(Sing a new song to the Lord), , is a church cantata by

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 ...

. He wrote it 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 ...

for the

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

and first performed it on 1 January 1724 as part of his first cantata cycle. He adapted it in 1730 to , for the celebration of the bicentennial of the

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of th ...

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in 1723, his first year as ''

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of Cantor ( ...

'' in

, for

, which is also the

Feast of the Circumcision of Christ The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is a Christian celebration of the circumcision of Jesus in accordance with Jewish tradition, eight days (according to the Semitic and southern European calculation of intervals of days) after his birth, the ...

. The prescribed readings for the feast day were 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 ...

, by faith we inherit (), and from the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...

, the circumcision and naming of Jesus eight days after his birth (). The unknown poet, possibly

Picander Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), writing under the pen name Picander, was a German poet and librettist for many works by Johann Sebastian Bach, notably the St Matthew Passion of 1727. Life and career Henrici was ...

, refers only in a general way to the readings: he mentions the naming at the end of movement 4, "" (name of Jesus), and he starts every line in the following aria with "Jesus". Otherwise the text stresses praise and thanks for the gifts of the past and prayer for further blessings. The poet compiled for the opening chorus a verse from Psalm 149 (), three verses from Psalm 150 (), and in between the first two lines of

Martin Luther Martin Luther ( ; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, Theology, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Reformation, Pr ...

's "" (German

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

) "" (Lord God, Thee we praise). The words from the "Te Deum" appear again in the second movement, interspersed by

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 lines ...

. 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 second stanza of Johannes Hermann's "" (1591). Bach first performed the cantata on 1 January 1724. He performed it again in the second half of the 1730s. Probably in Bach's revision process, parts of the original music got lost: for the first two movements only the vocal parts and the violin parts survived. Reconstruction of the missing parts was attempted by Bernhard Todt (1904), Walther Reinhart (1948), Olivier Alain (1971), Diethard Hellmann (1995),

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 ...

and Levente Gyöngyösi, Masaaki Suzuki and Masato Suzuki. In his ''Christmas Oratorio'' of 1734, Bach dedicated the complete Part IV for New Year's Day to the naming of Jesus, told in the one verse from the

, first performed on 1 January 1735.

Scoring and structure

The cantata in seven movements is festively scored for

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

soloists, a four-part choir, 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, ...

, three

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

oboe d'amore The ; (), less commonly (), is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and a more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family, betw ...

, 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 ...

including

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

. The instrumentation is known from the extant closing chorale, although most parts for the first movements are lost. # Chorus: # Chorale and recitative (alto, tenor, bass): # Aria (alto, strings): # Recitative (bass): # Aria (tenor, bass, oboe d'amore): # Recitative (tenor, strings): # Chorale:

Music

The opening chorus on three psalm verses and two lines from Luther's "Tedeum" is a complex architecture in three sections. A concerto is concluded by the liturgical melody of "" in

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

, a choral

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 ...

"" (Everything that has breath) is concluded by a similar "", the final section ''Halleluja'' is a shortened reprise of the first. In the second movement, the liturgical melody is set four-part and interrupted by recitatives. The following alto aria is dance-like and simple, the duet is accompanied by an

obbligato In Western classical music, ''obbligato'' (, also spelled ''obligato'') usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking '' ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to ind ...

instrument which may be oboe d'amore or violin. Gardiner tried both, but then chose a viola d'amore instead. Neither movement has a

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 ...

. The strings intensify the prayer of the last recitative. The choir of trumpets marks the ending of every line in the closing chorale.

Recordings

* ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 137 & BWV 190'', Hans Thamm, Windsbacher Knabenchor, Das Consortium Musicum,

Ingeborg Ruß Ingeborg Ruß was a German contralto, focused on concert singing, and an academic voice teacher. She record compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, including Bach cantatas such as Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190, ''Singet dem Herrn ein ...

, Peter Schreier, Franz Crass, EMI 1966 (Reinhart reconstruction) * ''Die Bach Kantate Vol. 19'', Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helen Watts, Kurt Equiluz, Niklaus Tüller, Hänssler 1981 (Alain reconstruction) * ''J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 6'',

, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz,

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 ...

, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 1997 (Koopman reconstruction) * ''Bach Cantatas Vol. 15: New York'',

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 ...

, Daniel Taylor, James Gilchrist, Peter Harvey,

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 ...

2000 * ''J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 21'', Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, James Gilchrist, Peter Kooy, BIS 2002

Notes

References

Sources

*
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 190; BC A 21 / Sacred cantata (New Year/Circumcision)

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 ...

Cantata BWV 190 Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!
history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas Website

text, scoring,

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

Chapter 33 BWV 190 Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied / Sing with new song to the Lord.
Julian Mincham, 2010 * Luke Dahn

bach-chorales.com {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied'', BWV 190 Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach 1724 compositions