Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75

Nikolaikirche, ca. 1850

Die Elenden sollen essen (The miserable shall eat), BWV 75, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach composed the cantata for the first Sunday after Trinity and first performed it in Leipzig on 30 May 1723. It is the first cantata of his first annual cycle of cantatas.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata for the First Sunday after Trinity and first performed it in the service in the Nikolaikirche on 30 May 1723, to take up his position as Kantor.^[1][2] From then he was responsible for the education of the Thomanerchor, performances in the regular services in the Thomaskirche and the Nikolaikirche, and until 1725 also for one of two services in the Paulinerkirche.^[3] He started a project of composing one cantata for each Sunday and holiday of the liturgical year,^[4] termed by Christoph Wolff "an artistic undertaking on the largest scale".^[1]

The autograph score is written neatly on non-Leipzig paper, probably while Bach lived still in Köthen.^[5]

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle of John, 1 John 4:16–21, and from the Gospel of Luke, Luke 16:19–31, the parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. The unknown poet begins the cantata with a verse from a psalm, Psalms 22:26 (verse 27 in the Luther Bible), "The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.", connecting the gospel to the Old Testament as a starting point.^[3] The later cantata for the same occasion, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39, (Break your bread for the hungry) started similarly with a quotation from the Old Testament. The poet expands the contrast of "Reichtum und Armut" (wealth and poverty, rich and poor) in elaborate 14 movements, arranged in two parts to be performed before and after the sermon. The focus of the second part is to be poor or rich in spirit.^[5] Both parts are concluded by a stanza of Samuel Rodigast's chorale Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, stanza 2 in movement 7, stanza 6 in movement 14.^[2][3]

A Leipzig chronicle, "Acta Lipsiensium academica", reported the social event: "... führte ... Hr. Joh. Sebastian Bach ... mit gutem applauso seine erste Music auf" (... performed ... with good applause his first music).^[3] "Good applause" means "great approval"^[1] rather than clapping of hands.^[3] A different translation renders the note as "... the new Cantor and Director of the Collegium Musicum, Herr Johann Sebastian Bach, who has come hither from the Prince's court of Cöthen, produced his first music here with great success."^[2]

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for four soloists, soprano, alto, tenor and bass, a four-part choir, trumpet, two oboes, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon.^[4]

Part I

1. Coro: Die Elenden sollen essen

2. Recitativo (bass): Was hilft des Purpurs Majestät

3. Aria (tenor): Mein Jesus soll mein alles sein

4. Recitativo (tenor): Gott stürzet und erhöhet

5. Aria (soprano): Ich nehme mein Leiden mit Freuden auf mich

6. Recitativo (soprano): Indes schenkt Gott ein gut Gewissen

7. Chorale: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan

Part II

8. Sinfonia

9. Recitativo (alto): Nur eines kränkt

10. Aria (alto): Jesus macht mich geistlich reich

11. Recitativo (bass): Wer nur in Jesu bleibt

12. Aria (bass): Mein Herze glaubt und liebt

13. Recitativo (tenor): O Armut, der kein Reichtum gleicht!

14. Chorale: Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan

The two parts are composed as the same arrangement of alternating recitatives and arias with a concluding chorale, only Part II is opened by a sinfonia instead of a chorus.

Music

Bach marked the occasion, creating the opening chorus reminiscent of a French overture, with a slow first section in dotted rhythm and a fast fugue. He chose the same form one year later to begin his second annual cycle with the chorale cantata O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20. The composition can also be seen as a prelude and fugue on a large scale. The prelude is again in two sections separated by a short interlude, in the way of a motet according to the different ideas of the text. In the fugue on the words "Euer Herz soll ewiglich leben" (your heart shall live for ever), the subject is developed three times, again separated by interludes.^[3]

Four of the recitatives are "secco", accompanied only by the continuo, but the first one of each part is "accompagnato", brightened by the strings.^[4] In the arias, the voice and the instruments mostly share the themes. The arias can be considered as a Suite of French dance movements, the tenor a Polonaise, the soprano aria a Minuet, the alto aria a Passepied and the bass aria a Gigue.^[5] In the last aria, the trumpet opens the setting and then accompanies the bass in virtuoso figuration, adding splendour to the words "Mein Herze glaubt und liebt" (My heart believes and loves).^[3][4]

The music of the two stanzas of the chorale^[6] is identical. The tune is not a simple four-part setting as in most of Bach's later cantatas, but the voices are embedded in a concerto of the orchestra, lead by violin I and oboe I.^[4] The instrumental theme is derived from the first line of the chorale tune.^[3]

The sinfonia beginning Part II, rare in Bach's cantatas anyway, is especially remarkable, because it is a chorale fantasia on the same chorale melody.^[4] The tune is played by the trumpet which was silent throughout Part I, as the cantus firmus against a polyphon string setting, emphasizing once more "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" (What God does is well done).^[3]

Recordings

Nikolaikirche, 2011

• Die Bach Kantate Vol. 38, Helmuth Rilling, Frankfurter Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Ingeborg Reichelt, Julia Hamari, Adalbert Kraus, Hanns-Friedrich Kunz, Hänssler 1970
• J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 4, Gustav Leonhardt, Knabenchor Hannover, Collegium Vocale Gent, Leonhardt Consort, Marcus Klein (soloist of the Knabenchor Hannover), Paul Esswood, Adalbert Kraus, Max van Egmond, Teldec 1977
• J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 6, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Ruth Ziesak, Elisabeth von Magnus, Paul Agnew, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 1998
• J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 8 - Leipzig Cantatas), Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Midori Suzuki, Yoshikazu Mera, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooy, BIS 1998
• Bach Cantatas Vol. 1: City of London / For the 1st Sunday after Trinity, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Gillian Keith, Wilke te Brummelstroete, Paul Agnew, Dietrich Henschel, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
• J.S. Bach: Weinen, Klagen…, Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Gent, Carolyn Sampson, Daniel Taylor, Mark Padmore, Peter Kooy, Harmonia Mundi France 2003

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Christoph Wolff (1991). "Bach: Essays on his Life and Music". http://books.google.com/books?id=8WFNr4EZk2cC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=%22bwv+75%22+%22Christoph+Wolff%22&source=bl&ots=vCyQyrctCH&sig=_U8rV0tK32VIoWG9WvX921ZAZOk&hl=en&ei=jIEATqHaBoaN-wbe4-m7DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&sqi=2&ved=0CC4Q6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Carol Traupman-Carr (2006). "Cantata 75, Die Elenden sollen essen". The Bach Choir of Bethlehem. http://www.bach.org/bach101/cantatas/cantata75.html. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Dürr, Alfred (1971) (in German). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach. 1. Bärenreiter-Verlag. OCLC 523584. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Julian Mincham (2010). "Chapter 2 BWV 75 Die Elenden sollen essen / The first cantata of the cycle for the First Sunday after Trinity.". jsbachcantatas.com. http://www.jsbachcantatas.com/documents/chapter-2-bwv-75.htm. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} John Eliot Gardiner (2004). "Cantatas for the First Sunday after Trinity / St Giles Cripplegate, London". monteverdiproductions.co.uk. http://www.monteverdiproductions.co.uk/resources/sdg101_gb.pdf. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 
6. ^ "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan". bach-cantatas.com. 2008. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/CM/Was-Gott-tut.htm. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 

External links

• Cantatas, BWV 71-80: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Cantata BWV 75 Die Elenden sollen essen, daß sie satt werden on the bach cantatas website
• German text and English translation, Emmanuel Music
• Die Elenden sollen essen on the Bach website (German)
• BWV 75 Die Elenden sollen essen text, structure, instrumentation, University of Alberta
• BWV 75 Die Elenden sollen essen English text, University of Vermont
• Brian Robins: Cantata No. 75, "Die Elenden sollen essen," BWV 75 Allmusic