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Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 190.1 / BC A 21
New Year, January 1, 1724
In the cantata Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 190 (Sing unto the Lord a new song)—not to be confused with the eight-voice motet of the same name—we have Bach’s first Leipzig composition for the New Year. It was first heard on January 1, 1724, or, in the context of the church calendar, the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. The cantata was reperformed in modified form on June 25, 1730, during a three-day celebration of the bicentenary of the delivery of the Augsburg Confession. Only the text of this second version has been preserved, but it shows that both arias were adopted from the earlier New Year’s version and simply provided with new text. In addition, the opening movement and the chorale following it, with recitative interpolations, were converted for the jubilee celebration, albeit with heavier revisions. Both recitatives and the closing chorale were exchanged for new music. The author of the new version of the text was none other than Christian Friedrich Henrici, also known as Picander, who was so frequently and intensively associated with Bach’s vocal works at Leipzig. Whether he also provided the libretto for the New Year’s cantata of 1724 remains unknown.The as yet unidentified author of the New Year text followed the tradition of the holiday and drew upon the Psalter where possible. For the opening movement he chose verses from Psalms 149 and 150: “Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied! Die Gemeinde der Heiligen soll ihn loben!” (149:1; Sing unto the Lord a new song! The congregation of saints shall praise him!); “Lobet ihn mit Pauken und Reigen, lobet ihn mit Saiten und Pfeifen!” (150:4; Praise him with the timbrel and dance, praise him with stringed instruments and organs!); and “Alles was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn! Alleluia!” (150:6; Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Alleluia!). The psalm verses are combined with the beginning of the Te Deum in Luther’s translation: “Herr Gott, wir loben dir! / Herr Gott, wir danken dir!” (Lord God, we praise thee! / Lord God, we thank thee!). These two verses are also the corner pillars of the movement complex that follows, in which recitative passages allude to the praise and thanksgiving of the Te Deum; pray for good fortune, grace, and new blessings for the coming year; and give thanks for protection from inflation, pestilence, and war in the year just past. This train of thought closes with an aria whose text begins “Lobe, Zion, deinen Gott, / Lobe deinen Gott mit Freuden” (Praise, Zion, your God, / Praise your God with joy). Based on the not entirely skillful phrasing of this aria text, one is tempted to wonder whether it may have been meant to fit beneath another earlier composition, perhaps from Bach’s Köthen period. Something of the sort cannot be excluded, although one would have to assume that Bach changed his original intention and decided upon a new composition.
Beginning with the ensuing recitative, the cantata libretto turns to Jesus and formulates the wish
Daß Jesus, meine Freude,
Mein treuer Hirt, mein Trost und Heil
Und meiner Seelen bestes Teil,
Mich als ein Schäflein seiner Weide
Auch dieses Jahr mit seinem Schutz umfasse.
That Jesus, my joy,
My faithful shepherd, my comfort and salvation,
And my soul’s best portion,
Would embrace me as a little sheep of his pasture
This year too with his protection.
“So fang ich dieses Jahr in Jesu Namen an” (Thus I begin this year in the name of Jesus) it reads in closing, and the aria that follows takes up this thought:
Jesus soll mein alles sein,
Jesus soll mein Anfang bleiben,
Jesus ist mein Freudenschein,
Jesu will ich mich verschreiben.
Jesus hilft mich durch sein Blut,
Jesus macht mein Ende gut.
Jesus shall be my all,
Jesus shall remain my beginning,
Jesus is my light of joy,
To Jesus I will devote myself.
Jesus aids me through his blood,
Jesus makes my end good.
The last recitative lists prayers for blessings of authorities (the electoral family and the Leipzig city council), for church, for school, and for all citizens of the city:
Nun, Jesus gebe,
Daß mit neuen Jahr auch sein Gesalbter lebe;
Er segne beides, Stamm und Zweige,
Auf daß ihr Glück bis an die Wolken steige.
Es segne Jesus Kirch und Schul,
Er segne alle treue Lehrer,
Er segne seines Wortes Hörer;
Er segne Rat und Richterstuhl;
Er gieß auch über jedes Haus
In unsre Stadt die Segensquellen aus;
Er gebe, daß aufs neu
Sich Fried und Treu
In unsern Grenzen küssen mögen.
So leben wir dies ganze Jahr im Segen.
Now, Jesus, grant
That in the New Year even his anointed may flourish,
May he bless both, trunk and branches,
That their good fortune may climb to the clouds.
May Jesus bless church and school,
May he bless all true teachers,
May he bless those who hear his words,
May he bless council and judicial bench,
May he pour out over every house
In our city the well of blessings.
May he grant that anew
Peace and fidelity
Within our borders may kiss.
Then we live this entire year in blessing.
The second strophe from Johannes Hermann’s hymn Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Jesus, now be praised) closes the libretto.
Unfortunately, Bach’s composition of the libretto has not come down to us in its entirety. The first two movements are affected. Whether this has to do with the reperformance and revision of the work for the jubilee celebration in 1735 we do not know. Particularly regrettable are the losses of material in the first movement. Considering the festival’s significance, we can assume that this movement matched the intact closing chorale in its large-scale festive setting: four-part choir with trumpets and drums, as well as woodwinds and strings. However, only the parts for the singers and the violins have been preserved. Even so, these fragmentary sources allow the movement structure to emerge clearly: the wide-ranging prose psalm verses are set with a multimember conception, its palette ranging from chordal declamation to permutation fugue. In this sequence, the sections from the Te Deum, recited in unison, seem rather primitive.
A performance of this opening movement in our time requires the careful restoration of the missing parts for the trumpet and drums, the woodwinds, the viola, and the thoroughbass. Any effort of this sort can achieve little more than a compromise; no one will assume that every note can be placed exactly as Bach placed it.
The second movement appears less problematic in terms of its need of completion, a combination of “Herr Gott, dich loben wir” in four parts as usual with three recitative episodes for bass, tenor, and alto: only several bass notes and chord progressions need to be restored.
The cheerful first aria presents itself in the character of a polonaise dance movement, with its predominant instrumental part, rhythmic profile, and clear articulation in even-measured sections. The dance element appears less pronounced in the second aria movement, which joins the tenor and bass voices with an unspecified obbligato instrument—oboe d’amore or perhaps solo violin—as well as basso continuo. Here, with the alternation of occasional coupling and, more commonly, successive entries of the voices at varying measure offsets and at different intervals, the emphatic confession of loyalty to Jesus is earnestly and movingly performed. The closing chorale, set for the entire ensemble, accentuates the line ends of the sixteenth-century melody with fanfare motives for trumpets and drums.