(All that is born of God),

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 ...

80.1 (formerly BWV 80a), 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

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

for Oculi, the third Sunday in

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

, and first performed it on 24 March 1715 or 15 March 1716. The music is lost, but Bach expanded on it in about 1730 to create his

chorale cantata A chorale cantata is a church cantata based on a chorale—in this context a Lutheran chorale. It is principally from the German Baroque era. The organizing principle is the words and music of a Lutheran hymn. Usually a chorale cantata includes m ...

for Reformation Day, ''Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'', BWV 80.

History and words

On 2 March 1714 Bach was appointed concertmaster of the Weimar court capelle of the co-reigning dukes

Wilhelm Ernst Wilhelm Ernst (25 August 1905, in Gelsenkirchen – 23 July 1952, in Gelsenkirchen) was a German chess master. Biography He was a winner at Weidenau 1937. He played several times in German Chess Championship; took second, behind Kurt Richter, at ...

and Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar. As concertmaster, he assumed the principal responsibility for composing new works, specifically cantatas for the ''Schlosskirche'' (palace church), on a monthly schedule. Bach wrote the cantata for

Oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...

, the third Sunday in Lent. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Ephesians, advice for a righteous life (), and from the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

, casting out a

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

(). The cantata text was written by the court poet Salomon Franck and published in 1715 in ''Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer.'' The text of the first movement paraphrases a verse from the

First Epistle of John The First Epistle of John is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. There is no scholarly consensus as to the authorship of the Johannine works. The author of the First Epistle is ter ...

, "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world" (). The closing chorale is stanza 2 of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation and the namesake of Lutherani ...

's hymn ''

Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" (originally written in the German language with the title ) is one of the best known hymns by the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, a prolific hymnwriter. Luther wrote the words and composed the hymn tune between ...

''. Possible dates for the first performance are 24 March 1715 (suggested by

Alfred Dürr Alfred Dürr (3 March 1918 – 7 April 2011) was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professional career Dürr studied musicology and Clas ...

) and 15 March 1716 (proposed by

Klaus Hofmann Klaus Hofmann (born 20 March 1939) is a German musicologist who is an expert on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Born in Würzburg, Hofmann studied after graduation (1958) from 1958 to 1959 at the University of Erlangen. He then continued his ...

). Bach could not use the work in Leipzig, because no cantata music was performed there during

. He expanded on it in about 1730, resulting in his chorale cantata ''Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'', BWV 80, for Reformation Day. The first two movements,

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 ...

and

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 ...

, were transformed to movements 2 and 3 of the later cantata, movements 4 and 5, recitative and aria, to movements 6 and 7.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for four vocal soloists ( 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) and a four-part choir. The instrumentation is unknown. # Aria (bass): # Recitative (bass): # Aria (soprano): # Recitative (tenor): # Aria (alto, tenor): # Chorale:

Music

Although the music is lost, aspects can be deduced from the later cantata for Reformation Day. Probably the first aria contained an instrumental

cantus firmus In music, a ''cantus firmus'' ("fixed melody") is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition. The plural of this Latin term is , although the corrupt form ''canti firmi'' (resulting from the grammatically incorrect tre ...

of Luther's chorale ''Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott'', sung by the soprano in BWV 80. Both recitatives begin secco and end as an

arioso In classical music, arioso (also aria parlante ) is a category of solo vocal piece, usually occurring in an opera or oratorio, falling somewhere between recitative and aria in style. Literally, arioso means ''airy''. The term arose in the 16th ...

. The first one stresses the text "daß Christi Geist mit dir sich fest verbinde" (that Christ's Spirit to thine be firm united), the second "dein Heiland bleibt dein Hort" (your Saviour remains your shield). The closing chorale is a four-part setting of stanza 2 of Luther's hymn. Bach's harmonisation of that movement possibly survives in BWV 303.Work 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

References

External links

*
Cantata BWV 80a Alles, was von Gott geboren
history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, ''bach-cantatas'' website

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 ...

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Alles, was von Gott geboren'', BWV 80a Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach Lost musical works by Johann Sebastian Bach 1715 compositions 1716 compositions