(Praise ye the Lord, all ye of his great armies),

BWV The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2 ...

1147, , is a church cantata text by

Christian Friedrich Hunold Christian Friedrich Hunold (born 29 September 1680 in Wandersleben near Gotha, died 16 August 1721 in Halle) was a German author who wrote under the pseudonym Menantes. Biography Hunold went to school in Arnstadt and continued in 1691 at t ...

which was performed, most likely in a setting by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

, for the twenty-fourth birthday of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen on 10 December 1718. The composition is lost, but its libretto survives in a 1719 print.Work , ''Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen'', at

Bach Digital Bach Digital (German: ), developed by the Bach Archive in Leipzig, is an online database which gives access to information on compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and members of his family. Early manuscripts of such compositions are a major foc ...

website.

History

had been a '' Kapellmeister'' in Köthen since 1717. During his employment by Prince Leopold there, which lasted until 1723, he composed mostly secular music. The vocal music he composed in Köthen nearly exclusively consisted of secular cantatas on librettos by

, who published such texts under the pen name Menantes. Bach's secular cantatas of this period are often congratulatory

serenata In music, a serenade (; also sometimes called a serenata, from the Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italia ...

s for occasions such as New Year and the birthday of the Prince. Around his twenty-fourth birthday Prince Leopold hired a number of visiting musicians, including the singers Prese and , as

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

and Johann Gottfried Vogler who was engaged at the , the

Collegium Musicum The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in German and German- Swiss cities and towns during the Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century. Generally, while societies such as the (chorale) cultivated ...

and the Oper am Brühl (Leipzig) in the late 1710s. These musicians, and Bach, participated in the performance of two cantatas on the Prince's birthday, 10 December 1718: ''Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen'' at St. Jakobs, and, also on a text by Hunold, the secular cantata ''Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück'', BWV 66.1. The music of these cantatas did not survive: they are known through their librettos which were published by Hunold in 1719. ''Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen'' is the only certain church cantata of Bach's Köthen period: the court of Anhalt-Köthen was

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, a denomination known for its aversion to elaborate church music. ''Ihr wallenden Wolken'', BWV 1150, an entirely lost New Year's Day cantata in honor of Prince Leopold, is often grouped with Bach's sacred music, but it may as well have been a secular work.

Text and music

In his printed libretto, Hunold indicates , "Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me", as the theme of the cantata. The cantata itself opens with a

dictum In general usage, a dictum ( in Latin; plural dicta) is an authoritative or dogmatic statement. In some contexts, such as legal writing and church cantata librettos, ''dictum'' can have a specific meaning. Legal writing In United States legal ter ...

, : "Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure." The cantata has six further movements: three

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name "''recitativo''" ()) is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat ...

s, each of which is followed by an

aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

.Lobet den Herrn, alle seine Heerscharen: text
at

website. No music of the cantata survives, although it is deemed possible that Bach parodied the cantata's first movement in 1723 as the opening chorus for his cantata ''Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele'', BWV 69.1.

References

Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach Lost musical works by Johann Sebastian Bach Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach {{classical-composition-stub