Weimar_cantata_(Bach)

Weimar cantata (Bach)

Weimar cantata (Bach)

1714-17 cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach worked at the ducal court in Weimar from 1708 to 1717. The composition of cantatas for the Schlosskirche (court chapel) on a regular monthly basis started with his promotion to Konzertmeister in March 1714.[1]

Church cantatas

From 1714 to 1717 Bach was commissioned to compose one church cantata a month. His goal was to compose a complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year within four years. In the course of almost four years there he thus covered most occasions of the liturgical year.[2]

The first version of Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich, BWV 1136 (formerly BWV Anh. 209), a lost cantata the libretto of which was written by Georg Christian Lehms and published in 1711 for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, may have been composed in Weimar.[3]

Before 1714

See also: Lost council election cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach § Mühlhausen, and Bach's early cantatas

Apart from some Weimar cycle cantatas which may have been composed before they were adopted into that cycle (BWV 18, 21, 54 and 199):

Weimar cycle

The expression "Weimar cycle" has been used for the cantatas composed in Weimar from 1714 (which form the bulk of extant cantatas composed before Bach's Leipzig time).[7][8]

Cantatas 54 and 199 were performed within the cycle but possibly composed earlier. BWV 18 and 21[9] may also have been composed before 1714.

Other sacred music and cantatas of Bach's Weimar period

In the Bach-Jahrbuch of 2015, Peter Wollny wrote that Bach likely encountered several of the old-school contrapuntal sacred compositions, which were going to play a seminal role in the composer's output of the 1740s, for the first time in Weimar.[16] Among these compositions are,

Passions

Further information: Passions (Bach)

Passions performed in the Weimar period, however not considered to be passion cantatas, thus not generally listed in the Weimar (cantata) cycle:

Strophic aria, BWV 1127

Further information: Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn, BWV 1127

In 1713 Bach composed a sacred aria, "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn", for a secular occasion, the birthday of William Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.[24][25]

Secular cantatas

See also: List of secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach § History

Bach composed the first version of his secular cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (Hunting Cantata) for performance on 23 February 1713.[26]

References

  1. [1]
    Koster, Jan. "Weimar 1708–1717". let.rug.nl. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  2. [2]
    Dürr, Alfred (2006). The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Translated by Richard D. P. Jones. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4. pp. 13–20
  3. [3]
    "Liebster Gott, vergisst du mich BWV 1136; BWV Anh. I 209". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2020-07-21.
  4. [4]
    "Zweite Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.1; BWV Anh. 192". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-08-07.
  5. [5]
    "Dritte Mühlhäuser Ratswahlkantate BWV 1138.2". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2018-07-31.
  6. [6]
    "Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele BWV 143". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-05-14.
  7. [7]
    Joshua Rifkin (2001). Liner notes to Three Weimar Cantatas, Dorian 93231
  8. [8]
    Richard D. P. Jones (2006). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume I: 1695-1717: Music to Delight the Spirit. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191513244, p. 212
  9. [9]
    Work 00024 at Bach Digital
  10. [10]
    Works 00024 and 00025 at Bach Digital
  11. [11]
    Work 00079 at Bach Digital
  12. [12]
    Work 00021 at Bach Digital
  13. [13]
    Work 00100 at Bach Digital
  14. [14]
    BWV2a, p. 454
  15. [15]
    Work 01502) at Bach Digital
  16. [16]
    Wollny, Peter (2015). "Vom "apparat der auserleßensten kirchen Stücke" zum "Vorrath an Musicalien, von J. S. Bach und andern berühmten Musicis": Quellenkundliche Ermittlungen zur frühen Thüringer Bach-Überlieferung und zu einigen Weimarer Schülern und Kollegen Bachs". Bach-Jahrbuch 2015. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). Vol. 101. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 99–154. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2015. ISBN 978-3-374-04320-0. ISSN 0084-7682 – via Qucosa [de].
  17. [17]
    Wollny 2015, pp. 127–130.
  18. [18]
    "Missa sine nomine BWV deest (NBA Serie II:1)". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
  19. [19]
    "Missa "Ecce sacerdos magnus"". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-05.
  20. [20]
    Wollny 2015, pp. 131–132.
  21. [21]
    "Magnificat in C BWV Anh. 30". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
  22. [22]
    Wollny 2015, pp. 132–133.
  23. [23]
    "Missa (Kyrie and Gloria), G BWV Anh. 167". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2021-03-04.
  24. [24]
    "Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn' ihn (aria) BWV 1127". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 30 March 2020.
  25. [25]
    Maul, Michael (2005). "'Alles mit Gott und nicht ohn' ihn' – Eine neu aufgefundene Aria von Johann Sebastian Bach". In Wollny, Peter (ed.). Bach-Jahrbuch 2005 [Bach Yearbook 2005]. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). Vol. 91. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt (published 2006). pp. 7–34. doi:10.13141/bjb.v2005. ISBN 3-374-02301-0. ISSN 0084-7682.
  26. [26]
    BDW 00261 at Bach Digital
Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach by chronology
Preceded by Weimar cantatas
1708–17		 Succeeded by
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