This page was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Angela Watters.
Schwingt freudig euch empor BWV 36.4/5 / BC A 3a/b
First Sunday of Advent
In a truly unparalleled fashion, the Advent cantata Schwingt freudig euch empor BWV 36.4/5 (Soar joyously aloft) illustrates J. S. Bach’s management of his creative work as a composer over his lifetime, as well as the intertwining of the sacred and secular in his vocal works. A secular cantata of the same name (BWV 36.1) is the starting point in a series of at least five related works; it was composed in early 1725 for Leipzig students to honor a university teacher who unfortunately remains unknown. In November of the same or the following year, the cantata was reperformed (BWV 36.2) outside Leipzig to honor Princess Charlotte Frederike Wilhelmine, the second wife of Bach’s earlier patron, Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. The opening and closing ensembles remained essentially unchanged but with new text, as did the three arias. Newly composed, on the other hand, were four recitatives, as well as the recitative interpolations in the final movement.A bit later, Bach fashioned an Advent cantata (BWV 36.4) from the opening movement and the arias by making some changes to the text. All the recitatives were dropped from the new work, and the composer omitted the closing movement entirely because of its all-too-pronounced dance character. The capstone was now formed instead by a setting of Philipp Nicolai’s chorale Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (How brightly gleams the morning star) using the seventh stanza of the chorale, “Wie bin ich doch so herzlich froh” (How am I indeed so sincerely happy). In 1731 the cantata was copied out in this form by Christoph Nichelmann, then fourteen years old, preserving it for future generations. Nichelmann, later a musician at the court of Frederick the Great, was a student at St. Thomas School at the time. A few musical and textual errors can probably be ascribed to the inexperience of the young copyist. It is also conceivable, too, that this early Advent version was not prepared by Bach himself but merely assembled at his direction, perhaps by someone else substituting for him.
The original secular version was by no means sidelined by its transformation into a church cantata, a process completed by 1730 at the latest. On the contrary: it was apparently performed a second time early in the 1730s, to honor the St. Thomas School rector, Johann Matthias Gesner, possibly at his fortieth birthday celebration in April 1731. Toward the end of the same year, Bach created an expanded, final version of the Advent cantata (BWV 36.5), now with eight movements as opposed to five in the first version. Nor did this new Advent version result in the original secular version being shelved. The cantor of St. Thomas dedicated it, with text once again reworked and newly composed recitatives (BWV 36.3), to a member of the Rivinus family of scholars in Leipzig in the summer of 1735.1 The honoree was possibly the law professor and university rector Johann Florens Rivinus, whom we find in September of the same year among the godparents of Bach’s youngest son, Johann Christian. In total, the two Advent versions of the cantata stand next to three secular works, as well as a reperformance. Thus it becomes clear that Bach regarded not only his sacred works but also significant portions of his secular oeuvre to be essential components of his repertoire and managed them accordingly.
Bach’s handling of these various cantata versions and their continuing presence in his repertoire are reflected in a remarkable way by the interweaving of the gradually accumulated text versions. The unknown author of the libretto for the Advent cantata (BWV 36.4) clearly was able to draw not only on the secular first version of the work (BWV 36.1) but also on the second text by Christian Friedrich Henrici for the birthday of the Köthen princess (BWV 36.2). Only in the opening chorus did he restrict himself to the oldest version of the cantata. The poetically effusive text reads:
Schwingt freudig euch empor und dringt bis an die Sternen,
Ihr Wünsche, bis euch Gott vor seinem Throne sieht!
Doch, haltet ein! ein Herz darf sich nicht weit entfernen,
Das Dankbarkeit und Pflicht zu seinem Lehrer zieht.
Soar joyfully aloft and press onward to the stars,
You wishes, till God sees you before his throne!
But stop! A heart need not travel far
That to its teacher’s drawn by gratitude and duty.
The Advent text is unmistakably drawn from this:
Schwingt freudig euch empor zu den erhabnen Sternen,
Ihr Zungen, die Ihr itzt in Zion fröhlich seid!
Doch, haltet ein! Der Schall darf sich nicht weit entfernen,
Es naht sich selbst zu euch der Herr der Herrlichkeit!
Soar joyfully aloft unto the exalted stars,
You tongues who are now so joyful in Zion!
But stop! The sound need not travel far;
He himself draws near to you, the Lord of Glory!
The situation is different in the first aria. The congratulatory cantata praises the love and reverence inspired by the teacher yet also raises a warning index finger:
Die Liebe führt mit sanften Schritten
Ein Herz das seinen Lehrer liebt.
Wo andre auszuschweifen pflegen,
Wird dies behutsam sich bewegen,
Weil ihm die Ehrfurcht Grenzen gibt.
Love leads with gentle steps
A heart that loves its teacher.
While others mean to go astray,
This one will move with caution,
For reverence sets boundaries for it.
The version meant for Köthen replaces this with a comparison with the solstice:
Die Sonne zieht mit sanftem Triebe
Die Sonnenwende zu sich hin.
So, große Fürstin, deinen Blicken,
Die unser ganzes Wohl beglücken,
Folgt unser stets getreuer Sinn.
The sun draws with gentle desires
The solstice to its full extent.
Just as, great Princess, your glances,
Which favor our whole well-being,
Are followed by our ever-loyal mind.
Finally, the Advent cantata uses imagery and comparisons from both of the secular forms.
Die Liebe zieht mit sanften Schritten
Sein Treugeliebtes allgemach.
Gleichwie es eine Braut entzücket,
Wenn sie den Bräutigam erblicket,
So folgt ein Herz auch Jesu nach.
Love draws with gentle steps
Its true beloved gradually,
Just as it entrances a bride
When she catches sight of the bridegroom,
So a heart follows Jesus.
The second aria, whose text begins with “Willkommen, werter Schatz” (Welcome, worthy treasure), also cannot hide its ancestry in two secular cantata texts, if, in this case, it is less the vocabulary than the syntax that provides evidence for the reworking procedure. The approach is even easier to understand in the third aria, with its play with contrasts between the internal and external. Here is the first version:
Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen
Verkündigt man dem Lehrer preis.
Es schallet kräftig in der Brust,
Ob man gleich die empfundne Lust
Nicht völlig auszudrücken weiß.
Also with muted, weak voices
One proclaims the teacher’s praise.
It sounds with power within the breast,
If one can’t immediately express
The passion felt within.
Henrici/Picander provided the aria with the following verses (which are not readily understandable):
Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen
Wird, Fürstin, dieses Fest verehrt.
Denn schallet nur der Geist darbei,
So heißet solches ein Geschrei,
Das man im Himmel selber hört.
Also with muted, weak voices,
Princess, this fete is honored.
For if the spirit only resounds with it,
As such a din may be called,
That one hears it in heaven itself.
The author of the Advent cantata text appears to have favored this peculiar version of the text over the poetically clear reading of the first version. And so he contented himself with a minor adjustment and with the exchange of the most important vocabulary:
Auch mit gedämpften, schwachen Stimmen
Wird Gottes majestät verehrt.
Denn schallet nur der Geist darbei,
So ist ihm solches ein Geschrei,
Das er im Himmel selber hört.
Also with muted, weak voices
God’s majesty is honored.
For if the spirit only resounds with it
It becomes such a din to him
That he hears it in heaven itself.
Whether these verses improve upon the clarity of those by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander) remains an open question.
To a certain extent, the problems described in the poetic parts are mitigated by the enrichment of the cantata libretto by chorale strophes. Martin Luther’s German version of the ancient church hymn Veni redemptor gentium, the Advent chorale Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Now come, the Gentiles’ savior) of 1524, is represented with three verses; in addition, there is the sixth strophe of Philipp Nicolai’s Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern of 1599.
The cantata libretto takes on a rather old-fashioned appearance with its restriction to chorale strophes and arias and its total lack of recitatives. The musical image, however, is quite heterogeneous due to the secular origins of the opening chorus and all three arias. The opening movement combines a delicate instrumental texture with the lively interplay of chordal and polyphonic choral sections, in which the oboe d’amore dominates and the strings must remain subdued. The chamber music character of the original secular version matched this completely; a performance in church would have encountered several problems with the balance of sonorities. The Thomaskantor took this into account by doubling the oboe d’amore—as opposed to his original intent. In the second movement a change to the serious realm of strict vocal polyphony follows directly, as the Advent hymn Nun komm der Heiden Heiland is heard in various canonic constructions in dense three-part counterpoint. In just as immediate a fashion, the tenor aria takes the listener back to the previous milieu. Voice and oboe compete with one another, carried along by the gentle dance rhythms of the passepied. The first part of the cantata closes with a simple four-part chorale.
The second half of the cantata, to be performed after the sermon, opens with a powerful, buoyant bass aria whose bright and festive character is created by the strings, led by the joyfully animated concerted first violin. Once more, in sharp contrast to the preceding, there follows a choral arrangement of Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, this time as a quartet in which the two oboi d’amore and basso continuo perform the imitative contrapuntal accompaniment, while the tenor presents the ancient melody in large note values. In a gently glowing atmosphere, soprano and solo violin then lead a sonorous interplay between lovely melody and instrumental figuration, which, in the aria’s central section, dissolves into teasing echo effects. At last, the ancient Nun komm der Heiden Heiland is heard for a third time, now in simple four-part texture and devoid of any ambitions to an elaborate arrangement of the chorale.Footnotes
- The copyist of the second violin and viola parts was recently identified as Johann Wilhelm Machts, who entered St. Thomas School on May 31, 1735, at age eleven; his role as copyist is unlikely to have begun before 1737–38. See Wollny (2016, 83–91).—Trans.↵