O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort | |
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BWV 60 | |
by J. S. Bach | |
Johann Rist, the author of the hymn | |
Occasion | 24th Sunday after Trinity |
Performed | 7 November 1723 – Leipzig |
Movements | 6 |
Cantata text | anonymous |
Bible text | |
Chorale |
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Vocal | |
Instrumental |
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O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder),[1] BWV 60 is a church cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig for the 24th Sunday after Trinity, first performed on 7 November 1723.
History and words
Bach wrote the cantata in 1723 in his first year in Leipzig for the 24th Sunday after Trinity.[2] The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Colossians, a prayer for the Colossians (Colossians 1:9–14), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jairus' daughter (Matthew 9:18–26). The unknown poet sees her rising as foreshadowing the resurrection, expected with an attitude of fear and hope. Two allegorical figures, Furcht (Fear) and Hoffnung (Hope) enter a dialogue. The cantata is opened and closed by a hymn, verse 1 of Johann Rist's "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort",[3][4] expressing fear, and verse 5 of Franz Joachim Burmeister's "Es ist genug".[5] Also in symmetry, two biblical words are juxtaposed in movements 1 and 4. "Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil" (Genesis 49:18), spoken by Jacob on his deathbed, expresses hope against the fear of the chorale.[6] Selig sind die Toten (Blessed are the dead)(Revelation 14:13) is the answer to a recitative of Fear.[2]
Bach first performed the cantata on 7 November 1723.[2]
Scoring and structure
The cantata in five movements is scored for alto, tenor and bass soloist, a four-part choir (only for the final chorale), horn, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.[2]
- Aria (alto, chorale – tenor): O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort – Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil
- Recitative (alto – tenor): O schwerer Gang zum letzten Kampf und Streite! – Mein Beistand ist schon da
- Aria (alto – tenor): Mein letztes Lager will mich schrecken – Mich wird des Heilands Hand bedecken
- Recitative (alto – bass): Der Tod bleibt doch der menschlichen Natur verhaßt – Selig sind die Toten
- Chorale: Es ist genung (also: Es ist genug)
Music
The cantata is sometimes called a solo cantata, because solo voices perform all movements but the closing chorale. Bach had composed a dialogue three weeks before in Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben, BWV 109, as an inner dialogue, given to one singer. In this cantata he assigned Fear to the alto, Hope to the tenor, and has them sing three movements in dialogue. In movement 4, Fear is answered instead by the bass, the vox Christi (voice of Christ), with Selig sind die Toten.[6][7]
In the first duet, a chorale fantasia, the alto (Fear) and the horn perform the chorale, accompanied by strings in tremolo, which John Eliot Gardiner connects to Monteverdi's agitated style (stile concitato). The tenor (Hope) contrasts with the line spoken by Jacob.[6]
The second duet is a secco recitative, intensified to an arioso twice: Fear sings the word martert (tortures) as a chromatic melisma to short chords in the continuo, Hope stresses in a long melisma the last word ertragen (borne).
The third, central duet is dramatic and therefore not in da capo form, but closer to a motet, unified by the instrumental ritornellos. Three different sections are developed in a similar way: Fear begins, Hope answers, both argue, Hope has the last word. Even the instruments contrast, sometimes at the same time: the solo violin (with Hope) plays scales to dotted rhythms of the oboes d'amore and the continuo (with Fear).
The last duet is no longer between Fear and Hope, but Fear is met by the vox Christi quoting the consoling words from Revelation three times as an arioso, each time expanded.[2]
The melody of the closing chorale, originally ascribed to Johann Rudolph Ahle, begins with an unusual sequence of four notes progressing by steps of major seconds (whole tones), together spanning the interval of a tritone.[8] Alban Berg used Bach's chorale setting in his Violin Concerto.[6]
In 1724 Bach wrote a chorale cantata on the complete chorale, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20, for the first Sunday after Trinity.
Recordings
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 5 – Sundays after Trinity II, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor, Münchener Bach-Orchester, Hertha Töpper, Ernst Haefliger, Kieth Engen, Archiv Produktion 1964
- J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Sacred Cantatas Vol. 3, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölzer Knabenchor, Concentus Musicus Wien, Paul Esswood, Kurt Equiluz, Ruud van der Meer, Teldec 1976
- Die Bach Kantate Vol. 59, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helen Watts, Adalbert Kraus, Philippe Huttenlocher, Hänssler 1983
- J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 8, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Jörg Dürmüller, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 1998
- J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 15 (Solo Cantatas), Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooy, BIS 2000
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 12, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Robin Tyson, James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
References
- ↑ Dellal, Pamela. "BWV 60 – O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Dürr, Alfred (1981). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German) 1 (4 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag. pp. 516–520. ISBN 3-423-04080-7.
- ↑ "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort / Text and Translation of Chorale". bach-cantatas.com. 2003. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ↑ "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort". bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ↑ "Es ist genug / Text and Translation of Chorale". bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 Gardiner, John Eliot (2010). "Cantatas for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity All Saints, Tooting" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. pp. 5f. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ↑ Leonard, James (2010). "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60". Allmusic. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
- ↑ "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Es ist genung, so nimm, Herr, meinen Geist". bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
Sources
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort BWV 60; BC A 161 / Cantata Leipzig University
- Cantata BWV 60 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas Website
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort history, scoring, Bach website (German)
- BWV 60 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort English translation, University of Vermont
- BWV 60 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort text, scoring, University of Alberta
- Chapter 26 BWV 60 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort / Oh, eternity, word of thunder. Julian Mincham, 2010
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