Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV4
In contrast with the rich legacy of Passion music which Bach has left us there is very little surviving music which he intended specifically for Easter Day. We know of only two cantatas originally written for this festival, both of them dating from Bach’s youthful years at Mühlhausen and Weimar. Christ lag in Todesbanden (“Christ lay in death’s bonds”) is the earlier of them but, although in existence as early as 1708, Bach made later use of this cantata on Easter Sunday in Leipzig in 1724 and in the following year. And it is the parts for these performances, perhaps with a few alterations, which have survived.

Among the most satisfying features of BWV4 are its expressive homogeneity and its purity of form, which gives the work both a cohesive strength and a powerful sense of direction. Bach achieves this in two ways: first, by setting Luther’s text as it stands, an unusual procedure in the later cantatas, and, secondly, by using, in every verse, the chorale variation technique favoured by composers such as Buxtehude, and inherited from the seventeenth century. In this way a single melody provides the foundation of the entire work. Within this strict framework Bach’s music, in the prevailing key of E minor, is strikingly varied and reveals his early and profound mastery of form and technique.

A short, poignant sinfonia for strings, containing the first measures of the chorale melody, introduces the work. This is followed by Verse One, which states fully the hymn tune. For this choral movement and the concluding one Bach added in 1725 a cornett and three trombones to the earlier five-strand string texture of two violins, two violas and continuo. The cornett doubles the soprano line, while a single trombone augments each of the three remaining vocal strands. Verse Two is a duet for soprano and alto, supported by cornett and trombone respectively. Verse Three is a tenor solo with an energetic accompaniment of unison violins. Verse Four is a four-part chorale movement in motet style with continuo. In this movement the hymn melody is sustained in the alto line. Verse Five is a solo number for bass and strings, which builds up to a dramatic outburst in the line “Der Würger kann uns nicht mehr schaden” (“The destroyer can no longer harm us”). Verse Six is another duet, this time for soprano and tenor with continuo. The cantata ends with a four-part chorale whose text celebrates the Passover. This was newly composed by Bach in 1724, seemingly to replace an earlier, now lost setting of the concluding stanza of Luther’s hymn.

Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht BWV55
As far as we know this was the only cantata which Bach wrote for a solo tenor. It appears certain from existing material that only the first two movements of Bach’s cantata were newly composed in 1726 for performance on the twenty-second Sunday after Trinity. The music is severe and makes exacting demands on the vocalist. In the opening G minor aria, scored for flute, oboe d’amore, violins in two parts and continuo, the vocal line hardly leaves the upper reaches of the tenor tessitura. By these means Bach accentuates both the urgency and the desperation of the sinner’s predicament. In the succeeding simple recitative there is an arresting moment at its close when, for emphasis, the word “Gott” is placed on a high B flat. The second aria, in D minor, is more simply scored than the first, featuring only a flute with basso continuo. A second recitative, accompanied this time, and more extended than the first, speaks of the sinner’s prayer answered. The cantata ends with a verse from a hymn by Johann Rist, dating from 1642; its melody, by Johann Schop, belongs to the same year, is straightforwardly harmonized by Bach and anticipates the same verse that concludes St Peter’s denial in the St Matthew Passion, first heard in the year following the performance of this cantata.

Ich habe genug BWV82.2
Bach wrote this solo cantata in the following year for the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated on 2 February. The work was evidently a favourite of his since he made no fewer than four versions of it, as well as numerous revisions. In its earliest form the scoring is for bass with oboe, strings and continuo. In about 1731 Bach reworked the cantata in a second version, for soprano, transposing the prevailing C minor key of the original to E minor, and substituting a transverse flute for the oboe. The only surviving manuscript parts are those for flute and voice. It is this version that it is recorded with tenor voice.

Some four or more years later, after 1735, Bach reverted to the key of C minor in a third version, whose tessitura lies within the mezzo soprano/alto range. Finally, sometime between 1735 and 1748 Bach adjusted the cantata for bass voice, once again, but returning to what may well have been his original intention of adding an oboe da caccia, which doubles the violin in the second aria. In addition to these versions the recitative “Ich habe genug” (No 2) and the aria “Schlummert ein” (No 4) are included in arrangements for soprano voice and harpsichord in the Klavierbüchlein compiled by Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena (1725). So, clearly a family favourite.

The cantata opens with an instrumental prelude leading to the first aria. Above a murmuring string accompaniment the solo flute weaves an expressive melody which is taken up by the soprano. A recitative containing passages of arioso is followed by one of Bach’s most affecting arias, “Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen”. He scores this tender, extended ‘da capo’ slumber aria, with its gently sighing phrases, and in the relative key of G major, for flute, strings and continuo. This beguiling music is followed by a second recitative, which closes with a brief section of arioso. The cantata concludes with a lively dance-like aria scored for flute and strings.
Nicholas Anderson

The texts of Bach’s Cantatas
The texts of the three cantatas come from two very distinct periods in the history of German sacred texts: BWV4 presents a programmatic hymn by Martin Luther which in 2024 celebrates its quincentenary, BWV55 and BWV82 are characteristic products of Bach’s own religious circles 200 years later, in the 1720s. It is on the basis of the continued congregational use of Reformation hymns that the Pietist cantata production in Leipzig developed.

In BWV4, Johann Sebastian Bach set all seven verses of Martin Luther’s chorale “Christ lag in Todesbanden” which is based on two medieval Easter chants, the Latin “Victimae Paschali Laudes” and the German “Christ ist erstanden”. The medieval Latin source for Luther’s chorale is a so-called Sequence, a highly elaborate form used from the 10th century by monastic poets such as Notker of St Gall for compositions for the feast days of the church year. This particular text-music ensemble for Easter was probably written by Wipo of Burgund in the early 11th century. The form consists of an introduction followed by pairs of verses which work like acts in a miniature drama, giving particularly voice to Mary Magdalen who announces the resurrection to the amazed disciples.

The dramatic piece with its Easter proclamation called for a congregational response. As early as the 12th century, “Christ ist erstanden” developed as a vernacular summary of the Sequence, making it the oldest known German hymn which is still sung today. The text “Christ is risen” picks up the lines of Mary Magdalene in the Latin and the tune is based on the introduction to the Sequence. On Easter day, lay people would answer with the vernacular response after each verse.

Martin Luther realised the potential of these popular song to spread the gospel and complex theological messages in an accessible way. He marketed his hymn “Christ lag in Todesbanden” in the very first printed hymnals in 1524 as “Christ ist erstanden, gebessert”, i.e. “an updated version of Christ is Risen”. Luther expands and restructures the tune to conform to the norms established in Germany by the Meistersinger. This means taking the signature first line, expanding its ambitus and making it the A part which is repeated. The B part is then formed of musical material which is partly taken from the Latin Sequence. For the text, Luther expands the biblical references to emphasize the central theological insight of the Reformation, salvation by grace alone.

The hymn proved highly influencial, being included in every German hymnbook for the last 500 years; Bach’s congregation would have almost certainly have known it by heart since the hymnbooks were also the textbooks for learning to read. They could easily join in the last verse which appropriately starts with a communal statement: “Wir essen und wir leben wohl” (“We eat and live well”) and leading to the final “Hallelujah” as confirmation of this fact.

The text for both BWV55 and BWV82 was written by Christoph Birkmann, a mathematics student at Leipzig in 1724-1727 who published the libretti of the cantatas under the title “GOtt-geheiligte Sabbaths-Zehnden” (“God-devoted Sunday Tithes comprising Sacred Cantatas for all High Feast Days and Sundays, dedicated to the congregation at Hersbruck for God-blessed devotion by Christoph Birkmann, candidate for the ministry, printed in Nuremberg by Lorenz Bieling”) when he became a curate near Nuremberg in 1728. The preface to this and his autobiography give a rare insight into how cantatas were conceived, performed and edited and the importance of the student scene in Leipzig for Bach’s oeuvre.

There were practical reasons for involving the 23-year-old student as adviser, singer, and instrumentalist: the Leipzig authorities had just cut down on choral provisions through the Thomasschule and J S Bach had to provide the Sunday music with reduced forces. He turned to talented and cash-strapped students at the renowned local university whom he invited to his house for music and discussions. But there was also clearly a shared religious interest expressed in the cantata-coproduction. Birkmann came from a poor Nuremberg family but with an excellent education as a chorister of classical and modern languages, mathematics, music theory and practice and a religious education provided by a teacher who had trained with the Pietists in Halle. He worked with Bach, remodelling older libretti such as the one for the St John’s Passion with a focus on the emotional expression of religious feeling and writing new texts mainly for the solo-singing soul 'perfect expression of the devout Christian '(and saving money on performers).

The two cantatas on the album show the range of music which Bach used for setting these chamber-pieces of Christian life: from tormented recitatives jumping up and down the scale to reflect the gulf of sin between God and the singer to the joyful dance-of-death rhythms of the aria ‘Ich freue mich auf meinen Tod’ (BWV82). Birkmann’s text are direct dialogues of the individual soul with God, lamenting the wretched state of being a ‘servant to sin’ (BWV55) and longing to be brought to heavenly joy by ‘death, brother of slumber’—a phrase from another cantata (BWV56) by Birkmann which is put into music by the ‘Schlummert ein’ aria (BWV82). Ultimately it was this lullaby with its repetition of soothing ‘sanft und selig’ (sweet and serene/blessed) which was copied into Anna Magdalena’s notebook—the perfect combination of personal piety and an ingeniously simple setting.
Henrike Lähnemann

Signum Classics © 2024

Bach, in his time, could never have envisioned his music being recorded. When we first embarked on our journey with the Oxford Bach Soloists, our focus was not on recording. We were immersed in the live experience, discovering Bach’s vocal works chronologically, in real-time. It was about living the music as all those who performed and heard it did, tracing his steps through each note and phrase. However, as we progressed over the seven years since 2017, our ambition evolved. Our desire to share Bach’s genius with a broader audience grew, echoing how Luther harnessed the power of the printing press to reach a vast, almost global audience.

Contemplating this, one wonders: if Bach had access to modern recording technology, would he have seized the opportunity to expand his reach beyond the confines of the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche? I believe he would have embraced the chance to share his music with millions worldwide. In this spirit of reaching out, in what can be seen as true Evangelism, we proudly present our first recording—a labour of love that encapsulates seven years of immersive research and exploration in the city of dreaming spires.

Featuring two of our core Soloists, Nick Pritchard (tenor) and Yu-Wei Hu (flute), this album presents three of Bach’s Cantatas. These include possibly his earliest vocal work, Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV4), his only extant tenor cantata, Ich armer Mensch (BWV55), and the much-beloved cantata, Ich habe genug, showcased here in its arrangement for high voice and flute (BWV82.2). This recording is a celebration of our journey with Bach, and an invitation to experience his timeless music through our own journey of dedication and discovery.

Tom Hammond-Davies © 2024