Jauchzet Frohlocket Score

[Ogier Dudley]

Jauchzet, frohlocket! Auf, preiset die Tage (Shout for joy, exult, rise up, praise the day),[1] BWV 248I (also written as BWV 248 I),[2] is a 1734 Christmas cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach that serves as the first part of his Christmas Oratorio. Bach was then Thomaskantor, responsible for church music at four churches in Leipzig, a position he had assumed in 1723. For the oratorio, the libretto by an unknown author followed the nativity of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, interspersed with reflecting texts for recitatives and arias, and stanzas from Lutheran hymns.

The cantata is structured in nine movements. An extended choral introduction is followed by two scenes, each a sequence of four movements. Both scenes are composed of a quotation from the Gospel of Luke, a recitative reflecting the narration, an aria-like prayer or meditation, and a chorale setting a stanza from a Lutheran hymn. Bach scored the cantata for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a festive Baroque orchestra with trumpets, timpani, flutes, oboes and strings. A tenor soloist narrates the Biblical story in secco recitative, as the Evangelist. There are two chorales: a four-part setting of Paul Gerhardt's "Wie soll ich dich empfangen" and a closing score with an independent orchestra set to text for a stanza from Martin Luther's "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her".

Since his appointment as director musices in Leipzig in 1723, Bach had been presenting church cantatas for the Christmas season in the Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church) and Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church), including the following Christmas Day cantatas:[3][4][5]

Church music in Latin was not uncommon for Christmas Day in Leipzig: Bach's compositions of this genre include, for Christmas Day of 1723, the Christmas version of his Magnificat, BWV 243a, and the Sanctus in D major, BWV 238.[10] Another Sanctus, the Sanctus for six vocal parts, BWV 232 III (early version), was composed for Christmas Day of 1724.[11]

In 1733, Augustus III of Poland succeeded his father, Augustus the Strong, as Elector of Saxony and took residence in Dresden. Bach hoped to become court composer, and dedicated Missa of 1733 to Augustus.[12]

Three extended movements of BWV 248 I are based on music from these two cantatas: the opening chorus follows the opening of Tnet, ihr Pauken!, and the alto and bass arias are derived from Lat uns sorgen and Tnet, ihr Pauken!, respectively. [17]

The work is structured in nine movements. The text of the opening chorus is a free paraphrase of the beginning of Psalm 100.[20] The chorus is followed by two groups of four movements each, following the pattern: reading / recitative / aria / chorale. Alfred Drr notes that the theologian August Hermann Francke and others had recommended three steps when reading the Bible: reading / meditation / prayer, and sees a similar approach, with the chorale comparing to the amen confirming the prayer.[19]

Bach led the first performance during a morning rendition at the Nikolaikirche in 1734.[23] The libretto was printed and bears the title of the oratorio, Oratorium, welches die Heilige Weyhnacht ber in beyden Haupt-Kirchen zu Leipzig musiciret wurde. Anno 1734. (Oratorio, which was played over the Holy Christmas in the two main churches of Leipzig. 1734.) The title for Jauchzet! frohlocket! reads: "Am 1sten Heil. Weynachts-Feyertage. Frhe zu St. Nicolai, und Nachmittage zu St. Thomas" (On the 1st Holy Christmas Day. Morning at St. Nicholas, afternoon at St. Thomas).

Bach structured the cantata in nine movements, beginning with an extended chorus. The other eight movements contain a Gospel reading in a tenor secco recitative, a meditative, accompanied recitative, a prayer-like aria, and an affirming chorale.[19] It features three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir (SATB) and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets (Tr), timpani, two traversos (Tra), two oboes (Ob), two oboes d'amore (Oa), two violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo.[24] A typical performance lasts 29 minutes.[1]

The following scoring adheres to the Neue Bach-Ausgabe (New Bach Edition). The keys and time signatures are taken from Drr and use the symbol for common time.[25] The continuo, played throughout, is not shown.

The voices enter in unison, imitating at first timpani then trumpets.[27] In the following section, the vocal lines are mostly homophonic and sometimes imitative, while the instrumental forces drive the movement. With the text "Lasset das Zagen, verbannet die Klage" (Abandon despair, banish laments),[22] the voices, now in imitation, dominate while the instruments accompany.[30] The second section is a modified repetition of the first.[31]

The middle section (B) also comprises two passages. "Dienet dem Hchsten mit herrlichen Chren" (Serve the Highest with glorious choruses)[22] is an imitative section in B minor, accompanied only by the strings.[31] "Lat uns den Namen des Herrschers verehren!" (Let us revere the name of the sovereign)[1] is set mostly in homophony with strings and woodwinds. After the middle section, the beginning A is repeated in full.[31]

The musicologist Markus Rathey notes that in the secular model, Tnet, ihr Pauken, Bach had not initially thought of beginning with the timpani alone, but arrived at the present version in a later revision. Rathey suggests that Bach sought a more dramatic way to begin with reduced force and let the music increase, in keeping with his endeavor to transfer operatic features from Dresden to Leipzig.[32] Rathey observes that listeners at the time may have interpreted the dominant trumpets as royal instruments, here three trumpets and timpani, corresponding to the obbligato trumpet in the aria "Groer Herr und starker Knig", which addresses the newborn as both king and saviour.[33]

The alto provides the narration, particularly the announcement of a birth, in a recitative, "Nun wird mein liebster Brutigam, nun wird der Held aus Davids Stamm" (Now my dearest bridegroom, now the hero from David's branch),[22] expressing eagerness to meet her bridegroom, a descendant of David, in the imagery of the Song of Songs. In an accompanied recitative, two oboes d'amore support the voice.[17]

In the alto da capo aria "Bereite dich, Zion, mit zrtlichen Trieben" (Prepare yourself, Zion, with tender efforts),[22] the singer prepares herself to meeting her beloved. The oboe d'amore supports the tender expressiveness. The movement is based on the aria "Ich will dich nicht hren" (No. 9) from the secular cantata Lat uns sorgen, lat uns wachen, BWV 213, with a different affect. While the secular model demands destruction ("zermalmet"), the aria in the oratorio speaks of the most beautiful beloved ("den Liebsten, den Schnsten").[35]

A chorale concludes the first scene, "Wie soll ich dich empfangen" (How shall I embrace You),[22][36] deepening the right preparation for the reception of the beloved. It is the first stanza of Paul Gerhardt's Advent song, with the melody which was associated with it in Leipzig, the same melody also used for Gerhardt's Passion hymn "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden". The same melody of this first chorale in the oratorio reappears in the final movement of the final Part VI, "Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen".[35]

The tenor continues the narration with another secco recitative, "Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn" (And she bore her first son),[22] after Luke 2:7, reporting the birth of the baby which is laid in a manger.[22]

In a combination of chorale and recitative, the soprano sings the sixth stanza, "Er ist auf Erden kommen arm" (He came to earth poor),[22] from Luther's hymn "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ"[22] in a triple metre and embellished. Line by line, it is interspersed with comments by the bass, who begins "Wer will die Liebe recht erhhn" (Who can rightly exalt this love),[22] in contrasting common time.[35] The voices are supported by two oboes d'amore.[38]

The bass da capo aria, "Groer Herr und starker Knig, liebster Heiland, o wie wenig" (Great Lord, o powerful King, dearest Savior, o how little),[22] contrasts the birth of Our Lord with poverty. The movement is taken from the bass aria in Tnet, ihr Pauken, in which the Queen is addressed, accompanied by an obbligato trumpet to refer to her royalty.[17]

The cantata is closed with the chorale "Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein" (Ah, my heart's beloved little Jesus),[22][39] the 13th stanza of Luther's hymn "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her".[22] While the compassionate text addresses the baby, interjections by trumpets and timpani recall the opening movement and refer to his godly nature.[35]

Bach may have performed Jauchzet, frohlocket! again, but there is no record of it.[40] Although performances of Jauchzet, frohlocket! in Christmas Day services have become rare,[41] they are regularly held in Leipzig where the work was first performed.[42] The cantata is often presented in concerts that usually combine several of the parts of the Christmas Oratorio, most frequently parts I to III. It is a Christmas tradition for German-speaking people to attend such a concert.[41]

Drr and Jones described the cantata as "one of the pinnacles of world music literature".[19] Rathey observes that although the Christmas Oratorio is one of Bach's most frequently performed works, it has not attracted much scholarship in English.[43]

c80f0f1006