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Christians Engrave Ye This Day!
The Bach Guild – Christmas Cantata (no. 63)
BG518
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The German church cantata was inspired by the immense popularity of Italian opera in the 17th century, and in many respects was an application of the “dramatic style” of operatic recitative and aria to Lutheran texts. Some early and notable essays were made in the cantata form during the last quarter of the century, at about the time that Johann Sebastian Bach was born. But it was Bach who first realized the immense possibilities of the Lutheran cantata, infusing it with the Lutheran chorales and the contrapuntal style of the great organ chorale-preludes, giving it so splendid an architecture and so rich an emotional and symbolic content. He was also the last to take the form seriously. And so the Lutheran cantata may almost be called his own creation.
The Cantata No. 63, Christen, atzel diesen Tag, has a special biographical interest, for it was composed at one of the crucial turning points in Bach’s career. According to convincing evidence, it belongs to the year 1723, when Bach left the service of the Duke of Anhalt-Cothen to become Cantor at Leipzig, where he was to work until his death in 1750. At Anhalt-Cothen, Bach had been mainly a composer of secular instrumental and chamber music. It was the period of his Brandenburg Concertos, of most of his suites and sonatas, and the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. While his post6 was an agreeable one, it only permitted him, as Spitta points out, to develop one side of his musical interests. The tasks at Leipzig were more onerous. He was music director of the St. Thomas and St. Nicholas churches, and also director of music instruction, and even taught Latin and the catechism at the St. Thomas school. But this post enabled him to speak to broader audiences, to return to writing for the human voice, to become a German national composer in the most popular sense of the term, and to build the “cathedrals of sound” which remain as one of the greatest artistic monuments of the Protestant Reformation.
This cantata was, in Spitta’s words, Bach’s first “opportunity of showing himself in his full greatness” in Leipzig. It was written for the great festival of the first day of Christmas and is a fitting companion piece to the celebrate Magnificat, which Bach composed for the evening of the same day. Christmas was one of the most popular festivals, and its joyous symbol of the Christ child, born in a poor stable, while kings came to do homage, was embedded deep in the minds and hearts of Bach’s audience. It is this festive spirit of a great processional “with dancing and singing” that Bach recaptures in this wonderful work. And in it Bach puts to use all his witchcraft, all the mastery of style he had developed at Anhalt-Cothen, exhibiting a dazzling virtuosity in using the orchestra, in handling the concerto style, in massive harmonies and free polyphony, in canon, fugue and imitation.
The music is in “oratorio” style rather than in Bach’s more usual cantata style. It has no chorale, and no hint in its choruses of the organ chorale style which is found in so many other cantatas. The oratorio, which had arisen in the 17th century in Italy and Germany, was also known as “sacred concerto.” If this seems confusing, we must remember that the 17th century was one in which musical forms were in the process of development, with vocal and instrumental styles taking much from one another. The concerto form itself had been inspired by the operatic aria. The essential feature of the concerto was not any specific instrumentation, but rather the working out of the music through episodes of “antagonisms,” the contrast between heavy and light masses of sound, each often with its own musical material.
Thus, in the opening chorus of this cantata we hear a full-blown concerto style. In fact, the orchestral passages resemble that of the Second Brandenburg Concerto, with its brilliant trumpet passages. But the form here takes on what we may call a richer and deeper human imagery. The opening orchestral tutti, with its strings, drums, oboes, bassoon and blazing trumpets, carries out the picture of a festive procession. Then the chorus enters, with fresh material, like the solo group of a concerto grosso. It develops this material in the masterly alternation of solid harmonic and free polyphonic writing which is the basic style of the entire cantata. The orchestral tutti returns. Then there is a middle section fro chorus, in block harmonies, on the words “Kommt und eilt mit mir zur Kripen” (Come and hurry with me to the cradle), followed by one of Bach’s brilliant illustrative effects, a fanfare of imitative polyphony, the theme thrown from one voice to the other on the word “strahl” (ray of light). This is the climax of the development, and there is a full de capo repetition of the opening tutti and chorus.
The alto recitative that follows seems to remind the listeners, amidst the festivities, that there is a tragic side of life. It starts secco over an organ continuo. Then, just as it appears to have come to the close of its tender and touching statement, there is one of those great Bach surprises and inspirations, a wide leap of the voice, on the words “O unbegreigliches, doch seliges Verfugen” (O unbelievable and blessed dispensation), followed by a poignant rising and falling line, while the strings enter with a rich arioso-style accompaniment.
This serves also to introduce the duct for soprano and bass, which shifts between joy and a tender reflectiveness. The form Bach chooses here exhibits the firm symmetries with which the entire cantata is constructed. It is like an echo of the first movement, a woodcut compared to an altar-piece. Instead of the orchestral tutti, there is a lovely, chromatic oboe solo, which acts like a true ritornello, alternating with the vocal sections. These are worked out with a marvelous interplay of canon, first one voice and then another taking the lead, free counterpoing, and harmonic passages. There is again a middle-section development, and a da capo return.
The tenor recitative also starts secco and then turns to an arioso, with aq broadening accompaniment, and colorful rumbling passages from the basses when the words tell of the “Bogen” and “Schwert”, the bow being bent and the sword whetted, for “Freiheit” (freedom). It is an effect dating back to Monteverdi’s battle pieces. In the alto and tenor duet that follows, the strings beautifully take on the task of an orchestral tutti, and at the same time provide a rich interplay with the voices, which proceed as in the previous duet through many imitative passages. It is in this duet that the words appear, “kommt zu Rehien” (Come with song and dance), which set the tone for the entire cantata. There is a development section, and an ending in the da capa spirit, although the repetition of the opening music is much curtailed. The bass recitative following is fully accompanied, with soft staccato effects.
The closing chorus is a perfect balance to the opening chorus, the two appearing like the towers of a cathedral between which the other movements are strung. In the baroque spirit, the symmetry is never exact. We hear as in the beginning a tutti for full orchestra, but the choirs of strings, oboes, and trumpets are even more dazzling in their interplay. The chorus enters, first in powerful block harmonies, and then moving into a fugue, with the themes underlined by the insturments, which swell out as the fugue progresses. There is an orchestral tutti, then a harmonic choral passage, another tutti, and then a most moving sudden choral adagio, with poignant harmonies, on the words, “aber niemals nicht geschehen” (But never let it happen), followed by a great double fugue on the last line of text, which is the climax of the entire work. There is a da capo return of the first part of the movement.
(These notes are by Sidney Finkelstein)
Band One: Chorus
Band Two: Alto Recitative
Band Three: Soprano and Bass Duet
Band Four: Tenor Recitative
Band Five: Alto and Tenor Duet
Band Six: Bass Recitative
Band Seven: Chorus
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