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Freue dich, erlöste Schar, BWV 30

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Freue dich, erlöste Schar
BWV 30
church cantata by J. S. Bach
Representation of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, the occasion celebrated by this cantata
OccasionFeast of St. John the Baptist
Cantata textPicander
Choraleby Johann Olearius
Performed24 June 1738 (1738-06-24) or later: Leipzig
Movements12 in two parts (6 + 6)
VocalSATB choir and solo
Instrumental

Freue dich, erlöste Schar (Rejoice, redeemed throng), BWV 30, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the Feast of St. John the Baptist ("Fest Johannes des Täufers", also "Johannistag") and first performed it on 24 June 1738 or later.

History and text

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for St. John's Day. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Book of Isaiah, "the voice of a preacher in the desert" (Isaiah 40:1–5), and from the Gospel of Luke, the birth of John the Baptist and the Benedictus of Zechariah (Luke 1:57–80). The cantata was composed in Leipzig in or around 1738, based on a secular cantata, ]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), composed in 1737 in Leipzig to celebrate the acquisition of the manor and estate at Wiederau by Johann Christian von Hennickes.

Christian Friedrich Henrici, (Picander), the librettist of the secular cantata BWV 30a, has been proposed as the author of the libretto for the church cantata. He could easily paraphrase the general praise of the secular work to match the canticle of Zechariah at the birth of John the Baptist, the topic of the Gospel. The text of the chorale movement is by Johann Olearius, Picander used the third stanza of his hymn "Tröstet, tröstet meine Lieben". The chorale theme is "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele", which was codified by Louis Bourgeois when setting the Geneva Psalm 42 in his collection of Pseaumes octante trios de David (Geneva, 1551). Bourgeois seems to have been influenced by the secular song Ne l'oseray je dire contained in the Manuscrit de Bayeux published around 1510.

Scoring and structure

The piece is scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), a four-part choir, two oboes, two flauti traversi, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.

The cantata is in twelve movements, divided in two parts, to be performed before and after the sermon:

Part I

  1. Chorus: Freue dich, erlöste Schar
  2. Recitative (bass): Wir haben Rast
  3. Aria (bass): Gelobet sei Gott, gelobet sein Name
  4. Recitative (alto): Der Herold kömmt und meldt den König an
  5. Aria (alto): Kommt, ihr angefochtnen Sünder
  6. Chorale: Eine Stimme lässt sich hören

Part II

  2. Recitative (bass): So bist du denn, mein Heil, bedacht
  3. Aria (bass): Ich will nun hassen
  4. Recitative (soprano): Und obwohl sonst der Unbestand
  5. Aria (soprano): Eilt, ihr Stunden, kommt herbei
  6. Recitative (tenor): Geduld, der angenehme Tag
  7. Chorus: Freue dich, geheilgte Schar

Music

The opening chorus is in a major key and displays continuous dynamic musical movement. It adopts a syncopated introductory rhythm that later reappears in the alto aria. The form is between a da capo and a rondo: the A section appears in the middle of the B section. The movement also reverses expectations regarding introductions, beginning with a combined vocal and instrumental thematic statement before presenting it without voices.

All of the recitatives in Part I are secco. The bass aria of Part I is characterized by triplet figures and includes full string accompaniment. It includes the same foundational motive as the alto aria, and is formally in modified ternary. The alto aria is remarkable for its binary-form ritornello and "blues-like" final cadence; structurally, the movement is a gavotte. Part I concludes with the cantata's only chorale.

Part II opens with the cantata's only recitativo accompagnato, for bass with oboes and continuo. This prepares a bass aria, which opens with an "aggressive 'scotch snap'" that repeats throughout the movement. A secco soprano recitative prepares a 9/8 soprano aria with chromatic bass, gigue rhythms, and an operatic style. The penultimate movement is a tenor recitative with "elongated phrases and weird chromatic harmonies", representing a tortured soul. The piece concludes with a repetition of the chorus on different text.

Selected recordings

References

  1. Alfred Dürr, Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German; vol. 1, 4th ed.) Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag 1981: 558–560, ISBN 3-423-04080-7
  2. Craig Smith, Programme notes – BWV 30, Emmanuel Music.
  3. Cantata BWV 30, bach-cantatas
  4. Dorothea Schröder, Johann Sebastian Bach (in German), CH Beck 2012: 74, ISBN 9783406622281
  5. C. S. Terry and D. Litti, "Bach's Cantata Libretti", Journal of the Royal Musical Association 1917 44(1):71–125; doi:10.1093/jrma/44.1.71
  6. Walter F. Bischof, Text and orchestration for BWV 30, Bach Cantatas, University of Alberta.
  7. ^ Julian Mincham, Chapter 52 BWV 30

Further reading

  • Werner Neumann: Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs, 1947, 5th Ed. 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
  • Hans-Joachim Schulze: Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
  • Christoph Wolff/Ton Koopman: Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten Verlag J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 2006 ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4

External links

Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach by BWV number
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