Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140

History, hymn and text#

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the 27th Sunday after Trinity. This Sunday occurs only when Easter is early. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, be prepared for the day of the Lord (), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the Ten Virgins (). Bach composed this cantata to complete his second annual cycle of cantatas of 1724/25, a cycle planned to be of chorale cantatas. It is based on Philipp Nicolai’s Lutheran hymn in three stanzas, “”, which is based on the Gospel. Published in Nicolai’s (Mirror of Joy of the Life Everlasting) in 1599, its text was introduced: "" (Another call of the voice at midnight and of the wise maidens who meet their celestial Bridegroom / Matthew 25 / D. Philippus Nicolai). The text of the three stanzas appears unchanged and with the melody in the outer movements and the central movements (1, 4 and 7), while an unknown author supplied poetry for the other movements, twice a sequence of recitative and duet. He refers to the love poetry of the Song of Songs, showing Jesus as the bridegroom of the Soul. According to the Bach scholar Christoph Wolff, the text was already available when Bach composed his cycle of chorale cantatas.

Performance history#

Bach performed the cantata in Leipzig’s main church Nikolaikirche on 25 November 1731. As the text and its eschatological themes are also associated with Advent, the cantata is commonly performed during that season.

Publication#

The cantata was published in 1881 as part of the first complete edition of the composer’s work, the Bach Gesamtausgabe.

Structure and scoring#

Bach structured the cantata in seven movements. The text and tune of the hymn are kept in the outer choral movements and the central movement, set as two chorale fantasias and a four-part closing chorale, which frame two sequences of recitative and aria. Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), tenor (T), bass (B)), a four-part choir, (SATB) and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn (Co), two oboes (Ob), taille (Ot), violino piccolo (Vp), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo including bassoon. The heading of the original parts reads: “Dominica 27. post Trinit. / Wachet auf, rufft uns die Stime / â / 4. Voc. / 1. Violino picolo. / 2. Hautbois. / Taille. / Basson. / 2 Violini. / Viola. / e / Continuo. / di Signore / J.S.Bach.” The duration is given as 31 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from the book on all cantatas by the Bach scholar Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

1#

The first movement, "" (“Awake”, we are called by the voice of the watchmen ), is a chorale fantasia based on the first verse of the hymn, a common feature of Bach’s earlier chorale cantatas. The cantus firmus is sung by the soprano. The orchestra plays independent material mainly based on two motifs: a dotted rhythm and an ascending scale “with syncopated accent shifts”. The lower voices add in unusually free polyphonic music images such as the frequent calls “wach auf!” (wake up!) and “wo, wo?” (where, where?), and long melismas in a fugato on “Halleluja”. John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, notes two instrumental choirs, the strings and the double-reeds (two oboes, taille and bassoon), playing in the style of a French overture double-dotted motifs in triple rhythm. He writes:

2#

"" (He comes), is a recitative for tenor as a narrator who calls the “Töchter Zions” (daughters of Zion).

3#

In the following duet, "" (When are You coming, my Salvation?), with obbligato violino piccolo, the soprano represents the Soul and the bass is the vox Christi (voice of Jesus). In a slow siciliano, the violino piccolo illustrates “the flickering of lamps ’lit with burning oil in arabesques. Gardiner comments: “A rich tradition of similarly sensual musical allegories, including fine examples by Bach’s own cousin, Johann Christoph, stands behind this ravishing number.”

4#

The fourth movement, "” (Zion hears the watchmen singing), is based on the second verse of the hymn. It is written in the style of a chorale prelude, with the phrases of the chorale, sung as a cantus firmus by the tenors (or by the tenor soloist), entering intermittently against a famously lyrical melody played in unison by the violins (without the violino piccolo) and the viola, accompanied by the basso continuo. Bach later transcribed this movement for organ (BWV 645), and it was subsequently published along with five other transcriptions Bach made of his cantata movements as the Schübler Chorales.

5#

The fifth movement, "" (Then come in to me), is a recitative for bass, accompanied by the strings. It pictures the unity of the bridegroom and the “chosen bride”.

6#

The sixth movement, "" (My Friend is mine!), is another duet for soprano and bass with obbligato oboe. This duet, like the third movement, is a love duet between the soprano Soul and the bass Jesus. Gardiner notes that Bach uses the means of “contemporary operatic love-duets in his use of chains of suspensions and parallel thirds and sixths”. Dürr describes it as giving “expression to the joy of the united pair”, showing a “relaxed mood” in “artistic intensity”.

7#

The closing chorale, "" (Let Gloria be sung to You), is a four-part setting of the third verse of the hymn. The high pitch of the melody is doubled by a violino piccolo an octave higher, representing the bliss of the “heavenly Jerusalem”.

Evaluation#

The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann sees the cantata as one of the composer’s “most beautiful, most mature and, at the same time, most popular sacred cantatas”. Dürr notes that the cantata, especially the duets in a unity of “earthly happiness in love and heavenly bliss”, are an expression of Christian mysticism in art. William G. Whittaker wrote: “It is a cantata without weaknesses, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order, its sheer perfection and its boundless imagination rouse one’s wonder time and time again.”

Recordings#

The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website. Choirs singing OVPP (one voice per part) and instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background.

External links#

• Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)
• Cantata BWV 140 – Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Johann Sebastian Bach) ChoralWiki
• BWV 140 Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme: English translation, University of Vermont
• Luke Dahn: Cantata BWV 140, Wachet auf The Bach Choir of Bethlehem