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• 1 2023-09-26T09:37:19+00:00 Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht BWV 134.1 / BC G 5 15 Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht BWV 134.1. . New Year Celebration cantata for House of Anhalt-Coethen. First performed on Jan 01, 1719 in Coethen. Text by CF Hunold. plain 2024-04-24T17:40:09+00:00 1719-01-01 BWV 134.1 Coethen 51.74539271055628, 11.964072077714482 New Year Celebration BC G 5 Johann Sebastian Bach CF Hunold Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Die Zeit, dieTag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a / BC G 5" in Die Bach Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs, (Leipzig: Evangelisches Verlagsanstalt 2007), p. 666 James A. Brokaw II Anhalt-Coethen House of Anhalt-Coethen

  Members of Princely Houses, Anhalt-Köthen, January 1, 1719

  It took a fairly long time before it could said of the secular cantata Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht BWV 134.1 (Time, which makes days and years) that what belongs together has finally grown together again. At some time between 1719 and 1724, the first page of its composing score was torn away and lost, and with it the opening recitative, a large part of the first aria, and the second recitative. In the early years of the nineteenth century, the manuscript found its way into the Berlin collection of Georg Poelchau in this mutilated condition. Poelchau parted with the fragment sometime later and gave it to the physician and autograph collector Johann Heinrich Feuerstein. The musical world became aware of Feuerstein through the publication of the Mozart biography by Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, and Feuerstein’s extensive correspondence with Mozart’s widow and other members of the family. Born in 1797, he was first active in Thuringia and finally in Saxony. Having fallen victim to mental illness, he died in a poorhouse in Dresden. More recently, the fragmentary Bach cantata was owned by the Dresden librarian and director of the historical museum Karl Constantin Kraukling.¹ Kraukling, a native of the Baltic region, was associated with many prominent personalities of his era, among them Goethe, the sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow, and Ludwig Tieck. After Kraukling’s death the manuscript passed through several private collections before ending up in the library of the Paris Conservatory. 
  
  In 1881 the Bachgesellschaft published the cantata fragment as part of its complete edition of Bach’s works—with a heavy heart, having abandoned hope of recovering what had been lost. Just at that moment, however, Philipp Spitta—having just completed his monumental standard study of Bach’s life and work—discovered the entire text of the homage cantata and published it and other discoveries in a music journal. But it was only in the early twentieth century that scholars could investigate the recovery of the pieces thought to have been lost. It turned out that Bach had asked one of his assistants in Leipzig to prepare a replacement manuscript for the missing first sheet of his score but without the original text, since he planned to transform the secular version into a church cantata and supply it with new text. The astonishing identification of the replacement sheet without text (which is why it remained unidentified for so long) provided the long-missing keystone for reconstructing the composition.
  
  More evidence for the cantata’s genesis is provided by the reprint of the text in a collection that appeared in Halle under the title Auserlesene und theils noch nie gedruckte Gedichte unterschiedener Berühmten und geschickten Männer (Selected and in part unpublished poetry of various distinguished and skillful men). The publisher of the volume is Menantes, whose given name was Christian Friedrich Hunold. Hunold, a native of Thuringia, was forced to return to his home suddenly after a stellar career in Hamburg and was active in Halle. He entitled the text he authored for Bach Glückwunsch zum neuen Jahr 1719. An das Durchlauchtigste Haus von Anhalt-Cöthen. Im Namen anderer. Menantes (Congratulations for the new year 1719. To the most serene house of Anhalt-Köthen. In the name of another. Menantes). In this serenata, the congratulations are offered by the personifications of Time and Divine Providence; they present the main ideas in a brief recitative:

  Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht,
  Hat Anhalt manche Segensstunden
  Und itzo gleich ein neues Heil gebracht.
  O edle Zeit! Mit Gottes Huld verbunden.
  
  Time, which makes days and years,
  Has brought Anhalt many hours of blessing
  And now brings a new well-being.
  O noble time! With God’s favor bound.

  
  In the first aria, Time urges giving thanks to the creator of all things for these “hours of blessing” (Segensstunde):

  Auf, Sterbliche, lasset ein Jauchzen ertönen;
  Euch strahlet von neuem ein göttliches Licht!
  Mit Gnaden bekröne der Himmel die Zeiten, 
  Auf, Seelen, ihr müsset ein Opfer bereiten,
  Bezahlet dem Höchsten mit Danken die Pflicht!
  
  Arise, mortals, let jubilation ring out;
  Upon you a divine light shines anew!
  May heaven crown the times with grace.
  Arise, souls, you must prepare an offering.
  Pay to the Most High your duty with gratitude!

  
  Time and Divine Providence go into great detail about the starlight in “Anhalt’s princely heavens” (Anhalts Fürstenhimmel) and only pause when it is time to sing a duet:

  Es streiten, es siegen die künftigen Zeiten
  Im Segen für dieses durchlauchtigste Haus.
  Dies liebliche Streiten beweget die Herzen,
  Die Saiten zu rühren, zu streiten zu scherzen,
  Es schläget zum Preise des Höchsten hinaus.
  
  Future times fight and conquer
  In blessing for this most illustrious house.
  This friendly contention bestirs all hearts
  To pluck the strings, to contest, to jest.
  It redounds to the praise of the Most High.

  
  Now Divine Providence takes up the scepter to meditate on the “temporal well-being” (zeitlich Wohl) and “future welfare” (künftige Heil) of the princely house of Köthen. The voluble reflections of the recitative flow into an aria:

  Der Zeiten Herr hat viel vergnügten Stunden,
  Du Gotteshaus, dir annoch beigelegt,
  Weil bei der Harmonie der Seelen, 
  Die Gott zum Hort und Heil erwählen,
  Des Himmels Glück mit einzustimmen pflegt.
  
  The Lord of Time has provided many contented hours
  To you already, you divine house,
  For with the harmony of souls
  Who choose God as refuge and salvation,
  The fortune of heaven is wont to join.

  
  Once again Time takes the stage in order to plead for the blessing of the Most High “für dies weltberühmte Haus” (for this world-famous house) and closes with these words:

  Erneure, Herr, bei jeder Jahreszeit
  An ihnen deine Güt und Treu!
  
  Renew, Lord, at every season
  Your goodness and faithfulness to them!

  
  And Divine Providence delivers the rationale:

  Des Höchsten Huld wird alle Morgen neu.
  Es will sein Schutz, sein Geist insonderheit
  Auf solchen Fürsten schweben,
  Die in dem Lebens-Fürsten leben.
  
  The grace of the Most High becomes every morning new.
  His protection, his spirit most of all,
  Will hover over such princes
  As live in the Prince of Life.

  
  The concluding ensemble gathers these appeals together:

  Ergetzet auf Erden, erfreuet von oben,
  Glückselige Zeiten vergnüget dies Haus!
  Es müsse bei diesen durchlauchtigsten Seelen
  Die Gnade des Himmels die Wohnung erwählen;
  Sie blühen, sie leben, ruft jedermann aus.
  
  Delight on Earth, rejoice on high,
  Blessed times bring joy to this house!
  With these most illustrious souls
  The grace of heaven must choose to dwell;
  May they flourish, may they live, everyone calls out.

  
  Bach’s composition is hard-pressed to cope with this verbose libretto. Because the recitatives are of necessity quite lengthy, the other movements struggle to avoid being upstaged. The finale alone, which runs for more than three hundred measures in 3
  8 meter, is an elated, dance-like ensemble that unites all the participants, offering the soloists further opportunities for display and otherwise expanding the vocal texture to four parts. The first aria resembles the gesture of the closing ensemble; in addition to placing the tenor in an unusually high range, it involves the entire instrumental complement. The affects of joyful movement predominate here; the 3/8 meter approximates the gigue dance type, and the triadic motives found everywhere evoke a kind of victor’s pose. The voices in the second aria are less imperious: they are tightly coupled together over long stretches and cede the initiative to the string instruments, in particular, the nearly constant figuration of the virtuoso first violin. In contrast, the G minor aria by Divine Providence seems rather introverted, with her song of praise to the many hours spent in contentment. The stubbornly returning repeated tones in the basso continuo, the sole accompaniment, seem to try to work against loss of memory. Strangely, this aria as well as its recitative were left out when Bach redesigned this homage music to become a cantata for the third day of Easter.² Strictly speaking, the term “redesign” (Umgestaltung) is not quite appropriate, because six of the eight original movements were adopted without any changes to the music. Thus one scarcely knows what is more astonishing: the artistry of the librettist, who successfully fashioned a new sacred text to perfectly fit not only the arias and choruses but also the extensive recitatives, syllable for syllable, or the composer’s defiance of death,³ with which he realized his intention for an en-bloc parody.

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  Footnotes

  1. Schulze (1981).↵
  2. Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß BWV 134.—Trans.↵
  3. Schulze (2004b).↵
• 1 2023-09-26T09:33:55+00:00 Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß BWV 134 / BC A 59 10 Third Day of Easter. First performed 04/11/1724 in Leipzig (Cycle I). plain 2024-04-24T17:41:19+00:00 1724-04-11 BWV 134 Leipzig 51.340199, 12.360103 21Easter2 Third Day of Easter BC A 59b Johann Sebastian Bach Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss, BWV 134 / BC A 59b" in Die Bach Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs, (Leipzig: Evangelisches Verlagsanstalt 2007), p. 188 James A. Brokaw II Leipzig I

  Easter Tuesday, April 11, 1724

  This cantata is for Easter Tuesday. There is no doubt about this assignment; it is richly documented. The title pages of the fair copy of the score written out by the cantor of St. Thomas School himself and the original performance parts all name the third day of Easter independently of one another. In addition, there are two printed text booklets from 1724 and 1731. Their contents agree with one another, even specifying the place of performance: “Auf den dritten Heiligen Oster-Tag. In der Kirche zu St. Nicolai” (On the third holy day of Easter. In the church of St. Nicolai).
  
  Even if the sources are beyond doubt, the cantata’s text still raises questions. A recitative that begins this way does not unequivocally point to the third day of Easter and its Gospel reading, the account of the appearance of Jesus to his disciples in Jerusalem, recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of Luke:

  Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß,
  Empfindet Jesu neue Güte
  Und dichtet nur auf seines Heilands Preis.
  Wie freuet sich ein gläubiges Gemüte.
  
  A heart that knows its Jesus to be living
  Senses Jesus’s goodness anew
  And writes poems only to its savior’s praise.
  How happily a faithful soul rejoices.

  
  The same goes for the associated aria text with its prominent dactylic meter:

  Auf, Gläubige, singet die lieblichen Lieder,
  Euch scheinet ein herrlich verneuetes Licht. 
  Der lebende Heiland gibt selige Zeiten, 
  Auf, Seelen, ihr müsset ein Opfer bereiten,
  Bezahlet dem Höchsten mit Danken die Pflicht.
  
  Arise, believers, sing the lovely songs,
  Upon you beams a glorious renewing light.
  The living savior bestows blessed times,
  Rise, souls, you must prepare an offering.
  Pay to the Most High your duty with thanks.

  
  While both movements contain formulations that can be taken to point to the Resurrection (“lebende Jesus,” “lebende Heiland”), the rest of the language proves to be relatively uncharacteristic.
  
  The unknown poet is only partly responsible for such deficiencies: in reality, they result from the work’s genesis. The composition goes back to a secular cantata from Bach’s Köthen period, a serenata with which Bach honored the princely house on New Year’s Day 1719.¹ Christian Friedrich Hunold, who was born in Wandersleben, Thuringia, was active in Hamburg and finally became resident poet at Halle, had prepared a libretto comprising a total of eight movements. In the manner typical for both Köthen and Hunold, the libretto featured two allegorical figures: Zeit (Time) and Glückliche Anhalt (Happy Anhalt). The relatively large-scale composition on this libretto remained in Bach’s possession and could be put to a new use in Leipzig. Bach accomplished this in the simplest manner: he used movements 1 through 4 as well as movements 7 and 8 from the Köthen serenata for the cantata he needed in Leipzig for Easter Tuesday 1724 and simply provided a new text for the existing music. As opposed to his later methods, “existing music” in this case means not just the closed forms, the arias and choral movements, but all the recitatives as well. Fulfilling this challenging task must have pushed the unknown librettist, a linguistic acrobat, to the limits of his abilities. However, he found his way, over and over again. As a last resort, he occasionally adopted the formulations of the secular original.
  
  The first aria, given to the figure of Time, reads as follows:

  Auf, Sterbliche, lasset in Jauchzen ertönen;
  Euch strahlet von neuem ein göttliches Licht.
  Mit Gnaden bekröne der Himmel die Zeiten,
  Auf, Seelen, ihr müsset ein Opfer bereiten,
  Bezahlet dem Höchsten mit Danken die Pflicht!
  
  Arise, mortals, let exultation ring out;
  Upon you beams a godly light anew.
  May the heavens crown the times with grace.
  Arise, souls, you must prepare an offering,
  Pay your duty to the Most High with thanks.

  
  The librettist brought both closing lines word for word into the cantata text. The second aria, like its secular forebear in dactylic meter, offers the following observation:

  Wir danken und preisen dein brünstiges Lieben
  Und bringen ein Opfer der Lippen vor dich.
  Der Sieger erwecket die freudigen Lieder,
  Der Heiland erscheinet und tröstet uns wieder 
  Und stärket die streitende Kirche durch sich.
  
  We thank and praise your ardent love
  And bring you an offering from our lips.
  The victor arouses joyful songs,
  The savior appears and assures us again
  And strengthens the church militant through himself.

  
  Here the secular original speaks of “lieblichen Streiten” (lovely quarrels) between previous and current eras to honor the princely house of Anhalt-Köthen. The Leipzig cantata librettist obviously recognized the utility of the word “Streiten” and made good use of it. Whether he only then formulated the preceding recitative text, which depicts the battle with hell and Satan, thereby creating a smooth and grateful connection with the aria, is a question worth considering even if it remains unanswerable. The penultimate cantata movement, a recitative speaks of “Tod und Sieg” (death and victory), of “Auferstehung” (resurrection) and liberation from enemies, before a hymn of thanksgiving closes the line of thought:

  Erschallet, ihr Himmel, erfreue dich, Erde,
  Lobsinge dem Höchsten, du glaubende Schar.
  Es schauet und schmecket ein jedes Gemüte,
  Des lebende Heilands unendliche Güte,
  Er tröstet und stellet als Siegers sich dar.
  
  Resound, you heavens; rejoice, earth,
  Sing praise to the Most High, you faithful host.
  Every soul sees and tastes
  the living savior’s unending goodness.
  He comforts and presents himself as victor.

  
  Here again a “Köthen style” is seen: the dactylic meter together with elements of dialogue.
  
  The precise, almost pedantically exact retexting made it possible for the cantor of St. Thomas to perform the cantata for the first time in Leipzig in 1724 with practically no alteration whatsoever to the music.² In preparing the piece for Easter 1731, however, he must have made further considerations as to the agreement of word and tone in the recitatives, and so he replaced these movements in the Köthen-Leipzig version with three newly composed recitatives.³ Several years later, he finally wrote out a new score, into which he introduced still more changes and improvements. In its totality, the history of the work’s creation shows that its final version was achieved in four stages of various extents.
  
  It is hardly surprising that the musical course of the cantata turns out to be a reflection of its secular model: the final movement unites all the participants, a joyous, dance-like ensemble for four voices, oboes, and strings. The duet sections found in the middle sections for alto and tenor are likely to have been performed soloistically in the secular original. It seems likely that Bach would have at least considered something similar for the church cantata version. The first aria is similar to the gesture of the closing movement, which calls on the entire ensemble in support of the tenor, whose part is unusually high. The effect is cheerfully animated: the 3
  8 meter resembles that of the gigue, and the triadic motives found everywhere suggest a victor’s pose. The voices in the second aria movement are less autocratic: over long stretches, they dovetail with one another and cede the initiative to the string instruments, in particular, the almost constant figuration of the first violin.

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  Footnotes

  1. Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht BWV 134.1 (Time, which creates days and years).—Trans.↵
  2. BWV 134.2.—Trans.↵
  3. BWV 134.3.—Trans. See Schulze (2004b).↵