Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV 56

I want the cross -staff gladly carry ( BWV 56) is a solo cantata for bass from Johann Sebastian Bach.

Formation

The cantata is part of the third Leipzig cantata cycle. Bach originally wrote for the soprano voice of his second wife Anna Magdalena on the occasion of the 19th Sunday after Trinity, which fell in the year of 1726 on 27 October. The original score bears Bach's handwritten note " Cantata à Voce Sola e Stromenti " ( cantata for solo voice and instruments). It is one of the few examples in which Bach himself used the term cantata musical genre in the autographs. In the years 1731-1732 he adapted the work for alto or bass voice. In the latter it is usually listed today.

Theme and structure

The text is from an unknown poet indirectly accepts, with respect to the time allotted for this Sunday Gospel reading of the healing of the paralytic (Matt. 9:1-8 EU), which deals with physical suffering and pain that accompany the life and the believer endures in the hope of salvation of the defect at the end of the life cycle. Starting from the first verse of the reading: " And he entered (Jesus ) into the ship, and passed over, and came into his own city " (Matt. 9.1 EU) Journey in the text of the first recitative is compared to a cruise. The connected to the end of the road beyond longing is expressed by the final hymn Come, O death, you sleep brother, " Thou, O beautiful world building " by Johann Franck from 1653 is based on the sixth verse of the hymn and turn the portrait of life picks up as shipping.

The work is highly oriented to the text and develops the musical thought this accordingly. Bach identifies individual words of the libretto with certain stylistic devices. He has, for example, the, cross-staff ' with the note A # and the word bear, ' with a sigh motif in his voice. The point I put to grief in the grave ' falls metric on by sudden triplets, reproduced at the same time -before-heard sigh in the oboes. Together with the descending sixth on the word grave ' this was intuitively and analytically interpreted as an expression of longing for death.

The text in the following recitative, My sojourn in the world is a waterway equal to ' Bach illustrates the cello with a motif that mimics a wave motion of the water. When, towards the end of the recitative of the hikers, from the ship in my stead ' occurs, this motif is terminated and replaced by harmonic major. The following dance bass aria celebrates in B flat major, last my yoke again be lifted from me '. The cantata closes with the simple chant, Come O Death, thou brother of sleep '.

Occupation

  • Bass solo, four-part choir in the final chorale strophe
  • Orchestra: Oboe I / II, waist (deep oboe), violin I / II, viola, basso continuo. Except for an oboe solo in an aria the oboes go with the strings colla parte.

Effective history

At the end of Robert Schneider's novel the protagonist sleeping brother Johannes Elias Alder improvised the final chorale, Come O Death, thou Brother of Sleep ' in a striking manner on the organ and thereby summarizes the decision to put an end to his own life.

Recordings

The cantata is often recorded accordingly in addition to the other two bass solo cantatas BWV 82 and BWV 158 Cantatas and is the best known. selection:

  • Cantatas BWV 55, BWV 56, BWV 98, BWV 180 Dominik Wörner, La Petite Bande, Kuijken Sigiswald line. Accent ( Vol. 1).
  • Cantates pour basses BWV 56, BWV 82, BWV 158 Peter Kooij, La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe. Harmonia Mundi France.
  • Solo Cantatas for Bass BWV 82, BWV 158, BWV 56, BWV 203 Dominik Wörner, il Gardellino, line Ryo Terakado. Passacaille 2013.
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