This page was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Angela Watters.
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes BWV 76 / BC A 97
Second Sunday after Trinity, June 6, 1723
Johann Sebastian Bach composed the cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes BWV 76 (The heavens are telling the honor of God) in early June 1723; it was his second composition after officially assuming office as cantor of St. Thomas School in Leipzig. As in the case of the cantata that came before it, Die Elenden sollen essen BWV 75, this work is unusually extensive and thereby signals the newly appointed cantor’s intent to create an unmistakable standard reflecting his artistic goals. It remains unclear whether such an expenditure of effort and resources matched the rank of the second Sunday after Trinity.The unidentified poet of the cantata—perhaps identical to the librettist for its sister composition—hews closely to the Gospel reading for the Sunday, found in Luke 14:16–24. It tells of Jesus’s parable of the great evening meal.
He, however, spoke to him: There was a man who prepared a great evening meal and invited many to it. And he sent out his servant at the hour of the evening meal to say to those invited: Come, for everything is ready! And they began, one after another, to excuse themselves. The first said to him: I have just bought an acre and must go out and inspect it; please excuse me. And the other spoke: I have bought five yoke of oxen and am just going now to inspect them; I beg you, please excuse me. And the third spoke: I have just taken a wife; therefore, I cannot come. And the servant came and repeated this to his master. Then the man of the house became angry and said to his servant: Go out quickly onto the streets and alleys of the city and lead the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind in here. And the servant spoke: Lord, it is done, what you have ordered; but there is still room. And the master said to his servant: Go out to the country roads and the fences and insist that everyone come, that my house is full. Yet I say to you, that of the men who were invited, none shall taste my evening meal.
The text of our cantata takes up this parable but places two verses from Psalm 19 at the beginning, praising the honor of God in nature and in his word: “Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, und die Feste verkündiget seiner Hände Werk Es ist kein Sprache noch Rede, da man nicht ihre Stimme höre” (1, 3; The heavens are telling the honor of God, and the firmament declares his handiwork There is no language nor speech where one does not hear their voice). This is followed by the first recitative:
It concludes with these lines:So läßt sich Gott nicht unbezeuget!
Natur und Gnade red’t alle Menschen an!
So God does not leave himself without witness!
Nature and grace speak to all people!
The ensuing aria answers this invitation, drawn from the Gospel reading:Gott selbst hat sich zu euch geneiget
Und ruft durch Boten ohne Zahl:
Auf, kommt zu meinem Liebesmahl!
God himself has turned to you
And calls through messages without number:
Arise, come to my feast of love!
The movement pair that follows is focused on the contrary behavior depicted in the parable in the Gospel reading. In regard to the invitation in the preceding movement, the recitative asks:Hört, ihr Völker, Gottes Stimme,
Eilt zu seinem Gnadenthron.
Aller Dinge Grund und Ende
Ist sein eingeborener Sohn:
Daß sich alles zu ihm wende.
Hear, you peoples, God’s voice,
Hasten to his throne of grace.
The foundation and end of all things
Is his only begotten son:
That all things may turn to him.
Wer aber hört,
Da sich der größte Haufen
Zu andern Göttern kehrt?
But who hears,
Since the greatest multitude
Turns to other gods?
It closes with resignation:
But the aria counters:Die Weisen brüten Torheit aus,
Und Belial sitzt wohl in Gottes Haus,
Weil auch die Christen selbst von Christo laufen.
The wise concoct foolishness,
And Belial sits in the house of God,
For even Christians themselves run from Christ.
Fahr hin, abgöttische Zunft!
Soll sich die Welt gleich verkehren,
Will ich doch Christum verehren,
Er ist das Licht der Vernunft.
Be gone, idolatrous mob!
Should the world be perverted,
I will still honor Christ,
He is the light of reason.
The last recitative of the cantata’s first half provides words of thanks, once again drawn from the Gospel reading:
Du hast uns, Herr, von allen Straßen,
Zu dir geruft,
Als wir im Finsternis der Heiden saßen,
Und, wie das Licht die Luft
Belebet und erquickt. . . .
You have, Lord, from all highways,
Called us to you
As we sat in the darkness of the Gentiles;
And as the light the air
Enlivens and refreshes. . . .
The opening strophe from Martin Luther’s chorale Es woll uns Gott genädig sein (May God be gracious to us) follows; it provides the “demütiges Gebet” (humble prayer) mentioned in the recitative’s conclusion.
The second half of the cantata, to be performed after the sermon, turns to God’s “treue Schar” (faithful host) and their works with a recitative:
Sie ist der Himmel auf der Erden
Und muß durch steten Streit
Mit Haß und mit Gefahr
In dieser Welt gereinigt werden.
This host is heaven on earth
And must, through continuous conflict
With hate and with danger,
Be purified in this world.
The ensuing aria immediately takes up a battle position:
But the true task is not withstanding hate but rather embracing the love of Christ and extending its brotherhood: this is the focus of the last three freely versified movements before another strophe from Luther’s hymn summarizes and closes the libretto:Hasse nur, hasse mich recht,
Feindlichs Geschlecht!
Christum gläubig zu umfassen,
Will ich alle Freude lassen.
Hate then, hate me truly,
Hostile generation!
To embrace Christ faithfully
I would forgo all joy.
Es danke, Gott, und lobe dich
Das Volk in guten Taten;
Das Land bringt Frucht und bessert sich,
Dein Wort ist wohlgeraten.
Uns segne Vater und der Sohn,
Uns segne Gott, der Heil’ge Geist,
Dem alle Welt die Ehre tu,
Für ihm sich fürchte allermeist
Und sprech von Herzen Amen.
May the people thank and praise you,
God, in good deeds;
The land bears fruit and improves itself,
Your word brings prosperity.
May Father and Son bless us,
May God, the Holy Spirit, bless us,
May all the world honor him,
Fear him most of all,
And say from the heart Amen.
In Bach’s composition of this extensive libretto, a significant role is played by “striking up” a tune, as well as taking it up and joining in. With a shout of joy, the trumpets start the opening movement “Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes”; they are answered by the woodwinds and strings. Call and echo interlock ever more closely together until the bass intones the first biblical passage and the four-part chorus picks it up. The development of more than sixty measures finally intensifies to a fugue, begun by soloists in the four voice ranges, taken up by the chorus, and brought to its conclusion. After a tenor recitative accompanied by strings, in which the most important statements in the text broaden to arioso, soprano and solo violin combine for the first aria. Here again, echo-like literal repetition plays a significant role as the interplay of calling and listening makes manifest the text “Hört, ihr Völker, Gottes Stimme.”
The fifth movement, the second aria of the cantata, is framed by two recitatives. It is set with bass and obbligato trumpet with the collaboration of the other instruments. What is striking here is the twisted melody and rhythm, whose intentional instability is obviously meant to amplify the ideas in the text of “Fahr hin, abgöttische Zunft!” and “Sollt sich die Welt gleich verkehren.”
The closing chorale of the first part of the cantata is Johann Walter’s melody Es woll uns Gott genädig sein (May God be gracious to us). First documented in 1524, the hymn clearly goes back to pre-Reformation ancestry. Here again, the dynamic of leading and joining in is fundamental: each line of the chorale is played by the instruments and then presented by the entire ensemble.
The second part of the cantata begins with an instrumental movement, a trio for oboe d’amore, viola da gamba, and basso continuo. The two-part sinfonia also exists in a version for two manuals and pedal, the opening movement in Bach’s Trio Sonata in E Minor for Organ BWV 528. Both versions may well go back to a common ancestor composed in Weimar with different setting, probably a sonata in G minor for oboe, viola da gamba, and basso continuo.1
The bass recitative, accompanied by strings, “Gott segne noch die treue Schar” (May God bless the faithful host), is followed by the aria “Hasse nur, hasse mich recht” for tenor, accompanied only by basso continuo. Here Bach uses diminished and augmented intervals in particular to illuminate the negative affect. The last aria, once again framed by two recitatives, is for alto: “Liebt, ihr Christen in der Tat” (Love, you Christians, in your action) unites a rocking
8 meter, charming melody, and softly flowing harmonies in service of the text. The instrumental setting of oboe d’amore, viola da gamba, and basso continuo reflects that of the sinfonia at the beginning of the cantata’s second half. Bach may have intended to form the overall character of the second half in this way, bridging the “hate aria” just mentioned.
The cantata concludes with a repetition of the chorale movement that concluded the first part with its instrumental preludes for each line, affirming the procedure that characterizes so much of the cantata.
During Bach’s lifetime, the cantata was repeated many times, as a whole as well as in part—certainly an indication of the composer’s estimation of its success.