Oregon Bach Festival Discovery Series BWV 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild 2005 What a pleasure it is to be back in Eugene for the 36 th Oregon Bach Festival. And how wonderful to have this treasure of Bach cantatas that we can study and get to understand a little better. It s also a joy to be working with this excellent class of young conductors and as always, the extraordinary musicians of the choir and orchestra. We start this year s series with two cantatas that were written for the Feast of the Reformation, an important day to the people in Saxonia, the heartland of Lutheranism. Reformation was a time to remember and celebrate what Martin Luther had done for their faith 200 years earlier. Bach composed two wonderful cantatas for this festival day, BWV 79 and BWV 80. Today we will examine Cantata 79 Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild [God the Lord is sun and shield]. The opening movement of this cantata is one of Bach s most masterful. It is a big chorus written for an orchestra of strings, continuo, two flutes, two oboes, two obbligato horns and timpani. This is Bach s festive orchestra that he used for special occasions. This movement is, on the one hand very solemn, and on the other hand it radiates brilliance. Bach s mastery is illustrated by how he brings these two contrasting ideas together. The long orchestral introduction is led by the horns and the timpani with a beautiful, yet solemn melody. The strings, winds, and continuo accompany. 1
2
3
The second section of the introduction is a fugue that contributes to the brilliance of the piece. The subject begins with quick repeated notes before expanding into fast running figures that go throughout the strings and the winds. 4
5
It is Bach s special ability to manipulate his instrumental forces so that both the horn melody and the fugue subject are brought together at the end of the introduction. 6
7
8
Here the chorus enters with the text Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild [God the Lord is sun and shield]. The chorus is in a high range the sun is shining from above. The chorus entrance is not homophonic, but rather each section is independent, as if individually exclaiming the grace of God. 9
10
The chorus will also take part in the virtuosic brilliance of the orchestra. The instrumental fugue subject is not singable. So Bach invents a vocal variation of this theme. These two versions of the fugue subject will be combined in the full orchestra and full chorus. What does Bach want to express with this brilliant writing? I think he wants to describe the abundance of the grace of God that rains down on the faithful. 11
12
13
14
15
16
This abundance of grace is further amplified by Bach s reintroduction of the melody in the horns that began the cantata. The chorus makes a final entrance, this time with full homophonic chords as the text er wird kein Gutes mangeln lassen den Frommen [no worthy thing will be withheld from the faithful] is repeated. 17
18
The second movement is a contrasting movement for the alto solo. At the first performance, the obbligato instrument was an oboe, but several years later Bach changed it to a solo flute. This is a dance movement, very light with cheerful articulations in the flute. 19
The alto solo will take up this same theme from the flute, and surprisingly enough it is the same text as the opening chorus Gott ist unser Sonn und Schild! Clearly this is the headline of the cantata. 20
This is pleasant, beautiful music that stays basically the same throughout the aria. There is only one place where it changes for just a moment. The text that intrigues Bach is Ob die Feinde Pfeile schnitzen [when the enemies are sharpening arrows] and now a strange German phrase und ein Lästerhund gleich billt [the dog of blasphemy is barking]. Now of course Bach cannot let this text go unnoticed, so he suddenly changes the harmonies, the music becomes dramatic, and he alters the rhythm. 21
Bach stays in a mood of praise for the third movement by using a well-known chorale. The unique treatment of this chorale is Bach s use of the horn melody from the opening chorus, which he imbeds in the chorale. 22
23
The central theme of these three movements has been the praise of God, but there has been no direct correlation to the Feast of the Reformation. That changes with the fourth movement, a recitative where the text clearly references the Reformation: Denn, Jesu, du hast ihn uns durch dein Wort gewiesen [Jesus, you have shown us this path through Thy word]. This statement is a basic doctrinal principle of the Reformation known as sola scriptura [by scripture alone]. This doctrine holds that the Bible, the infallible word of God, contains all knowledge necessary for salvation. And this is cause for the Lord to be praised drum bleibt dein Name jederzeit gepreisen. 24
The recitative will continue for some time, with more references to the Feast of the Reformation. The next movement is a duet for soprano and bass. It starts with a plea Gott ach Gott, verlaß die Deinen [God, O God, do not forsake Thy people]. The interesting thing about this movement is that it begins immediately with the voices moving in parallel rhythms. This lack of orchestral introduction gives the movement a sense of urgency. The orchestra includes only the violins and the continuo instruments. The instruments have motives with which Bach depicts fighting fighting against the enemies of the faith. These motives include leaping triads and fast repeated notes. 25
Later in this duet Bach expresses a different text Laß dein Wort uns helle scheinen [Let Thy word shine over us brightly]. Again we have a reference to dein Wort [thy Word]. The shining Word is depicted by beautiful and bright harmonies, and also by the use of the high range for the soloists. The text continues obgleich sehr wider uns die Feinde toben [especially when our enemies rage against us]. What does Bach do to interpret this text? First of all he separates the two voices. 26
Instead of singing in parallel rhythms they are now independent. He uses a minor tonality, and the soloists have long dramatic coloraturas at the word toben [rage]. 27
At the end so soll unser Mund dich loben [so shall our mouths praise Thee] the voices return to the parallel motion which makes the music so pleasant and beautiful. 28
The final chorale, Erhalt uns in der Wahrheit [Preserve us in the truth], is one of the central chorales of the Reformation. 29
The text continues zu preisen deinen Namen [to praise Thy name]. This has been Bach s objective throughout this cantata. The Feast of the Reformation praises God for Martin Luther s contribution to the Christian faith. Of course, it is not fair that the timpani and horns sit there with nothing to play in this final movement, so Bach has them reinforce the chorale. 30
In Bach s time the congregation did not sing the chorale during the cantata, but all the people sitting in that Leipzig church knew the text by memory. And so the end of this beautiful piece belongs to everyone. 31