The Cantata Trail

A listening journey through Bach's vocal music

God help the incoming!

Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir
BWV 29

Town Council inaugurations in Leipzig provided Bach with a lucrative opportunity to write a yearly cantata, over and above his regular duties as Thomaskantor. Five such works have fully survived from the Leipzig years (plus others in fragmentary form), and we also have an early work from Mühlhausen, composed for a similar occasion.

The ceremony for the Council election was called “Ratswahl”, and it was celebrated on the Monday following St. Bartholomew’s Day (August 24), followed by a service in Nikolaikirche (the “Ratswechsel” service). Cantata 29 was written for this purpose in 1731 and was performed on August 27. The piece saw two additional performances in later years – 1739 and 1749.

The unknown librettist for BWV 29 follows the usual pattern for these works: a combination of thanks and praise to God for his protection of the city, and a prayer for his continued blessings of the city and its rulers. In addition to original text, the poet used the second verse of Psalm 75 for movement 2, as well as the fifth stanza of the hymn “Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren” by Johann Gramann from 1548 for the closing chorale.

For the opening sinfonia, Bach picked up and further refined his prior arrangement of the Prelude to the E minor partita for solo violin, BWV 1006, which he had already used in orchestrated form to open the second part of the wedding cantata BWV 120a. The solo violin line is given to the obbligato organ, and a full orchestration of three trumpets, timpani, strings, two oboes, and continuo is created around it for an imposing opening commensurate with the grandiose occasion.

Following the Sinfonia, the cantata has a symmetrical structure: two outer choral movements (No. 2 and No. 8), then, moving inwards, two arias (No. 3 and No. 7), two recitatives (No. 4 and No. 6), and an aria in the middle (No. 5) which could be construed as the central prayer of the libretto.

The choir is in charge of the second movement, which is a thanksgiving prayer on the Psalm 75 verse. The music is in the style of a solemn motet, a musical form considered old-fashioned at the time (stile antico). It starts as a 4-part fugue with the strings and oboes doubling the voices, but eventually the trumpets and timpani take on independent parts to grow the polyphony to 8 parts. This movement found its final home as the “Gratias agimus tibi / Dona nobis pacem” of the Mass in B minor.

The following tenor aria is set to text that praises God and equates Leipzig with Zion, or Jerusalem. In contrast with the style of the previous movement, this da-capo aria is a bright A major piece accompanied by solo violin and continuo, with long melismas on the word “Hallelujah”.

Next is the bass recitative, full of biblical references, including several from the Psalms. It’s set in simple “secco” style, with a charming little turn of the bass line on the words “Sein Flügel hält” (“his wings hold”).

The aria in the midpoint of the structure, a prayer for blessings on behalf of rulers (and law-abiding citizens!), is a warm siciliana with oboe, strings and continuo accompaniment to the soprano voice. Bach creates different textures by explicitly removing the continuo harmonization (“tasto solo”) whenever the voice enters in the first section, and thinning out the texture to just the oboe and continuo (or specifying “piano” for the strings) in the second section.

The alto recitative that follows is another request for future blessings in exchange for our “offerings and thanks”. It ends with an “Amen” by the choir in unison, and it leads straight into an aria for the alto with organ obbligato and continuo, which is an ingenious reworking of the third movement (tenor aria). Bach took out the instrumental introduction and transposed the material to D major, giving the accompanying line to the organ.

The cantata closes with Johann Gramann’s verse “Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren” as a closing chorale, with its associated “Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren” tune. In this case, the setting is truly resplendent – the four voices are doubled by the strings and oboes, and augmented by independent trumpet and timpani parts for an imposing finale to the civic occasion.

1. Sinfonia 1. Sinfonia
2. Chor
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir
und verkündigen deine Wunder.
(Psalm 75:2)
2. Chorus
We thank you, God, we thank you
and proclaim your wonders.
3. Aria (T)
Halleluja, Stärk und Macht
Sei des Allerhöchsten Namen!
Zion ist noch seine Stadt,
Da er seine Wohnung hat,
Da er noch bei unserm Samen
An der Väter Bund gedacht.
3. Aria (Tenor)
Hallelujah, strength and power
Be to the name of the Most High!
Zion is still his city,
Where he has his dwelling,
Where he still remembers our descendants
And the covenant of the fathers.
4. Rezitativ (B)
Gottlob! Es geht uns wohl!
Gott ist noch unsre Zuversicht,
Sein Schutz, sein Trost und Licht
Beschirmt die Stadt und die Paläste,
Sein Flügel hält die Mauern feste.
Er lässt uns allerorten segnen,
Der Treue, die den Frieden küsst,
Muss für und für Gerechtigkeit begegnen.
Wo ist ein solches Volk wie wir,
Dem Gott so nah und gnädig ist!
4. Recitative (Bass)
Praise God! We are doing well!
God is still our confidence,
His protection, his comfort, and light
Shield the city and the palaces,
His wings hold the walls firm.
He lets us be blessed everywhere,
The faithfulness that kisses peace
Must forever meet righteousness.
Where is a people like us,
To whom God is so near and gracious!
5. Aria (S)
Gedenk an uns mit deiner Liebe,
Schleuß uns in dein Erbarmen ein!
Segne die, so uns regieren,
Die uns leiten, schützen, führen,
Segne, die gehorsam sein!
5. Aria (Soprano)
Remember us with your love,
Enclose us in your mercy!
Bless those who govern us,
Who guide, protect, and lead us,
Bless those who are obedient!
6. Rezitativ (A) und Chor
Vergiss es ferner nicht, mit deiner Hand
Uns Gutes zu erweisen;
So soll
Dich unsre Stadt und unser Land,
Das deiner Ehre voll,
Mit Opfern und mit Danken preisen,
Und alles Volk soll sagen:

CHOR
Amen!
6. Recitative (Alto) and Chorus
Do not forget, with your hand,
To continue doing good for us;
So then
Our city and our land,
Which are full of your glory,
Shall praise you with offerings and thanks,
And all the people shall say:

CHORUS
Amen!
7. Aria (A)
Halleluja, Stärk und Macht
Sei des Allerhöchsten Namen!
7. Aria (Alto)
Hallelujah, strength and power
Be to the name of the Most High!
8. Choral
Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren
Gott Vater, Sohn, heilgem Geist,
Der woll in uns vermehren,
Was er uns aus Gnaden verheißt,
Dass wir ihm fest vertrauen,
Gänzlich verlassn auf ihn,
Von Herzen auf ihn bauen,
Dass uns Herz, Mut und Sinn
Ihm tröstlich solln anhangen;
Drauf singen wir zur Stund,
Amen, wir werdens erlangen,
Glauben wir aus Herzens Grund.
8. Chorale
Be glory and praise with honor
To God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Who wants to increase in us
What he promises us out of grace,
So that we trust in him firmly,
Rely entirely on him,
Build on him with all our hearts,
So that our heart, courage, and mind
May cling to him comfortingly;
Then we sing at this hour:
Amen, we shall attain it,
If we believe with all our hearts.

Hana Blažíková, soprano
Robin Blaze, alto
Gerd Türk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki

Maria Keohane, soprano
Damien Guillon, alto
Valerio Contaldo, tenor
Lionel Meunier, bass
Netherlands Bach Society
Jos van Veldhoven

St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig

Movements

1. Sinfonia
2. Chorus
3. Aria (T)
4. Recitative (B)
5. Aria (S)
6. Recitative (A) and Chorus
7. Aria (A)
8. Chorale

Performers

Hana Blažíková, soprano
Robin Blaze, alto
Gerd Türk, tenor
Peter Kooij, bass
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki