Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, BWV 197a

History and text#

Bach composed the work in Leipzig for Christmas Day in 1728 or 1729. Bach later revised the piece into Gott ist unsre Zuversicht, BWV 197.2.

Scoring and structure#

The cantata is scored for solo alto and bass voices, a four-part choir, two flutes, oboe d’amore, two violins, viola, bassoon, cello, and continuo. The piece has seven movements (although there may also have been an opening sinfonia): #Chorus: #Aria: #Recitative: #Aria: #Recitative: #Aria: #Chorale:

Music#

Only the last four movements of the piece are extant. The nineteen surviving bars of the fourth movement, an alto aria, demonstrate a rare bassoon obbligati and assume a combined ritornello-ternary form. The fifth movement is a bass recitative with only continuo accompaniment. It is a “harmonically adventurous”, “forceful little movement marked by a robust melodic line”. The following bass aria is accompanied by oboe d’amore and continuo, and is a “jaunty, pastoral dance” in time and ritornello-ternary form. The movement is notable for a long rising melisma omitted from the reworked version in BWV 197/2. Musicologist Julian Mincham suggests that the chorale is “one of the sturdiest in the repertoire”.

Recordings#

The recordings are taken from the listing on Bach-Cantatas: * Gächinger Kantorei / Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling. Edition Bachakademie Vol. 140. Hänssler, 1999. * Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki. J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 54. BIS, 2012.

External links#

• Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe BWV 197a; BC A 11 / Sacred cantata (1st Christmas Day): Leipzig University
• BWV 197a Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe: English translation, University of Vermont
• Luke Dahn: BWV 197a.7 bach-chorales.com