Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Gerda Arendt (talk | contribs) at 20:28, 17 December 2024 (→Recordings: table). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jesu, nun sei gepreiset
BWV 41
Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach
Thomaskirche, Leipzig
Occasion	New Year's Day
Chorale	"Jesu, nun sei gepreiset" by Johannes Hermann
Performed	1 January 1725 (1725-01-01): Leipzig
Movements	6
Vocal	SATB choir and solo
Instrumental	3 trumpets timpani 3 oboes 2 violins viola violoncello piccolo da spalla continuo

Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Jesus, now be praised), BWV 41, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for New Year's Day and first performed it on 1 January 1725. It is based on the hymn of the same name by Johannes Hermann of 1591.

The cantata is part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the second cycle during his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723. In the style of the cycle, an unknown poet retained the outer stanzas as choral movements 1 and 6, and paraphrased the middle stanza into alternating arias and recitatives. Bach scored the work for four soloists, a four-part choir, three trumpets and timpani, oboes, strings including a violoncello piccolo da spalla, and basso continuo.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in 1724, his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, for New Year's Day. The feast also celebrated the naming and circumcision of Jesus. The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle to the Galatians, by faith we inherit (Galatians 3:23–29), and from the Gospel of Luke, the Circumcision and naming of Jesus (Luke 2:21).

That year, Bach composed his Chorale cantata cycle, begun on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724, with each cantata based on a Lutheran hymn. The cantata is based on a 1591 hymn for New Year's Day in three stanzas long stanzas of 14 lines each by Johannes Hermann who had also been a Thomaskantor. Its melody is by Melchior Vulpius, who first published it in his Ein schön geistlich Gesangbuch, printed in Jena in 1609. The hymn calls Jesus by name first, fitting to the celebration of the naming. Otherwise it is more concerned with the beginning of the New Year. It was popular in Leipzig and was used in two more of Bach's cantatas for the occasion, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190, the previous year and Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171 in 1729.

In the style of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, an unknown poet retained the outer stanzas as choral movements 1 and 6, and paraphrased the middle stanza into a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives, expanding the 14 lines by additional ideas, but not specifically referring to the gospel.

Bach first performed the cantata on 1 January 1725, and reprised it at least once, between 1732 and 1735.

Music

Structure and scoring

Bach structured Jesu, nun sei gepreiset in six movements. Both the text and the tune of the hymn are retained in the outer movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets (Tr), timpani (Ti), three oboes (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), one viola part (Va), violoncello piccolo da spalla (Vp) and basso continuo. The duration of the cantata is given as 30 minutes.

In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr's standard work Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach. The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Jesu, nun sei gepreiset

No.	Title	Type	Vocal	Brass	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Jesu, nun sei gepreiset	Chorus	SATB	3Tr, Ti	3Ob	2Vl Va	C major
2	Laß uns, o höchster Gott	Aria	Soprano		3Ob		G major	8
3	Ach! deine Hand, dein Segen muss allein	Recitative	Alto
4	Woferne du den edlen Frieden	Aria	Tenor			Vp	A minor
5	Doch weil der Feind bei Tag und Nacht	Recitative	SAT, Bass solo
6	Dein ist allein die Ehre, dein ist allein der Ruhm	Chorale	SATB	3Tr, Ti	3Ob	2Vl Va	C major

Movements

1

In the opening chorale fantasia, "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset zu diesem neuen Jahr" (Jesus, now be praised at this new year), Bach faced the problem of structuring the unusually long stanza of 14 lines and an additional repeat of the last two lines, as seems to have been customary in Leipzig. The concerto of the orchestra is dominated by a syncope fanfare motif from the trumpets. In the first four lines, repeated in the next four and the final two, the soprano sings the cantus firmus, with the lower voices in free polyphony. Lines 9 and 10, speaking of "in guter Stille" (in good silence) are marked adagio; the choir sings in homophony in triple meter, accompanied by the orchestra without the trumpets. Lines 11 and 12, repeated in 13 and 14, are a presto fugato, with the instruments playing colla parte, expressing "Wir wollen uns dir ergeben" (We want to devote ourselves to you), an "enthusiastic rededication to spiritual values". The fugal subject is derived from the first phrase of the chorale melody. Lines 15 and 16 repeat lines 1 and 2, saying "behüt Leib, Seel und Leben" (Protect our body, soul and life).

2

In contrast, both arias have been described as chamber music. The first aria, "Laß uns, o höchster Gott, das Jahr vollbringen" (Let us, O highest God, complete the year), is sung by the soprano, accompanied by three oboes in pastoral in 6/8 time.

3

A short secco recitative follows, "Ach! deine Hand, dein Segen muß allein das A und O, der Anfang und das Ende sein" (Ah! your hand, your blessing must alone be the A and O, the beginning and the end),.

4

A tenor aria, "Woferne du den edlen Frieden" (As far as you have ordained noble peace), is dominated by an obbligato violoncello piccolo in expansive movement.

5

A recitative for bass, "Doch weil der Feind bei Tag und Nacht zu unserm Schaden wacht" (Yet since the enemy day and night watches for our harm), contains one line from Martin Luther's Deutsche Litanei (German litany). Bach highlighted this line, "den Satan unter unsre Füße treten" (crush Satan under our feet), setting it for four-part choir marked allegro, as if the congregation joined the prayer of the individual.

6

The closing chorale, "Dein ist allein die Ehre" (Yours alone is the honor), is a four-part setting with independent instruments, corresponding to the first movement. The lines are separated several times by its trumpet motif; the trumpets are silent in lines 9 to 14; lines 11 to 14 are in
₄ time; the final fanfare recalls the beginning. John Eliot Gardiner noted that Bach achieves a suggestion of the year's cycle by ending both the first movement and the end of the cantata as the work began, as a "closing of the circle".

Recordings

A list of recordings is provided on the Bach Cantatas Website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background.

Notes

1. "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

References

1. ^ Dellal 2024.
2. ^ Bach Digital 2024.
3. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006.
4. Wolff 2000.
5. ^ Chorale text 2024.
6. ^ Hofmann 2006.
7. ^ Gardiner 2008.
8. ^ Mincham 2010.
9. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 150.
10. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 149.
11. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 148–149.
12. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 149.
13. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 150.
14. Dahn 2024.
15. Oron 2024.

Cited sources

• "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset BWV 41; BC A 22". Bach Digital. 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
• Dahn, Luke (2024). "BWV 41.6". bach-chorales.com. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
• Dellal, Pamela (2024). "BWV 41 – "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset"". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
• Dürr, Alfred; Jones, Richard D. P. (2006). "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41". The Cantatas of J. S. Bach: With Their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 148–151. ISBN 978-0-19-969628-4.
• Gardiner, John Eliot (2008). Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) / Cantatas Nos 16, 41, 58, 143, 153 & 171 (Media notes). Soli Deo Gloria. Retrieved 15 December 2024 – via Hyperion Records.
• Hofmann, Klaus (2006). "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41 / Jesus, now be praised" (PDF). Bach Cantatas website. p. 4. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
• Mincham, Julian (2010). "Chapter 32 Bwv 41 – The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach". The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
• Oron, Aryeh (2024). "Cantata BWV 41 Jesu, nun sei gepreiset". Bach Cantatas website. Retrieved 15 December 2024.
• Wolff, Christoph (2000). Chorale Cantatas from the cycle of the Leipzig / church cantatas, 1724–25 (III) (PDF). Bach Cantatas website (Media notes). p. 9. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
• "Jesu, nun sei gepreiset / Text and Translation of Chorale". Bach Cantatas website. 2003. Retrieved 27 December 2012.

External links

• Jesu, nun sei gepreiset, BWV 41: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

• Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
• 1725 compositions
• Chorale cantatas