This page was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Elizabeth Budd.
Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut BWV 173 / BC A 85
Pentecost Monday, May 29, 1724
In all probability, this cantata, Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut BWV 173 (Exalted flesh and blood), originated in May 1724. However, the possibility must not entirely be dismissed that the work may belong to a small group of cantatas that Bach had already prepared a year earlier against the eventuality that upon his move to Leipzig, elaborate church music might be expected of him immediately. Evidently, this situation did not arise, so that the first performance in fact occurred in late May 1724. There is documentation for a reperformance in 1731. A text booklet survives with the heading “Am andern H[eiligen] Pfingst-Feyrtage. Frühe zu St. Thomae, Nachmittags zu St. Nicolai” (For the second h[oly] Pentecost holiday. Early at St. Thomas, afternoon at St. Nicholas). This documents the custom, typical for the era, whereby on the second high feast day the figural music was performed as part of the morning service at St. Thomas and repeated at vespers in the afternoon at St. Nicholas—the reverse of the order on the first feast day.The unknown poet of our cantata text had a task that was by no means an easy one. In accordance with Bach’s concept, he had to transform a serenade for the birthday of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen1 into a Pentecost cantata by providing new text. Even if only six of the eight movements in the earlier work were to be adapted, there were still all sorts of obstacles to overcome, in particular, the revision of tricky strophic forms. Since the earlier work completely dispensed with biblical passages and chorales, the only source available for the new text was the Gospel reading for the holiday. This is found in John 3 as part of Jesus’s conversation with Nicodemus:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son in order that all who believe in him shall not be lost but rather have eternal life. For God has not sent his son into the world that he might condemn it; whoever, though, does not believe, he is already condemned, for he does not believe in the name of the only son of God. This is the condemnation: that the light has come into the world, and the people loved the darkness more than the light, for their works were evil. Whoever does evil, he hates the light and comes not to the light that his works will not be condemned. But whoever does the truth, he comes to the light that his deeds are made manifest, for they are done in God. (16–21)
The recitative and aria texts of this Pentecost cantata do not show evidence of a unified, goal-oriented procedure. While the first and last cantata movements are entirely newly formulated, with no hint of the original, in all the other movements the poet made his task easier by simply exchanging relevant terms appropriate to the new purpose in single verses or entire strophes. The secular prototype began with an address to the prince:
Durchlauchtster Leopold,
Es singet Anhalts Welt
Von neuem mit Vergnügen,
Dein Köthen sich dir stellt,
Um sich vor dir zu biegen,
Durchlauchtster Leopold.
Most serene Leopold,
The world of Anhalt sings
Anew with pleasure.
Your Köthen presents itself to you
To bow before you,
Most serene Leopold.
In the Pentecost cantata, the same recitative reads:
Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut,
Das Gott selbst an sich nimmt,
Dem er schon hier auf Erden
Ein himmlisch Heil bestimmt
Des Höchsten Kind zu werden,
Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut.
Exalted flesh and blood
That God takes upon himself,
For which he, already here on Earth,
Ordains a heavenly salvation
To become a child of the Most High,
Exalted flesh and blood.
The associated Köthen aria ended with the verses “Ruhmet, singet, stimmt die Saiten, / Seinen Nachruhm auszubreiten” (Praise, sing, sound the strings, / To spread his fame far and wide). The Pentecost version reads:
Ein geheiligtes Gemüte
Sieht und schmecket Gottes Güte.
Rühmet, singet, stimmt die Saiten,
Gottes Treue auszubreiten!
A sanctified disposition
Sees and tastes God’s goodness.
Praise, sing, sound the strings
To spread his fame far and wide!
The third movement, also an aria, is for the most part adopted without change:
Gott will, o ihr Menschenkinder
An euch große Dinge tun.
Mund und Herze, Ohr und Blicke
Können nicht bei diesem Glücke
Und so heilger Freude ruhn.
God will, O you human children,
Do great things to you.
Mouth and heart, ear and sight
Amid this good fortune
And such holy joy cannot rest.
The diction of the congratulatory cantata is obvious. The beginning of the fourth movement, a three-strophe aria, draws upon the start of the Gospel reading for the holiday:
So hat Gott die Welt geliebt,
Sein Erbarmen
Hilft uns Armen,
Daß er seinen Sohn uns gibt.
God has so loved the world,
His mercy
Helps us poor ones,
That he gives us his son.
It continues with the original wording of the Köthen prototype:
Gnadengaben zu genießen,
Die wie reiche Ströme fließen.
Gifts of grace to enjoy,
Which, like rich streams, flow.
In the ensuing recitative, the only terms replaced are those that would betray the text’s origin, “Anhalt” and “Durchlauchtster.” Everything else is adopted without change:
Unendlichster, den man doch Vater nennt,
Wir wollen dann das Herz zum Opfer bringen,
Aus unsrer Brust, die ganz vor Andacht brennt,
Soll sich der Seufzer Glut zum Himmel schwingen.
Everlasting one, whom we still call father,
We would bring, then, our heart as an offering
From our breast, which truly burns with devotion.
The ardor of our sighs shall soar to heaven.
The concluding movement is once again newly formulated:
Rühre, Höchster, unsern Geist,
Daß des höchsten Geistes Gaben
Ihre Würkung in uns haben.
Da dein Sohn uns beten heißt,
Wird es durch die Wolken dringen
Und Erhörung auf uns bringen.
Stir, O Most High, our spirit,
That the gifts of the highest spirit
May have their effect in us.
Since your son bids us to pray,
Our prayer will pierce the clouds
And bring a hearing to us.
Upon taking office in Leipzig, Bach introduced the technique of en bloc parodie, the retexting of an entire cantata, and abandoned it shortly afterward. At times, this technique presented the librettist with insoluble challenges. One would not attribute a deeper theological meaning to the result, at least in the case of our Pentecost cantata. While that might seem a detriment, it certainly eased the fit of the extant composition to a new text. But in any case, Bach may have issued his poet a carte blanche and allowed him to decide what to adopt from the Köthen congratulatory text. In that way, Bach could seamlessly integrate the Köthen occasional work into his Leipzig cantata repertoire and spare himself extensive modification of the earlier composition.
In addition to the preponderance of the instrumental component and the chamber music–like filigree of the setting, it is the predominance of dance in the arias that betrays the close relationship of our cantata to Bach’s instrumental composition in Köthen. The first aria in particular demonstrates how the periodicity of a dance movement meshes easily with a subtly expressive gesture; in its course, impressive declamatory intensifications take place. The following movement, the only song of praise to “Leopolds Vortrefflichkeiten” (Leopold’s excellent characteristics), can be understood as a gavotte. Here, the string instruments with their busy figuration have to depict the eagerness described in the text, even as formal coherence is maintained chiefly by the movement’s dance character. An exceptional point in Bach’s creation comes in the three-strophe aria complex found in the middle of the work with the title “Aria al Tempo di Minuetta” (not present in the version for Pentecost). The pleasing theme in the strings is presented first by the bass (with first violin at the octave) in G major. The second strophe—which could be interpreted as a variation—modulates to D major and adds a transverse flute to the ensemble, and the rhythmic motion of mostly quarter notes quickens to continuous eighth notes. A trio is formed by the first flute, the soprano in unison with the second flute, and a foundation part for the violins and violas. The third strophe and second variation, now in A major, two fifths away from the original key of G, produces an intensification with the continuous sixteenth-note figuration of the first violin. Soprano and bass enter together with the flute and second violin at the octave, while the bass takes over leadership of the melody.
The penultimate movement is a recitative that broadens to an arioso; the finale is a binary suite movement in which the vocal component is added to the repetition of each section. The original Köthen duet setting is supplemented by the addition of two middle voices, resulting in the familiar four-part chorus; at the same time, the vocal demands seem moderated here and there. When one considers how minor the differences between the two versions are, however, one must conclude that Bach expected as much of his Leipzig ensemble, consisting of young students, city musicians, and university students, as he did of the professional musicians at the court chapel at Köthen.