The performances took place in the west end (rear) choir lofts of St. Thomas’s and St. Nicholas’s, both spacious, three-aisled, late-Gothic-hall churches whose interior design, however, was so drastically changed in the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that the original architectural features of the organ and choir lofts are no longer visible. At St. Nicholas’s, the choir loft on the west wall of the church opened toward the center aisle, with the organ loft situated next to it, opening toward the south aisle; a connecting gallery bridged the gap between the two and provided space primarily for the instrumentalists (see illustration, p. 268). At St. Thomas’s, the organ and choir lofts on the west wall formed more of a unified structure that opened toward the center aisle (see illustrations, pp. 266–67). The organ in the last bay of the center aisle was positioned above and behind the choir loft, which filled the penultimate bay, level with the first (stone) gallery that extended over both south and north flanks of the church and afforded space for visitors. The second (wooden) gallery above the first, on both south and north flanks, augmented the space for visitors but did not run across the west wall. Instead, two separate “town piper galleries”—on the level of the organ loft and above the choir loft—bridged the space between the third-to-last and second-to-last column pairs, providing a continuous instrumental gallery surrounding the choir loft on three sides.63 In other words, singers in the choir loft facing the altar had the organ behind them (one level up) and the instrument galleries to the left and right (one level up as well). The two town piper galleries, built in 1632, provided stands for ten players on either side: for the art fiddlers (string players) on the south and the town pipers (wind players) on the north; continuo players, trumpeters, and drummer would be positioned to the left and right of the organ’s Rückpositiv. The galleries were enlarged in May 1739 at the expense of Burgomaster Jacob Born and certainly in consultation with Bach, but the extent of the expansion is not known.64 It must be assumed however, that the galleries now provided space for substantially more instrumentalists than the original twenty. Before this expansion, additional players were either squeezed into the available gallery space or joined the singers in the choir loft one level below, probably behind them. The singers apparently placed their music stands close to the railing of the loft so that their voices would project directly into the nave of the church.
TABLE 8.6. Performance Schedule, Christmas 1723–24
First Sunday in Advent, November 28
7:00 A.M. Mass, N:
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61; scoring: S*AT*B*, str, bc
—old work
1:30 P.M. Vespers, T:
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61
—repeat performance
Christmas Day, December 25
7:00 A.M. Mass, T:
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63: S*A*T*B*, 4tr/ti, 3ob, str, bc
—old
Sanctus D major, BWV 238: SATB, str, bc
—new
9:00 A.M.
Service, P: Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
—repeat
1:30 P.M. Vespers, N:
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63
—repeat
Magnificat E-flat major, BWV 243a: S*S*A*T*B*, 3tr/ti, 2rec, 2ob, str, bc
—new
Second day of Christmas, December 26
7:00 A.M. Mass, N:
Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40: SA*T*B*, 2cr, 2ob, str, bc
—new
Sanctus D major, BWV 238
—repeat
1:30 P.M. Vespers, T:
Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes, BWV 40
—repeat
Magnificat E-flat major, BWV 243a
—repeat
Third day of Christmas, December 27
7:00 A.M. Mass, T:
Sehet, welch eine Liebe, BWV 64: S*A*TB* (+ cto/3trb), 1ob d’am, str, bc
—new
New Year’s Day, January 1
7:00 A.M. Mass, N:
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190: SA*T*B*, 3tr/ti, 3ob, str, bc
—new
1:30 P.M. Vespers, T:
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190
—repeat
Sunday after New Year’s Day, January 2
7:00 A.M. Mass, T:
Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, BWV 153: SA*T*B*, str, bc
—new
Epiphany, January 6
7:00 A.M. Mass, N:
Sie werden aus Saba alle Kommen, BWV 65: SA*T*B*, cr, 2rec, 2ob da caccia, str, bc
—new
1:30 P.M. Vespers, T:
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen, BWV 65
—repeat
First Sunday after Epiphany, January 9
7:00 A.M. Mass, T:
Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren, BWV 154: SA*T*B*, 2ob d’am, str, bc
—new
N = St. Nicholas’s; T = St. Thomas’s; P = St Paul’s (University) Church.62
On the first Sunday after Trinity 1723, Bach began his first annual cycle of cantatas. Of the “five full annual cycles [Jahrgänge] of church pieces, for all the Sundays and holidays” mentioned in the summary worklist of the Obituary, only the first three have been transmitted in recognizable and relatively intact form. About two-fifths of the cantata repertoire must be considered lost, so very little can be said about the character of the fourth and fifth cycles.65 This in turn makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the evolution of the cantata in Bach’s hand throughout the 1720s, by far his most productive period of cantata composition. What clearly emerges, however, are two aims: first, to provide himself and his office during the first several years of his tenure with a working repertoire of substantial size that he would be able to draw on later; to set certain goals for the individual cycles that would enable him to explore the flexible cantata typology as widely as possible, to leave his own distinct mark, and—as in other areas of compositional activity—to push the genre beyond its current limits.
Bach’s decision to use mainly his own works for the required church performances was a programmatic one and directly related to his intention to thoroughly modernize Leipzig church music. It must be considered symptomatic in this respect that, in contrast to earlier and later practices, Kuhnau’s musical estate was not acquired by the St. Thomas School. Whether or not Bach himself advised against it, he was expected to change things. This in turn let him fulfill an apparently long-held desire to focus on the kind of vocal-instrumental writing that met his own musical ends, even though the enterprise would burden him enormously for some time to come. Bach realized, of course, that he was putting himself in an unaccustomed position. Never before had he had to produce music on a comparable scale, so it is all the more understandable that he would make use of older pieces that would, with or without surgery, fit into the project. As a result, an important characteristic of the first cantata cycle of 1723–24 is the integration of the bulk of his Weimar cantata repertoire as well as the adaptation of Cöthen cantatas. However, a look at the entire cycle (Table 8.7) also reveals that Bach did not cut corners. On the contrary, his ambitions during the first year were so far-reaching that he planned on providing for many Sundays either two-part cantatas or two different but complementary works for performance before and after the hour-long sermon, as evidenced by thirteen such compositions: BWV 75, 76, 21, 24+185, 147, 186, 179+199, 70, 181+18, 31+4, 172+59, 194+165, and 22+23. If he did in fact follow through on his plan for the entire year, several dozen other cantatas from the first cycle have been lost.
The concept of a so-called double cycle was actually realized in the 1720 libretto collection Gott-geheiligtes Singen und Spielen by Johann Oswald Knauer, whose texts Bach used for BWV 64, 69a, and 77. Bach’s text selection for the first year indicates a rather eclectic and pragmatic approach, dictated by such considerations as the integration of existing works and the ready availability of suitable texts. Besides Knauer, only Erdmann Neumeister
(for BWV 24) can be identified among the authors; the majority of the librettists remain unknown. Nevertheless, we can trace the emergence of three favorite text forms, although they may not be related to three different authors: (1) biblical dictum (from the Gospel lesson)–recitative–aria–recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 136, 105, 46, 179, 69a, 77, 25, 109, 89, and 104 for the eighth, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-second Sundays after Trinity and for Misericordias Domini; (2) biblical dictum–recitative–chorale–aria–recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 48, 40, 64, 153, 65, and 67 for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity, four Christmas season feasts, and Quasimodogeniti; and (3) biblical dictum–aria–chorale–recitative–aria–chorale in BWV 83, 144, 66, 104, 166, 166, 86, 37, and 44 for Purification, Septuagesimae, Easter Monday, and Misericordias Domini to Exaudi.
TABLE 8.7. First Annual Cantata Cycle (Jahrgang I)—Performance Schedule, 1723–24
BWV
Cantata
Liturgical
Date Performancea
Cantatas on texts of various poets:
75
Die Elenden sollen essen (2 parts)
1st Sunday after Trinity
5/30/1723
76
Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (2 parts)
2nd Sunday after Trinity
6/6/1723 (a,s)
21 *
Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis (2 parts)
3rd Sunday after Trinity
6/13/1723
24
Ein ungefärbt Gemüte
4th Sunday after Trinity
6/20/1723
185 *
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe
4th Sunday after Trinity
167
Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe
St. John’s Day
6/24/1723
147 †
Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (2 parts)
Visitation
7/2/1723
186 *
Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht (2 parts)
7th Sunday after Trinity
7/11/1723 (a,s)
136
Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz
8th Sunday after Trinity
7/18/1723
105
Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht
9th Sunday after Trinity
7/25/1723
46
Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei
10th Sunday after Trinity
8/1/1723
179
Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei
11th Sunday after Trinity
8/8/1723
199 *
Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut
11th Sunday after Trinity
69a
Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele
12th Sunday after Trinity
8/15/1723
77
Du sollt Gott, deinen Herren, lieben
13th Sunday after Trinity
8/22/1723
25
Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe
14th Sunday after Trinity
8/29/1723
138
Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz
15th Sunday after Trinity
9/5/1723
95
Christus, der ist mein Leben
16th Sunday after Trinity
9/12/1723
148
Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens
17th Sunday after Trinity
9/19/1723(?)
48
Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen
19th Sunday after Trinity
10/3/1723
162 *
Ach! ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe
20th Sunday after Trinity
10/10/1723
109
Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben
21st Sunday after Trinity
10/17/1723
89
Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim?
22nd Sunday after Trinity
10/24/1723
163 *
Nur jedem das Seine
23rd Sunday after Trinity
10/31/1723
60
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, I
24th Sunday after Trinity
11/7/1723
90
Es reißet euch ein schrecklich Ende
25th Sunday after Trinity
11/14/1723
70 †
Wachet! betet! betet! wachet! (2 parts)
26th Sunday after Trinity
11/21/1723
Start of ecclesiastical year
61 *
Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, I
1st Sunday in Advent
11/28/1723
63 *
Christen, ätzet diesen Tag
1st day of Christmas
12/25/1723
[243a
Magnificat in E-flat major
1st day of Christmas (Vespers)]
40
Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes
2nd day of Christmas
12/26/1723
64
Sehet, welch eine Liebe hat uns der Vater erzeiget
3rd day of Christmas
12/27/1723
190
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied (incomplete)
New Year’s Day
1/1/1724
153
Schau, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind
Sunday after New Year’s Day
1/2/1724
65
Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen
Epiphany
1/6/1724
154
Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren
1st Sunday after Epiphany
1/9/1724 (a,s)
155 *
Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange
2nd Sunday after Epiphany
1/16/1724 (a,t)
73
Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir
3rd Sunday after Epiphany
1/23/1724 (a,t)
81
Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?
4th Sunday after Epiphany
1/30/1724 (a,t)
83
Erfreute Zeit im neuen Bunde
Purification
2/2/1724 (a,t)
144
Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin
Septuagesimae
2/6/1724 (a,t)
181
Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister
Sexagesimae
2/13/1724 (a,t)
18 *
Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee
Sexagesimae
22 *
Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe
Estomihi
2/20/1724 (a,t)
23 *
Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn
Estomihi
—
[Siehe eine Jungfrau ist schwanger]
Annunciation
3/25/1724 (a,t)
182 *
Himmelskönig, sei willkommen
Annunciation
[245
St. John Passion, 1st version
Good Friday (Vespers)
4/7/1724]
31 *
Der Himmel lacht
Easter Sunday
4/9/1724 (a,t)
4 *
Christ lag in Todes Banden (later moved to cycle II)
Easter Sunday
66 ‡
Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen
2nd day of Easter
4/10/1724 (a,t)
134 ‡
Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß
3rd day of Easter
4/11/1724 (a,t)
67
Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ
Quasimodogeniti
4/16/1724 (a,t)
104
Du Hirte I
srael, höre
Misericordias Domini
4/23/1724 (a,t)
12 *
Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen
Jubilate
4/30/1724
166
Wo gehest du hin?
Cantate
5/7/1724
86
Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch
Rogate
Johann Sebastian Bach Page 39
