One week after performing Cantata 138, on the 16th Sunday after Trinity in 1723 (September 12th), we find Bach again experimenting with a proto- “chorale cantata”. A chorale cantata is one whose text and music are closely related to a church hymn and its associated melody, which the congregation would have readily recognized. During his second year in Leipzig, Bach composed about 40 such cantatas in a methodical way. Some of the cantatas that we are finding as we traverse Bach’s first year in Leipzig show us how he was experimenting with the chorale cantata concept and format.
The Gospel for the 16th Sunday after Trinity is Luke 7: 11-17, which tells the story of Jesus raising the widow of Nain’s son from the dead. Over his career, Bach composed four cantatas for this Sunday, all dealing with the same subject: the first one in Weimar (BWV 161, 1716), and the other three in Leipzig (BWV 95 in 1723, BWV 8 in 1724 and BWV 27 in 1726). It is interesting to study them together, as they share several notable characteristics. Their librettos don’t refer directly to the episode of Nain, but instead the librettists choose to reflect on the believer’s longing for his or her own death and the certainty of resurrection through Jesus. Musically, the four cantatas configure a fascinating microcosmos of Bach’s treatment of the subject of death.
We don’t know who the librettist for BWV 95 was, or to what extent Bach got involved in the crafting of the text. Given that musically Bach was clearly experimenting with the architecture of a chorale cantata, it’s reasonable to assume some degree of collaboration. The salient characteristic of BWV 95 is that its text is based not on one hymn (as 138 was), but on four distinct ones. Also, in this case the chosen hymn stanzas are kept intact, instead of being broken up with segments of recitative as we saw in 138.
Two hymn stanzas are part of the first movement: “Christus, der ist mein Leben” (an anonymous hymn from 1609), and “Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin” (by Martin Luther, from 1524). These are separated by original recitative text which Bach assigned to the tenor. Movement 3 (“Valet will ich dir geben,”) is by Valerius Herberger from 1613, and Movement 7 (the closing chorale of the cantata) is verse 4 of a hymn by Nikolaus Herman of 1560. The rest of the movements are original text by the cantata librettist.
The scoring of this cantata is fairly conventional, requiring 2 oboes d’amore, strings, continuo and one horn to reinforce the chorale tunes in the first and last movements. The choir is 4-part and the vocal soloists required are soprano, tenor and bass.
The opening movement, as mentioned before, is constructed on two chorale stanzas from different hymns, bridged together with a tenor recitative. The first section opens with an orchestral ritornello in triple time, bright and rhythmic, in dialog between the oboes and the strings. The constant syncopations on top of a walking bass generate an upbeat sense of forward movement that remains in place throughout the entire stanza of the chorale, which is stated by the choir homophonically. A notable moment occurs on the word “Sterben” (“death”), with staggered entrances, from the sopranos down to the bases, on dissonant, sustained notes. However, as the delivery of the text continues with “ist mein Gewinn” (“is my gain”), the upbeat mood resumes right away. As we transition seamlessly into the middle section, the solo tenor takes the recitative text, which opens with a huge melisma and long trill on the word “Freude” (“joy”) and, shortly after, another one on “scheiden” (“depart”), while the orchestra continues with their back-and-forth between oboes and strings. For the rest of the recitative text, the verses acquire a somewhat darker tone, but the orchestra continues to remind us that death is welcome by constantly interrupting the declamation with the original carefree walking syncopations, one bar at a time. We now flow into the third section of the movement in which Bach deals with the second piece of chorale text – Martin Luther’s paraphrase of the Canticle of Simeon (or “Nunc dimittis”), from 1524. The librettist chose the first stanza, as it expresses the peaceful acceptance of death. Musically, Bach creates tremendous contrast with the preceding material. The carefree syncopations are gone. The bass line embarks on a relentless string of eighths that constantly push forward. On top of it, the horn and two oboes (now regular ones, in unison) start playing the chorale melody in quarter notes. The choir delivers the full chorale homophonically at half the speed of the oboes, with the first violin in charge of an independent fifth line. The horn teams up with the oboes while the choir is silent, reverting to its role of supporting the chorale melody when the sopranos sing. Ever the word painter, the only pause Bach puts in this moto-perpetuo passage is on the word “stille” (“quiet”).
The next two movements configure a pair of recitative and aria (chorale) for the soprano. In the recitative, set as “secco” by Bach, the poet rejects the “false world” and its sins. It serves as a preamble to the next chosen stanza of chorale text, which comes from the Herberger hymn and likewise deals with rejection of the world and longing for the “good life in heaven”. The serene rendition of the plain chorale tune by the soprano contrasts with the jagged oboe lines and arpeggiated continuo lines – possibly a musical illustration of the dichotomy between heavenly and earthly life?
The next set of recitative and aria are both for the tenor. The recitative is “secco” and short, but very expressive, as the text introduces the aspect of timing to the narrative arc. The believer is not just ready and willing for death, but wanting it to happen soon. This idea is illustrated by Bach in the breathtakingly beautiful aria that follows, where he creates the sound of a ticking clock (or funeral bells?) with pizzicato strings, a device he used several times across his oeuvre. The oboes move above the strings in parallel fourths, which causes an eerie mood of emptiness or void, reinforced by their sighing motif in echo.
The last recitative is for the bass, in which Bach uses word painting to illustrate some key words or expressions, such as “I have a definite path to the Father” with an ascending D major scale, or a downward leap of a sixth for “Tod” (“death”). The recitative turns into an arioso for the last line, on top of a walking bass of upward scales, as the text mentions resurrection.
In the closing chorale is where we find the last piece of hymn text selected by the librettist for this cantata. As mentioned before, it’s the fourth verse of a 1560 hymn by Nikolaus Herman. Bach sets it as a plain harmonization for the choir, but adds an independent fifth line for the first violin which he uses, in the very first phrase, to illustrate the words “Since you have risen from the dead” with an ascending motif that reaches a high and bright “E” on top of an otherwise third-less C major chord.
