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Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, BWV 28

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Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende (Praise God! Now the year comes to an end),[1] BWV 28,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach for the Sunday after Christmas. He first performed it on 30 December 1725.

Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
BWV 28
Church cantata by J. S. Bach
Thomaskirche, Leipzig 1885
Occasion1st Sunday after Christmas
Performed30 December 1725 (1725-12-30): Leipzig

History and text

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Bach composed the cantata in his third year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig for the Sunday after Christmas. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Galatians, through Christ we are free from the law (Galatians 4:1–7), and from the Gospel of Luke, Simeon and Anna talking to Mary (Luke 2:33–40).[2]

The cantata text is by Erdmann Neumeister:[3] he included in the second movement the first stanza of Johann Gramann's hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (1530),[3] a Bible quotation (Jeremiah 32:41) in the third movement, and a hymn stanza by Paul Eber for the closing chorale.[3][4] The chorale theme "Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen" (Zahn 5267) is of unknown authorship. The poet did not refer to the Bible readings for the day but portrayed thanks for the past year and prayers for preservation in the new year.[5]

Bach first performed the cantata on 30 December 1725.[3]

Structure and scoring

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Bach structured the cantata in six movements, scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of cornetto, three trombones, two oboes, taille, two violins, viola and continuo.[3][6]

Movements of Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende
No. Title Type Vocal Winds Strings Others / Brass Key Time
1 Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende Aria Soprano 2 oboes, taille 2 violins, 1 viola continuo A minor 3/4
2 Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren Chorale SATB 1 oboe (col soprano),
1 oboe (coll'alto),
cornetto (col soprano),
taille (col tenore) 		1 violin (col soprano),
1 violin (coll'alto),
viola (col tenore) 		1 trombone (coll'alto),
1 trombone (col tenore),
1 trombone (col basso)
continuo 		C major  
3 So spricht der Herr Recitative / arioso Bass continuo  
4 Gott ist ein Quell Recitative Tenor 2 violins, viola continuo  
5 Gott hat uns im heurigen Jahre gesegnet Duet Alto / Tenor continuo C major 6/8
6 All solch dein Güt wir preisen Chorale SATB 1 oboe (col soprano),
1 oboe (coll'alto),
cornetto (col soprano),
taille (col tenore) 		1 violin (col soprano),
1 violin (coll'alto),
viola (col tenore) 		1 trombone (coll'alto),
1 trombone (col tenore),
1 trombone (col basso)
continuo 		A minor  

Music

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The cantata opens with an oboe trio playing an Italianate ritornello of four phrases, accompanied by the strings; the roles of the two choirs are later reversed. The soprano sings a virtuosic and melismatic aria commanding the listener to praise God.[7][8]

The following chorale expands the command from the individual to the collective, adopting an "archaic" motet form. It is reminiscent of the movements which opened most of Bach's chorale cantatas, composed as a cycle the previous year. The cantus firmus is sung in long notes by the soprano while the lower voices add "skilful imitatory texture, partly from new themes and partly from ideas derived from the chorale line in question", as Klaus Hofmann notes.[5][9] The instruments play colla parte in motet style with the voices, doubled by a quartet of cornetto and trombones.[5] The music in stile antico was performed at the end of John Eliot Gardiner's Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, who described its "sobriety and complexity, its buried treasures and subtleties, especially those that occur in its last fifty bars, in which you sense some immense cosmic struggle being played out".[10]

The third movement, a bass arioso, repeats the ascending scalar motif of the chorus. The tenor recitative is accompanied by sustained chordal strings and concludes on a major harmony. The continuo opens the duet aria with a two-part ritornello – dancing eighth notes followed by fast arpeggiated figures – that is repeated three more times during this movement. The vocal lines sing three blocks of imitative motivic entries.[7] In the style of Italian chamber duets, the voices first render a thought in imitation, "coming together each time for a concluding cadence".[5]

The cantata concludes with a four-part chorale in A minor.[7] Gardiner, who had conducted several versions during the Pilgrimage, notes the moving power of this harmonisation of the "prayer for protection and sustenance in the year to come".[10]

Recordings

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Notes

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  1. ^ "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

References

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  1. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 141.
  2. ^ Alfred Dürr (1981), Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (vol. 1, 4th ed.), Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag, pp. 146–149. ISBN 3-423-04080-7.
  3. ^ a b c d e Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende BWV 28; BC A 20 / Sacred cantata (1st Sunday of Christmas), Bach Digital
  4. ^ Sanford Terry, C.; Litti, D. (1917). "Bach's Cantata Libretti". Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association. 44 (1): 71–125. doi:10.1093/jrma/44.1.71. ISSN 0958-8442.
  5. ^ a b c d Klaus Hofmann (2007), Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende /Praise God! Now the Year Draws to a Close, BWV 28 (pp. 6–7), Bach Cantatas Website
  6. ^ BWV 28 Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, The Bach Cantatas, University of Alberta
  7. ^ a b c Julian Mincham, Chapter 9 BWV 28 Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende, The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach
  8. ^ Craig Smith, Bach Cantata Notes BWV 28, Emmanuel Music
  9. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 143.
  10. ^ a b John Eliot Gardiner (2007), Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) / Cantatas Nos 28, 122, 152 & 190, Soli Deo Gloria (at Hyperion Records website)

Cited sources

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