Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35

Background#

Bach composed his first solo cantata on a text by Georg Christian Lehms, , during his tenure in Weimar. In the new position, Bach decided to compose church cantatas for almost all liturgical events for the first twelve months; they became his first cantata cycle. In 1725, his third year in the post, Bach slowed down his composing and began to perform cantatas by other composers. Bach rarely chose older librettos for his cantatas in his first years in Leipzig; the conductor Craig Smith even suggested that parts of may have been composed earlier than the first recorded Leipzig performance. Bach composed in 1726, his fourth year in the position, for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. It is regarded as part of his third cantata cycle. Bach had earlier composed two other cantatas for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity, in his first year in Leipzig Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 69a, first performed on 15 August 1723, and in his third year Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137, first performed on 19 August 1725, as an added part of his cycle of chorale cantatas. Both works focus on praise (Lob) and use an orchestra including festive trumpets.

Readings and text#

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the ministry of the Spirit (), and from the Gospel of Mark, the healing of a deaf mute man (). The cantata text was written by Georg Christian Lehms, a librarian and court poet in Darmstadt, and published in in 1711. The text was published also by Christoph Birkmann in 1728. Erdmann Neumeister had described a cantata in 1702 as music that “looks no different from a piece from an opera, composed of recitatives and arias”. The text remains close to the Gospel, connecting the healing of the deaf man to the thoughts of a believer who is left deaf and mute in awe looking at the healing of Jesus and God’s creation. The text of the first aria, the second movement, is almost a quote of the gospel’s last verse. The text of the recitative following includes a paraphrase of . The second part of the libretto prays that the ears and tongues of the listeners may also be opened, to praise God as his children and heirs. It is an expression of personal devotion leaning towards meditation.

Performance#

Bach led the first performance on 8 September 1726 at the , The sermon was delivered by Christian Weise.

Structure and scoring#

Bach structured the cantata in two parts, four movements to be performed before the sermon, three after the sermon. Bach may have derived another movement from the same concerto. an abandoned concerto for harpsichord. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The instruments are shown separately for winds, strings, and organ and continuo.

Movements#

John Eliot Gardiner conducted , as part of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage with the Monteverdi Choir in 2000, on the twelfth Sunday after Trinity in St. Jakob, Köthen, Bach’s workplace before he went to Leipzig. Gardiner calls the occasion “one of the most cheerful programmes of the whole Trinity season”, leading Bach to compose “celebratory pieces”, two with trumpets and timpani, and finally this one with an obbligato organ. In an expanded two-part structure, the organ is both an instrumental soloist in the two sinfonias and a partner for the singer as the obbligato instrument in all three arias. The musicologist Laurence Dreyfus distinguished Bach’s use of the organ as “sacred icon” versus “galant conversationalist”, writing on Bach’s “assimilation of the secular solo concerto into his church cantatas and his adjustment of the normal concerto principle, that of soloist-versus-orchestra, through subtle shifts in role playing, the instrument now posing as a soloist, now retreating into the background”.

1#

The opening allegro sinfonia incorporates concerto techniques, suggesting an origin in a pre-existing concerto. The organ performs both the solo melody and the continuo line, punctuated by quasi-cadenza passages and interspersed ten-measure ritornellos. The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann notes that in the movement in Italian style, the theme is “subjected to intensive thematic working-out in the dialogue between solo instrument and orchestra”.

2#

The first aria in da capo form, "" (Spirit and soul become confused), is characterized by a broken ritornello and a sense of confusion and uncertainty. The rhythm is siciliano, a frequent feature in slow concerto movements by Bach and others. Hofmann concludes from many corrections in Bach’s autograph that the aria is a new composition. He sees the “agility of the organ part which does not follow the siciliano pattern” as an image of the “confusion” mentioned in the text.

3#

A secco recitative, "" (I am amazed), expresses awe at the creation, rendered in the first person. Beginning in a major mode which contrasts with the preceding aria, it then turns to a minor mode.

4#

An aria with obbligato organ, "" (God has made everything well), is the first movement in a major mode, expressing pleasure with God’s creation. It has a dominating two-part ritornello. Hofmann observes that the organ, this time the only partner of the voice, is “rich in coloratura” and has a theme, “heard throughout the movement, sometimes in the manner of an ostinato, sometimes freely developed; in its figuration and motoric drive it is stylized just like Bach’s writing for the violoncello piccolo”. Gardiner notes that not only the tessitura but also “characteristic string-crossing patterns” are reminiscent of violoncello piccolo use.

5#

Part 2 begins with another sinfonia, this time in binary form. Hofmann describes it as “an engaging perpetuum mobile introduced by the keyboard”. It may be based on the final movement of a concerto. The organ interacts with the orchestra without a prelude, which is unusual in Bach’s concertos, but not without precedent, such as the harpsichord concerto in F major, BWV 1057.

6#

Another secco recitative, "" (Ah, powerful God, let me think upon this continually ), is a prayer for the ability to always reflect on the miracle of creation. It quotes Jesus saying “Hephata” (Be opened) to the deaf mute man, and turns it to “the believer’s heart would open up and his tongue would be loosened so that he might perceive and praise the divine miracles”.

7#

The cantata concludes with an aria with the complete orchestra, "" (I wish to live with God alone). It expresses the wish to dwell with God forever in a minuet of positive character. The movement again uses a two-part ritornello. When contrasting aspects of life on earth are mentioned in the middle section, such as “jammerreichen Schmerzensjoch” (sorrowful yoke of pain) and “martervollen Leben” (tormented life), the music darkens to minor keys. The organ supplies triplet figures, which the voice also uses to express “ein fröhliches Halleluja” (a joyful hallelujah). Dürr point out that the movement expresses as firmly a “yes” to death as the second movement about the healing was a “yes” to life, and explains that for a person at Bach’s time, life on earth was only a mirror of a future “face to face” with God.

Recordings#

Bach’s church cantatas have been frequently performed, including complete cycles such as the first one on period instruments by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt. Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performance are marked by a green background. class=“wikitable plainrowheaders” - ! scope=“col” Title ! scope=“col” Conductor / Ensemble ! scope=“col” Soloists ! scope=“col” Label ! scope=“col” Year ! scope=“col” -

External links#

• Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)