Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret, BWV 31

Der Himmel lacht! Die Erde jubilieret (The Heaven laughs! The Earth rejoices), BWV 31, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Origin

The work was composed in Weimar for 21 April 1715, the first day of Easter, and was later performed several times in Leipzig in a slightly modified form. There is proof to these performances for the years 1724 and 1731; a further performance in the 1735 is probable as well.

Theme

The text originates from the "Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer" (Evangelical Offering of Prayers) by Weimar poet Salomon Franck, author of nine cantata texts for Bach. The verses consist purely of free poetry and interpret - in accordance with the cause - the Easter message, connected to the request to believers to let Jesus also be resurrected within their souls. The final movement, the last verse of the death choral "Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist" (When my Hour is come) by Nikolaus Herman constitutes a reference to the afterlife of the Christians after their resurrection by Jesus.

Content

• Vocal soloists: Soprano, tenor, bass,
• Choir: Soprano I/II, Alto, Tenor, Bass
• Orchestra: trumpet I-III, bass drum, oboe I-III, Baroque oboe, violin I/II, viola I/II, violoncello I/II, Basso continuo

Characteristics

Although Bach was probably more than busy around such an important holiday as Easter, the composition of this work with 3 trumpets and 5 reed instruments is remarkable: not less than 17 different instruments are needed to perform this Cantata.

From the beginning, the festive character of the work is demonstrated by a sonata with a fanfare-like introduction. After that, a chorus of five voices joins in and takes up and develops the carolling theme. Next come two recitatives, which frame a bass aria, only accompanied by basso continuo. The following tenor aria is introduced by a ritornello for strings. In the last aria, soprano and solo oboe contrast with low-lying unison strings, which already anticipate the choral's melody of the final movement.

Since the Weimar ecclesiastic tuning of the organ, which served as a reference for the string instruments, was probably a third higher than the standard tuning tone in Leipzig, Bach had to either leave out the voices of the reed instruments completely or rewrite them for the Leipzig re-performances or he even had them played by other instruments than originally intended.

Recordings

• Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, dir. Ton Koopman, Soloists: Barbara Schlick, Kai Wessel, Guy de Mey, Klaus Mertens - J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 1, Antoine Marchand CC72231

Literature

• Alfred Dürr: Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kantaten. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
• Werner Neumann: Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs, 1947, 5.Auf. 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
• Hans-Joachim Schulze: Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
• Christoph Wolff/Ton Koopman: Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten Verlag J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 2006 ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4

External links

• Cantatas, BWV 31-40: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV31.htm

This article incorporates information from this version of the equivalent article on the German Wikipedia.