Written by Anna Vorhes

Born
March, 31, 1685, Eisenach, Germany

Died
July 28, 1759, Leipzig, Germany

Duration
14 minutes

Composed
1728-29 using original melodies and also stanzas from Paul Gerhardt's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" ('Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded') and Paul Stockmann's "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod" ('The Suffering, Pain and Death of Jesus').

World Premiere
Probably February 27, 1729, Estomihi Sunday (the last Sunday before lent). During lent, instrumental music was banned from the church until Easter, except for the Good Friday passions. This cantata was written the same year as the St. Matthew Passion.

Instrumentation
oboe, bassoon, strings with continuo, solo alto, tenor and bass voices, chorus

Something to listen for
This cantata uses the soloists to tell the story of Jesus informing His disciples that they will be going to Jerusalem to set in motion the events that will lead to His crucifixion and death.  While the subject seems sad, it also is uplifting in order to reflect the promise to save humanity.  Bach uses a technique called word painting, where he suits the music to the words.  As the bass sings of going to Jerusalem, the accompaniment takes on the air of steps.  When the words speak of calm, the music is slow and softer as something calm would be.  In the fourth movement, the words speak of hastening, and the accompanying music offers fast runs to support the statement.  Throughout this cantata, you can listen for places the music illustrates what the words depict.  This is a technique used well by late Baroque composers.

Program Notes

Bach worked in the Lutheran church in Leipzig at the time this cantata was written.  It was composed for a specific Sunday in the church year in order to enhance worship.  It would have been performed during a Sunday service which would be well over today's prescribed hour length.  This cantata was for Estomihi, the last Sunday before Lent.  That Sunday is called Quinquagesima in other traditions, signifying forty days before the observation of Holy Week culminates in Easter Sunday.  The significance of a special composition for that Sunday is that choral music and the alleluia of the liturgy would not be regularly performed during the forty days.

To make the music the most meaningful to the congregation, Bach used several techniques.  He chose the compositional material to connect with the scripture reading of the day, in this case, including a passage from the book of Luke in the New Testament, chapter 18, verses 31 and 34 where Jesus explains to the disciples that the final part of His mission on earth is beginning with their journey to Jerusalem.  There are other Biblical references as well.

Bach also used hymns created by earlier composers to draw in his listeners.  These would have been familiar to worshippers.  The hymns are a demonstration of how the techniques of congregational singing could be enhanced by well trained choristers.  In this setting, Bach also uses word painting as noted above.

The completed cantata is both meaningful and interesting.  Bach was refining his St. Matthew Passion for performance on the Good Friday service that ends Lent at the same time he was working on this cantata.  Astute ears familiar with the St. Matthew Passion will recognize the points of similarity.  The passion would be performed on April 15, 1729.  Picander, a librettist who set many of the lectionary verses (Bible verses prescribed for the church year) in forms more suitable for singing than the prose of the Lutheran Bible, offered the majority of the text for both the cantata and the passion.

The cantata features five movements.  The first presents Jesus as a bass, singing of going on to Jerusalem to fulfill the final part of His mission on earth.  An alto offers the voice of His followers, unhappy with the prospect of the coming suffering and death of the beloved leader.  Christ's words are an arioso, accompanied by continuo.  The disciple's voice is presented by an alto soloist accompanied by strings.  Christ's actual statement is interrupted three times before we hear they are going up to Jerusalem.  This is the only movement in a minor key.

The second movement set the words of the disciples ready to follow Christ into the final part of His earthly sacrifice.  The singers pledge to stay with Christ through the trials to follow.  Bach uses a melody from Paul Gerhardt's setting of Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded, written in 1653.

The third movement is an accompanied recitative by a disciple.  It begins with grieving the necessity of the sacrifice to come, but ends up recognizing that the final result will be the soul of the disciple reuniting with Christ after earthly death.

The fourth movement begins with a lovely and plaintive oboe solo.  The bass enters singing "It is finished", the last of Christ's words from the cross.  Here, what is finished is the ministry on earth that brought Christ the disciples that would carry on the earthly part of His work.  The next part of His life will be incredibly harder, and He is looking back in satisfaction and nostalgia at what has come before.  Midway through the movement He is done with His reminiscing, and decides to hasten to Jerusalem to get to the next part of His earthly stay.  Listen as the musicians "hasten" through the middle part of the movement.  Bach concludes with music that sounds like the beginning of the movement, changing the words to "Goodnight, world".  The oboe ends the movement.

The final movement is a chorale setting of Paul Stockmann's hymn "Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod" ('The Suffering, Pain and Death of Jesus').  The melody was original to Melchior Vulpius, a composer in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century.  Stockmann's hymn was written in 1733, and set a poetic text of the final chapter of Christ's life.  Bach set his own words and harmony using the familiar melody.

The cantata is the earliest of tonight's compositions.  Both Mozart and Mendelssohn studied the old master who had fallen out of fashion among the concert goers of their times.  It's hard to imagine a world where this music was considered dusty and out of date, especially to those who share Bach's interest in religious expression or complex polyphony and harmony.