Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39
Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot (Break your bread for the hungry), BWV 39, is a church cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach.
It was written in Leipzig in 1726 for the first Sunday after Trinity, which fell that year on 23 June, date of the work's premiere.
Theme
The prescribed readings for the feast were John 4:16–21 and Luke 16:19–31, the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. The theme is to share God's gifts with the needy and to be grateful. It is developed from the Old Testament in the first movement to the central New Testament words in the fourth movement.
The libretto is of mixed authorship, as follows[1][2]:
- the Book of Isaiah, chapter 58, verses 7 and 8, as text for the first movement
- the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 13, verse 16, as text for the fourth movement
- David Denicke for the final chorale (specifically, verse 6 of the hymn Kommt, laßt euch den Herren lehren, 1648)
- an anonymous poet for the remaining movements (W. Blankenburg[3] suggests Christoph Helm).
The chorale theme is Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele, which was codified by Louis Bourgeois when setting the Geneva Psalm 42 in his collection of Pseaumes octante trios de David (Geneva, 1551). Bourgeois seems to have been influenced by the secular song Ne l’oseray je dire contained in the Manuscrit de Bayeux published around 1510.
Scoring and structure
The work is scored for flauti dolci I/II, oboes I/II, violins I/II, viola, and basso continuo, along with three vocal soloists (soprano, alto, bass) and four-part choir. The recorders (flauti dolci) describe humility and hunger.[4]
The cantata in seven movements is divided in two parts, 1-3 to be performed before the sermon, 4-7 after the sermon:
- Coro: Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot
- Recitativo (bass): Der reiche Gott
- Aria (alto, violin and oboe obbligato): Seinem Schöpfer noch auf Erden
- (bass): Wohlzutun und mitzuteilen vergesset nicht
- Aria (soprano, recorders): Höchster, was ich habe
- Recitativo (alto, strings): Wie soll ich dir, o Herr
- Chorale: Selig sind, die aus Erbarmen
Music
The cantata is part of Bach's third annual cantata cycle in Leipzig. It is symmetrically centered around the fourth movement. Movements 1 and 7 are choral, movements 2 and 6 recitatives, 3 and 5 arias in two sections each, both not in da capo form.
The opening chorus follows the words in a complex architecture of three sections, the first and the third section further composed of three parts. Program notes of Seth Lachterman explain in detail: "The text of the movement is a paraphrase of Isaiah 58:7-8 in which the giving of food, shelter, and clothing to the needy is seen as a divine, transforming act of charity. This lengthy, complex movement is cast in two main sections separated by a brief transitional section. The first section, further divided into three sections (A-B-A’), literally depicts the distribution of bread to the hungry by “distributing” staccato chords to differing musical forces (recorders, oboes, then strings). Those who are “miserable” are reflected by the descending, chromatic harmonic wailings that contrast against the steady punctuations of “food distribution.” After this exposition, Bach engages the same text to an entirely different fugal setting (B) against the backdrop of the same staccato “distribution” motif. A recapitulation (A’), which reworks the material of the opening, concludes this first section. After a brief transitional section, the second main section - musically and metrically distinct from what has been heard thus far - consists of a pair of fugues using almost identical subjects but set to different texts. The setting of differing texts to the same music balances the setting of differing music to the same text offered earlier, and further suggests the way in which previously bound matter can be loosened and redistributed."[4]
The fourth movement is sung by a bass, the Vox Christi (voice of Jesus), as if Jesus said the words himself which Paul wrote to the Hebrews. The style is typical for Bach's treatment of such words, between arioso and aria.
Recordings
- J.S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 39, BWV 79, Fritz Lehmann, Berliner Motettenchor, Berliner Philharmoniker, Gunthild Weber, Lore Fischer, Hermann Schey, American Decca/Deutsche Grammophon - Archiv 1952
- J.S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 32 & BWV 39, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, Süddeutscher Madrigalchor, Consortium Musicum, Edith Mathis, Sybil Michelow, Franz Crass, EMI Electrola late 1960s?
- Kodaly: Harry-Janos Suite for Orchestra; Bach: Cantata Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot BWV 39, Diethard Hellmann, Bachchor und Bachorchester Mainz, Nobuko Gamo-Yamamoto, Martha Kessler, Jakob Stämpfli, SWF late 1960s?
- Les Grandes Cantates de J.S. Bach Vol. 28, Fritz Werner, Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn, Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, Ingeborg Reichelt, Barbara Scherler, Bruce Abel, Erato 1973
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 3 - Ascension Day, Whitsun, Trinity, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-Chor, Münchener Bach-Orchester, Edith Mathis, Anna Reynolds, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Archiv Produktion 1975
- J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 3, Gustav Leonhardt, Knabenchor Hannover, Leonhardt-Consort, René Jacobs, Max van Egmond, Teldec 1975
- Die Bach Kantate Vol. 40, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Arleen Augér, Gabriele Schreckenbach, Franz Gerihsen, Hänssler 1982
- J.S. Bach: Cantatas, Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, Agnès Mellon, Charles Brett, Peter Kooy, Virgin Classics 1991
- Bach Edition Vol. 19 - Cantatas Vol. 10, Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 2000
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 1: City of London, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Gillian Keith, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Dietrich Henschel, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
- J.S. Bach: Cantatas for the First and Second Sundays After Trinity, Craig Smith, Emmanuel Music, Jayne West, Pamela Dellal, Mark McSweeney, Koch International 2001
- J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 16, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Johannette Zomer, Bogna Bartosz, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 2002
- J.S. Bach: Cantates BWV 36, 39, 106, Christophe Gesseney, Ensemble Vocal Euterpe, Ensemble Baroque du Léman, Natacha Ducret, Catherine Pillonel-Bacchetta, Nicolas Fink, Artlab 2002
- Bach Arias, Duets and Chamber Music, Dale Higbee, Carolina Baroque, Teresa Radomski, John Williams, Carolina Baroque 2003
References
Sources
- Craig Smith, Programme notes - BWV 39, Emmanuel Music.
- Walter F. Bischof, Text and orchestration for BWV 39, Bach Cantatas, University of Alberta.
- Alfred Dürr: Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kantaten. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
- Alfred Dürr: The Cantatas of J.S. Bach, Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-929776-2
- Werner Neumann: Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs, 1947, 5th Ed. 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
- Hans-Joachim Schulze: Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
- Christoph Wolff/Ton Koopman (Eds.): Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten, Metzler/Bärenreiter, Stuttgart und Kassel, 3 Bände Sonderausgabe 2006 ISBN 3-476-02127-0
- Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini. Studi sui testi delle Cantate sacre di J. S. Bach. Università di Padova, pubblicazioni della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, vol. XXXI, Padova & Kassel, 1956, xv-291.
- Geoffrey Turner. Singing The Word: The Cantatas of J S Bach. New Blackfriars, volume 87, issue 1008, pages 144-154.
- J. C. J. Day. The texts of Bach's Church cantatas: some observations. German Life and Letters, volume 13 (1960), num. 2, pages 137-144.
- Harald Streck. Die Verskunst in den poetischen Texten zu den Kantaten J. S. Bachs. Dissertation: Universität Hamburg 1971, 214 pages.
External links