(Glory to God in the Highest), 191, is a

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 ...

written by the German Baroque composer

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

, and the only one of his church cantatas set to a Latin text. He composed the

Christmas cantata A Christmas cantata or Nativity cantata is a cantata, music for voice or voices in several movements, for Christmas. The importance of the feast inspired many composers to write cantatas for the occasion, some designed to be performed in church ser ...

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

probably in 1742, for a celebration by the university of Leipzig. The composition's three movements all derive from the Gloria of Bach's 1733 Kyrie–Gloria Mass, which the composer would later use as the Gloria of his

Mass in B minor The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass (music)#Ordinarium, Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before Bach's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, ...

History

was written in Leipzig for

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...

, as indicated by the heading on the manuscript in Bach's own handwriting, " – Celebration for the birth of Christ), to be sung around the sermon. Recent archival and manuscript evidence suggest the cantata was probably first performed in 1742, for a regular Christmas celebration by the university of Leipzig at the Paulinerkirche, rather than in 1743, or 1745 at a special Christmas Day service to celebrate the Peace of Dresden, which brought to an end the hardships imposed on the region by the Second Silesian War, Unlike Bach's other church cantatas, the words are not in German, taken from the Bible, a chorale or contemporary poetry, but in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, taken from the Gloria and the

Doxology A doxology (Ancient Greek: ''doxologia'', from , ''doxa'' 'glory' and -, -''logia'' 'saying') is a short hymn of praises to God in various forms of Christian worship, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymns. The tradition derives ...

. This late work is the only Latin cantata among around 200 surviving sacred cantatas in German. It is based on an earlier composition, Bach's 1733 Mass for the Dresden court, which would, in 1748, become the first part of his monumental

. The first movement (Gloria) is an almost identical copy of the first two movements of the Gloria of the earlier work, while the second and third movements are close parodies of the earlier Gloria's fifth and ninth movements. Parts, for instance, of the fugal section of , taken from the of the 1733 setting, are moved from a purely vocal to an instrumentally accompanied setting. The modifications Bach made to the last two movements of BWV 191, however, were not carried over into the final manuscript compilation of the Mass in B minor, leaving it a matter of speculation whether or not these constitute "improvements" to Bach's original score.

Scoring, words and structure

The cantata bears the heading ''::'' in Bach's own handwriting. The cantata is festively scored for

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

and

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

soloists and an unusual five-part choir (with a dual soprano part), three

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

, two

flauto traverso The Western concert flute can refer to the common C concert flute or to the family of transverse (side-blown) flutes to which the C flute belongs. Almost all are made of metal or wood, or a combination of the two. A musician who plays the flute ...

, two

oboes 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 type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

, two

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, 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 ...

. Its only link to Christmas is the opening chorus on Luke (), to be performed before the sermon. The other two movements after the sermon (marked "") divide the general words of the Doxology in a duet (corresponding to the , the central piece of the of the Mass in B minor) and a final chorus (corresponding to of the Gloria). The final movement may contain

ripieno The ripieno (, Italian for "stuffing" or "padding") is the bulk of instrumental parts of a musical ensemble who do not play as soloists, especially in Baroque music. These are the players who would play in sections marked ''tutti'', as opposed to s ...

markings (to accompany the chorus) similar to the ripieni found in , which was also a nativity cantata. # Coro: # Duetto (soprano/tenor): # Coro:

Recordings

* ''Die Bach Kantate Vol. 16'', Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Nobuko Gamo-Yamamoto, Adalbert Kraus, Hänssler 1971 * ''J. S. Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium'', Ludwig Güttler, Concentus Vocalis Wien, Virtuosi Saxoniae, Christiane Oelze, Hans Peter Blochwitz, Dresden Classics 1995 * ''J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 21'',

Ton Koopman Antonius Gerhardus Michael "Ton" Koopman (; born 2 October 1944) is a Dutch conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and musicologist, primarily known for being the founder and director of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir. He is a professor ...

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 Bar ...

, Caroline Stam,

Paul Agnew Paul Agnew (born 11 April 1964 in Glasgow) is a Scottish operatic tenor and conductor. Biography Agnew read music as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College, Oxford. He became associated with various groups specializing in early music (Ex Cathe ...

, Antoine Marchand 1999 * ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 18: Weimar/Leipzig/Hamburg / For Christmas Day & for Epiphany / For the 1st Sunday after Epiphany'',

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, especially the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage of 2000, performing Church cantata (Bach), Bach's church ...

, Monteverdi Choir,

English Baroque Soloists The English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on authentic performance, period instruments, formed in 1978 by English Conducting, conductor John Eliot Gardiner, Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early B ...

, Claron McFadden, Christoph Genz,

Soli Deo Gloria ' (S.D.G.) is a Latin term for Glory to God alone. It has been used by artists like Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Christoph Graupner to signify that the work was produced for the sake of praising God in Christianity, God ...

1999 * ''J. S. Bach: Kantate BWV 191 «Gloria in Excelsis Deo»'', Rudolf Lutz, Vokalensemble der Schola Seconda Pratica, Schola Seconda Pratica, Gerlinde Sämann, Johannes Kaleschke, Gallus Media 2009 * ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 55'', Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan,

Hana Blažíková Hana Blažíková (born 2 December 1980) is a Czech soprano and harpist. She is focused on Medieval music, Medieval, Renaissance music, Renaissance and Baroque music, appearing internationally. She has recorded as a member of the Bach Collegium J ...

, Gerd Türk,

BIS Records BIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden. BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recording ...

2013

References

External links

Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191
performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information) * * ww.emmanuelmusic.org/bach-notes/bwv-191 BWV 191 – "Gloria in excelsis Deo"Cantata notes,

Emmanuel Music Emmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J. S. Bach in the liturgical setting for wh ...

BWV 191 Gloria in excelsis Deo
English translation,

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

*
Chapter 54 BWV 191 Gloria in excelsis Deo / Glory to God in the highest.
Julian Mincham, 2010 {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Gloria in excelsis Deo'', BWV 191 Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach 1745 compositions Christmas cantatas

History

Scoring, words and structure

Recordings

References

Further reading

External links