Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, BWV 197a

Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe (Glory be to God in the Highest), BWV 197a,[lower-alpha 1] is a Christmas cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

History and text

Bach composed the work in Leipzig in 1728. He later revised the piece into Gott ist unsre Zuversicht, BWV 197.

The text of the cantata is by Picander.[1] The chorale is from the 1697 hymn "Ich freue mich in dir" by Caspar Ziegler.[2]

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for solo alto and bass voices, a four-part choir, two flutes, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, bassoon, cello, and continuo.[1]

The piece has seven movements (although there may also have been an opening sinfonia):[1][3]

  1. Chorus: Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe
  2. Aria: Erzählet, ihr Himmel, die Ehre Gottes
  3. Recitative: O! Liebe, der kein Lieben gleich
  4. Aria: O du angenehmer Schatz
  5. Recitative: Das Kind ist mein
  6. Aria: Ich lasse dich nicht
  7. Chorale: Wohlan! so will ich mich

Music

Only the last four movements of the piece are extant.[3]

The nineteen surviving bars of the fourth movement, an alto aria, demonstrate a rare bassoon obbligati and assume a combined ritornello-ternary form.[3]

The fifth movement is a bass recitative with only continuo accompaniment. It is a "harmonically adventurous", "forceful little movement marked by a robust melodic line".[3]

The following bass aria is accompanied by oboe d'amore and continuo, and is a "jaunty, pastoral dance" in 6/8 time and ritornello-ternary form. The movement is notable for a long rising melisma omitted from the reworked version in BWV 197.[3]

Musicologist Julian Mincham suggests that the chorale is "one of the sturdiest in the repertoire".[3]

Recordings

Notes

  1. ↑ "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "BWV 197a". University of Alberta. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  2. ↑ Dürr, Alfred (2006). The cantatas of J.S. Bach: with their librettos in German-English parallel text. Jones, Richard (trans.). Oxford University Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mincham, Julian. "Chapter 38 BWV 197a". The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
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