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Thomas Braatz wrote (April 2, 2003):
The Autograph Score:
It can be assumed that the autograph score still existed until some point in time after the 1st performance. It, along with the doublets of the instrumental parts (1st & 2nd violins and untransposed continuo,) were lost early on. Other existing scores in manuscript form from the 19th century are based upon the original set of parts and not the autograph score.
The Original Set of Parts:
These were presented to the St. Thomas School by Bach’s widow at the time of his death. They are now located in the Bach-Archiv in Leipzig.
The parts are as follows:
1. Soprano
2. Alto
3. Tenore
4. Baßo
5. Corne
6. Trombona 1
7. Trombona 2
8. Trombona 3
9. Hautbois 1mo
10. Hautbois 2
11. Taille
12. Violino 1mo
13. Violino Secondo
14. Viola
15. Violoncello piccolo
16. Continuo
17. Continuo (transposed, figured)
The fact that there are fewer copyists involved in copying out these parts is misleading since other copyists would certainly have been used to copy the doublets (usually copying from the already existing parts.) Bach personally copied the brass parts from the score (which probably did not exist in the score and most likely were copied directly from the vocal parts in the score.) 3 other copyists were involved in copying out the remaining parts with Bach correcting, revising and adding details as necessary.
Date of Composition:
Dürr has placed the 1st performance as having taken place on May 21, 1725. This is based on the type of paper used and the copyists involved. In particular, Copyist 1 appears only in 1725 and not before or after this year. Also, there is a connection with all the other cantatas using a text by Mariane von Ziegler. These cantatas belong only to the 1725.
Text:
The text for this cantata was printed in Christiane Mariane von Ziegler’s text “Versuch | In | Gebundener | Schreib-Art | Leipzig, | Bey John. Friedrich Brauns sel. Erben, 1728” pp. 262-3. Since the cantata was composed 3 years earlier than the actual printing of the text, it is assumed that Bach made whatever changes in the text occur in the cantata.
Some changes are:
Bach : Printed Text:
Mvt. 1 Line 4: bey ihm leben | mit ihm leben
Mvt. 2 Lines 1, 2, 4: Mein gläubiges Hertze | Getröstetes Hertze
frohlocke, sing, schertze | Frohlocke und schertze
Weg Jammer, weg Klagen | Weg Kummer und Plagen
Mvt. 3, Lines 3, 6:
daß mich mein Jesus nicht vergessen | Ist, daß mein Heyland mich ohnmöglich kann vergessen
als Mittler zwischen Gott und Mensch vor dißmahl schlichten | Durch die besondre Lieb und Huld, Als Mittler zwischen GOTT und Menschen, völlig schlichten
Mvt. 4, Line 2: das glaub ich | Ich glaub’ es
The introductory mvt. is the 1st verse of the chorale with the same name by Salomo Liscov from „Christlichen Frauen-Zimmers geistlicher Tugend-Spiegel“ Leipzig, 1675 p. 691 with the title “Dein Jesus liebt, Ist nie betrübt.” There are 9 verses for this chorale. The text of this introductory chorale is connected to the Gospel for the 2nd Day of Pentecost (John 3, 16-21.) Mvt. 3 contains the words “Er kam nicht nur, die Welt zu richten” which relate to John 3:17: “Denn Gott hat seinen Sohn nicht gesandt in die Welt, daß er die Welt richte.” Mvt. 5, John 3:18 also connects with the Gospel for 2nd Day of Pentecost, but the differences between the cantata text and the Bible text are negligible. Another biblical connection is a reference in mvt. 3 “Ich bin mit Petro nicht vermessen” that can be related to Acts 10:26 and at the same time connects with the Epistle for this special 2nd Day of Pentecost (Acts. 10: 42-48.) The lack of a final chorale has led to the question whether the text is complete, but this seems to have been Ziegler’s intention.
The Parodies:
Bach used earlier compositions as the basis for this cantata. All of the predecessor mvts. were derived from the secular cantata BWV 208 “Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd” first performed on February 23, 1713(?) for the birthday of Duke Christian von Sachsen-Weißenfels.
Here are the connections:
BWV 68 from BWV 208
Mvt. 2 “Mein gläubiges Herze” = Mvt. 13 “Weil die wollenreichen Herden”
Mvt. 2 ms. 53 ff. Ritornello = Anhang Instrumental mvt. BWV 1040
Mvt. 4 ”Du bist geboren mir zugute” = Mvt. 7 „Ein Fürst ist seines Landes Pan“
Major transformations BWV 68/2 from BWV 208/13 and BWV 68/4 from BWV 208/7:
The text BWV 68/2:
Mein gläubiges Herze,
frohlocke, sing, scherze,
dein Jesus ist da!
Weg Jammer, weg Klagen,
ich will euch nur sagen:
Mein Jesus ist nah.
The original text BWV 208/13:
Weil die wollenreichen Herzen
durch dies weitgepriesne Feld
lustig ausgetrieben werden,
lebe dieser Sachsenheld!
The text BWV 68/4:
Du bist geboren mir zugute,
das glaub ich, mir ist wohl zumute,
weil du vor mich genung getan.
Das Rund der Erde mag gleich brechen,
will mir der Satan widersprechen,
so bet ich dich, mein Heiland, an.
The original text BWV 208/7:
Ein Fürst ist seines Landes Pan,
gleichwie der Körper ohne Seele
nicht leben, noch sich regen kann,
so ist das Land die Totenhöhle,
das sonder Haupt und Fürsten ist
und so das beste Teil vermißt.
Mvts. 1, 3 & 5 from BWV 68 seem to be original conceptions. This can be seen from the more direct connection between text and music. |
