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Ihr werdet weinen und heulen
BWV 103
church cantata by J. S. Bach
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, author of the cantata text
Occasion	Jubilate
Cantata text	Christiana Mariana von Ziegler
Bible text	John 16:20 (1)
Chorale	Paul Gerhardt (6)
Performed	22 April 1725 (1725-04-22): Leipzig
Movements	6
Text and scoring Scoring A T B SATB choir trumpet flauto piccolo 2 oboe d'amore 2 violins viola basso continuo

Ihr werdet weinen und heulen (You shall weep and wail), BWV 103, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, a church cantata for the third Sunday after Easter called Jubilate. Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig and first performed it on 22 April 1725. It is the first of nine cantatas on texts by Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, which Bach composed at the end of his second annual cycle of cantatas in Leipzig. Based on the Gospel reading from the Farewell Discourse, where Jesus says "your sorrow shall be turned into joy", Bach contrasts music of sorrow and joy, namely in the unusual first movement, where he inserted an almost operatic recitative of Jesus in the fugal choral singing. The architecture of the movement combines elements of the text-related motet with the new form of a concerto. Bach scores an unusual flauto piccolo (descant recorder in D) as an obbligato instrument in an aria contemplating Jesus as the only doctor who will be missed, and in contrast scores a trumpet in only one movement, an aria expressing the joy about the predicted return of Jesus in coloraturas. The cantata in six movements closes with a chorale, the ninth stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Barmherzger Vater, höchster Gott".

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for third Sunday after Easter, called Jubilate. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle of Peter, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man" (1 Peter 2:11–20), and from the Gospel of John, Jesus announcing his second coming in the so-called Farewell Discourse, saying "your sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 16:16–23). For this occasion Bach had already composed ]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), in Weimar. later the base for the movement Crucifixus in his Mass in B minor.

The cantata text is by German poetess Christiana Mariana von Ziegler, the first of a series of nine cantatas by this author, especially written for Bach. She begins with a quotation from the Gospel, verse 20, and concludes with the ninth stanza of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "Barmherzger Vater, höchster Gott" (1653). Her own poetry reflects in a sequence of recitatives and arias in two movements the sadness about the loss of Jesus, in two others the joy about his predicted return. Bach redacted her writing, especially in movement 4 which he shortened considerably.

Bach first performed the cantata on 22 April 1725. For later performances, he revised the instrumentation.

Scoring and structure

The cantata in six movements is scored for three soloists, alto, tenor and bass, a four-part choir, trumpet, flauto piccolo (descant recorder in D), two oboe d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo.

1. Coro e arioso (bass): Ihr werdet weinen und heulen
2. Recitativo (tenor): Wer sollte nicht in Klagen untergehn
3. Aria (alto): Kein Arzt ist außer dir zu finden
4. Aria (alto): Du wirst mich nach der Angst auch wiederum erquicken
5. Aria (tenor): Erholet euch, betrübte Sinnen
6. Chorale: Ich hab dich einen Augenblick

Music

The cantata begins in B minor, illustrating sorrow, but in movement 4 shifts to the relative major key of D major, illustrating the theme of consolation in Ziegler's text.

The opening chorus is an unusual structure, with an arioso passage for the bass voice inserted. All instruments except the trumpet play a ritornello, then a choral fugue pictures the weeping and wailing of the text in unrelated musical material, rich in chromatic. In great contrast the following line, "aber die Welt wird sich freuen" (but the world will rejoice), is conveyed by the chorus embedded in a repeat of the first part of the ritornello. The sequence is repeated on a larger scale: this time the fugue renders both lines of the text as a double fugue with the second theme taken from the ritornello, then the ritornello is repeated completely. The bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ) sings three times, suddenly adagio, "Ihr aber werdet traurig sein" (But you will be sad) as an accompagnato recitative. Musicologist Julian Mincham notes: "This recitative is a mere eight bars long but its context and piteousness give it enormous dramatic impact. Bach's lack of respect for the conservative Leipzig authorities' dislike of operatic styles in religious music was never more apparent!" Klaus Hofmann compares the recitative's "highly expressive melody and harmony" to Bach's Passions. Finally, the extended sequence of fugue and ritornello with chorus returns transposed, on the text "Doch eure Traurigkeit soll in Freude verkehret werden" (Yet your sorrow shall be changed into joy). According to Alfred Dürr, the architecture of the movement is a large scale experiment to combine elements of the text-related motet with the new form of a concerto.

John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir in 2000, notes that Bach's "strategy is to superimpose these opposite moods, binding them in a mutually enlightening whole and emphasising that it is the same God who both dispenses and then ameliorates these conditions.

Movement 2 is a secco recitative for tenor, concluding in an arioso section with a "deeply moving" melisma on the word "Schmerzen" (sorrows). Movement 3, "Kein Arzt ist außer dir zu finden" (Besides You is no doctor to be found) is an aria for alto with the obbligato flauto piccolo, which according to Mincham, employs a "figuration ever striving upwards, moderates the underlying sense of potential tragedy". The alto recitative "marks a change of scene", it begins in B minor, like the opening chorus, but modulates to D-major and ends with a wide-ranging coloratura marking the word "Freude" (joy). Movement 5, "Erholet euch, betrübte Sinnen" (Recover now, O troubled feelings), picks up the joyful coloraturas, supported by the trumpet and fanfares in triads in the orchestra, Mincham notes that the trumpet "bursts upon us with an energy, acclamation and jubilation unheard, so far, in this work". The cantata is closed with a four-part setting of the chorale, sung to the melody of "Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit" which Bach used frequently, including his St Matthew Passion.

Selected recordings

• Bach Made in Germany Vol. 1 - Cantatas IV, Günther Ramin, Thomanerchor, Gewandhausorchester, Eva Fleischer, Gert Lutze, Eterna 1951
• Les Grandes Cantates de J.S. Bach Vol. 22, Fritz Werner, Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn, Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra, Barbara Scherler, Georg Jelden, Jakob Stämpfli, Erato 1966
• Bach Kantaten, Vol. 8: BWV 103, BWV 85, BWV 86, BWV 144, Diethard Hellmann, Bachchor Mainz, Bachorchester Mainz, Marie-Luise Gilles, Kurt Equiluz, DdM-Records Mitterteich late 11960s?
• J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk · Complete Cantatas · Les Cantates, Folge / Vol. 26 - BWV 103-106, Gustav Leonhardt, Knabenchor Hannover, Collegium Vocale Gent, Leonhardt-Consort, soloist of the Knabenchor Hannover, Paul Esswood, Kurt Equiluz, Max van Egmond, Telefunken 1980
• Die Bach Kantate Vol. 32, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Doris Soffel, Peter Schreier, Walter Heldwein, Hänssler 1981
• Bach Edition Vol. 12 - Cantatas Vol. 6, Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Sytse Buwalda, Knut Schoch, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 1999
• Bach Cantatas Vol. 24: Altenburg/Warwick / For the 3rd Sunday after Easter (Jubilate) / For for the 4th Sunday after Easter (Cantate), John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, William Towers, Mark Padmore, Julian Clarkson, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
• J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 14, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Jörg Dürmüller, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 2001
• J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 36 (Cantatas from Leipzig 1725) - BWV 6, 42, 103, 108, Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Dominik Wörner, BIS 2006
• J.S. Bach: Kantate BWV 103 "Ihr werdet weinen und heulen", Rudolf Lutz, Schola Seconda Pratica, Ruth Sandhoff, Andreas Weller, Gallus Media 2010

References

1. ^ Dürr, Alfred (1971). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German). Vol. 1. Bärenreiter-Verlag. OCLC 523584.
2. ^ Hofmann, Klaus (2007). "Ihr werdet weinen und heulen / Ye shall weep and lament, BWV 103" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
3. "Barmherzger Vater, höchster Gott / Text and Translation of Chorale". bach-cantatas.com. 2006. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
4. ^ Mincham, Julian (2010). "Chapter 45 BWV 103 Ihr werdet weinen und heulen / You shall weep and wail, though the world will rejoice". jsbachcantatas.com. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
5. Gardiner, John Eliot (2005). "Cantatas for the Third Sunday after Easter (Jubilate) / Schlosskirche, Altenburg" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. p. 3. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
6. "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh allzeit". bach-cantatas.com. Retrieved 16 April 2013.

Sources

The first source is the score.

• Free scores by Cantatas, BWV 101–110 at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

General sources are found for the Bach cantatas. Several databases provide additional information on each single cantata:

• Cantata BWV 103 Ihr werdet weinen und heulen history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, bach-cantatas website
• BWV 103 – "Ihr werdet weinen und heulen" English translation, discussion, Emmanuel Music
• Ihr werdet weinen und heulen history, scoring, Bach website Template:De icon
• BWV 103 Ihr werdet weinen und heulen English translation, University of Vermont
• BWV 103 Ihr werdet weinen und heulen text, scoring, University of Alberta

• Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1725 compositions