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William L. Hoffman wrote (December 18, 2020):
Having composed and presented two consecutive cycles of church music in Leipzig, Bach took a half-year's break from weekly sacred composition in Trinity Time, the second half of the church year, in 1725. Initially, he spent a week visiting Gera (25 May to 6 June) to examine an organ and give a recital (3 June, 1st Sunday after Trinity) while returning to Leipzig to present Cantata 176 on Trinity Sunday, 27 May, the last in a series of nine Easter-Pentecost season cantatas to text of Mariane von Ziegler (BWV 103, BWV 108, BWV 87, BWV 128, BWV 183, BWV 74, BWV 68, BWV 175, BWV 176, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ziegler.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiana_Mariana_von_Ziegler; discussions, 16 April to 11 June, http://bach-cantatas.com/Order-2017.htm.1 These cantatas were the beginning of his heterogeneous third cycle,2 based upon the 1750 distribution to sons Friedemann and Emanuel. Bach had shifted his compositional emphasis from weekly church cantatas in his first two years in Leipzig to an array of diverse instrumental music, family music, extended compositions such as annual oratorio Passion, and profane music of serenades and drammi per musica, as well as selectively composing a third church cantata cycle, based primarily on pre-existing librettos, spread over a period of two years while he took time to compose his monumental St. Matthew Passion for Good Friday 1727.
Bach had actually began his compositional shift at the start of Lent 1725 when he composed the sacred wedding Cantata BWV 1144=Anh. 14 on 12 February, with its four arias possible as parody models for the B-Minor Mass (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Parodies-5.htm: "BWV Anh. 14 Sacred Wedding, B-Minor Mass"), followed on 23 February by the serenade Shepherds' Cantata, BWV 249.1, and parodied it on Easter Sunday (1 April) as the first version of the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3. These were followed by the secular Cantata, BWV 36.1, on 8 April for the birthday of Leipzig University gallant poetry professor Johann Burckhard Mencke (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV36-D4.htm: "Original Cantata 36c Composition"), which became the parody of Advent Cantata 36.4, possibly the original version as earliest as 2 December 1725 (Ibid.), and Bach's first drammi per musica, BWV 205.1, for professor August Friedrich Müller (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV205-D4.htm). The last five works (BWV 249.1, 249.3, 36.1, 36.4, and 205.1) are presumed to based on texts of Picander (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Picander.htm). In conjunction with the early 1725 compositional shift, Bach lost his librettist for the chorale cantata cycle, on 21 January, according to on-going research of Michael Hochgartz3 at the Bachforschung (https://www.bachforschung.de). The librettist was a Lutheran pastor, talented writer, and longtime Bach friend, says Hochgartz. A major influence on Bach's development of the sacred cantata was colleague Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Philipp_Telemann).
Trinity Time Beginning 1725: Bach, Telemann Works
At the beginning of the new St. Thomas School Year (3 June 1725, 1st Sunday after Trinity), Bach arranged for the presentation of extant cantatas of various composers at least for the next six weeks, often without elaborate choruses. The first two Sundays after Trinity entailed abridged and altered versions of Bach's first two Cycle 1 cantatas: BWV 75a, Part 1 only, beginning with the first recitative, "Was hilft des Purpurs Majestät" (What use are royal robes [lit.purple]" and closing with the chorale No. 7, “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” (What God does, that is well-done, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV75-Eng3.htm). For the 2nd Sunday after Trinity (10 June) Part II of Cantata 76a was presented, opening with the sinfonia (No. 8, see ), followed by the bass recitative, “Gott segne noch die treue Schar” (May God bless his faithful flock, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV76-Eng3.htm). Previously, BWV 76a (Part II) may have been used as early as the 31 October 1724, Reformation Festival in St. Paul's University Church, says Robin A. Leaver,4 possibly on a double bill with Telemann's cantata/motet, Der Herr ist König (The Lord Is King, Ps. 97:1), TWV 8:6; Telemann work.
For the Trinity Time 1725 Bach began researching numerous printed cantata texts and music for his third cycle, beginning with colleague Telemann. "From a study of printed texts we learn that in mid-1725 Bach employed several cantatas by Telemann for figural music in the city's principal churches," says Carsten Lange in his study of Telemann's "Der Herr ist König" (The Lord Is King), TVWV 8:6.5 The source of the texts is a Leipzig church libretto book for the 3rd to the 6th Sunday after Trinity in five cantatas, found with other books in the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Library in 1971 and described in detail by Andreas Glöckner in a Bach Jahrbuch 1992 article.6 Three of them are Telemann cantatas for Sundays After Trinity as set in his first collaboration with Erdmann Neumeister (Gotha: 1711) cycle texts, Geistliches Singen und Spielen (Spiritual Singing and Playing), and performed in Eisenach. They are listed in BCW Telemann Short Biography, "Vocal Works arranged / performed by J.S. Bach": www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Telemann-Georg-Philipp.htm: 1. Cantata "Gelobet sei der Herr, der Gott Israel" (Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel), for the 4th Sunday after Trinity=Johannestfest, TVWV 1:596, 24 June; 2. Cantata "Der Segen des machet reich ohne Muhe" (The blessing of this makes you rich without effort"), for the 5th Sunday after Trinity, TVWV 1:310, 1 Jul; and 3. Cantata "Wer sich rachet, an dem wird sich der Herr wider rachen" (Whoever takes revenge, the Lord will revenge himself against him) for 6th Sunday after Trinity, TVWV 1:1600, 8 July. The other two works are: 4. "Ich ruft zu dir, herr Jesu Christ," 3rd Sunday after Trinity, 17 June (five-stanza Johann Agricola chorale; text also found in Chorale Cantata BWV 177 (per omnes versus) for the 4th Sunday after Trinity, 6 July 1732, possible composition of Aurora von Königsmarck, mistress of Augustus II, “the Strong,” Saxon Court; and 5. "Meine Seel erhebt den Heern," Feast of the Visitation, July 2, 1725; Luther's German Magnificat text, identified as a possible 1716 composition of Reinhard Keiser or Johann Mattheson of Hamburg, previously thought to be Melchior Hoffmann, BWV Anh. 21 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWVAnh21-Gen.htm, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001329?lang=en).
Telemann: 'Der Herr ist König'
During this period of June-July 1725 (http://bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1725.htm), Bach took his first vacation, at the beginning of the Thomas School term, June 2, 1725, and quite possibly relied on Georg Balthasar Schott, music director of the progressive Leipzig New Church, says Glöckner (Ibid.). Schott and others in Leipzig had a profound respect for Telemann, the director of the New Church in 1703, and his music often was performed there. Glöckner surmthat Bach may well have spent much of the time with Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (source, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Cycle-3-P02.htm: "Trinity Time 1725"). Glöckner also points out that the printed libretto text for the five services would have required six weeks advanced preparation, printing, and distribution. The one Telemann work with a direct link to Bach is "Der Herr ist König"7 (The Lord is King; text author and purpose unknown), TVWV 8:6, found in Bach's musical library. It is possible that Bach performed this work on Easter Sunday (1 April 1725) at the University Church of St. Paul where he was responsible for feast-day presentations. Because of its festive character, "Der Herr ist König" also has been suggested for the Reformation Festival (30 October) with which it closes (No. 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4GCZABoeys) or for the installation of the town council (Nos. 2 and 4), suggests Lange (Ibid.: 11), which Steven Zohn8 dates to the Leipzig Council, 25 August 1722, TVWV I:deest, as Telemann's probe for the cantor position. The other Telemann cantata that Bach performed is "Machet die Tore weit"9 (Fling wide the doors), TVWV 1:1074, for the First Sunday in Advent, Nov. 28, 1734, says Leaver (Ibid.: 524), to begin Bach's Christological cycle of oratorios for major feast days with six Christmas season services, BWV 248.
Telemann's Bach Attribution Works
Two other Telemann Easter works originally were attributed to Bach. "Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen" (For Thou will not leave my Soul in Hell), BWV 15 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV15-D.htm: "Cantata 15: Intro"; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH2dIEODoF0), Bach presented on Easter Sunday, 21 April 1726, beginning performances of six cantatas of cousin Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Bach-Johann-Ludwig.htm; BWV 15, JLB 10, 11, 6, 12, 14, http://bach-cantatas.com/LCY/1726.htm). A Telemann 1723 Easter Cantata, "So du mit deinem Munde bekennest Jesum" (If thou with thy mouth confess Jesus), TVWV 1:1350, may have been presented on Easter Sunday 1725 in a pairing with the Easter motet, "The Lord is King," or on Easter Tuesday 1725 (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV160-D.htm: "Bach's Perspective and Patterns." It was Alfred Dürr10 in 1950 who authenticated eight cantatas formerly attributed to Bach as works of Telemann (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Telemann-Gen1.htm: Thomas Braatz's "Telemann's prodigious cantata output"). They are Cantatas BWV 141 (Advent 3)=TVWV 1:1182; BWV 160 (Easter Sunday)=TVWV 1:877; BWV 218 (Pentecost)=TVWV 1:634; 219 (St. Michael)=TVWV 1:1328; and 145b (Easter)=TVWV 1:1350/1,11 as well as BWV Anh. 1 (Trinity +7), Anh. 156 (Annunciation)=TVWV 1:732; and Anh. 157 (Purification)=TVWV 1:836.
Telemann/Neumeister (Reform) Cantatas
Bach probably began his relationship with Telemann about 1708 when the latter became Konzertmeister at the Eisenach Court, where Bach Family annual reunions often were held in the summers and when Bach became organist at the Court of Weimar. It may have been at this time that Bach also met his cousin Johann Ludwig Bach of the Meinengen Court, where the so-called Rudolstadt cantata texts had been developed, beginning in 1703. Telemann preceded Bach in the development of the German cantata while graduating from the Leipzig University in 1701 and involved in local musical life until 1705 when he became Kapellmeister at the court in Sorau, where the dean and preacher (superintendent) was Erdmann Neumeister (1671-1756, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erdmann_Neumeister). Neumeister had begun the progressive German cantata c1700, based the Italian chamber model of aria and recitative with biblical dictum, which Telemann soon began to set for Leipzig's two main churches, the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche. Telemann began setting Neumeister texts with the first of the series of the Fünffache Kirchen-Adachten (Five-Fold Church Devotions), published in Leipzig, 1716-17), called Geistliche Cantaten. Meanwhile, Neumeister perfected the German cantata (based upon the Rudolstadt model, see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV15-D.htm: "Discussions in the Week of June 20, 2010," "German Sacred Cantata Genesis"), adding texts in 1710 for madrigalian choruses and strophic chorales to the earlier 17th-century proto-German concerto-aria church pieces, producing three cycles for Telemann: Geistliches Singen und Spielen, Französischer Jahrgang, and Concerten-Jahrgang (see below). Of the some Telemann 26 recognized cantata cycles (whole, partial, alternate), the initial ones through the 1732 German oratorio cycles had a profound effect on Bach, especially in his third and final church cycle (1725-27). Of particular Telemann influence on Bach are the Neumeister solo cantatas, the stylistic use of French influences, and opening instrumental sinfonias, as well as the first Helbig cycle, Sicilianischer Jahrgang. Another early Bach influence beginning in Weimar was the poet Georg Christian Lehms (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Lehms.htm), with cantatas also at Christmas-Epiphany 1725-26.
Telemann Cantata Cycles
(I) Geistliche Cantaten (GeistC, Weißenfels, 1702), Leipzig, Sorau; solo vv, 1-2 obbl. instr., bc; It. ch. aria/recit.; music: 8 Telemann cantatas extant, including TVWV 1:877=BWV 160, TVWV 1:617=BWV Anh. 1; BWV 27 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV27-D4.htm and 56 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV56-D5.htm have mixed libretti.
(II) "Rudsolstadt" Cycle (1708), Eisenach; arias, recits. w/short tutti.
(III) Geistliches Singen und Spielen (Spiritual Singing and Playing; GSuS-I, Gotha, 1710-11); for Telemann, Eisenach; complete cycle, madrigalian w/choruses, chorales, concerto-aria cantatas w/rhymed dicta, music: BWV 18, 24, 28, 59, 61), no fixed structural pattern; TVWV 1:617=BWV Anh. 1, possibly dated to 15 July 1725, Tr.+7 (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001308?lang=en).
(IV) Französischer Jahrgang (French Cycle, FranzJ, 1714-15), for Telemann, First Frankfurt (and Eisenach) Annual Cantata Cycle, Geistliche Poesien mit untermischten Biblischen Sprüchen und Choralen (Sacred Poetry with Intermingled Biblical Passages and Chorales)for the 64 Sundays and Festivals; poetic rondeau forms and French musical style elements (overture, chaconne); music: BWV 24, 28, 59, 61; TVWV 1:877=BWV160, "Ich weiß, daß mein Erlöser lebt" Easter Sunday (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV160-D.htm).
(V) Poetische Oratorien (Poetic Oratorios), pre-1700, for Weissenfels court Kapellmeister Johann Philipp Krieger.
(Two Neumeister supplements, "Fortgesetzte fünffache Kirchen- Andachten" (Continuation of the Fivefold Devotions) and "Dritter Theil der fünffachen Kirchen-Andachten" (Third Part of the Fivefold Devotions) were published in 1726 and 1752, respectively, in Hamburg.)
Concerten-Jahrgang (Neumeister Concerted Cycle, ConcJ, 1716-17), third Frankfurt Cycle, also known as the Italienischer Jahrgang (Italian Cycle); opening biblical dictum, closing chorale, internal arias and recitatives (with ariosi); music: TVWV1:634=BWV 218, Pentecost Sunday (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV218-D.htm).
Neues Lied (New Songs, NeuL), Librettos by Paul Gottfried Simonis (Frankfurt deputy); music: at least five Johann Ludwig Bach cantatas (JLB 8, 13, 14, 22, 24), and ??TVWV1:732=BWV Anh. 156, "Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes Sohn," Feast of Annunciation (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWVAnh156.htm).
Telemann-Johann Friedrich Helbig (1680-1722, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Helbig.htm):
(1) Sicilianischer Jahrgang, Auffmunterung zur Andacht (Sicilian Cycle, Encouragement for Prayer; SicJ; Eisenach 1720); pastorale atmosphere (oboes, recorders), dance ("compound duple meter, tuneful melodies and dotted rhythms"), says Zohn (Ibid.: 124), and biblical dictum opening chorus; music: TVWV 1:1074, "Machet die Tore weit" (Advent 1), JSB SPK 47, CPEB estate catalogue1789; TVWV 1:1183=BWV 141, "Das ist je gewißlich wahr" (Advent 3), Breikopf Catalog 1761; TVWV 1:836=Anh. 157, `Ich hab Lust abzuschieden" (Purification), Breitkopf 1761.
(2) Jahrgang ohne Recitative (Cycle without Recitatives, JoR, 1724-25), librettos by Helbig, B. Neukirch; strings only, arias/four-part chorales, with biblical verse; Epiphany TVWV 1:826 or 1:795 possible performed by Bach 6 Jan. 1726).
(3) Harmonisches Lob Gottes (Harmonious Praise of God, HarmGB,, Hamburg & Frankfurt,, 1726-27); opening sinfonia, biblical dictum, arias, recitatives, chorales; Telemann concise cycle of two arias for vv and bc, Auszug derjenigen musicalischen und auf die gewönlichen Evangelien gerichteten Arien (Excerpt from those musical arias directed towards the common Gospels, Google Translate).
(Beginning in 1723 in Hamburg as Johanneum Cantor and director of the city's five main churches, Telemann began producing solo cantata cycles without Neumeister texts and commissioned texts through 1729 from Johann Jacob Rambach, Hermann Ulrich von Lingen, and Michael Christoph Brandenburg, and Johann Friedrich Armand von Uffenbach. Recent discoveries have found that Telemann was involved in two oratorio cycles which influenced Bach's composition of German oratrorios beginning in 1734: Telemann's 1730-31 cycle of Albrecht Jacob Zell (1701-1754), Oratorischer Jahrgang (OratJ) and a complete 1731-32 cycle of Tobias Heinrich Schubart (1699-1747), Schubart-Jahrgang (SchuJ); details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Oratorio-Pentecost.htm: "Hamburg: Keiser, Mattheson, Telemann." Subsequently, Telemann set cantata cycles by Gottfried Behrndt, Daniel Stoppe, and anonymous poets).
1725 Trinity Time Bach Cantatas
Bach meanwhile in Trinity Time 1725 composed two settings of Weimar court poet Salomo Franck, who died on 14 June: BWV 168 for the 9th Sunday after Trinity (http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV168-D4.htm), and BWV 164 for the 13th Sunday after Trinity, both from Franck's 1715 cycle, Evangelishes Andachts-Opffer (Evangelical Devotional Offering), which Bach had planned to set but was a court closed mourning period for Prince Johann Ernst. During the summer of 1725, Bach premiered pure-hymn chorale Cantata BWV 137 for the 12th Sunday after Trinity to fill the gap in 1724, which may have served dual purpose for the annual town council installation on 23 August (http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV137-D4.htm). Reperformances of two Weimar Cantatas, BWV 161 and 152, also to the Franck 1715 text, may have been presented on the 16th Sunday after Trinity (16 September 1725) and the Sunday after Christmas (29 December 1726), respectively, Christine Blanken suggests (Ibid.: 20).12 Bach also had available a Reformation text with two plain chorales, possibly by Christian Weiss, BWV 79, set for that festival on 30 November 1725 http://bach-cantatas.com/BWV79-D5.htm).
ENDNOTES
1 Ziegler cantatas analyzed in Eric Chafe, J. S. Bach's Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014); also BWV 249, 6, 42, 85, Amazon.com: "Look inside"); 1714 Weimar cantatas (BWV 21, 61, 63, 152, 182, 12, 172) discussed in Chafe, Tears into Wine: J. S. Bach's Cantata 21 in its Musical and Theological Contexts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015).
2 See Konrad Klek, Ab Ostern 1725 (After Easter 1725), Vol. 3, Dein ist allein die Ehre : Johann Sebastian Bachs geistliche Kantaten erklärt (Your only honor: Johann Sebastian Bach's sacred cantatas explained); Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2017); Inhaltverzeichnis, https://d-nb.info/1117097358/04.
3 Michael Hochgartz, "Stubel-Theory without Stubel?" (bach@groups.io, Dec. 14, 2020), https://groups.io/g/Bach/topic/78948810.
4 Robin A. Leaver, Part VI, Chronology, Chapter 20, "Life and Works 1685-1759", in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (Abingdon: Routledge, 2017: 505); Amazon.com: "Look inside," Chronology, VI).
5 Carsten Lange, "Georg Philipp Telemann, 'The Lord is King'," liner notes, Eng. trans. Lionel Salter, Telemann Cantatas (Königsdorf: Capriccio, 1995: 9); details, http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=640892; see also Lange, "'Der Herr ist König' -- Eine weitere Telemann-Kantate aus Bachs Notenschrank," in Magdeburg Telemann St., vol. 12 (1989: 14-21).
6 Andreas Glöckner, "Bemerkungen zu den Leipziger Kantatenaufführungen vom 3. bis 6. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 1725" (Observations on the Leipzig Cantata Performances from the Third to the Sixth Sundays After Trinity 1725," in Bach Jahrbuch, Vol.78 (1992; Leipzig: Bärenreiter: 73-76), https://journals.qucosa.de/bjb/article/view/1912; also described in Wolf Hobohm's "Neue `Texte zur Leipziger Kirchenmusik'," Bach Jahrbuch, vol. 59 (1973: Leipzig: Bärenreiter: 5-32, https://journals.qucosa.de/bjb/article/view/1598.
7 "Der Herr ist König" movement recordings: 1. YouTube, 2. YouTube, 4. YouTube, 5. YouTube, 6. YouTube, 7. YouTube, 8. YouTube, 9. YouTube.
8 Steven Zohn, The Telemann Compendium, Boydell Composer Compendium Series (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell, 2020: 163); Amazon.com.
9 "Machet die Tore weit" music, YouTube, https://www.ficksmusic.com/products/telemann-machet-die-tore-weit-twv-11074-carus).
10 Alfred Dürr, "Zur Echteit einiger Bach zugeschriebener Kantaten," Bach Jah 45 (Leipzig: Bärenreiter, 1951/52, 35-46); https://journals.qucosa.de/bjb/article/view/1379.
11 Cantata 145b, (Wikipedia, Bach Digital), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV145-D4.htm.
12 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, 9-30, Bach Network UK 2015: 20, http://bachnetwork.co.uk/ub10/ub10-blanken.pdf.
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To Come: Leipzig Cantata Cycle 3 Structures, Librettists. |
