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 ...

composed 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 ...

("Exult in God in every land" or "Shout for joy to God in all lands") 51, in

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 ...

. The work is Bach's only church cantata scored for a solo soprano and trumpet. He composed it for general use (''ogni tempo)'', in other words not for a particular date in the church calendar, although he used it for the 15th Sunday after

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

: the first known performance was on 17 September 1730 in

. The work may have been composed earlier, possibly for an occasion at the court of

Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels Christian (23 February 168228 June 1736) was Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels from 1712 until his death. Biography Christian was born in Weissenfels on 23 February 1682, the second surviving son of Johann Adolf I, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and his f ...

, for whom Bach had composed the ''

Hunting Cantata ''Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd'' (The lively hunt is all my heart's desire), BWV, 208.1, BWV 208,Work at Bach Digital website. also known as the ''Hunting Cantata'', is a secular cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, b ...

'' and the '' Shepherd Cantata''. The text was written by an unknown poet who took inspiration from various biblical books, especially from psalms, and included as a closing chorale a

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian ''stanza'', ; ) is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme and metrical schemes, but they are not required to have either. ...

from the hymn "

Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren "" (Now praise, my soul, the Lord) is a Lutheran hymn written in German by the theologian and reformer Johann Gramann in 1525. It was published in 1540 and appears in 47 hymnals. A translation by Catherine Winkworth, "My Soul, now Praise thy M ...

". Bach structured the work in five movements, with the solo voice accompanied by a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a virtuoso trumpet, strings and continuo. While the outer movements with the trumpet express extrovert jubilation of God's goodness and his wonders, the central introspective aria, accompanied only by the continuo, conveys a "profound expression of commitment to God". He set the closing chorale as a

chorale fantasia Chorale fantasia is a type of large composition based on a chorale melody, both works for Pipe organ, organ, and vocal settings, for example the opening movements of Chorale cantata (Bach), Bach's chorale cantatas, with the chorale melody as a can ...

, the soprano sings the unadorned melody to a trio of two violins and continuo, leading to an unusual festive fugal Alleluja, in which the trumpet joins. The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann notes that the work, unusually popular among Bach's church cantatas, is unique in the demanded virtuosity of the soprano and trumpet soloist, and evidences "overflowing jubilation and radiant beauty".

History and words

Bach used the cantata in Leipzig for the 15th Sunday after Trinity on 17 September 1730. The prescribed readings for the Sunday came from the

Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Galatia (Roman province), Roman pro ...

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

's admonition to "walk in the Spirit" (), and from the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings spoken by Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is th ...

in the

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells the story of who the author believes is Israel's messiah (Christ (title), Christ), Jesus, resurrection of Jesus, his res ...

, which exhorts the faithful not to worry about material needs, but to seek God's kingdom first (). The author is unknown. Without any reference to the prescribed readings, he incorporates in the first movement ideas from , and , and in the central aria thoughts from and . The closing

chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

is the fifth stanza of "", added to

Johann Gramann Johann Gramann or Graumann (5 July 1487 – 29 April 1541), also known by his pen name Johannes Poliander, was a German pastor, theologian, teacher, humanist, reformer, and Lutheran leader. Life Gramann was born in Neustadt an der Aisch, ...

's hymn in Königsberg in 1549. Bach used the same

in a different setting to close his cantata . Bach led the performance on 17 September 1730. Bach's manuscript indicates the 15th Sunday after

"et in ogni tempo" ("and at any time"). The latter phrase indicates the possible general use of the work, with a cantata text that has no direct relevance to the scriptural readings. The dedication for the 15th Sunday was added later, indicating that the cantata was not intended for the specific occasion. Bach composed BWV 51 during a period when he composed church cantatas only irregularly, some of them to complete his earlier cycles. According to the Bach scholar

Christoph Wolff Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...

, Bach may have written the cantata shortly before 1730 for an unknown occasion. The performance material survived but does not reveal further detail, other than indicating one later performance. Hofmann sees a connection to the court of

Weißenfels Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle. His ...

where a scoring of solo soprano and trumpet was popular, and assumes that the work may have been originally intended for a performance at court by a professional female singer. Bach had written two birthday cantatas for

. He was invited to the birthday celebration of 1729 and returned with the title of (court director of music of Saxe-Weissenfels), and Hofmann thinks a connection between the title and cantata "highly probable". Both the soprano part, which covers two

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

s and requires a high C, and the solo trumpet part, which at times trades melodic lines with the soprano on an equal basis, are extremely virtuosic. The Bach scholar

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 ...

assumes that Bach had an unusually gifted singer, adding that a female voice was unlikely in conservative Leipzig. According to Joshua Rifkin, Christoph Nichelmann is a possible candidate because Bach being aware of his capabilities accepted him willingly to the Thomasschule and Nichelmann matriculated into the school three weeks before the first performance. The trumpet part was probably written for Gottfried Reiche, Bach's principal trumpeter at the time. The scoring is unique in Bach's cantatas, but was frequently used by Italian composers such as

Alessandro Scarlatti Pietro Alessandro Gaspare Scarlatti (2 May 1660 – 22 October 1725) was an Italian Baroque music, Baroque composer, known especially for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the most important representative of the Neapolitan sch ...

. Bach's son Friedemann Bach arranged the work by adding a second trumpet and

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, ...

. The cantata is one of only four sacred cantatas that Bach wrote for a solo soprano (if one excludes his arrangement of the cantata for solo bass and oboe , for flute and soprano BWV 82a) and no other vocal soloists (the others being , , and ), while he wrote several secular cantatas for solo soprano: , , , and .Liebergen, Patrick. New York: Alfred Publishing, 2008. pp 63-69.

Music

Structure and scoring

Bach structured the cantata in five movements and scored it for a soprano soloist and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of

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 ...

s (Tr), 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 ...

s (Vl),

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 ...

(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 title of the autograph score reads: "Dominica 15 post Trinitatis / et / In ogni Tempo. / Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. / à / Soprano solo / 1 Tromba* / 2 Violino / Viola / e / Continuo / di / Joh:Seb:Bach". It is the only church cantata by Bach scored for solo soprano and trumpet. The duration is given as 20 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the ''

Neue Bach-Ausgabe The New Bach Edition (NBE) (; NBA), is the second complete edition of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, published by Bärenreiter. The name is short for Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750): New Edition of the Complete Works (''Johann Sebastian ...

''. The

keys Key, Keys, The Key or The Keys may refer to: Common uses * Key (cryptography), a piece of information needed to encode or decode a message * Key (instrument), a component of a musical instrument * Key (lock), a device used to operate a lock * ...

and

time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

s are taken from Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The instruments are shown separately for wind instrument and strings. The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements

The music is concertante and virtuoso for both the trumpet and the soloist. The first aria and the concluding ''Alleluja'' are in the style of an Italian

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

. Dürr observes that the five movements are in five different musical forms: concerto,

monody In music, monody refers to a solo vocal style distinguished by having a single melody, melodic line and instrumental accompaniment. Although such music is found in various cultures throughout history, the term is specifically applied to Italy, ...

, variation,

and

fugue In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

. The scoring is richest in the outer movements (with the trumpet), and reduced to just continuo in the central aria.

1

The first aria, "" (Exult in God in every land), is in

da capo Da capo ( , , ; often abbreviated as D.C.) is an Italian musical term that means "from the beginning" (literally, "from the head"). The term is a directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space, and thus is an easie ...

form, with extended

coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...

s. The theme, with a beginning in a triad fanfare, is well suited to the trumpet. It is first developed in a

ritornello A ritornello (Italian; "little return") is a recurring passage in Renaissance music and 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 ...

of the orchestra and then "constantly worked" in the soprano part.

2

The only recitative, "" (We pray at your temple), is first accompanied by the strings, a second part is secco but

arioso In classical music, arioso (; also aria parlante ) is a category of Solo (music), 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 ...

. The second part develops the idea of "von seinen Wundern lallen" (chatter about His wonders) in coloraturas of rhythmical complexity.

3

The second aria, "" (Highest, renew Your goodness), is accompanied only by the continuo "quasi

ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...

" which supports expressive coloraturas of the voice. The lines in the continuo, in constant movement in 12/8 time seem to constantly rise, towards the addressed "Höchster" (Highest) which appears as an

jump down. Two extended

melisma Melisma (, , ; from , plural: ''melismata''), informally known as a vocal run and sometimes interchanged with the term roulade, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in ...

s express gratefulness for being a child of God. The musicologist Julian Minchem notes that Bach is able to convey with modest means a "profound expression of commitment to God".

4

The chorale, "" (Glory, and praise with honor), is a

, with the soprano singing the unadorned melody to a three-part accompaniment of two violins and continuo.

5

The chorale leads without a break to a concluding fugal "Alleluja" with the trumpet, bringing the cantata to a particularly festive close. The movement begins with the soprano and the responding trumpet, before the other instruments come in to build a "fine display piece". Mincham summarizes: "The long flowing melismas leave one literally breathless with the sheer pleasure in, and energy generated through, the relationship with God."

Recordings

The selection is taken from the listing provided by Bach Cantatas Website. The cantata was recorded by sopranos such as

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Dame Olga Maria Elisabeth Friederike Schwarzkopf, (; 9 December 1915 – 3 August 2006) was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as w ...

(from 1948), Maria Stader (1959), Elly Ameling (1970),

Edith Mathis Edith Mathis (; 11 February 19389 February 2025) was a Swiss soprano known for her roles in List of operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart's operas. Early in her career, Cherubino in ''Le nozze di Figaro'' was her signature role that she perf ...

(1972), Edita Gruberova (1979),

Lucia Popp Lucia Popp (born Lucia Poppová; 12 November 193916 November 1993) was a Slovak operatic soprano. She began her career as a soubrette, and later moved into the light-lyric and lyric coloratura soprano repertoire and then the lighter Richard Str ...

(1980),

Helen Donath Helen Jeanette Donath (née Erwin; born July 10, 1940) is an American soprano with a career spanning fifty years. Biography Helen Erwin was born in Corpus Christi, Texas and studied there at Del Mar College. Later she studied in New York with ...

(1983), Elizabeth Parcells (1983), Monika Frimmer (1984), Barbara Hendricks (1989), Christine Schäfer (1999),

Siri Thornhill Siri Karoline Thornhill is a Norwegian classical soprano for concert and opera, known for singing music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Career Thornhill studied singing first in her hometown Stavanger with Marit Storækre and continued with a schola ...

(2007), and

Natalie Dessay Natalie Dessay (; born 19 April 1965) is a French soprano, best known as an opera singer before her retirement from the opera stage in 2013. She gained wide recognition after her portrayal of Olympia in ''The Tales of Hoffmann'' in 1992, and then ...

(2009). In the following table, the second soloist is the trumpeter. Ensembles playing on 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 ...

are marked by a green background under the header ''Instr.''.

Notes

References

Sources

*
Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51; BC A 134 / Sacred cantata (15th Sunday after Trinity)

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 51 Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen
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 ...

External links

Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51
performance by the

Netherlands Bach Society The Netherlands Bach Society () is the oldest ensemble for Baroque music in the Netherlands, and possibly in the world. The ensemble was founded in 1921 in Naarden to perform Bach's ''St Matthew Passion'' on Good Friday and has performed the work ...

(video and background information)
"Alleluja"
, Heinrich Schütz Ensemble of Munich with Emma Kirkby {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen'', BWV 51 Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach 1730 compositions Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach