas, almost to the point of overwhelming me. Another book that sounds quite interesting is A Conductor's Guide to the choral-orchestral works of Johann Sebastian Bach. I'd be interested in hearing if any of you have used this book.
Thanks in advance for any comments anyone can provide. |
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Paul T. McCain wrote (August 7, 2007):
[To Jean Laaninen] I have Unger and it is, simply put, wonderful! I know it is pricey. A friend overheard me expressing interest in it and bought a copy for me. What a surprise! I love it.
I do not have the Neary book. |
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Jean Laaninen wrote (August 7, 2007):
[To Paul T. McCain] Thanks Paul. Wish I had a friend like yours, but actually if I wait until Christmas my husband probably would be that friend. He knows I've had my eye on a couple of texts from Germany that are not published in English, and a couple others on Amazon.com used. However, I will check with inter-library loan for them first and determine with the available shelf space here if they are a good choice for me. So far the library system here has been able to help with most of the articles and texts I wish to see. That's how I have built my small music and language library My book habit has been pretty extensive, historically. But for the right book a choice to purchase eventually takes place. I thought Unger looked very good. and probably is worth every penny.
I also might mention that I went ahead and finished The Hammer of God. I laughed, cried, got frustrated and enjoyed the trip through the latter half. What a journey! |
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Paul T. McCain wrote (August 7, 2007):
[To Jean Laaninen] Glad you enjoyed "Hammer of God." It's a terrific book. Bo Giertz was a gifted writer and bishop. |
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Peter Smaill wrote (August 7, 2007):
[To Jean Laaninen] Melvin Unger's handsome tome is in the style of a concordance, with biblical references for every line if the texts. Not all expressions in the Cantatas actually have a close biblical connections - the mystical images and the Trinitarian references are quite remote- so some of the cross connections are rather tenuous. Nevertheless, it more than any other works opens up the intense biblical learning of the writers of the texts. It also has useful indices such as lists of the known librettists, and Cantatas derived from texts in Revelation or the Apocrypha.
Deliberately Unger translates very close to the order of the German (BWV 110/6, for example, talks of singing from the heart's bottom!) ("Herzens grund").
I think the other book you refer too may in fact be the Stokes text translations produced at the same time as the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage for John Eliot Gardiner. Martin Neary, the controversial ex Organist of Westminster Abbey wrote the preface, a fine summation of the importance of the Cantatas though he dates the discovery of the Calov Bible a quarter century after the usual date. Here the other extreme of translation occurs; in creating fine English some German words with theological significance disappear.
The rhyming English translations in the Harnoncourt/Leonhardt series are woeful either as poetry or translations, I'm afraid (e.g., as I recall, "Schoss" is translated as castle ("Schloss" ) instead of "breast")! The French versions here are much better if that is a second language.
Chafe has a meticulous musical approach to the Cantatas with much interest in the hermeneutics of Bach's use of keys.
Duerr really is the best for both musical and textual emphasis (full translations are given),Wolff excellent on history and context, whereas the Stokes and Unger works are text-oriented. However the nature of Bach scholarship is such that no single author dominates the field. Whittaker despite its many mistakes remains often the most detailed analysis and Robertson is still the best quick guide. In German, Schulze is the most interesting and for imagery, there is in any language nothing to match Haeselbock, also in German but in discrete short entries so easily translated with the help of a dictionary. All IMHO. |
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Jean Laaninen wrote (August 7, 2007):
[To Peter Smaill] Thank you Peter. I will take your letter to the library with me as I look at the available resources, or make requests for inter-library loan. I can work with French even though on occasion I need to look up a word or two. I wish I could speak it also, but I have not had the social opportunity to pursue the language in person. My German is more limited, but I can work with it--therefore I am glad to know Unger's texts origins. Although it has been a while since I worked with Greek I can cross-reference his materials from a good Greek source if something seems confusing to me. It is really helpful to know which texts are most reliable for different aspects of study. Thanks again. |
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Bach Cantatas, A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, Part 1 |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (October 6, 2020):
Bach studies, particularly as they relate to his cantatas, is a field that is a model for musical research beginning soon after his death in 1750. With the Bach Revival in the 19th century came scholarly biographies, music print editions, the systematic publication of his works beginning in 1850, scholarly periodicals, works' catalogues, and extensive recordings — unparalleled among composer scholarship. The core of Bach's calling of a "well-regulated church music to the glory of God" are the sacred cantatas (see http://bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Well-Regulated-Church-Music.htm). These German liturgical cantatas for the church year varied by practices at each location (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_cantata), while in the 18th century were considered musical sermons interpreting the service epistle and gospel readings (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Read/index.htm). Although Bach was not the pioneer of the so-called "modern" German cantata, he knew the pioneering work of Georg Caspar Schürmann (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV88-D3.htm: "J.L. Bach Cantatas"), his cantor predecessor Johann Kuhnau and Georg Philipp Telemann. While Bach did not write prolific cantata cycles in the manner of Telemann, Graupner, and Stölzel, he composed mini-cycles based upon the cantata format (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Well-Regulated-Church-Music.htm), the librettists (Picander, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picander_cycle_of_1728–29; Mariane von Ziegler, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ziegler.htm), and various other factors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_cantatas_of_Bach%27s_third_to_fifth_year_in_Leipzig). Original research determined that 200 Bach sacred cantatas exist, suggesting that only the equivalent of three cantata cycles of five are extant, therefore another 100 cantatas were presumed to be lost. The new research today continues unabated, producingnew critical studies of his works (NBArev), a new works catalogue (BWV 3), biographies, and extensive recordings.
The first historical musicologist, Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818, Wikipedia) lead the way, utilizing the Bach Nekrolog (obituary) compiled by son Emanuel and student Johann Friedrich Agricola (Wikipedia). Topics include the composer's life, works' list of published and unpublished music, family, and significance as a composer. In 1802 Forkel published Bach's first biography, Ueber Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke (Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work), based on the Nekrology and personal contact with Bach's two oldest son's, Friedemann and Emanuel as well as Bach sources in Berlin. Forkel's primary interest was Bach's keyboard music, while citing only two dozen sacred cantatas in the Amalian Library. Fortunately Emanuel faithfully preserved his portion of the vocal music manuscripts IMSLP and the Berlin Singakademie began rehearsing and performing his vocal music in 1791 (Wikipedia). In the first half of the 19th century, Bach research and manuscript collecting grew exponentially, so that at 1850 the first systematic study of Bach's works was published by Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt (see bibliography below, 2.1). That year, the first systematic publication of Bach's works began publication in the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe (Wikipedia), with the church cantatas taking pride of place, based on available manuscripts, followed by copyists versions and other source materials — all numbered and the beginning of the 1950 first works catalogue, Wolfgang Schmieder's Bach Werke Verzeichnis (Wikipedia).
The year 1950 saw the beginning of the Neue Bach Ausgabe (New Bach Edition, Wikipedia), with companion musicological critical commentary (Kritischer Bericht) of noted scholars. In that same decade of the 1950s, two Bach scholars, made a major breakthrough in determining the new chronology of the compositional dating of the Leipzig vocal work manuscripts, Georg von Dadelsen (1918-2007, Wikipedia) with handwriting analyses of Bach and his copyists and Alfred Dürr (1918-2011, Wikipedia) and American Bach Society: Bach Notes 15) with the watermarks and the identity of individual copyists. Using their methodologies, in the 1980s, Yoshitake Kobayashi (1942-2013; see Andreas Glöckner, "In memory of Yoshitake Kobyashi, ABS Notes, American Bach Society: Bach Notes 19: 6) determined the dating of the earlier Weimar works and more precisely the final period of 1736-1750 (Jstor). The only extant, detailed study based on these chronological findings is found in Gerhard Herz's Cantata 140 study (see bibliography below 6.6.2).
Beginning in the last half of the 20th century, there has been another profound Bach Revival (still going on), with significant new research and other activities involving the cantatas, systematic recordings with scholarly liner notes, and the development of on-line resources such as the Bach Bibliography (Bach-Bibliographie, Bach Cantatas Website (http://bach-cantatas.com/index.htm), Bach-Archiv Leipzig (https://www.bach-leipzig.de/en/neutral/about-us),, and Bach Digital (Bach Digital). Among the significant new topics are Bach reception history, notably the vocal music estate division, Bach's spirituality, the still disputed concepts of OVPP (one voice per part), and historically-informed performance. Of particular note are recordings in complete editions with scholarly liner notes, with complete cantata cycles that showcase these works as a body of music compared to "Mozart's piano concertos, Wagner's music dramas, Bartok's string quartets," says Nicholas Kenyon (see bibliography 4.4: 198). These studies have progressed to the extent that the German Bach-Archiv Leipzig, Bach Digital, and NBA online (Bärenreiter) have English-language components as well as bi-lingual German-English publications (Bärenreiter).
BACH CANTATAS: SELECTED, ANOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Cantata Research Sources. Research studies into various Bach sources are found in books and on-line, including musicological, topical narrative, works catalogue, and a new works catalogue, BWV3 (see bibliography 1.5). Following is topical, not chronological:
1.1. Daniel R. Melamed, Michael Marissen, An Introduction to Bach Studies (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998); Amazon.com, Amazon.com: see "7.3.1 Cantatas 112"). A musicological approach with emphasis on research and sources in extensive bibliographical listings in 11 chapters with brief summaries of topics with indices of names, titles, subjects, Bach's works. Lacking is the most recent research on Back Dokumente 5-9 (Bärenreiter); the Neue Bach Ausgabe (New Bach Edition), vols. I/3.1, 3.2 and I/41, Cantata Varia (Bärenreiter), and the NBARev (Revised, Bärenreiter), Weimar Cantatas 31, 132, 143 (Bärenriter) and Pre-Weimar Cantatas 21, 106, 131, 150 (in preparation).
1.2. Mark A. Peters, Chapter 11, "Vocal Music," in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London Routledge, 2017), Amazon.com: "Look inside," 267ff). Latest Bach studies is a complementary edition in topical narratives by leading Bach scholars covering sources, contexts, musical influences, genres and forms (music), dissemination (reception), and chronology (life, works) with general index of names and works). The newest is the Boydell composer compendium series (https://academic.oup.com/em/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/em/caaa058/5896707?redirectedFrom=PDF) with a single author in a concise biography, extensive dictionary of titles and terms, works, and alpha bibliography. The dictionary in format is similar to the Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach (see .3).
1.3. Bach Cantatas Website on-line: Index to Discussions of General Topics, Part 6: Cantatas & Other Vocal Works, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/IndexTopics6.htm; also Index to Recordings & Discussions, http://bach-cantatas.com/IndexBWV.htm; vocal works texts and translations, http://bach-cantatas.com/Texts/index.htm; references, http://bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef1.htm; commentaries, (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Guide/IndexGuide1.htm); and articles, http://bach-cantatas.com/Articles/index.htm.
1.4. Hans-Joachim Schulze, Christoph Wolff, Bach Compendium: Analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (BC) (Frankfuurt, Peters: 1985-1989), Vols. 1-4, Vocal Works; https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef-BC.htm. This analytical-biographical repertory of Bach's works is a multi-volume version of a Bach works catalogue, arranged by genre with the following classifications: A - Cantatas for Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef-BC-A.htm, B - Sacred works for special occasions (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Ref/IndexRef-BC-B.htm), C - Motets, D - Passions and Oratorios, E - Latin church music, F - Chorales and sacred songs, G - Secular cantatas for court, nobility and bourgeoisie, H - Vocal chamber music. The numbering is chronological with a concise bibliography of each work and includes key words in English. It chronicles various versions, incomplete and lost works, as well as spurious and doubtful works.
1.5. Bach Werke Verzeichnis, third edition (BWV3), ed. Christine Blanken (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2020 in preparation), Google Translate. According to the BACH333 (https://www.bach333.com/en/) BWV/Index Book the new edition adds to the Bach canon, BWV 1127-1175 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/BWVSystem-4.htm), primarily cantatas with lost music (text only), formerly in the BWV Anh. (Anhang, Appendix) or BWV deest (lacking), as well as variant versions now with decimal numbers such as the five versions of the St. John Passion, BWV 245, which correspond to the new Bach Digital entries (Bach Digital). The BWV3 has a new Anhang (Appendix) of doubtful and inauthentic works from the original list (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/List-BWVAnh.htm), in four appendices: A. doubtful but assigned to Bach in the 18th century (Anh. 74), B. doubtful not previously listed in the BWV or NBA (Anh. 31), C. copies or arrangements unlikely to be by Bach (Anh. 25), D. Formerly BWV but NOT by Bach (Anh. 24). With the digital age and new findings, detailed bibliographical information is redirected on-line "to an Internet medium [Online BWV] that has yet to be created" while secondary musical sources and successive print editions have been eliminated but can be found at Bach Digital (Ibid.).
2. General Studies of the Cantatas. Various studies of Bach cantatas are found in biographical-musical accounts, a dictionary lexicon, and a recent topical musical portrait.
2.1. Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt, Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Wirken, und Werke: ein Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte des achzehnten Jahrhunderts (Johann Sebastian Bach's Life, Influences, and Works: A Contribution to the History of Art in the Eighteenth Century) Leipzig: Hofmeister, 1850; reprint, Hilversum: Knuf, 1965). Hilgenfeldt listed 168 church cantatas by church year (pp. 99-105), the three oratorios ("Grösere Cantaten"), and 19 casual cantatas extant (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Joy-Sorrow-Occasional-Cycle.htm, paragraph beginning "A century later in 1850 . . . .").
2.2. Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach, 3 vols.; trans. Clara Bell, J. A. Fuller-Maitland (London: Novello, 1889; New York: Dover, 1951), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spitta%27s_Johann_Sebastian_Bach. This first magisterial, chronological biography involves thorough research into German sources as well as many Bach cantatas emphasizing Weimar works (misdated Mühlhausen BWV 150, 131, 106) and Johann Ludwig of Meinengen (Vol. 1), Leipzig church cantatas and oratorios (Vol. 2), and later chorale cantatas and cantatas with instrumental and solo writing (Vol. 3) with an alpha index (3: 409ff). Topics include the cantata form in Vol. 1 and poets Erdmann Neumeister and Picander as well as occasional cantatas (BWV 198, 134a, 173a) in Vol. 2. Spitta misdated the chorale cantatas and others to the entire Leipzig period while his wealth of information established the foundation for Bach research.
2.3. Albert Schweitzer, J. S. Bach, 2 vols., trans. Ernest Newman (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2011; New York: Dover, 1966), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Schweitzer-Bach.htm. Schweitzer built on the fundings of Spitta while writing in a more devotional, lucid style with thematic chapters. He devotes much of his second volume to the cantatas and other vocal works with special interest in the chorales, musical language and character, and performance (Amazon.com: "Look inside." His chapter, "Death and Resurrection" (I: 12, 222-265) fostered the myth that Bach's music was unknown in the second half of the 18th century.
2.4. Alberto Basso, Leipzig mature works, vol. 2, Frau Musika. The Life and Works of J. S. Bach, (Turin, Italy: EDT, 1983), Google Translate. The indice (contents, Google Books) shows the sacred (pp. 427-569) and secular (pp. 611-651) cantatas.
2.5. Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach, ed. Malcolm Boyd (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Amazon.com: "Look inside", "Please use Surprise Me! . . . to view more pages. This Bach dictionary-lexicon written by the late Malcolm Boyd with consultant editor John Butt includes encyclopedic alpha entries on people, places, positions, theology, musical terms, individual works, performance, scholarship, and technical terms (see "Thematic Overview": xv-xx). It features 44 Bach scholars as contributors focusing on select topics in overleaf (i.e. "Aria": 15-17) as well as the individual cantatas listed alpha by incipit ("Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein," BWV 2), averaging one column in length (500 words) with concise contextual and compositional information and a brief description of each movement.
2.6. John Eliot Gardiner, Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (New York. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." Gardiner (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eliot_Gardiner) personal, selective and unique biographical-musical biography was propelled by his historic Bach 2000 Cantata Pilgrimage (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec2.htm) with his revealing liner notes (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec2.htm). Three topical chapters deal with the cantatas: 5. "The Mechanics of Faith" (Mühlhausen, BWV 4, 131, 106); 8. "Cantatas or Coffee?" (Secular cantatas); and 9. "Cycles and Seasons" (Leipzig 1 and 2).
3. Cantata Monographs. Special studies of Bach's cantatas involving various approaches, include summaries, a handbook, analyses, on-line materials, and essays.
3.1. Charles Sanford Terry, Bach: The Cantatas and Oratorios, Books I & II, The Musical Pilgrim Series (London: Oxford University Press, 1925), Abe Books. Terry (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sanford_Terry_(historian) spent a lifetime studying Bach, providing significant research and writing various other volumes: Bach: A Biography (OUP, 1928; Amazon.com), Bach's Chorales, 3 vol. (https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/charles-sanford-terry); Bach Cantata Texts, Sacred and Secular With a Reconstruction of the Leipzig Liturgy of His Period (Constable, 1926; Amazon.com); and the other vocal works (Passions; Magnificat, Lutheran Masses, and Motets) are found in a reprint (Google Books).
3.2. Werner Neumann, Handbuch der Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1947), through 5th ed., B&H: Wiesbaden, 1984, Abe Books. Neumann (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Neumann) unique, indispensable guide of fundamental information (date, summary, text, print, scoring, movement incipits and form): BWV 1-216a, 244a, 248, 249, plus partially extant or sketches of 33 cantatas (BWV Anh. deest) now in BWV3; also indices involve chronology, service order, text poets, chorale arrangement forms, chorale melodies, chorus types, instrumentation, arias by voice types & instrumental obbligato, parodies and parallels, music sources, and BGA, NBA editions.
3.3. W. Gillies Whittaker, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach: Sacred and Secular, 2 vols. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959), Amazon.com. Whittaker (Wikpedia) provides a detailed commentary on the cantata music by structure and type, with special sections ("Interludes") on Bach's borrowings, recitatives, chorale in larger forms, and "The Relationship Between the Christmas Oratorio and Three Secular Cantatas," arguing mistakenly that the oratorio was composed first, then parodied in BWV 213-215. The paperback publication concludes with "Appendix III: The Cantatas Re-Dated" (II: 736-743) numerically with the new chronology of Alfred Dürr. Whittaker much earlier published Fugitive Notes on Certain Cantatas and the Motets of J. S. Bach (London: Humphrey Milford, 1924), practical performing advice (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0101.htm).
3.4. Bach Cantata Series, Emmanuel Music, Craig Smith director, founded 1970 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Emmanuel-Music.htm), concerts, program notes and translations (Emmanuel Music: Bach Notes and Translations)
3.5. Alex Robertson, The Church Cantatas of J. S. Bach (London: Cassel, 1972), Amazon.com, 172 cantatas by church year.
3.6. W. Murray Young, The Cantatas of J.S. Bach: An Analytical Guide (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1989), Amazon.com, sacred and secular. Young relied on pre-1950s dating, dividing the Leipzig cantatas into two segments, 1723-34 (pp. 43-161) and 1735-50 (pp. 162-233), with secular cantatas (234-276), followed by the Christmas Oratorio. Young provided English translations to the texts although he calls this "an analytical guide," he cites dated materials, especially from Whittaker and Terry. Young also authored The Sacred Dramas of J. S. Bach: A Reference And Textual Interpretation (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 1989), https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4161484-the-sacred-dramas-of-j-s-bach, also with very dated material.
3.7. Christoph Wolff ed., Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten, 3 vols., only the first series of essays was published in English, The World of the Bach Cantatas: Early Sacred Cantatas, from Arnstadt to Cöthen time (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995; Amazon.com: "Look inside," "CONTENTS"); the last two only in German and Dutch: vol. 2, worldly cantatas; vol. 3, Leipzig church cantatas. The essays by noted Bach scholars are divided into two sections: "The Composer in His World" and "The Works and Their World" (Bärenreiter: Inhalt). The publication accompanied Ton Koopman's Erato recordings of the sacred and secular cantatas in chronological order (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Koopman.htm) with the three-volume Forewords by Koopman and Prefatory Notes of Wolff.
3.8. Konrad Küster, "Die Vokalmusik," in Bach Handbuch (Google Translate). Küster (Wikipedia) concise study of the sacred and secular cantatas, chronologically with introduction (Inhalt: VI, https://doc1.bibliothek.li/aam/FLMA101004.pdf) as part of the 450-page original volume on the vocal music (Google Translate).
3.9. Alfred Dürr, The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text, rev. and trans. Richard D. P. Jones (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005), Amazon.com: "Look inside, Contents: ix). The leading Bach scholar at the time, Dürr (Wikipedia) published this in several editions from 1972 to 1995, followed by Jones' update revisions not found in Dürr's German edition, making Jones' work exemplary in Bach scholarship with very readable translation of the individual works by church year including lost cantatas now finding their way into the Bach BWV canon. In his "Introduction to Bach's Cantatas," Dürr provides a history before Bach, the forms and structures of Bach's "cycles" and types, and performing practices.
3.10. Julian Mincham, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach: A listener and student guide (http://www.jsbachcantatas.com): begun in 2010 in three sections (Leipzig Cycle 1, early, secular cantatas; 2, chorale cantatas; 3 & 4, late works, bibliography), with the established chronology.
3.11. Craig Smith, Bringing Bach's Music to Life: Essays on Bach's Cantatas, Monographs in Musicology, ed. Pamela Dellal (Hillsdale NY: Pendragon Press, 2018), Amazon.com, https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/store/34395/pr/74119. Smith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Smith_(conductor)) founded Emmanuel Music and the Bach Project and his essays on most of the vocal music is found at. Emmanuel Music: Bach Notes and Translations.
3.12. Mark Ringer, Bach's Operas of the Soul: A Listener's Guide to the Sacred Cantatas, Unlocking the Masters, vol. 32 (Lanham MD: Amadeus Press, release April 15, 2021), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents" by church year, Advent to Trinity 27.
4. Selected Cantata Summaries. Studies of Bach's vocal music treat cantatas from various thematic perspectives such as Bach's sound world, performance practices, select studies, and significance.
4.1. Stephen Daw, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Choral Works, Great Composers Series (Rutherford NJ: Farleigh Dickinson Press, 1981), https://academic.oup.com/em/article-abstract/11/3/365/487088?redirectedFrom=PDF. The choral music in a studied chronological survey that emphasizes Bach's sound world as found on recordings, a trend established by 1985 and exploding c.2000.
4.2. The Sacred Choral Music of J. S. Bach: A Handbook, ed. John Butt (Brewster MA: Paraclete Press, 1997), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Table of Contents": v. Butt (Wikipedia) gathers selective essays on performance practices such as historical, singing, chorales, ornamentation, and translations.
4.3. Gordon Jones, Bach's Choral Music: A Listener's Guide, Unlocking the Master's Series, vol. 20 (New York: Amadeus Press, 2009), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents"). Subjective, descriptive account of 30 select cantatas by BWV number (list: 22f).
4.4. Nicholas Kenyon, The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach (London: Faber, 2010), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." Kenyon (Wikipedia) covers various topics such as Bach in media and Bach's life and music, beginning with church music, devoting 91 pages of 496 (pp. 197ff) to the cantata chronologically with concise, informative comments on their significance, liturgical perspective, place in the service, production, and compositional process. This same material is found in slightly abbreviated and updated form in BACH333, The New Complete Edition (https://www.bach333.com/en/), in hardback Contents: Bach: The Music, "222 CDs of musical commentary by Nicholas Kenyon, many facsimiles and guide to online resources."
5. Select Cantata Studies. Some major studies of Bach's activities, notably his compositional process and serenades in Cöthen time (1718-23), as well as four significant contributions of Eric Chafe, and a study of Leipzig poetess Mariane von Ziegler.
5.1. Robert L. Marshall, The Compositional Process of J. S. Bach: A Study of the Autograph Scores of the Vocal Works (Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972), Amazon.com:. 2 vols.: 1. commentary of musical materials by types of movements (choruses, arias, recitatives, chorales), 2. analysis of discussed materials. Marshall (https://www.brandeis.edu/facultyguide/person.html?emplid=9d6e7a17246d137200237a48208b32ed6082d0d8) produced "An ambitious and acclaimed attempt to reconstruct the methods by which Bach conceived and realised his compositions, tracing the process of conception and correction through the materials of his autography scores," says Kenyon (ref. bibliography above, 4.4: 447).
5.2. Friedrich Smend, Bach in Köthen, trans. John Page, ed. & rev. Stephen Daw (St.Louis MO: Concordia, 1985), Amazon.com. Smend (Google Translate) achieved a musicological breakthrough after World War II in the Cöthen archives with his accounting of Bach's serenades composed there (1718-23), cantata reperformances and Leipzig influences, especially a chapter (10) devoted to the funeral music for Prince Leopold, BWV 1143=244a, with updated editor's notes of Stephen Daw providing further understanding; ranks with Richard Jones' work on Alfred Dürr's leading study of Bach's cantatas (see bibliography 3.9).
5.3.1. Eric Chafe, Tonal Allegory in the Vocal Music of J.S. Bach (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1991), Amazon.com. Chafe (Wikipedia) established himself with a string of books on Bach's cantatas, beginning with this study of tonal allegory in select vocal music (also see "Musical Allegory" article, Jstor): 210). Chafe's bibliography is found online (Bach-Bibliographie).
5.3.2 Eric Cafe, Analyzing Bach Cantatas (New York, Oxford University Press, 2003), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." Beginning wtonal allegory, Chafe widens and deepens the understanding of Bach's cantatas with chapters on the "hermeneutic matrix," "Lutheran metaphysical tradition" (theology), select chorales, and "modal questions," as well as separate analyses of Weimar Cantata 21, chorale Cantatas 121 and 9, and Leipzig Cantatas 77 and 60.
5.3.3. Eric Chafe, J. S. Bach's Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." Bach's mini-cycle of 1725, using the Gospel of John, involves the second version of the St. John Passion, BWV 245.2 as well as the successive Easter-Trinityfest cantatas beginning with the first four (BWV 249.3, 6, 42, and 85; last three possibly by Christian Weise Sr.), followed by the nine (BWV 103, 108, 87, 128, 183, 74, 68, 175, 176) of Mariane von Ziegler. The Johannine trilogy embraces the Passion death, Easter Resurrection, and Farewell Discourse. The Weiss and Ziegler 12 works are part of the third cycle distribution of 1750 between Friedemann and Emanuel and technically beginning the final extant cycle chronologically (1725-27). The Ziegler works have the Johannine Farewell Discourse of Jesus to his disciples from Jubilate to Pentecost Sunday, followed by John's Gospel notable passages, "God so loved the world (3:16-21), Good Shepherd (10:1-10), and Nicodemus (3:1-15) (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Christological-Cycle-Summary.htm: "Easter Season Johannine Farewell Settings"; see also http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV103-D5.htm: "Johannine Theology").
5.3.4. Eric Cafe, Tears into Wine: J. S. Bach's Cantata 21 in its Musical and Theological Contexts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." This theological study of the 1714 formative cantatas begins with BWV 21 in its various theological manifestations but without its origins as a psalm cantata possibly for the Mühlhausen town council cantata in 1709 or 1710 (BWV 1138.1=Anh. 192, 1138.2). Chafe also explores topics of revelation, foretaste of eternity, Lutheran strains, and three key cantatas that show the great parabola of descent/ascent in BWV 61, 63, and 152 (incarnation), way of the cross (BWV 182, 12), and pentecostal descent and indwelling (BWV 172).
5.4.5. Mark A. Peters, A Woman's Voice in Baroque Music: Mariane von Ziegler and J. S. Bach (Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2008: 74), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents." Peters offers an historical account of Ziegler and the Bach collaboration (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV103-D5.htm: "Cantata 103, Poet Ziegler").
6. Single Cantata Studies. Study scores of Cantata 4 and 140, as, well as the authenticity of Cantata 143, are examples of effective Bach research while other individual cantatas and groups are explored in a wide range of scholarly articles.
6.1.1. Gerhard Herz, Cantata No. 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, Norton Critical Score (New York: W. W. Norton, 1967), Amaszon.com. Herz (Jstor) exemplary study with score; analysis of chorale melody, text, and form; critical comments of scholars, and bibliography.
6.1.2. Gerhard Herz, Cantata No. 140, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, Norton Critical Scores (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972), with NBA score, historical background with new chronology of Bach's vocal music (pp. 3-50); Amazon.com. Beyond the Cantata 140 score, analysis, views and comments is Herz's impressive construction of the new cantata chronology, "the most easily available (and by far the cheapest) version," says Kenyon (Ibid., 4.4: 448).
6.2. Don L. Smithers, Trumpets, Horns, and Bach Abschriften at the time of Christian Friedrich Penzel: Probing the Pedigree of BWV 143 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2015), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents": 7). Its authenticity long disputed but now accepted, festive Cantata 143 is analyzed from the reception history study of its first extant copy while it dates to 1707-1714, Smithers arguing that "it is the music itself that should be the principal determinant of its authenticity and reinstatement to the canon of Bach's oeuvre," beyond dominant musicologicial philology. The new NBARev cautiously accepts Cantata 143, Weimarer Kantaten, Revidierte Edition, vol. 2, ed. Andreas Glöckner (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2012), with the presumed original version in C Major (Bärenriter: xiif (German), xixf (English).
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To Come: Bach Cantata Bibliography, Part 2: textual and related theological studies, text translations, musical publications, recordings, and articles reveal and reflect Bach's cantata canon. |
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Cantata Bibliography, Part 2: Studies, Spirituality, Texts, Recordings |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (October 16, 2020):
Two major studies in the 21st century project a fuller understanding of Bach's cantatas involving his decision in 1730 to cease composing these "musical sermons," as well as restoring to Bach studies the concept of their intrinsic spirituality through theological exegesis. Other studies, discussions, translations, and systematic recordings continue to strengthen the reception and understanding of this impressive body of music without equal. Among the topics found in recent bibliographical accounts are the role of copyists in parody works, a librettist for some of the third cycle cantatas, and a better understanding of the appropriate place of the vocal music in the church's lectionary.
In "the whole history of western culture it would be difficult to find a parallel example of a large body of work of comparable artistic quality produced under such unremitting time pressure for such a long period of time" as three sacred cycles composed between 1723 and 1727, says Michael Maul, senior scholar at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig in his recent study of the Thomaner choir history.1.1 The two events in 1730 were the Town Council's unilateral actions to reduce the number of outside, talented boarding musical students and the withdrawal of payments to hire university students as instrumental players — both essential ingredients in the production of church cantatas by the cantor, Maul shows (Ibid: 194ff). Another major German source is the late Martin Petzoldt's four-volume magnum opus of the theological underpinnings of these sacred cantatas, the Bach-Kommentar.2.1
Bach's Extant Three Church Cantata Cycles
A summary of the three extant church year cycles provides the latest perspective based upon current research, says Maul in his section (Ibid.: 186ff), Bach, "a masterpiece a week — and against the decline of music (1723-1727)." The first cycle of 1723-24 1.2 "was both textually and musically heterogeneous," he observes (Ibid.: 188; http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV75-D4.htm, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-1.htm), while "most of the newly set cantata texts [some 40] may have been written specifically for Bach by one or more poets whose names are still unknown." Beginning with the first Sunday after Trinity (5/30/23), Bach in the first cycle planned a special double cycle dual concept 1.3 of either a cantata in two parts (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Main/Two-Part-Cantatas.pdf) or a double bill of two shorter cantatas — music presented before and after the sermon — and selectively did this in the third cycle. Bach's initial performance calendar (http://bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1723.htm) shows this dual concept until late June (24) with the feast of John the Baptist with Cantata 167 on Thursday, followed by 5th Sunday after Trinity (6/27) with no cantata performance, followed the next Friday (7/2) with the Feast of the Visitation and a substantial doubleheader of Cantata 147, known as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," and the Magnificat in E-flat Major," BWV 243, followed with no music the next Sunday, the 6th after Trinity on July 4. Obviously, Bach's composition of Cantata 147 and the Magnificat required him in his workload to curtail cantatas for the adjacent 5th and 6th Sundays after Trinity, the only two gaps in his first cycle.
The second cycle of 1724-25 used the unifying concept of a chorale cantata 1.4 to compile Bach's unique format (Wikipedia). Bach presented 42 such cantatas from the 1st Sunday after Trinity 1724 to Easter Sunday 1725 and composed eight more to fill gaps through 1735, as well as four more pure-hymn cantatas, possibly for weddings/special events at Weissenfels in 1731 — all 54 parts sets extant at the Thomas School. The incomplete cycle of 50 lacked 11 chorale pieces for services in the Easter season. Two questions remain, says Maul (Ibid.: 188f): "(1) who the texts for Bach's project, and (2) why Bach abandoned the cycle before Easter 1725." A possible candidate, Andreas Stübel, has been rejected (see Thomas Braatz's "The Rise and Fall of the Stübel Theory," https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Stubel-Theory.htm), says Maul. There "is no evidence that Stübel had ever taken up writing texts for church music, least of all in this modern format." A combination of external and internal factors probably caused Bach to leave unfinished the chorale cantata cycle, as he had done with the Orgelbüchlein in Weimar (Wikipedia), possibly the desire to move on, satisfied with what he had already done.
With the third cycle (1725-27), 1.5 Bach returned to heterogeneous texts, showing "a recourse to compositions by others is in evidence for the first time," Maul says (Ibid.: 189), including Meinengen cousin Johann Ludwig Bach. "Formally, the pieces from this Third cycle are exceptionally varied and occasionally experimental," such as the use of organ as a solo instrument in choruses and arias or opening instrumental sinfonias," he says (Ibid.; see Wikipedia). A full, original cycle emerged, when the nine Easter-Pentecost season cantatas of 1725 are included, since they were part of the 1750 estate division between two oldest sons Friedemann and Emanuel (see "Bach's Third Cantata Cycle (1725-27): Revised Classification," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-3-P02.htm. As to the possibility of two additional cycles, "hardly any cantatas have survived from the remaining twenty-two years of his employment in Leipzig," says Maul (Ibid.: 189), such as in the Picander "fourth cycle," of 1728-29, "scarcely a dozen of the cantata texts in this collection exist in writings by Bach" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Picander_cycle_of_1728–29). The most significant new scholarly findings center on the third cycle, involving the acceptance of Bach student Christoph Birkmann as the author of eight original works. Two important articles by Rudolf Eller 1.6 and Christoph Wolff 1.7 examine Bach's Leipzig tenure related to his creative trajectory and his sacred repertory in its context, respectively. Another article of Marc Roderich Pfau suggests that Bach's four undesignated pure-hymn cantatas may have been composed for the court at Weissenfels.1.8
Bach's Spirituality: Challenge, Response
The late Friedrich Blume (Wikipedia), noted authority on Protestant church music and Bach, questioned a long-held tradition of Bach as the "Fifth Evangelist," with his essay in 1963.2.2 This led to a response from Bach studies theologians, most notably the late Martin Petzoldt (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Religion-8.htm). The impetus for Petzold’s undertaking began during the great debate, ignited in the early 1960s by the leading Protestant music writer, Friedrich Blume, over the depth and even sincerity of Bach’s spirituality that had grown to the point that early in the 20th Century Bach was called the “Fifth Evangelist.” With the new dating of Bach’s three-plus annual church service cycles in the late 1950s, showing that Bach had composed most of his cantatas in the first four years as Cantor at Leipzig, beginning in 1723, not throughout his tenure that ended with his death in 1750, dominating his interests at the rate of a new cantata each month. Blüme in "Outlines of a New Picture of Bach" argued that this new creative picture shows that Bach was not consumed by sacred music and his calling of a “well order sacred music to the glory of God,” but that he had other, temporal, worldly interests in his musical art, particularly a broad spectrum of instrumental music. Blüme, living in Easter German in Bach country ruled by Communism, perhaps went beyond political dogma (doctrine, and perhaps dialect!) intentionally to challenge Bach scholars, especially those who were content to accept the spiritual and traditional Lutheran image wrought by the venerable Albert Schweitzer, Friedrich Smend, and Arnold Schering (Bach-Bibliographie), in order to think beyond the canonized image of Sebastian Bach. In effect, Blume's challenge wrought a profound response continuing to today which shows Bach's understanding of Lutheran theology and the Bible impacted on his work (see William L. Hoffman, "Spiritual Sources of Bach's St. Matthew Passion," http://bach-cantatas.com/Articles/SMP-Spiritual-Hoffman.htm). While Bach composed his sacred vocal music for the single-year lectionary, the 20th century three-year lectionary shows these works as appropriate for today's services.2.3 In response to Blume, theologian and Bach scholar Güther Stiller produced the milestone 1970 study in German, finally published in English in 1984, JSB and Liturgical Life in Leipzig (St. Louis MO: Concordia Publishing). This lead to many published essays and studies under the auspices of the Internationale Arbeitsgemeinschaft für theologische Bach Forschung (International Working Group for Theological Bach Research), beginning in 1976. Petzoldt in 1999 provided an understanding of the 1718 Lutheran Church-Book lectionary and catechism and the 1712 Agenda book of rules governing practices in Leipzig, Saxony as guidelines to Bach's sacred compositions.2.4 Meanwhile, two monographs have been published that describe the theological and spiritual principles found in Bach's church music, by Jaroslav Pe2.5 and Calvin R. Stapert.2.6
Prior to the publication of studies of Bach's theology and spirituality, various textual translations of Bach's vocal music began to be published covering three categories 1. the sacred texts, 2. biblical citations in the cantatas, and 3. possible poets. Charles S. Terry in 1926 published the first English translation of the texts of sacred and secular cantatas,3.1.1 followed in 1942 with Henry S. Drinker's published singable English texts for the sacred music.3.1.2 Werner Neumann published his complete Bach cantata texts, including works where no music survives, as well as information on the poets and libretti they provided Bach,3.1.3 and followed with his texts of all the vocal music.3.1.4 Several on-line translations of Bach's texts are found at the Bach Cantatas Website,3.1.6 Z. Philip Ambrose's website,3.1.7 and Emanuel Music,3.1.8 and oratorios.3.1.9 The next category of biblical citations features the writing of Melvin Unger 3.2.1 and Ulrich Meyer 3.2.2 while the definitive work of Martin Petzoldt is found at 2.1, Theology, Spirituality. The third category of vocal work poets involves the overview of James Day 3.3.1 and the findings of Artur Hirsch.3.3.2 Two recent studies of Mariane von Ziegler are the work of Mark A. Peters 3.3.3 and Eric Chafe,3.3.4 previously listed in "Bach Cantatas, A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, Part 1,". No significant study of Picander is available while on line are two sources: Wikipedia (Wikipedia) and Bach Cantatas Website (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Picander.htm). A recent source of librettos is David Timm's "Festival music for Leipzig university celebrations" (Google Translate), as well as William L. Hoffman's study, "Bach’s Dramatic Music: Serenades, Drammi per Musica, Oratorios ," http://bach-cantatas.com/Articles/HoffmanBachDramaII.htm.
The next category (4) is Publications and Recordings. Bach works are published by Carus,4.1.1 the Neue Bach Ausgabe,4.1.2 Breitkopf & Härtel,4.1.3 and Eulenberg.4.1.4 "Complete" recordings began appearing in 1985, Bach's tercentenary, with Helmut Rilling's Hänssler recordings.4.2.1 In 1989, Telefunken completed the HIP edition of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt of the cantatas on 90 LPs, with five additional editions on CDs in four editions.4.2.2 Next beginning in the 1990s were Ton Koopman,4.2.3 Pieter Jan Leusink (reissues),4.2.4 Masaaki Suzuki,4.2.6 and John Eliot Gardiner.4.2.8 Bach 333 omnibus collection of 2018 presents all the cantatas from various conductors.4.2.9 Currently there are three projects on-line underway to record all of Bach's cantatas: Bach Stiftung,4.2.10 Oxford Bach Soloists,4.2.11 and All of Bach.4.2.12 The advent of long-playing records in the 1950s brought a plethora of recordings of collections such as Domenico Scarlatti's keyboard sonatas and Haydn's symphonies. Bach's cantata recordings beginning in 1950 recorded the Thomaner under various cantors, 4.2.13 as well as Fritz Werner's Bach cantatas on Erato (now owned by Warner) beginning in 1957, 4.2.14 and Karl Richter. 4.2.15 One of the great pioneers of Bach vocal music recordings was the Bach Aria Group of William Sheide.4.2.16 Two on-going cantata projects are conductors Philippe Herreweghe 4.2.17 and Sigiswald Kuijken.4.2.18
1. General Studies
1.1. Michael Maul, Bach's Famous Choir: The Saint Thomas School in Leipzig, 1212-1804, trans. Richard Howe (Woodbridge UK: Boydell Press, 2018: 188), Amazon.com; see also "New Bach-Related Studies: Thomas School, Leipzig After Bach," http://bach-cantatas.com/Other/Pupil-3.htm.
1.2. First cantata cycle: summaries, Wikipedia, http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV75-D4.htm, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-1.htm; articles, William Scheide, "Bach Achieves His Goal: His First Year of Regular Church Music Following the Leipzig Lutheran Calendar," manuscript housed in the Scheide Library at Princeton University.
1.3. Dual concept was first examined in Christoph Wolff, "Wo bleibt Bach's fünfter Kantatenjahrgang?" (Where is Bach's Fifth Year of Cantatas) in Bach-Jahrbuch 1982: 151f), with double cantatas in the first cycle at eight services: Trinity +4, BWV 24, 185; Trinity +11, BWV 179, 199); Christmas Day, BWV 63, 238; Sexagesimae, 18, 181; Feast of Annunciation, 182, 1135=Anh. 199); Easter Sunday, BWV 4, 31; Pentecost Sunday, BWV 59, 172; and Trinityfest, BWV 94, 165. At each double-cantata service, Bach was able to use preexisting and newly-composed works. The concept of two-part cantatas was first found in the Rudolstadt libretto, Sonn- und Fest-Andachten (Meiningen 1704), set by Johann Ludwig Bach in 1715 (19 performed by Sebastian in 1726, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Bach-Johann-Ludwig.htm, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Bach-JL-Gen1.htm), in Telemann settings of Neumeister texts, and Benjamin Schmolck's Das Saiten-Spiel des Hertzens (Gotha 1720), set by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel and performed in Leipzig in 1735 (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Stolzel-Bach-Glockner-Eng.pdf, trans. Thomas Braatz).
1.4. Chorale cantata cycle: See Alfred Dürr, "Bach's Chorale Cantatas," in Cantors at the Crossroads: Essays in Church Music in honor of Walter E. Buszin, ed. Johannes Riedel (St. Louis MO: Concordia, 1967: 111-120), World-Cat Libraries: "Table of contents"); also William L. Hoffman, "Chorale Cantata Cycle," Bach Cantatas Website: 2014, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-2.htm); and Markus Rathey, "The Chorale Cantata in Leipzig: The Collaboration between Schelle and Carpzov in 1689-1690 and Bach's Chorale Cantata Cycle," in BACH, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Berea OH: Riemenschneider Bach Institute, 2012: 46-92), Jstor.
1.5. Third cantata cycle and beyond: Christine Blanken, "A Cantata-Text Cycle of 1728 from Nuremberg: A preliminary report on a discovery relating to J. S. Bach’s so-called ‘Third Annual Cycle’," in Understanding Bach 10 (Bach Network 2015: 9-30), Bach Network, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Birkmann-Christoph.htm; also "Late church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach," Wikipedia; Robin A. Leaver, "Oper in der Kirche: Bach und der Kantatenstreit im frühen 18. Jahrhundert" (Opera in the church: Bach and the cantatas dispute in the early 18th century), Bach-Jahrbuch 99 (2013: 171-203), https://journals.qucosa.de/bjb/article/view/2329, the influence of early German opera on the texts of Mariane von Ziegler and Picander; and Tatiana Schabalina, "Activities around the Composer’s Desk: The Roles of Bach and his Copyists in Parody Production," in Understanding Bach 11 (2016, Bach Network: 9-38).
1.6. Rudolf Eller, "Thoughts on Bach's Leipzig Creative Years," trans. & annot. Stephen A. Christ, in Bach 21 (1990, Berea OH: Riemenschneider Bach Institute: 31-50), Jstor.
1.7. Christoph Wolff, "Bach's Leipzig Sacred Cantatas: The Repertory and Its Context," trans. Thomas Braatz (2015, Bach Cantatas Website NA), in "Bachs Leipziger Kirchenkantaten: Repertoire und Kontext," vol. 3, Leipziger Kirchchenkantaten (pp.13-36), in Der Welt der Bach Kantaten (Stuttgart: Metzler, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1997).
1.8. Marc Roderich Pfau, "Entstanden Bachs vier späte Choralkantaten „per omnes versus“ für Gottesdienste des Weißenfelser Hofes?" (Were Bach's four late chorale cantatas “per omnes versus” written for church services at the Weissenfels court?), in Bach-Jahrbuch 101 (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2015: 341-349); Bach-Bibliographie; Cantatas BWV 97, 100, 117, and 192, composed around 1728-34, may have been for the Weissenfels court, where Bach had been appointed nonresident court composer in early 1729, and also at the Stadtkirche, 1732-36, for wedding or main services.
Theology, Spirituality
2.1. Martin Petzoldt, Bach-Kommentar: Theologisch-Musikwissenschaftliche Kommentierung der geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs (Bach Commentary: Theological and musicological commentary on the sacred vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach); vol. 1 omnes tempore Trinity time cantatas (2004), vol. 2 de tempore cantatas Advent to Trinityfest (2007), vol. 3, festive and occasional cantatas, Passions (2018), and vol. 4, Mass movements, Magnificat, motets (2019) (Stuttgart: Bach Academie; Cassel: Barenreiter); see "Bach's Sacred Music Theology: Martin Petzold," https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Religion-8.htm.
2.2. Friedrich Blume, "Outlines of a New Picture of Bach," trans. Stanley Godman, in Music & Letters Vol. 44, No. 3 (Jul., 1963), pp. 214-22), Jstor.
2.3. John S. Setterlund, Bach Through the Year: The Church Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the Revised Common Lectionary (Minneapolis MN, Lutheran University Press 2013: 28); Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents."
2.4. Martin Petzoldt, "Liturgy and Music in Leipzig’s Main Churches by Martin Petzoldt," trans. Thomas Braatz, in Die Welt der Bach Kantaten, ed. Christoph Wolff, vol. 3: Johann Sebastian Bachs Leipziger Kirchenkantaten (Metzler/Bärenreiter, Stuttgart/Weimar, Kassel, 1999) pp. 68-93; http://bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Leipzig-Churches-Petzold.pdf.
2.5. Jaroslav Pelikan, Bach Among the Theologians (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1986), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents," (viii); see Ch. 5, "Pietism, Piety, and Devotion in Bach's Cantatas": 56-73, and Passions and B-Minor Mass.
2.6. Calvin R. Stapert, My Only Comfort: Death, Deliverance, and Discipleship in the Music of Bach, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Liturgical Studies (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 2000), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents": viiff); vocal work essays; analysis, BWV 199, 61, 232, 248II, 244-47, 4, 77, 147, 56, 140.
3.0 Works Texts, Poets, Commentary. 1. Sacred works, 2. biblical quotations and allusions, and 3. possible poets.
3.1.1. Charles S. Terry, Joh. Seb. Bach: Cantata Texts, Sacred and Secular: With a Reconstruction of the Leipzig Liturgy of His Period (London: Constable, 1926), Amazon.com.
3.1.2. Henry S. Drinker, Texts of the Choral Works of J. S. Bach in English Translation, 4 vols.: 1. Cantatas 1-100; 2. Cantatas 101-199; 3. Passions, oratorios, motets; 4. Index and Concordance (New York: Assoc. of American Colleges Arts Program, 1942; public domain (IMSLP); singable texts found in the Kalmus edition (see 4.1.4) and the Carus edition (4.1.1).
3.1.3. Werner Neumann, Samtliche Kantatentexte unter Mitbenutzung von Rudolf Wustmanns Ausgabe der Bachschen Kirchenkantentatenteste (Complete Cantata Texts, with joint use of Rudolf Wustmann's edition of Bach's church edge tests), 2nd. ed. (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1967: xxiv, 643p); Abe Books; church cantata texts with author information (i.e. https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Weiss-Christian.htm).
3.1.4. Werner Neumann, Sämtliche von Johann Sebastian Bach vertonte Texte (All texts set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach) (Leipzig: VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1974), Google Translate.
3.1.5. Charles S. Terry, Bach's Chorales, 3 vols.: 1. The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the “Passions” and Oratorios," 2. The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Cantatas and Motetts," 3. "The Hymns and Hymn Melodies of the Organ Works" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1915), https://oll.libertyfund.org/people/charles-sanford-terry).
3.1.6. Various authors, languages: Index to Texts & Translations of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works, Bach Cantatas Website, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/index.htm.
3.1.7. Z. Philipp Ambrose, Texts of the Complete Vocal Works, with English Translation and Commentary, University of Vermont, https://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/.
3.1.8. Emmanuel Music, Bach Cantata Series, Craig Smith director, program notes and translations (Emmanuel Music: Bach Notes and Translations)
3.1.9. Michael Marissen: Bach's Oratorios: The Parallel German-English Texts With Annotations (Oxford University Press, 2008), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents": xi).
3.2.1. Melvin P. Unger, Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts, An Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1996); Amazon.com: "Look inside"; references in cantatas BWV 1-200, 248, 249, also extensive Selected Bibliography and various indices.
3.2.2. Ulrich Meyer, Biblical Quotation and Allusion in the Cantata Libretti of Johann Sebastian Bach, Studies in Liturgical Musicology No. 5 (Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 1997); description, contents (Google Books); book (some pages omitted, Google Books); German and English Introduction, references to cantatas by church year, Advent to Trinity time to festival and special occasions (omits oratorios BWV 248 and 249).
3.2.3. Review of Unger and Meyer, Daniel R. Melamed review, "Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts: an Interlinear Translation with Reference Guide to Biblical Quotations and Allusions," Music & Letters, vol. 79, no. 1, 1998, p. 114+; Gale Academic Onefile.
3.3.1. James Day, The Literary Background to Bach's Cantatas (London: Dover, 1961), Amazon.com; texts of Neumeiser, Salomo Franck, Ziegler, Picander
3.3.2. Artur Hirsch, "Johann Sebastian Bach’s Cantatas in Chronological Order," in BACH No. 4 (Berea OH: Riemenschneider Bach Institute, July 1973: 19-35), Jstor; list includes all vocal works, BWV Anh.
Harald Streck, 1971 dissertation study of Bach’s cantata texts, “Die Verskunst in den poetischen Texten zu den Kantaten J. S. Bachs” (University of Hamburg), classifies four different librettists’ groups of the chorale cantata texts: Group 4, earliest, possibly by various authors and of inferior poetic quality (BWV 20 to 127); and subsequently interspersed are Group 2, BWV 101 to 180; Group 1, BWV 78 to 124; and Group 3, BWV 33 to 125.
3.3.3. Mark A. Peters, A Woman's Voice in Baroque Music: Mariane von Ziegler and J. S. Bach (Burlington VT: Ashgate, 2008: 74), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents."
3.3.4. Eric Chafe, J. S. Bach's Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014), Amazon.com: "Look inside," "Contents."
4. Publications, Recordings. Category 1. published music in various editions; Category 2, recordings of Bach cantatas, complete, collections, individuals.
4.1.1 Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sacred Vocal Music. Complete Edition in 23 volumes (Leinfelden-Echterdingen: Carus Verlag), Carus-Verlag. Just completed is the authoritative Urtext of the Stuttgart Bach Edition, featuring editions of noted Bach experts and interpreters such as Andreas Glöckner, Klaus Hofmann, Ulrich Leisinger, Masaaki Suzuki, Uwe Wolf and Peter Wollny, notably the final cantata vol. 16, BWV 190-200 (https://issuu.com/carus-verlag/docs/bach_vocal_completeedition_web).
4.1.2 Johann Sebastian Bach, New Edition of the Complete Works, Neue Bach Ausgabe (Kassel: Bärenreiter), Bäreinreiter; Edited by the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute, Göttingen and by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig; with an updated Revised Edition, Bärenreiter; the Stuttgarter Bach-Ausgaben of Hänssler (1985), was transferred to Carus in 2000.
4.1.3. Bach's Kantatenwerk, Sämtliche 199 Kirchenkantaten (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel), Google Translate; begun in 1930 from the BGA, 2nd ed. 1958 Eng. text trans. H.H. Thorne, new ed. various.
4.1.4. Kalmus Edition, Bach Cantatas, BWV 1-199 (Melville NY: Belwin Mills, https://www.kalmus.com), miniature scores Amazon.com; see also Donald Oglesby, "A Guide to the Bach Cantatas, Kalmus Edition" (Miami FL: Warner Bros. Pub., 2000: 22pp), Amazon.com,
4.1.5. Bach Cantatas, miniature scores, ed. Arnold Schering (Mainz: Eulenberg/Schott), beginning in 1931, Arnold Schering published Cantatas 1-199 in groups with German commentary, using the BGA edition, only some still available singly (Amazon.com.
4.2.1. Die Bach Kantate, 69 vols. (Neuhausen-Stuttgart: Hänssler, 1970-1985), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rilling.htm; Helmut Rilling conducting Bach Ensemble, 1st ed. of 69 volumes generally issued by church-year services (Advent to unclassified, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rilling-Rec2.htm), liner notes Marianne Helms, Artur Hirsch, bilingual cantata texts, Eng. trans. by Z. Phiilip Ambrose; 2nd. ed. Of 60 volumes Bachakademie 2000, BWV 1-199 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rilling-Rec11.htm), purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.2. Das Kantatenwerk, 90 LPs (Hamburg: Telefunken, 1970-1989), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/H&L-Recordings.htm; historically informed performances of Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt with miniature scores by Bärenreiter (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/H&L-Rec6.htm with liner notes); CD edition wth German, English, French texts; liner notes Nele Anders, Eng. trans. Clive Williams; cantatas recorded consecutively, BWV 1-199. (vol. 44 omits BWV 190-191 and 193 as incomplete), purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.3. Complete Cantatas, 22 vols/67CDs (Paris: Erato/Warner Music, vols. 1-12, 1994-2004); Austria: Antoine Marchand, Vols. 13-22, 2000-2005); http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Koopman.htm; Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, produced in conjunction with Christoph Wolff's 3-volume The World of the Bach Cantatas (see Bärenreiter), the project in Bach chronological order began with the sacred and secular cantatas from Mühlhausen to Cöthen covering Wolff's vol. 1, early sacred cantatas, and vol. 2, secular cantatas, in the first five recorded volumes (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Koopman.htm#RC, with German, French and English texts and Wolff's liner notes and illustrations; purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.4. Complete Sacred Cantatas, 12 vols/50CDs (Brilliant Classics, 2000), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Leusink.htm; this low-budget series features Pieter Jan Leusink & Holland Boys Choir & Netherlands Bach Collegium in random recordings with liner notes, purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.5. Bach Secular Cantatas, 8 CDs (Brilliant Classics; orig. Edel/Berlin Classics, 1981-84),
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Schreier.htm; Peter Schreier conducts the extant secular cantatas (BWV 201-215, 36c), http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=140031.
4.2.6. Bach Sacred Cantatas, 43 vols. (Djursholm: Grammofon/BIS, 1995-2012), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki.htm#RC; Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan; like the Koopman series, this follows the cantatas chronologically with slight editing by the conductor for incomplete works; liner notes, Tadashi Isoyama, Andreas Glöckner (1999), and Klaus Hofmann (1999-2011); purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.7. Bach Complete Secular Cantatas, 10CDs (Djursholm: Grammofon/BIS, 2011-2019), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec5.htm); following completion of his sacred cantatas, Suzuki turned to the extant secular cantatas in 2011, as Rilling and Koopman also had done; purchase at https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec5.htm.
4.2.8. Bach Cantata Pilgrimage 2000, 30 vols/56CDs (London: Soli Deo Gloria/Monteverdi Prod., 2013; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner.htm, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists recorded this unique church year cycle (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Festival/Festival-BCP.htm). "Some cantatas were excluded a priori from the pilgrimage, as their composition is not associated with religious calendar commitments (see Table of Cantata Recordings by Major Conductors according to BWV Number, "Gard." Penultimate right column, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table.htm). The series began on Christmas Day 1999 and released in 2000 with extensive liner notes by Gardiner available on line (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Gardiner-Rec2.htm), purchase at Amazon.com; released in conjunction with Gardiner's Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven (New York. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013).
4.2.9. BACH 333 – The New Complete Edition, Sacred Cantatas 48CDs (Berlin Deutsche Grammophon, 2018), https://www.bach333.com; organized by Leipzig cycles, this project of the Bach-Archiv Leipzig features "a handpicked set of the complete cantatas led by outstanding contributions from Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Masaaki Suzuki, plus strong showings from Ton Koopman, Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt, Nicolaus Harnoncourt, Sigiswald Kuijken and more"; notes by Nicholas Kenyon in a separate volume, Contents, Bach: The Music, "Sacred Cantatas": 13-60; purchase at Amazon.com.
4.2.10. Bach Stiftung, J. S. Bach Foundation, vocal works (Zurich: Gallus Media; begun 2006, on going), https://www.bachstiftung.ch/en/about-us/; Rudolf Lutz conducts monthly concerts in this 25-year project, available repertory, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Lutz-R.htm, https://www.bachstiftung.ch/shop/produkt-kategorie/standard-kategorie/dvd-cd-mp3/cds/; select liner notes in English translations, cantata CDs, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Lutz-R-Rec5.htm.
4.2.12. All of Bach, Netherlands Bach Society (Utrecht: Netherlands Bach Society; begun 2014, on-going), https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach, https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/about-allofbach; available on-line, various conductors perform in various venues all the works of Bach with program notes in English; repertory, https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/.
4.2.11. Oxford Bach Soloists, vocal works (Oxford: Oxford Bach Soloists, begun 2015, ongoing), https://www.oxfordbachsoloists.com/oxford-bach-soloists/; based at Oxford, the project presents various concerts with 104 cantatas performed and select repertory available on-line (https://www.oxfordbachsoloists.com).
4.2.13. Bach Made in Germany, 4 vols. (Berlin Classics as Leipzig Classics and Dresden Classics, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table-Remark.htm: 10.); dedicated to recordings by Thomaskantors: Günther Ramin, 1950 (Vol. 1, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Ramin.htm); Kurt Thomas, 1959 (Vol. 2, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/ThomasKurt.htm); Erhard Mauersberger, 1964 (Vol. 3, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Mauersberger.htm); Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, 1974 (Vol. 4, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rotzsch.htm); also Ludwig Güttler (Vol. 5, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Guttler.htm), 1985; and Peter Schreier (Vol. 7), secular cantatas (see 4.2.5) and http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Schreier.htm. Other cantor recordings are Georg Christoph Biller, 1992 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Biller.htm), and Gotthold Schwarz, 2015 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Schwarz-Got.htm).
4.2.14. Les Grandes Cantates de J.S. Bach, 29 vols (Paris: Disques Erato, 1953, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erato_Records), Fritz Werner & Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn & Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Werner.htm#RL) beginning in 1957 released recordings many of the Bach cantatas; later released in America on the Musical Heritage Society (MHS) mail-order label (New York City, 1962, Wikipdia), list compiled by Aryeh Oron wrote (January 13, 2000; http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Werner-Gen.htm), discography (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Werner.htm#RL), see also Table of Cantata Recordings by Major Conductors according to BWV Number, Erato/ Werner LP column (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table.htm; MHS catalogues found in the New York Public Library.
4.2.15 J. S. Bach Kantaten (Berlin: Deutsche Grammophon Archiv Produktion); http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Richter.htm#RCL; Karl Richter & Münchener Bach-Chor & Bach-Orchester; discography http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Richter.htm#RCL; beginning in 1956,
partial cantata cycle by church year beginning, 1967-72, "Partial Cantata Cycle on Archiv Produktion" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Richter.htm#RCL: C-1-5), Collection of Recordings of Cantatas 75 cantatas, 26 CDs in five sets: B-1; liner notes by Walter Blankenburg (Bach-Bibliographie), Eng. trans. Martin Cooper; listing, see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table.htm: column "Arch./Rich."
4.2.16. Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works (various labels, transcriptions); https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/BachAriaGroup.htm; Bach Aria Group, William Scheide (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Scheide-William.htm); beginning in the late 1940s on 78 rpm, featuring fine soloists in individual arias.
4.2.17. Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works (various labels), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Herreweghe.htm; Philippe Herreweghe & Collegium Vocale Gent, beginning in 1987 and producing many cantatas,
Listing, see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Recordings-Table.htm: last column on right, "Herr." Another OVPP conductor of note is Joshua Rifkin, discography https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Rifkin.htm#Box.
4.2.18. Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year, 19 CDs, 64 cantatas (Germany, Accent; 1988-2017), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Kuijken.htm#RC; the OVPP group of Sigiswald Kuijken & La Petite Bande performs cantatas for the complete liturgical year (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Kuijken-Rec2.htm), purchase at Amazon.com.
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To Come: Cantata Bibliography, Part 3: Select topical articles: parody, context, collections, on-line, etc. |
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Bach Books: General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |
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