It was performed on Trinity Sunday 8 June 1727 in Leipzig.[2] Rediscovery of the printed libretto of the cantata in the first decade of the 21st century led to a re-appraisal of prior assumptions regarding the early performance chronology of a few cantatas, including this one.[3]
History and words
The cantata was apparently composed for Trinity Sunday. The text of the cantata is a general praise of the Trinity, without a reference to a specific gospel reading. Addressing God the Creator, the Saviour and the Comforter, it could be used for other occasions such as Reformation Day.[4]
In his second year at Leipzig Bach had composed chorale cantatas between the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724 and Palm Sunday 1725, but for Easter that year he had returned to cantatas on more varied texts, possibly because he lost his librettist.[5] Later Bach returned to composing chorale cantatas, possibly with the intention of completing his second annual cycle. This cantata is one of these later chorale cantatas, and it was thought that it was performed in 1726. Rediscovery of the printed libretto of the cantata in the first decade of the 21st century led to a re-appraisal of prior assumptions regarding the first performance of this cantata: it was performed on Trinity Sunday 8 June 1727.[3][2] The work was revived during the composer´s lifetime and in the 1750s after the composer´s death.
Aria (bass): Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, mein Heil
Aria (soprano): Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, mein Trost
Aria (alto): Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, der ewig lebet
Chorale: Dem wir das Heilig jetzt
Music
The opening chorus on the first stanza of the chorale begins with a concerto of all the instruments as a ritornello. The trumpets highlight occasionally the interplay of strings and woodwinds. The cantus firmus, a melody of O Gott, du frommer Gott by Ahasverus Fritsch (1679), [9] is sung by the soprano, while the other voices sing sometimes in imitation, sometimes in homophony. The text is a praise of the God the Creator.
The following three movements are all arias. In the first aria the bass praises God the Saviour, accompanied only by the continuo. Bach may have thought of the vox Christi (voice of Christ), and of his humility. The word "Gelobet" (praised) is set as an expressive melisma. In the second aria the soprano, accompanied by flute and violin, praises God the Comforter. In the third aria the alto is accompanied by an oboe d'amore in song-like general praise. John Eliot Gardiner suggests that the "pastoral dance" was "inspired, perhaps in its imagery, by the concept of "den alles lobet, was in allen Lüften schwebet" (praised by all things that move in the air).[1][8] The final chorale is set in a joyful concerto of the instruments, similar to the conclusions of Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Ascension Oratorio.[6] Gardiner calls it "punctuated by brass and orchestral fanfares."[8] By this festive ending Bach marked Trinity Sunday as the conclusion of the first part of the liturgical year.
Publication
The cantata was first published in 1878 in the first complete edition of the works of Bach, Joh. Seb. Bach's Werke. The editor was Alfred Dörffel.
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