When Bach took his new job as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, in May 1723, he set out to deliver on an ambitious goal: to present new, original cantatas for each Sunday and high feast of the liturgical year. It was, to a large extent, a self-imposed goal. While he certainly was in charge of music for the religious services at the city’s four main churches, his employers didn’t necessarily expect him to compose original music every week!
That first year in Leipzig saw dozens of newly composed cantatas, but among them, Bach also reused (sometimes with modifications) pieces that he had written in previous years, notably during his tenure in Weimar. Cantata 147 is one of such works.
The Weimar cantata in which Cantata 147 originated, catalogued as BWV 147a, was originally intended for the 4th Sunday in Advent. While its music has been lost, we have its libretto, written by Salomo Franck, a frequent collaborator of Bach in Weimar. Franck’s text included the initial chorus, the current arias for alto, tenor, soprano (in that order). The last aria (presumably for bass) and concluding chorale were both different.
The city of Leipzig observed tempus clausum – a practice by which no figural music was presented in church during Advent or Lent. This meant that Bach had the opportunity to adapt Cantata 147a for a different liturgical occasion. He chose the Feast of Visitation, given that the respective Gospel readings for the two Sundays are related. John 1: 19-28, for the 4th Sunday in Advent, narrates the testimony of St. John the Baptist of not being the Messiah. Luke 1: 39-56, for the Feast of Visitation, tells the story of Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth, who was pregnant with St. John the Baptist, and then quotes Mary’s song of praise, the Magnificat.
An unknown librettist modified Franck’s text to fit Bach’s new vision for the revised cantata: an expanded work in two parts to celebrate the Feast of Visitation. The libretto alterations included inserting new recitatives (movements 2, 4 and 8), all tying to Luke’s Gospel passage; providing new text for the bass aria (#9); the addition of a chorale verse to close out Part I; and replacing the closing chorale. These two new chorale stanzas are verses 6 & 16 from Martin Jahn’s hymn “Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne”, of 1661. The tenor and soprano aria also swapped places in the new structure, with the soprano aria going first and the tenor one opening Part II.
With these transformations, the overarching theme of the new libretto is that of acknowledgement of Jesus as savior, now connected with St. Luke’s Gospel account of Elizabeth’s baby (St. John the Baptist) jumping in her womb in recognition of the presence of Jesus, and strengthened with several references to Mary’s song. The work was presented for Visitation in 1723, and there are records of a couple of later performances in the 1730’s and 40’s.
The cantata is orchestrated with trumpet, 2 oboes, bassoon, strings and continuo, plus oboe d’amore in the alto aria and 2 oboes da caccia in the alto recitative. In terms of voices, the piece calls for four vocal soloists and a 4-part choir.
The work opens with a splendid free “da-capo” choral movement on the Franck text, which states how heart, mouth, deed and life have to bear witness to Christ. After the instrumental ritornello, in which the virtuosic trumpet line interplays with the oboes and strings, the voices come in fugally to enunciate the first two verses. This contrasts with the treatment of the 3rd and 4th verses which are set to a more homophonic texture, and a motet-style section in which the entire orchestra drops out for several bars before the fugue restarts.
Next, a tenor recitative, accompanied with strings, elaborates on the “mouth” element, referencing Mary’s announcement to her cousin Elizabeth of being pregnant with Jesus, as well as the third line of the “Magnificat”. It includes interesting word-painting with a modulation and high note in the end for the word “Urteil” (“verdict”). The recitative leads to an alto aria with oboe d’amore, with text that reflects on acknowledging Jesus as savior.
The following recitative is for the bass. It features an extremely expressive vocal line and harmonies that illustrate key words such as stubbornness, throwing the powerful off their thrones, and exaltation of the humble, to configure a powerful vignette which draws on Mary’s words to Elizabeth (the Magnificat). The aria that follows, for soprano with violin solo, is much brighter than the previous one, maybe an acknowledgement of the prayer for “eyes of grace”. The violin motif in constant triplets anticipates the ritornello of the famous chorale that follows. In it, the choir delivers verse 6 Jahn’s hymn, while the orchestra weaves the well-known pattern of triplets and the trumpet doubles the sopranos on the chorale tune.
The shorter second section of the cantata, performed after the sermon, opens with a tenor aria with basso continuo. The continuo team is provided with two different bass lines – one mostly in eights for the melodic instruments, while the organ carries out a more ornate one, again with constant triplets in an ascending pattern, perhaps symbolizing the plea for Jesus’ help conveyed by the text.
An extensive alto recitative then mentions St. John the Baptist and his recognition of Jesus in his mother’s womb, and addresses the believer in second person with imagery and word painting. The voice is accompanied by two oboes da caccia, a combination that Bach used in several cantatas and also in his Passions. Particularly notable is the staccato marks on the oboes’ notes on the words “Er wird bewegt, er hüpft und springet” (“He is moved, he leaps and springs”).
The last aria is for the bass accompanied by the whole orchestra, and it brings back the concertante trumpet. In its new text, the poetry praises the works of Jesus and indirectly references the Magnificat by framing this praise as a song, thus serving as a recapitulation of the entire libretto. Bach underlines some key words with long melismas – “Opfer” (“offer”, as in the lips offering praise) and “Feuer” (“fire”) compelling the flesh and mouth.
The cantata closes with another rendition of the famous chorale, with identical music now set to verse 16 of Jahn’s hymn. Even before this movement becoming universally cherished, it seems that Bach thought that it could stand a second hearing!
