JSB Work and Play

It's surprisin' how few people ever mean anything definite from one year's end to the other. - Peter Wimsey

2009, October 31

Cantata BWV 4

JS Bach Cantata BWV 4: Christ lag in Todes Banden
(Christ Lay in the bonds of death)
First day of Easter 1707 to 1714
Mühlhausen Cantatas
Reading: Corinthians 5:6-8; Mark 16:1-8
Reading: Corinthians 5:6-8; Mark 16:1-8
Scoring: Violin I,II, viola I,II, Continuo, Cornetto, Trombone I,II,III
Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass
Bärenreiter vol 4; p 27
Words: Chorale verses
Bach Bibliography

It is already apparent that listening to the cantatas and reading about them will be a major undertaking. Listening is an ongoing fluid process—another hearing brings new perceptions. There is no end to listening and learning, there is constant change. Writing about the music tends to fix a perception, and I am reluctant to commit myself to any one impression. However, here begins an attempt, with the understanding that in music, something can be itself and its own opposite at the same time.

I am starting with a very early, well known and much studied cantata. Bach wrote this in his early twenties, then revised it slightly for use in Leipzig.

Bach wrote many large pieces of music, many that are very popular. But I find myself drawn to the small pieces like the Soprano and Alto duet in this cantata. For me this is the epitome of counterpoint, and the best Bach has given us. Though this is an Easter cantata, celebrating the resurrection, it seems to me funereal, expressing and transending pain.

On page 207 of volume one, Whittaker says of this cantata: "The diversified treatment of the canto, the plasticity given to it in the various numbers, the rich resource of treatment, and the variety obtained in spite of the facts that all eight numbers are in the same key, E minor, that the first two lines of the tune are repeated, that all eight cadential notes are either tonic or dominant, constitute one of the miracles of Bach's genius."

And add to Whittaker's observations, the fact that every vocal piece ends in an Alleluja, treated differently in all seven pieces, and you have even more of a miracle.

Alfred Dürr, p 262, discusses at length the style of the cantata; it is based on an older North German style, no recitatives, all text taken directly from the chorale.

Other pieces based on this chorale by Martin Luther, Christ lag in Todes Banden - C.S. Terry, Bach's Chorals, vol 2.
BWV 4 all 8 stanzas	BWV 4.8 PDF mp3
BWV 158.4 PDF mp3	BWV 277 PDF mp3
BWV 278 PDF mp3	BWV 279 PDF mp3
BWV 625	BWV 695
BWV 695a	BWV 718

Description

The sinfonia is short (fourteen measures), slow, mournful. I love the ending figure played by the violin which provides a strong close and at the same time prepares for what is to come. For me it is a first presage of Spring after a long cold winter with deep snow. I like Harnoncourt best, his separation of notes and phrases is very clear.
The chorus is quick, with a hurried beat in counterpoint with the slow chorale sung by the sopranos.
The soprano and alto duet is slow, and gives me a sense of a large space. The duet tends to haunt me for many hours after listening.
The tenor chorale sounds very Teutonic, with hammering words and the agitated 16th notes of the violins. Gives a sense we should be about our business.
The opening measure of the central chorus has a feel of Gregorian chant; the piece is surprisingly short for its central placement. This chorus with the chorale in the altos, and the other voices singing fragments of the chorale melody in canon, is growing on me with repeated hearings. One voice per part, as read by the Purcell Quartet with Emma Kirkby, creates quite a different feel.
Bass chorale with lightly ornamented bass voice singing the melody and the strings in counterpoint and with short interludes. Bass range is two octaves from the high on E above middle C down to E two octaves below. Only this part is in three/four; all other parts in common time.
Soprano tenor duet. Also quite Teutonic, with a marching feel. Marked 4/4 but triplets throughout. Could have been written in 12/8, four beats to the measure, three parts to each beat. Wonderful parallel thirds and sixths.
Chorale is a four part treatment.

The music

BWV 4.1, 4.2; Bach Collegium San Diego
Ruben Valenzuela, conductor
Pierre Joubert, leader
Soloists:
Anne-Marie Dicce, soprano, Martha Jane Howe, alto
Vladimir Maric, tenor, John Polhamus, bass

The Sacred Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach
Nicolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt
Recorded 1967 to 1988,
Teldec Das Alte Werk Catalog 407420 [60 CDs]

J.S. Bach: Early Cantatas, Vol. 1
Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance, Peter Harvey, Charles Daniels, Purcell Quartet
Recorded 2005
Chandos Catalog 715

Instruments and voices for each part

Section	Text	Instruments, voices
1		Sinfonia, violin I,II, viola I,II, and continuo (NBA: organ)
2		SATB, violin I,II, viola I,II, and continuo (NBA: organ); (may add cornetto with soprano, trombone I with alto, trombone II with tenor, trombone III with bass)
3		Soprano alto duet, continuo (NBA: organ); (may add cornetto with soprano, trombone I with alto)
4		Tenor solo, violin I,II, continuo (NBA: organ)
5		SATB and continuo (NBA: organ)
6		Bass solo, violin I,II, viola I,II, and continuo (NBA: organ)
7		Soprano solo, tenor solo and continuo (NBA: organ)
8		SATB chorale, violin I,II, viola I,II, and continuo (NBA: organ); (may add cornetto with soprano, trombone I with alto, trombone II with tenor, trombone III with bass)