("If a man love me, he will keep my words", more literally: "He who loves me will obey my commands"), BWV74, is a
church cantata 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 ...
. He composed it in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
for
Pentecost and first performed it on 20 May 1725.
History and text
Bach composed this cantata in his second year in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
for the first day of
Pentecost (
Whit Sunday
Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the Ho ...
).
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles () and the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
, part of the
Farewell discourse ().
The librettist for this work was
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler
Christiana Mariana von Ziegler (28 June 1695 – 1 May 1760) was a German poet and writer. She is best known for the texts of nine cantatas, which Johann Sebastian Bach composed after Easter of 1725.
Biography
Christiana Mariana Romanus was born i ...
. She collaborated with Bach on nine cantatas after Easter 1724, beginning with . In several of these works, she began with a quotation of Jesus from the Gospel. For this cantata, she quoted the Bible three times, taking a quotation from the Gospel as a starting point in movement 1 (verse 23), another one in movement 4 (verse 28), and a quotation from an
epistle by
Paul
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
in movement 6 (). She concluded the text with the second stanza from Paul Gerhardt's
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...
"". Much of her text was based on the "metaphysical" readings of the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
.
Bach first performed the cantata on 20 May 1725.
Scoring and structure
This piece is scored for four solo voices (
soprano,
alto,
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
, and
bass), a
four-part choir, three
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
s,
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...
, two
oboe
The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range.
...
s, an
oboe da caccia
The oboe da caccia (; literally "hunting oboe" in Italian), also sometimes referred to as an oboe da silva, is a double reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family, pitched a fifth below the oboe and used primarily in the Baroque period of Europe ...
, two
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
s,
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
, and
basso continuo.
The cantata has eight movements:
#Chorus:
#Aria (soprano):
#Recitative (alto):
#Aria (bass):
#Aria (tenor):
#Recitative (bass):
#Aria (alto):
#Chorale:
Music
The opening chorus of this cantata is shorter than average and is a substantial reworking of the opening chorus from , composed two years earlier and performed again the previous year. It employs a
ritornello
A ritornello (Italian; "little return") is a recurring passage in Baroque music for orchestra or chorus.
Early history
The earliest use of the term "ritornello" in music referred to the final lines of a fourteenth-century madrigal, which were usu ...
theme followed by a
fanfare-like choral entry. The original movement was a two-part vocal entry; the expansion relies on imitative pairings, reflecting the earlier texture.
Craig Smith suggests that this is one of Bach's most successful arrangements of his own work because it remakes the "patchy" and "hollow" duet into "something richly varied and exquisitely delicate".
The movement is in
C major and
common time
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note val ...
.
The second movement is a soprano aria with oboe da caccia, a transposition of the bass and violin pairing of BWV 59.
The new arrangement lends a "childlike openness" to the movement.
It is in F major and common time.
The third movement is a short alto recitative of only seven measures.
It is characterized by the diminished chord which concludes the vocal line before the final cadence.
The bass aria uses "sequences of 'treading' quavers in the continuo line" to suggest a stepping motion. The movement concludes with a long vocal
melisma
Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...
.
The movement is in E minor.
The piece then moves into a technically demanding tenor aria dominated by swirling string lines. The movement is in a combined ternary and ritornello form, adopting a heavy emphasis on the words ''komm'' and ''eilet'' ("come" and "hasten"), and concludes with a modulation to a minor key and darker harmonies.
The bass recitative, like the earlier alto, is rather short and simple in comparison to the arias. It employs an unusual accompaniment of three oboes.
The recitative modulates from E minor to C major.
The seventh movement, an alto aria, has unusually dense texture and rich scoring. It opens with a fanfare-like ritornello followed by long melismatic passages with repeated notes in the instrumental parts. The short middle section moves to a less dense accompaniment and a minor key, with a "manic chortling" of
triplets
A multiple birth is the culmination of one multiple pregnancy, wherein the mother gives birth to two or more babies. A term most applicable to vertebrate species, multiple births occur in most kinds of mammals, with varying frequencies. Such bi ...
on the word ''lache'' ("laugh").
The closing chorale is a four-part setting of the melody of "".
It is in a minor key, creating a sombre mood.
Recordings
*
Ton Koopman
Antonius Gerhardus Michael Koopman (; born 2 October 1944), known professionally as Ton Koopman, is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orches ...
,
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroq ...
,
Bogna Bartosz
Bogna Bartosz (born in Gdańsk) is a Polish classical mezzo-soprano and alto.
Career
Bogna Bartosz studied voice at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and graduated with distinction. She then studied at the Berlin University of the Arts with Ingr ...
,
Christoph Prégardien,
Klaus Mertens, ''J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 14'', Antoine Marchand 2001
*
Gächinger Kantorei
Gächinger Kantorei (Gächingen Chorale) is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen (part of St. Johann close to Reutlingen) and conducted by him until 2013, succeeded by Hans-Christoph Radema ...
/
Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Bach-Collegium Stuttgart is an internationally known German instrumental ensemble, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1965 to accompany the Gächinger Kantorei in choral music with orchestra. Its members are mostly orchestra musicians from Germany and ...
. ''Die Bach Kantate''.
Hänssler
Hänssler-Verlag is a German music publishing house founded in 1919 as Musikverlag Hänssler by Friedrich Hänssler Senior (died 1972) to publish church music. The company is now based in Holzgerlingen. Since 1972 Hänssler Verlag has also publis ...
, 1972.
*
Monteverdi Choir
The Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the ''Vespro della Beata Vergine'' in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic convic ...
/
English Baroque Soloists
The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque to the Classical period.
History
The English B ...
. ''J. S. Bach: Whitsun Cantatas''. Archiv Produktion, 1999.
* Nederlands Vocaal Ensemble / Deutsche Bachsolisten. ''Bach: 13 Sacred Cantatas & 13 Sinfonias''. Philips, 1972.
Notes
References
External links
*
Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten BWV 74; BC A 83 / Sacred cantata (1st Day of Pentecost)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 ...
BWV 74 Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten English translation,
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...
* Luke Dahn
BWV 74.8bach-chorales.com
*
{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten'', BWV 74
Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
1725 compositions