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• 1 2023-09-26T09:34:20+00:00 Wer sich erhöhet, der soll erniedrigt werden BWV 47 / BC A 141 8 Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity. First performed 10/13/1726 in Leipzig (Cycle III). Text by JF Helbig. plain 2024-04-24T16:16:08+00:00 1726-10-13 BWV 47 Leipzig 50.979493, 11.323544 07Trinity17 Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity BC A 141 Johann Sebastian Bach JF Helbig Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Wer sich erhöhet, der soll erniedrigt werden, BWV 47 / BC A 141" in Die Bach Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs, (Leipzig: Evangelisches Verlagsanstalt 2007), p. 438 James A. Brokaw II Leipzig III

  Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, October 13, 1726

  The cantata Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedrigt werden BWV 47 (Whoever exalts himself shall be abased) belongs to a small group of works whose texts have survived not only in compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach but also in ones penned by his boyhood friend Georg Philipp Telemann. Bach’s cantata originated in 1726, while those by Telemann were composed several years earlier, although they, like Bach’s cantata, were reperformed several times. The text of both works is drawn from a collection published in 1720 under the title Aufmunterung zur Andacht (Inspiration to devotion), for use at the royal chapel at Eisenach. At the end of a brief foreword, the author signs himself as “Johann Friedrich Helbig, Fürstlich Sächsischer Regierungs-Secretarius” (Johann Friedrich Helbig, royal Saxon government secretary).
  
  Helbig was born in 1680, probably in Neustadt, Saxony. During his stay in Leipzig—that is, until about 1709—he participated in the music program at the New Church; he also distinguished himself as a tenor in the Collegium Musicum. In a retrospective on that ensemble published in 1740, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel—a student in Leipzig at the same time as Helbig—wrote:

  Only a few days after my arrival in Leipzig, the Collegium Musicum, which he—Melchior Hoffmann—directed, attracted me. Not only was it very well staffed, but it sounded wonderful. For the chorus was made up of the royal Eisenach privy counselor, Herr Langmasius, bass; the current conrector of the Augsburg Gymnasium, Annäii, Herr Master Marckgraf, as soprano; the late Herr Helbig, royal Saxon/Eisenach secretary, as tenor; and, if I recall correctly, the late Herr Krone, who died several years ago as royal chamber musician at the royal court of Weimar, as contralto.¹ 

  
  In 1709 Helbig went to Eisenach along with Gottfried Langmasius, mentioned in the passage above, and became a member of the court music ensemble there, founded by Telemann. In addition, he served as secretary. After Telemann’s departure for Frankfurt am Main, Helbig appears to have stayed on in Eisenach at least for a while, taking on Telemann’s former responsibilities as music director. In several instances, he is found as the author of sacred and secular cantata libretti, and he must also have been active as a composer. His early death in April 1722 was undoubtedly a serious loss for Eisenach’s musical life.²
  
  In the foreword to his annual text cycle of 1720, Helbig was especially concerned with tamping down the all-too-feverish expectations of his readers. His avoidance of “dainty poetic flourishes” (poetischen Zierligkeiten) was motivated by his fear of damaging the “Christian simplicity” (christliche Einfalt), which he regarded as being the “most beautiful ornament” (schönster Schmuck) of such texts. Further, his intention was not a “complete set of reflections on the Gospel readings for Sundays and feast days” (vollkommene Betrachtungen über die Sonn- und Fest-Tags Evangelien) but simply “inspirations to prayer” (Aufmunterungen zur Andacht). Anyone interested in greater detail could try to attend an “intellectually stimulating sermon” (geistreiche Predigt) or read a “collection of sermons written from the spirit of God” (aus dem Geiste Gottes geschriebene Postilla). What was decisive for the scope of the poems was “the little space for texts and the short period of time devoted to music in public worship services in church” (der enge Raum zum Texte, und die Kürze der Zeit, welche bey dem öffentlichen Gottesdienste in der Kirche zur Music gewidmet ist).
  
  In spite of such self-imposed restrictions, Helbig’s libretti seem to have enjoyed a certain degree of favor—and not only in Eisenach, where they were written, or in Telemann’s places of work, Hamburg and Frankfurt. For example, the Telemann cantata Mache die Tore weit TVWV 1:1074 (Open wide the gates) goes back to Helbig’s 1720 cycle; Johann Sebastian Bach offered it for the first day of Advent 1734, immediately before his Christmas Oratorio BWV 248. The Telemann cantata Das ist je gewißlich wahr TVWV 183 (This is certainly ever true), once erroneously ascribed to Johann Sebastian Bach, is also based on a Helbig text for Advent. At present it remains unclear whether this work, which turned up in Breitkopf & Härtel’s sheet music business in 1760, may have been part of Bach’s working repertoire in Leipzig.
  
  Helbig’s cantata libretto for the seventeenth day after Trinity hews closely to the Gospel reading for the day, from Luke 14—in particular, its second half with its warning against pride and the admonishment to modesty, culminating in the passage “Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedrigt werden; und wer sich selbst erniedrigt, der soll erhöhet werden” (11; Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted). The libretto begins with exactly this passage, which is followed by a paean to humility that in fact avoids “poetischen Zierlichkeiten”—very much in the spirit of Helbig’s foreword:

  Wer ein wahrer Christ will heißen,
  Muß der Demut sich befleißen;
  Demut stammt aus Jesu Reich.
  Hoffart ist dem Teufel gleich;
  Gott pflegt alle die zu hassen,
  So den Stolz nicht fahren lassen.
  
  Whoever wishes to be called a true Christian
  Must strive for humility;
  Humility comes from Jesus’s kingdom.
  Haughtiness is like the devil;
  God fosters hatred for all those
  Who do not abandon pride.

  
  The only recitative is designed as a true castigation. At the very start, the poet “pulls out all the stops” and presents a selection of bombastic expressions from the traditional arsenal:

  Der Mensch ist Kot, Stank, Asch und Erde;
  Ists möglich, daß vom Übermut,
  Als einer Teufelsbrut,
  Er noch bezaubert werde?
  
  The human is excrement, stench, ashes, and earth;
  Is it possible that by arrogance,
  As from a devil’s brood,
  He may yet remain captivated?

  
  Only near the end does the tone begin to moderate a bit:

  Geh, schäme dich, du stolze Kreatur,
  Tu Buß und folge Christi Spur;
  Wirf dich vor Gott im Geiste gläubig nieder!
  Zu seiner Zeit erhöht er dich auch wieder.
  
  Go, shame on you, you proud creature,
  Repent and follow the path of Christ;
  Prostrate yourself before God in faithful spirit!
  In his time he will exalt you again.

  
  The associated aria responds to this demand; in its prayer it alludes to the fate of Lucifer, who, originally an angel, was banished to hell because of his pride:

  Jesu, beuge doch mein Herze
  Unter deine starke Hand,
  Daß ich nicht mein Heil verscherze
  Wie der erste Höllenbrand.
  Laß mich deine Demut suchen
  Und den Hochmut ganz verfluchen;
  Gib mir einen niedern Sinn,
  Daß ich dir gefällig bin.
  
  Jesus, do bend my heart
  Beneath your mighty hand,
  That I not throw away my salvation 
  As did that first hellhound.
  Let me seek your humility
  And wholly curse arrogance;
  Grant me a lowly frame of mind
  That I may be pleasing to you.

  
  A strophe from the 1560 chorale Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz (Why are you aggrieved, my heart?) summarizes the train of ideas: 

  Der zeitlichen Ehrn will ich gern entbehren,
  Du wollst mir nur das Ewge gewähren.
  Das du erworben hast
  Durch deinen herben, bittern Tod.
  Das bitt ich dich, mein Herr und Gott.
  
  Temporal honors I will gladly forgo,
  If you would but grant me the eternal.
  You have earned that
  Through your harsh, bitter death.
  This I ask of you, my Lord and God.

  
  The design of the libretto practically ensures that the biblical passage from the Gospel reading at the start will predominate in Bach’s composition. In Bach’s mind, fugue offered the only possible musical option for setting this passage’s admonition to modesty and warning against pride; its themes could easily be assigned to keywords such as “erhöhen” (elevate) and “erniedrigen” (humble). In spite of such requirements, the result is astonishing: an instrumental introduction of no fewer than forty-four measures serves to formulate and set forth the crucial fugue subject; its expositions, separated by a brief episode, build up to two powerful, towering pillars before the return of the introduction, now enriched by the chorus, is able to thwart the seemingly unstoppable momentum.
  
  In a completely different way, the opposition between humility and pride characterizes the first aria for soprano and obbligato instrument, organ in the original version of the cantata and probably violin in a later version. In the main part of the movement, a dance-like character predominates in alternation with song-like melodies and virtuoso figuration. In contrast, in the middle section, in which arrogance, hate, and pride are at issue, the relationships are literally reversed: the pleasant melody is banished to the bass in counterpoint with imperious, challenging gestures in the obbligato voice.
  
  The castigation (whose language Bach later softened somewhat) is presented as an accompanied recitative, followed by a bass aria, a dense quartet texture whose “speaking” themes vividly depict the attitude of prayer in the text, while their rigor and unity express the gravity of the matter. A simple chorale movement concludes the cantata, whose unpretentious inwardness recalls the scope of the opening movement.

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  Footnotes

  1. “Das Collegium musicum, welches er—Melchior Hoffmann—dirigirte, zog mich, gleich in den ersten Tagen meiner Ankunft in Leipzig, zu ihm. Dieses war nicht allein sehr starck besetzt, sondern ließ sich auch vortreflich wohl hören. Denn das Singechor machten der nunmehrige Hochfürstlich Eisenachische Kammerrat, Herr Langmasius, als Basso; der itzige Conrector des Augsburgischen Gymnasii Annäii, Herr Magister Marckgraf, als Sopran; der seelige Herr Helbig, Hochfürstlich Sachsen Eisenachischer Secretar, als Tenore; und, wo mir recht, der seelige Herr Krone, so vor etliche Jahren, als Hochfürstlich Weimarscher Kammermusiker verstorben, als Contralto aus” (Mattheson 1740).↵
  2. Oefner (1976).↵