Like BWV 184, this cantata is also a parody of a Cöthen piece – in this case a birthday cantata for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, catalogued as BWV 173a and possibly written in 1717 (after Bach was released from 4 weeks in prison!). Unlike 184, however, the original secular cantata has survived. What is lost is the first adaptation that Bach made of it for liturgical use, during his first year in Leipzig. The version that survived is a second adaptation, for performance in 1727 or 1728.
Bach reused the music from 6 of the 8 movements in the birthday cantata: the first 5, plus the final one. He skipped #6 and #7, although the latter became the tenor aria in BWV 175 which we heard in our last session, with violoncello piccolo substituted for the dual bassoon and cello obbligati of the original.
This is a cantata for Whit Monday (2nd day of Pentecost). The anonymous librettist (maybe Bach himself?) produced text which only loosely refers to the Gospel for the day (John 3: 16-21), the closest references being the opening recitative for the tenor and the first stanza of the soprano and bass duet (#4). The fact that the original text was a tribute to “the most serene Leopold” came in handy so that the poet could keep a lot of the libretto intact, with just some needed adjustments.
On the musical front, the original cantata was for two solo voices, soprano and bass, with no choir. For the sacred version, Bach distributed the solos among 4 vocal soloists and added choral parts for the closing movement. The orchestra remained the same (2 flutes, strings and continuo) and the key was also kept as D major.
The tenor opens with a brief recitative with strings, which leads to a dance-like aria accompanied by the full band, where the flutes and first violin play unison throughout. The second section of this aria is a great example of the poet keeping the text of the original version mostly unchanged: “Rühmet, singet, stimmt die Saiten, seinen Nachruhm auszubreiten!” – “seinen Nachruhm” (“his renown”) becomes “Gottes Treue” (“God’s faithfulness”).
A short alto aria follows, with accompaniment of staccato strings. This movement was assigned to the bass in the original.
Number 4 is very interesting from a formal standpoint. It’s structured as 3 variations on a minuet-like theme, each section modulating up a fifth and adding instrumentation (the flutes come in for the second variation, and for the third, the two solo voices join together), as well as rhythmic complexity (from mostly quarters to eighths and then to sixteenths).
The next joint recitative for soprano and tenor switches to an arioso five bars in, as the text refers to “may the fervor of our sighs resound up to heaven.” Great word-painting with the sigh figures and rising scales… thanks to the fact that the text again remained unaltered from the original version!
The cantata closes with a chorus that could be thought of as a polonaise, where Bach added parts for the full choir instead of keeping the two solo voices as in the original. It’s structured in two parts, in each of which the musical material is first stated by the orchestra and then repeated by the voices.
