User:CHGiffen/BWV 56

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Bach Cantata Notes : BWV 56 Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen

In his third year in Leipzig, Bach used single solo voices more frequently than in his earlier years. Many of the most well-known of the solo cantatas including three of the great alto cantatas BWV 35,169 and 170 as well as the extraordinary bass cantata “Ich habe genug” BWV 82 are from this season. Whether the task of training a chorus for the big opening movements became onerous for Bach, or the inclination to encompass a whole spiritual journey with one voice was responsible for this, is not known. What resulted are some of the greatest and most intense pieces for solo voice in the literature.

Cantata BWV 56 has always been a bit in the shadow of the more famous BWV 82. This is undeserved, for in this work we have Bach working at his profoundest level. The reading for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity is an unusual and serious one. Since Bach wrote no Lenten music except for the Passion settings, this intense work is very suitable.

For all of its austerity, the opening movement is remarkably and vividly descriptive of the text. The stumbling bass line is a remarkably realistic depiction of one dragging a heavy cross. The opening awkward line has an almost pictorial authenticity of a cross. The orchestration with strings doubled by three oboes is of unparalleled density and seriousness. The ungiving and oppressive atmosphere is broken by the vocal triplets that dominate the last two lines of text. The da capo strangely only includes the opening tutti with no vocal line, giving the movement an incomplete and unfinished quality.

The first recitative makes clear that this first movement is meant to be a prelude to the reading from Matthew, which begins with the voyage across the lake. The seascape is vividly drawn with the simplest of gestures, a series of arpeggios in the continuo. The moment when Jesus steps onto dry land is one of the great magical moments in all of Bach’s recitatives. The lengthy aria with oboe obbligato that follows can seem repetitive if the extraordinary detail of overlapping phrases is missed. The palpable sense of relief from the weightiness of the first movement is essential to the message that Jesus gives to the scribes, that their charge of blasphemy is hypocritical. For the final recitative Bach makes a gesture unique in his cantatas: he brings back the last two lines of the first aria in an expanded and more finished form. The inconclusiveness of the first aria was necessary to complete the message of this cantata. The unusually poetic harmonization of the chorale, “Du, o schönes Weltgebäude,” brings the cantata to a personal and striking close.

Cantata for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

1. Arie B

Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen,
   Er kömmt von Gottes lieber Hand,
Der führet mich nach meinen Plagen
   Zu Gott, in das gelobte Land.
Da leg ich den Kummer auf einmal ins Grab,
Da wischt mir die Tränen mein Heiland selbst ab.

2. Rezitativ B

Mein Wandel auf der Welt
Ist einer Schiffahrt gleich:
Betrübnis, Kreuz und Not
Sind Wellen, welche mich bedecken
Und auf den Tod
Mich täglich schrecken;
Mein Anker aber, der mich hält,
Ist die Barmherzigkeit,
Womit mein Gott mich oft erfreut.
Der rufet so zu mir:
Ich bin bei dir,
Ich will dich nicht verlassen noch versäumen!
Und wenn das wütenvolle Schäumen
Sein Ende hat,
So tret ich aus dem Schiff in meine Stadt,
Die ist das Himmelreich,
Wohin ich mit den Frommen
Aus vielem Trübsal werde kommen.

3. Arie B

Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch
Wieder von mir weichen müssen.
  Da krieg ich in dem Herren Kraft,
  Da hab ich Adlers Eigenschaft,
  Da fahr ich auf von dieser Erden
  Und laufe sonder matt zu werden.
  O gescheh es heute noch!

4. Rezitativ und Arioso B

Ich stehe fertig und bereit,
Das Erbe meiner Seligkeit
Mit Sehnen und Verlangen
Von Jesus Händen zu empfangen.
Wie wohl wird mir geschehn,
Wenn ich den Port der Ruhe werde sehn.
Da leg ich den Kummer auf einmal ins Grab,
Da wischt mir die Tränen mein Heiland selbst ab.

5. Choral

Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder,
   Komm und führe mich nur fort;
Löse meines Schiffleins Ruder,
   Bringe mich an sichern Port!
Es mag, wer da will, dich scheuen,
Du kannst mich vielmehr erfreuen;
   Denn durch dich komm ich herein
   Zu dem schönsten Jesulein.

1. Aria B

I will gladly carry the Cross,
   it comes from God's dear hand,
and leads me, after my troubles,
   to God, in the renowned land.
There at last I will lay my sorrow in the grave,
there my Savior himself will wipe away my tears.

2. Recitative B

My pilgrimage in the world
is like a sea voyage:
trouble, suffering, and anguish
are the waves that cover me
and to death itself
daily terrify me;
my anchor however, which holds me firm,
is mercy,
with which my God often appeases me.
He calls thus to me:
I am with you,
I will not forsake you or abandon you!
And when the raging torrents
are come to an end,
then I will step off the ship into my city,
which is the kingdom of heaven,
where with the righteous
I will emerge out of many troubles.

3. Aria B

Finally, finally my yoke
must again fall from me.
  Then will I fight with the Lord's strength,
  then I will have an eagle's power,
  then I will journey from this earth
  and run without becoming fatigued.
  O let it happen today!

4. Recitative and Arioso B

I stand ready and prepared
to receive the inheritance of my divinity
with desire and longing
from Jesus' hands.
How good would it be for me,
if I could see the port of rest.
There at last I will lay my sorrow in the grave,
there my Savior himself will wipe away my tears.

5. Chorale

Come, o death, brother of sleep,
   come and lead me away;
release the rudder of my little ship,
   bring me to the secure harbor!
He may shun you who will,
you can delight me much more;
   for through you I will come
   to my loveliest little Jesus.

(Du, o schönes Weltgebäude, verse 6:  Johann Franck, 1653)