Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121

Christum wir sollen loben schon (We should already be praising Christ), BWV 121, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the Christmas cantata in Leipzig in 1724 as a chorale cantata for the Second Day of Christmas and first performed it on 26 December 1724.

History and words

The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle to Titus, God's mercy appeared in Christ (Titus 3:4–7), and from the Gospel of Luke, the shepherds at the manger (Luke 2:15–20). The work's theme is the wonder of the birth of God's only son to a virgin and Jesus' "[taking] on poverty and the form of a servant". Unlike some other Bach cantatas for 26 December, Saint Stephen and his feast day do not feature. St. Stephen and Christmas were celebrated in Leipzig in alternate years.

The source for the melody is Martin Luther's setting of the hymn Christum wir sollen loben schon, a German translation of A solis ortus cardine) - the opening chorus is its first verse and the closing chorale is its eighth verse, both unchanged. The hymn's other verses are freely adapted as madrigalian recitatives and arias, with an adaptation of the second verse sung by a tenor and one of the fifth verse sung by a bass. The third and fourth verses of the hymn are adapted as alto recitative and the sixth and seventh verses as soprano recitative.

Movements

1. Choral motet, on the quasi-church mode Cantus firmus, with an archaic effect underscored by a full four-part bass accompaniment.
2. Recitative, as a modern da capo aria, in which the symmetrical scheme is broken up by irregular periodising and harmonization, referring to the irregular nature of Christ's birth
3. Recitative, with surprising sweep through a harmony unique in Bach's work leading to the final word kehren, suggesting God's birth in human form is as outrageous as this harmonic bend.
4. Bass aria, almost dance-like, playing with the harmony and portraying jumps, reflecting the movement's text's references to John the Baptist's jumping in his mother's womb during the Visitation of Mary
5. Recitative
6. Chorale, with the finally doxology in a four-part setting, illuminating the early-church melody in a modern major-minor tonality.

Bibliography

• Alfred Dürr, Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach, Kassel etc. 1971, S. 122-125

Sources

The first source is the score.

• Kantaten BWV 121-130: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.

General sources are found for the Bach cantatas. Several databases provide additional information on each single cantata:

• Cantata BWV 121 Christum wir sollen loben schon history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, bach-cantatas website
• BWV 121 - "Christum wir sollen loben schon" English translation, discussion, Emmanuel Music
• BWV 121 Christum wir sollen loben schon history, scoring, Bach website (German)
• BWV 121 Christum wir sollen loben schon English translation, University of Vermont
• BWV 121 Christum wir sollen loben schon text, scoring, University of Alberta