''Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet'' (We have a new governor), 212, is a secular

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

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 ...

. It was entitled the "Cantate

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

" by Bach himself, but is now popularly known as the ''Peasant Cantata''. It is the last definitely dated Bach cantata.

History and text

This cantata's libretto was written by Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, and was written for performance on 30 August 1742 at near

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 ...

. On that day the hereditary feudal lord and Kreishauptmann, , chamberlain to the

Elector of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

, celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday with a huge fireworks display and, as was customary, took homage from the peasants on the same occasion. It is thought that Picander asked Bach to set his poetry to music. The text describes how an unnamed farmer laughs with the farmer's wife Mieke about the tax collector's machinations while praising the economy of Dieskau's wife, ending by especially cheering on Dieskau. In places it uses the dialect of Upper Saxon German ("Guschel" for mouth, "Dahlen" for love-games, "Ranzen" for belly and "Neu-Schock" for a 60

Groschen Groschen (; from "thick", via Old Czech ') is the (sometimes colloquial) name for various coins, especially a silver coin used in parts of Europe including Kingdom of France, France, some of the Italian states, and various states of the Holy R ...

piece).

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for two voices: the farmer (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

) and Mieke (

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 ...

). The instrumentation includes a string trio of

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 ...

, accompanied by a

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, horn and second violin respectively. The piece has 24 movements, more than any other Bach cantata: #Overture (A major- A minor- A major) #Duet aria: ' (A major) #Duet recitative: ' (A major) #Aria (soprano): ' (A major) #Recitative (bass): ' (D major) #Aria (bass): ' (D major) #Recitative (soprano): ' (B minor) #Aria (soprano): ' (B minor) #Duet recitative: ' #Aria (soprano): ' (G major) #Recitative (bass): ' #Aria (bass): ' (B-flat major) #Recitative (soprano): ' #Aria (soprano): ' (A major) #Recitative (bass): ' #Aria (bass): ' (G major) #Recitative (soprano): ' #Aria (soprano): ' (D major) #Recitative (bass): ' #Aria (bass): ' (A major) #Duet recitative: ' #Aria (soprano): ' (B minor) #Duet recitative: ' #Chorus: ' (F major)

Music

In accordance with the nature of the text, Bach kept the musical phrases short and the accompaniment mostly simple. He repeatedly drew on popular dance forms, folk and popular melodies (such as '' La Folia''); for the duet recitative "Nu, Mieke, gib dein Guschel immer her" (Saxon dialect for "Now, Mary, give me your mouth"), he quoted the fast part of the tune of " Großvatertanz" for the orchestra following the girl's words, "If it were only that! I know you already, you ruffian, you want always more after that." knowing that the audience was aware of the omitted words, "with you and me into the featherbed". He also used excerpts from his own pieces ( BWV Anh. 11 and BWV 201, No. 7).

Recordings

* , Württemberg Chamber Orchestra. ''Bach Cantatas''. Vox 1965 * Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien. ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 211 & BWV 212''.

Telefunken Telefunken was a German radio and television producer, founded in Berlin in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and the ''AEG (German company), Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ("General electricity company"). Prior to ...

1967 * Peter Schreier, Kammerorchester Berlin. ''Bach Made in Germany Vol. VII – Secular Cantatas VII'', Eterna 1975 * Rosmarie Hofmann, Gregory Reinhadt, Linde-Consort, Hans-Martin Linde. ''J. S. Bach: Bauern-Kantate; Kaffee-Kantate''. EMI Reflexe 1984 * Emma Kirkby, David Thomas, Academy of Ancient Music,

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English Conducting, conductor, harpsichordist, and Musicology, musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on h ...

. ''J. S. Bach: Coffee Cantata / Peasant Cantata''. L'Oiseau-Lyre 1987 * Helmuth Rilling, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. ''Edition Bachakademie Vol. 67 – Secular Cantatas''. Hänssler 1996 * Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. ''J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 5''. Antoine Marchand 1996 * Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan. ''J. S. Bach: BWV 203, 209, 212''. BIS 2016 *''Bach: Kantaten No. 32'', Orchester der J. S. Bach-Stiftung, Rudolf Lutz, J. S. Bach-Stiftung, 2020

References

External links

*
"Work details"
bach-cantatas.com

bach.de (in German)
"Entries for BWV 212"

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