Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe, BWV 167

Your people, praise ye, God's Love ( BWV 167) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the feast of John the Baptist and performed it on June 24, 1723 for the first time.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in his first year in Leipzig, shortly after he had taken his service as choirmaster, for John, the feast of John the Baptist on June 24, 1723 that fell in the week after the 4th Sunday after Trinity. Bach had his office with a cantata in 14 sets started on the 1st Sunday after Trinity, The meek ​​shall eat and begun his first cantata cycle. Compared with the work for the feast of Saints in five sets is less challenging.

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were Isaiah 40.1-5 LUT and Lk 1.57 to 80 LUT, the birth of John the Baptist and the canticle of Zechariah, his father. The unknown poet took some sentences almost verbatim from the Gospel, for example, the onset of praise as " Blessed be the Lord God of Israel." The seal pursues the idea that Jesus, " the woman's seed ", will redeem the sins that are illustrated by the image of the snake. The last recitative calls on all, but to sing like Zacharias praise. That happens in the final chorale, the fifth stanza of Johann Gramanns Well praise, my soul, the Gentlemen ( 1549).

Scoring and structure

The cantata is chamber music filled with four soloists, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, four-part choir only in the chorale, Clarino as a reinforcement of the chorale melody, oboe, oboe da caccia, two violins, viola and basso continuo.

Music

In contrast to the previously composed for Leipzig cantatas Bach cantata does not start this with an opening chorus, but with an aria. Maybe he took it from the hymn of the individual. The aria is accompanied only by strings, solo violin part, and partly in the dense set of all strings. The following recitative, which refers to John and Jesus on the road to salvation, ending in an arioso to the final line " with grace and love to rejoice and to lead them to the kingdom of heaven in true penitence ." This Arioso is supported by an ostinato movement in the continuo, which resembles Alberti basses.

The following duet, accompanied by an obbligato oboe da caccia, achieves a thick sound, because instrument and voice occur in the same tone, often homophonic. The central part of the da capo structure is divided again, the first section leaves the 3/4-time the initial part of the 4/4-time. A canon of the two voices is accompanied by his head motif, played by both the oboe and the continuo. The second section returns to 3/4-time and brings in endless cheering runs in thirds and parallel sixths the joy of God be -dissolved promise expressed.

The last recitative also ends in an arioso, when it comes to call for praise. The bass sings the words " and chime him the praises of " already on the melody of the following chant. The final chorale, a general praise, is not a simple four-part set, as is the rule in Bach's later church cantatas. Rather, Bach sets for the first time all instruments and all voices together, where the voices are embedded in a concerto the orchestra. The oboe enhances the violin, the Baroque trumpet occurs only in this set and enhances the cantus firmus. The set includes in its investment ahead of the concluding sentences in Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Ascension Oratorio.

Recordings

  • The Bach Cantata Vol.41, Helmuth Rilling, Figuralchor the Memorial Church Stuttgart, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Kathrin Graf, Helrun Gardow, Adalbert Kraus, Niklaus Tüller, Haenssler 1974
  • J. S. Bach: The cantatas - Sacred Cantatas Vol 9, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölz Boys Choir, Concentus Musicus Wien, Helmut Wittek and Panito Iconomou ( soloists of the Tölz Boys' Choir ), Kurt Equiluz, Robert Holl, Teldec 1987
  • J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol 8, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Dorothea Rosch man Bogna Bartosz, Jorg Dürmüller, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 1998
  • J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol 9 ( Cantatas from Leipzig 1725), Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Midori Suzuki, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Chiyuki Urano, TO 1998
  • Bach Cantatas Vol 1: City of London / For the Feast of St. John the Baptist, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Joanne Lunn, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Paul Agnew, Dietrich Henschel, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
  • Bach Cantates De Saint -Jean Baptiste / Intégrale of Cantates sacrées Vol 1, Eric J. Milnes, Montreal Baroque, Suzie LeBlanc, Daniel Taylor, Charles Daniels, Stephan MacLeod, ATMA 2004
Zechariah (priest) Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis Benedictus (Song of Zechariah) Bass (voice type) Homophone Werner Neumann Christoph Wolff Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid, BWV 3 Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 33 Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39 Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats, BWV 42 Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, BWV 68 Alles nur nach Gottes Willen, BWV 72 Alles, was von Gott geboren, BWV 80a Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen, BWV 87 Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost, BWV 114 Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121 Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein, BWV 128 Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn! BWV 132 Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens, BWV 148 Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe, BWV 162 Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, BWV 199 Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen, BWV 249a St Mark Passion (Bach)
156913
de