Ich freue mich in dir, BWV 133

History and words#

Bach wrote the chorale cantata in his second year as in Leipzig, as part of his second cantata cycle, the chorale cantata cycle, for the Third Day of Christmas. The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christ is higher than the angels, () and the prologue of the Gospel of John, also called Hymn to the Word (). The cantata is based on the chorale in four stanzas (1697) by Caspar Ziegler. It is one of the newest of the chorales which served as a base for the cycle, whereas Bach otherwise preferred the beloved hymns of poets such as Martin Luther and Paul Gerhardt. In the format of the cycle, the unknown poet of the cantata text retained the first and the last stanzas for choral movements, and paraphrased the inner stanzas closely to a sequence of arias and recitative. Two movements were formed from the ideas of the second stanza, and the following two movements were derived from the third stanza. The librettist retained several lines as part of the recitatives, and Bach highlighted them by arioso treatment. The text has no reference to the readings nor to the feast of John the Evangelist. It expresses the intimate joy of the individual believer about the presence of God in the Jesus child. Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance of the cantata on 27 December 1724. Bach’s successor Gottlob Harrer performed the cantata after Bach’s death.

Scoring and structure#

Bach structured in six movements. Both the text and the tune of the hymn are retained in the outer movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a cornett (Ct) to double the chorale melody, two oboes d’amore (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), one viola part (Va), and basso continuo. The duration of the cantata is given as 20 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr’s standard work . The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.

Movements#

The chorale is sung on a variant of a melody of . This melody was probably new to Bach who noted it in the score of the Sanctus, which he also composed for Christmas in 1724 and later made part of his Mass in B minor. The song became part of the Leipzig hymnal only after 1730. While Bach’s Weimar cantata , expressed a communal joy in two choral movements and two duets, a sequence of four movements for a single voice reflects the joy of the individual believer.

1#

In the opening chorale fantasia, "" (I rejoice in you and bid you welcome), the cornetto plays the cantus firmus with the soprano, the oboes play in unison with violin II and viola, whereas violin 1 “shines above the rest”. The orchestra carries the expression of joyful excitement. The lower voices are set mostly in homophony, with the exception of expressing "" (the great son of God). The voices thus have little work, which can be explained by this cantata being the third new cantata performed on three consecutive days. John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, summarised: “I find it hard to imagine music that conveys more persuasively the essence, the exuberance and the sheer exhilaration of Christmas than the opening chorus of BWV 133”.

2#

The alto aria, "" (Be comforted! A holy body contains the unfathomable being of the Highest), is accompanied by the two oboes d’amore. Motifs of runs as in the opening still occur in the aria, but it is dominated by a repeated call of the oboes, in “rhythmically accented ascending interval leaps”, that the voice sings to the word “Getrost”.

3#

The tenor recitative, "" (An Adam might well, filled with terror, from God’s countenance hide himself in Paradise), is marked twice for text quoted from the original chorale, once to stress "" (Almighty God Himself here visits us), and the conclusion, "" (He has become a little child and is called my little Jesus). In these highlighted passages, the music is close to the chorale tune but not an exact quote.

4#

The soprano aria, "" (How beautifully it rings in my ears, this word: my Jesus is born), is accompanied by the strings. It begins and ends in an even time in the outer sections; the first violin alone begins with a run. In the middle section the time shifts to a siciliano, the tempo to adagio, and it is unusually played without continuo, just a trio of the soprano, the first violin and the lower strings in unison. It illustrates the beautiful sounds of which the text speaks, and also, by lack of a bass, the denial of Jesus from the inn.

5#

The bass recitative, "" (Indeed, my encouraged heart will not dwell upon the fear and pain of death), expresses no more fear of death. Formally it is similar to the first recitative, quoting from the chorale in the end, highlighted musically as arioso with a melody similar but not identical to the chorale tune.

6#

The cantata is closed by a four-part setting of the last chorale stanza, "" (Indeed, thus I will cling to you, O Jesus). \header tagline = ##f \layout indent = 0 \context \Score \remove “Bar_number_engraver” global = \key d \major \time 4/4 \partial 4 soprano = \new Voice = “sopvoice” \relative c’ \global \voiceOne \set Staff.midiPanPosition = -0.5 \set midiInstrument = “violin” \repeat volta 2 fis8 (g) a4 b a g8 (fis) fis2\fermata r4 a b cis d d8 (cis) cis2 b4 e8 (d) cis4 d8 (cis) b4. a8 a2.\fermata a4 b cis d4. e8 cis2.\fermata a4 a b a g8 (fis) fis2.\fermata a4 b8 (cis) d4 d cis d2.\fermata \bar " ." alto = \new Voice \relative c’ \global \voiceTwo \set Staff.midiPanPosition = 0.5 \set midiInstrument = “violin” \repeat volta 2 d8 (cis) d4 d d8 (cis16 b) cis4 d2 r4 fis gis ais b fis fis4. (e8) d4 e4 e fis fis8 (d) e4 e2. e4 e8 (fis) gis4 a e e2. e4 fis g!8 (fis) e4 e d2. d4 d e e8 (fis) g4 fis2. \bar " ." tenor = \new Voice \relative c’ \global \voiceThree \clef bass \set Staff.midiPanPosition = -1 \set midiInstrument = “cello” \repeat volta 2 a4 a g fis8 e a4 a2 r4 a, e’ e fis b b (ais) b b a a a gis cis2. cis4 b e d8 cis b4 a2. cis4 d g, a8 b cis4 b2. a4 g8 a b4 a a a2. \bar " ." bass = \new Voice \relative c \global \voiceFour \set Staff.midiPanPosition = 1 \set midiInstrument = “cello” \repeat volta 2 d8 e fis4 g a a, d2 r4 d d cis b8 cis d e fis2 b,4 gis’ a8 gis fis e d b e4 a,2. a'4 gis e fis gis a2. g!4 fis e8 d cis4 a b2. fis'4 g gis a a, d2. \bar " ." verse = \new Lyrics = “firstVerse” \lyricsto “sopvoice” > O Je – su, dir, nur dir, dir leb ich ganz al – lein; auf dich, al – lein auf dich, mein Je – su, schlaf ich ein. \score \new ChoirStaff > \new Staff \with \consists “Merge_rests_engraver” > » \layout \score \midi \tempo 4=80 \context \Score midiChannelMapping = #‘instrument \context \Staff \remove “Staff_performer” \context \Voice \consists “Staff_performer” \unfoldRepeats >

Manuscripts and publication#

Bach’s autograph score of the cantata and the original parts, which he revised himself, are extant. The score and a set of duplicate parts were inherited by his son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. In 1827, the score was sold at auction in Berlin with several other Bach cantata autographs and manuscripts to Carl Pistor. Pistor invited Mendelssohn to catalog the auction materials, which became the original autographs in the vast Rudorff collection; in return Pistor gifted the autograph of BWV 133 to Mendelssohn. It went finally to the Royal Library in Berlin. The original parts were inherited by Bach’s widow Anna Magdalena Bach who quickly sold them to the Thomasschule. The cantata was first published in 1881 in the first complete edition of Bach’s work, the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe. The volume in question was edited by Wilhelm Rust. In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe it was published in 2000, edited by Andreas Glöckner.

Recordings#

A list of recordings is provided on the Bach Cantatas Website. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background.

Cited sources#

External links#

• “BWV 133 Ich freue mich in dir”, English translation, University of Vermont
• “BWV 133 Ich freue mich in dir, text, scoring, University of Alberta