Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem ( BWV 159 ) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Sunday Estomihi and led them probably the first time on February 27, 1729 on.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in Leipzig for Sunday Estomihi, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. It was thus in Leipzig, the last Sunday before Good Friday, on which a cantata was performed, as was observed in Leipzig during Lent tempus clausum. The date of the first performance has not been established, but the text poet Christian Friedrich Henrici ( called Picander ), who had also written the St. Matthew Passion, this cantata published in his vintage 1728. Therefore be assumed that they first performed on February 27, 1729 been. Bach had two cantatas for Sunday Estomihi the year 1723 composed, as specimens for his candidature for the post of choirmaster: You true God and the Son of David ( BWV 23) and Jesus took unto him the twelve ( BWV 22).

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were 1 Cor 13:1-13 and Luke 18.31-43 LUT LUT, healing the blind and the associated announcement of suffering in Jerusalem. While Bach is received in the earlier cantatas on healing, this work focuses on the way to passion. The poet stands in Theorem 1 shows their enormity, they considered in Theorem 2 as exemplary, in Theorem 3 as the reason for leave of worldly pleasure, finally as a reason for thanks. In sentence 2 complement recitative and the 6th verse of Paul Gerhardt's hymn O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, appear from that in the St. Matthew Passion this and four other stanzas. Sentence 4 begins with the words It is finished ( John 19:30 LUT), one of the Seven Last Words. It can already sense in the announcement of the Sunday Gospel: "and it will be fulfilled all that was written " Luke 18:31 LUT. Bach's St. John Passion contains an alto aria on these words, a summary of the Passion immediately after the death of Jesus. The final chorale is the 33rd and last verse of Paul Stockmann's Jesus' suffering, pain and death ( 1633).

On Good Friday 1729, the St. Matthew Passion was performed.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is staffed with three soloists, alto, tenor and bass, four-part choir only in the choral, oboe, two violins, viola and basso continuo with bassoon. The soprano chorale in Theorem 2 can be sung solo or in chorus.

Music

Set 1 is a dialogue between Jesus and the soul. The soul is sung by the Old, not the soprano as in many other such dialogues, Jesus the bass as the Vox Christi ( voice of Christ ). Bach achieved dramatic contrast effect, he places Jesus words as arioso that can accompany only by continuo, which attracted responses of the soul, however, by strings as accompanied recitative. This treatment is reversed to the St. Matthew Passion, where the words of Jesus to be intensified by a string quartet. In sentence 2, the expressive line of the alto voice is complemented by the chorale verse I want to stand with you in the soprano here. The highlight of the cantata is set 4, in which the Vox Christi considering the completion of the Passion. The opening words It is finished to be sung on a subject that presented the oboe, supported by a " harmony -length string writing " (Alfred Dürr ). In the middle section, the section " Now I want to rush ," illustrated by runs in his voice, oboe and violin. A quasi da capo takes the initial motif again, this time to the words " world, good night ." The final chorale is simply set in four parts.

Recordings

• JS Bach: Cantatas No.. 82, Cantata No.. 159 Karl Ristenpart, Choir and Chamber Orchestra of the Saarland Radio, Ingeborg Reichelt, Annelotte Sieber- Ludwig, Jakob Stämpfli. Club français du disque, 1958.
• JS Bach: Cantatas BWV 23 & BWV 159 Kurt Thomas, Frankfurter Kantorei, German Bach Soloists, Eva Bornemann, Johannes Hoefflin, Jakob Stämpfli. Cantate, 1962.
• JS Bach: Cantatas - Cantatas 170, 82 & 159 Neville Marriner, St. Anthony Singers, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Janet Baker, Robert Tear, John Shirley - Quirk. Oiseau Lyre, 1966.
• The Bach Cantata Vol 28, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Julia Hamari, Aldo Baldin, Philippe Huttenlocher. Hänssler, 1983.
• JS Bach: The cantatas - Sacred Cantatas, Vol 38 Gustav Leonhardt, Tölz Boys Choir, Collegium Vocale Gent, Leonhardt Consort, soloist of the Tölz Boys' Choir, Paul Esswood, Kurt Equiluz, Max van Egmond. Teldec, 1986.
• Bach Cantatas Vol 21: Naarden / Southwell. John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Claudia Schubert, James Oxley, Peter Harvey. Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
• JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol 19 Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, James Gilchrist, Klaus Mertens. Antoine Marchand, 2002.
• JS Bach: Jesus, your Passion - Cantates BWV 22, 23, 127 & 159 Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, Matthew White on Jan Kobow, Peter Kooij. Harmonia Mundi France, 2007.
• Bach Cantatas No.. 7 BWV 28, 139, 159 Rudolf Lutz, choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation, Margot Oitzinger, Nicolas Savoy, Klaus Mertens. Gallus Media, 2013. DVD ( Cantata BWV 159): Velvet introductory workshop and reflection of Niklaus Peter. Gallus Media, 2013.