An hour of Bach’s sacred texts, including an audience singalong of chorales from the St. John Passion, and the complete solo bass cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82.

PERFORMERS
Sheila Dietrich, soprano
Charles Humphries, countertenor
Brian Thorsett, tenor
Adrian Smith, bass
Florence Jowers, organ
Heifetz Ensemble In Residence:
JiHyun Baik, violin; Carlos Martinez, violin; Carlos Walker, viola; Zhihao Wu, cello

FEATURED PIECES
Cantata BWV 82, Ich habe genug

BWV 508, Bist du bei mir from Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach   Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel–Bach

 Countertenor: Charles Humphries

If you are with me,
then I will go with joy to death and to my rest.
Ah, how pleasing were my end,
if your dear hands then shut my faithful eyes!

BWV 245, St. John Passion

No. 7   Chorale: O grosse Lieb’

            German sung by soloists, English by all

No. 15 Chorale: Wer hat dich so geschlagen

            Stanza 1 in German by soloists, Stanza 2 in German by all

No. 56 Chorale: Er nahm alles wohl in Acht

German sung by soloists, English by all

No. 65 Chorale: O hilf, Christe, Gottes Sohn

Sung by soloists

No. 68 Chorale: Ach Herr, lass dein lieb’ Engelein

            Solo Quartet sings page 1 a cappella; All join organ for page 2 with the pickup

BWV 82, Ich habe gunung, Cantata for the Purification of Mary

Bass:  Adrian Smith

Ich habe genung (genug), BWV 82, was composed for the Festival of the Purification of the Virgin Mary on February 2, 1727.  This observance in more recent times is called The Presentation of Our Lord.  The original version is scored for bass soloist and oboe.  Its repeated performances in various versions give proof of Bach’s own high appraisal of the cantata: 1731 for soprano and oboe; 1735 for alto and flute; before resorting back in a later version to the bass voice with the addition of oboe da caccia.  The centerpiece of the cantata, the so-called “Schlummerarie” (Slumber Aria), appears to have been especially popular within Bach’s family circle; it was included in the second Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach from 1725.

At the center of the Feast of the Purification of Mary is the gospel according to Luke 2:22-33 with the story of the presentation of Jesus in the temple, and the associated meeting with the old man Simeon.  According to a prophecy Simeon “should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”  Now he recognizes in Jesus the promised Messiah, takes him in his arms and utters the words: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation…”  This, “Simeon’s song of praise,” the Nunc dimittis, is the point of departure for the cantata libretto.  In the first aria the narrator of the text embodies the figure of Simeon and then, in the following recitative, assumes the role of a present-day Christian who takes Simeon, filled as he is with longing for the hereafter, as a role model.

Bach’s music hardly requires any explanation.  With incomparable artistry and beauty, it portrays the inner development of the text.  As Craig Smith writes: “The first aria is a poignant and gravely beautiful movement that treats the end of Simeon’s long life with a mixture of melancholy and resignation.  The second aria with strings is a lullaby both for the death of Simeon but also for the sleeping Christ Child.  The whole cantata treats the idea of the departure of Simeon and the birth of Jesus as part of the same divine plan.  The final aria is a joyous affair but in the minor mode to preserve the seriousness of the text.”

©Ryan Turner