Cantata 61 was composed in Weimar in 1714, during Bach’s first year on the job of Kapellmeister, which entailed composing monthly cantatas for performance in the palace’s chapel. The year of composition is noted in Bach’s handwriting on the score’s cover page. The cantata was then given a second performance in Leipzig on November 28th, 1723.
The occasion is the first Sunday in Advent, which marks the beginning of the Church Year, and with it, the portion of the year devoted to tracing and reflecting on the main events in Jesus’ life. During Advent, a period which lasts about one month and contains four Sundays, the focus of the Church is both on the anticipation of Jesus’ physical birth, as well as on his coming into the believer’s heart. Leipzig observed the “tempus clausum” tradition, which dictated that no figural music was to be performed in church from the second through the fourth Sundays in Advent. Consequently, this cantata, in addition to opening the church year, represented the last opportunity to hear but the simplest music in church until Christmas.
The cantata’s libretto is by Erdmann Neumeister, a writer and theologian from Hamburg. Bach composed five cantatas with librettos by him: two while in Weimar and the rest in Leipzig. Neumeister’s libretto for BWV 61 is only loosely related to the Gospel of the day (Matthew 21: 1-9, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem), focusing instead more explicitly on the two main meanings of the Advent season mentioned above. The text opens with the first verse of a traditional Advent hymn, originally in Latin and translated by Martin Luther in 1524. Movement 4 is a literal biblical quote, from Revelation 3:20. The closing movement is a partial stanza of a hymn by Philipp Nicolai, dating from 1599. Movements 2, 3 and 5 are original poetry.
The cantata uses modest instrumentation, as is often the case with Weimar compositions. It calls for strings and continuo only, but with two viola parts, something he did in other Weimar pieces as well. There is no indication of the use of oboes. Vocally, it requires a four-part choir and three solo singers (soprano, tenor and bass).
The first three movements relate to Jesus’ birth. The opening movement is in the form of a French overture, with its traditional slow, dotted rhythm opening, followed by a fast fugato section, and closing with a recurrence of the first section. Commentators and scholars discuss the reasons for Bach’s use of a French overture to start the cantata, associating it to a celebration of the start of the new Church Year, or of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Bach superimposes the first line of the chorale on the opening section of the overture, stated four times, one by each voice. The second verse is delivered homophonically in four-part harmony. Then, the fugato section shifts to ternary tempo and the choir sings the third line of the chorale in imitative fashion. In the recap of the opening section, the fourth line is presented one time, homophonically.
Following the majestic opening, the tenor gets a recitative / aria pair. The recitative starts as secco, and turns into arioso with imitation between the voice and the basso continuo line at the mention of Jesus shining his light on humankind. The aria, in da-capo form, is set in a 9/8 meter with the voice accompanied with unison violins and violas, giving the instrumental line a darker color. The text includes a mention to the “new year”, referring to the start of the Church Year.
The next two movements shift focus to the second meaning of Advent, i.e. Jesus coming into the believer’s heart. The bass recitative, on the Revelation quote as “Vox Christi”, is short but extraordinary in its vividness and intensity. The “knocking on the door” image is conveyed via pizzicato strings, and also in the voice, with staccato notes and a broken arpeggio on the word “klopfe” (“knock”).
This extraordinary vignette is followed by a soprano aria in the first person, causing the congregation member to identify with the singer. The aria is set for voice and continuo only, and it opens with a ascending motif followed by a rest to illustrate the words “öffne dich” (“open yourself”). In the B section, to reflect the change in the character of the text, the meter changes to binary and the tempo slows down to a marked “adagio”.
The closing movement is not the traditional chorale but a musical setting for a partial stanza of the hymn “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” by Philipp Nicolai. It’s not clear why the stanza was truncated, except possibly to provide additional emphasis. Bach sets it as a free-form choral piece in which the chorale tune is given to the sopranos, while the violins, in constant sixteenths, climb three full octaves to a high G, symbolizing the longing (“Verlangen”) of the soul.
