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(Oh God, look down from heaven), 2 is a chorale cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach for the second Sunday after Trinity in 1724. First performed on 18 June in Leipzig, it is the second cantata of his chorale cantata cycle. The
church cantata A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, ...
is based on Martin Luther's 1524 hymn "", a paraphrase of Psalm 12. In the format of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the words of the hymn are retained unchanged only in the outer movements, while an unknown contemporary librettist paraphrased the inner
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
s for recitatives and arias. Bach structured the cantata in six
movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
s, setting the chorale tune in a chorale fantasia in the opening movement, and in a four-part setting in the closing movement. The two choral movements frame alternating recitatives and arias of three vocal soloists. Bach also used a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a choir of trombones, two oboes, strings and continuo. He set the first movement in "archaic"
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
style, but the arias in "modern" ''concertante'' style, only occasionally reminiscent of the chorale tune. The cantata was first published in 1851, as No. 2 in the first volume published by the Bach Gesellschaft.


History and words

Bach took office as Thomaskantor, music director in Leipzig, end of May 1723. It was part of his duties to supply music for the Sundays and feast days of the
liturgical year The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and whi ...
at four churches of the town, and he decided to compose new cantatas for these occasions. He began with a cantata for the first Sunday after Trinity in 1723, performed on 30 May, and wrote a series of
church cantata A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, ...
s until Trinity of the next year, which became known as his first cantata cycle. The following year, he composed new cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year, each based on one Lutheran chorale, an effort which became known later as his
chorale cantata cycle Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale cantata cycle is the year-cycle of church cantatas he started composing in Leipzig from the first Sunday after Trinity in 1724. It followed the cantata cycle he had composed from his appointment as Thomaskantor ...
. He wrote as the second cantata of this cycle, which he began a week before with . Bach wrote the cantata for the Second Sunday after Trinity. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle of John, "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of the great banquet (). The cantata is based on the chorale in sixth
stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...
s "", a paraphrase of Psalm 12 by Martin Luther, published in 1524 in the '' Achtliederbuch'', the first Lutheran hymnal. In the format of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the words of the hymn are retained unchanged in the outer movements, here the first and the sixth, while an unknown contemporary librettist transcribed the ideas of the inner stanzas in poetry for recitatives and arias, which matched the style of Bach's cantatas of the first cycle. Bach first performed the cantata on 18 June 1724.


Music


Structure and scoring

Bach structured the cantata in six movements. The first and last are set for choir as a chorale fantasia and a closing chorale. They frame alternating recitatives and arias with the text arranged by the librettist. Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (
alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...
(A), tenor (T) and
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
(B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble: four trombones (Tb), two oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and
basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...
(Bc). The duration of the piece has been stated as 20 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The
keys Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...
and time signatures are taken from the book by Bach scholar Alfred Dürr, using the symbols for common time (4/4) and ''alla breve'' (2/2). The instruments are shown separately for winds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.


Movements

The first and last movements set Luther's original words and the original melody, both dating to 1524 and thus already 200 years old when Bach wrote his cantata. Bach used a style that has been called "archaic": the instruments include a choir of trombones doubling the voices.


1

In the opening chorale fantasia, "" (Ah God, look down from heaven), the melody of the chorale is sung by the alto in long notes as a cantus firmus, doubled by two oboes. Dürr calls it an exemplary cantus firmus motet, with each entrance of the chorale tune prepared by fugal entrances of the other voices on the same theme. The instruments double the voices, with the occasional exception of the continuo.


2

The second movement is a ''secco'' recitative, "" (They teach vain, false deceit, which is opposed to God and His truth), which changes to arioso for two lines that resemble the words of the chorale. These lines are marked '' adagio'', and in them the continuo plays in canon with the voice.


3

The alto aria, "" (O God, remove the teachings that pervert your word!), is written in more modern ''concertante'' style with a solo violin as the obbligato instrument, playing lively figuration. The last line of the text remains close to the original, and again Bach quotes the chorale tune.


4

The bass recitative, "" (The wretched are confused), is accompanied by the strings. It changes to ''arioso'' during the middle section, which lets God respond to the pleas of the sinners: "Ich muss ihr Helfer sein" (I must be their helper). Even in the outer sections, the string writing enforces a certain rigidity of the rhythm.


5

The tenor aria, "" (Through fire, silver is purified, through the cross the Word is verified.), is accompanied by a concerto of the oboes and strings. The instruments are first silent in the middle section, but return for its transition to the da capo with the words "" (be patient in cross-bearing and distress). Gardiner notes that the instrumental music suggests "liquid movement or the flow of molten metal", and reminds of Bach's interest in coins and precious metals, and of contemporary
alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...
s in Dresden trying to turn base metal to gold for
August the Strong Augustus II; german: August der Starke; lt, Augustas II; in Saxony also known as Frederick Augustus I – Friedrich August I (12 May 16701 February 1733), most commonly known as Augustus the Strong, was Elector of Saxony from 1694 as well as K ...
, but making porcelain instead.


6

The closing chorale, "" (This, God, you would keep pure before this wicked race; ), is a four-part setting, with all instruments reinforcing the voices.


Manuscripts and publication

The
autograph score An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist ...
is held by the
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin This is a list of the state libraries (german: Landesbibliothek) for each of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany. These libraries hold the right for legal deposit for the publications in their respective state. Landesbibliothek S ...
(Preußischer Kulturbesitz). The cantata was originally published in 1851 as in the first volume of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA), edited by Moritz Hauptmann. The New Bach Edition (Neue Bach-Ausgabe, NBA) published the score in 1981, edited by George S. Bozarth, with the critical commentary published in 1984.


Recordings

Recordings of Bach's cantatas began in the first half of the 20th century. Series of recordings, often for broadcasting, were made from 1950.
Nikolaus Harnoncourt Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...
and
Gustav Leonhardt Gustav Maria Leonhardt (30 May 1928 – 16 January 2012) was a Dutch keyboardist, conductor, musicologist, teacher and editor. He was a leading figure in the historically informed performance movement to perform music on period instruments. Leo ...
were the first to begin recording the complete cantatas in a 20-year collaboration using period instruments, boys' choirs and boy soloists. Helmuth Rilling completed a recording of the sacred cantatas and oratorios on Bach's 300th birthday, 21 March 1985. Other projects to record all sacred cantatas in
historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...
were completed by Ton Koopman, John Eliot Gardiner, Pieter Jan Leusink and Masaaki Suzuki. Sigiswald Kuijken began to record a cycle of cantatas for the ''Complete Liturgical Year'' with an
OVPP In music, one voice per part (OVPP) is the practice of performing choral music with a single voice on each vocal line. In the specific context of Johann Sebastian Bach's works it is also known as the Rifkin hypothesis, set forth in Joshua Rifkin' ...
choir and historic instruments, the ensemble La Petite Bande. In the following table, green background indicates an ensemble playing period instruments in
historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...
. The year is of the recording, then of a release if different.


References


Bibliography

''General'' * * ''Books'' * ''Journals'' * ''Online sources'' * * * * * * * *


External links

* *
BWV 2 Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein
English translation, University of Vermont * * Luke Dahn
BWV 2.6
bach-chorales.com {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein'', BWV 2 Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach 1724 compositions Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Chorale cantatas