Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? BWV 8

Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? (lit. 'Dearest God, when will I die?'), BWV 8, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for the 16th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 24 September 1724. It is based on the hymn with the same name, by Caspar Neumann, and its setting by Daniel Vetter.

Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? BWV 8
Chorale cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach
Thomaskirche, Leipzig 1885
Occasion16th Sunday after Trinity
Based on"Liebster Gott, wann werd ich sterben"
Performed24 September 1724 (1724-09-24): Leipzig
Movements6
VocalSATB choir and soloists
Instrumental
  • horn
  • flauto traverso
  • oboe d'amore
  • 2 violins
  • viola
  • continuo


History and text

Bach composed the cantata in his second year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig for the 16th Sunday after Trinity.[1] It is based on the hymn of the same name by Caspar Neumann, part of Bach's second cantata cycle, planned as a cycle of chorale cantatas. Daniel Vetter, organist at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, composed the hymn tune for Neumann's hymn, Zahn No. 6634, before 1695.[2][3] Vetter's four-part setting of the hymn was commissioned for the funeral of the cantor Jakob Wilisius: it was published in 1713 as Part II of his book of chorales Kirch- und Haus-Ergötzlichkeit.[1][2][4]

The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Ephesians, praying for the strengthening of faith in the congregation of Ephesus (Ephesians 3:13–21), and from the Gospel of Luke, the raising from the dead of the young man from Nain (Luke 7:11–17). Bach first performed the cantata on 24 September 1724.[5]

Scoring and structure

The piece is scored for horn, flauto traverso, two oboes d'amore, strings (violins, violas and basso continuo), vocal soloists and choir.[6] It is in six movements, in E major unless otherwise noted:

Movements of Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?
No. TitleText TypeVocalWindsStrings Key Time
1 Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben? Chorus SATB 1 flauto transverso, 2 oboe d'amores, natural horn (col soprano) 2 violins, 1 viola E major 12/8
2 Was willst du dich, mein Geist, entsetzen Aria tenor 1 oboe d'amores C-sharp minor 3/4
3 Zwar fühlt mein schwaches Herz Recitative alto 2 violins, 1 viola
4 Doch weichet, ihr tollen, vergeblichen Sorgen! Aria bass 1 flauto transverso 2 violins, 1 viola A major
5 Behalte nur, o Welt, das Meine! Recitative soprano 1 flauto transverso 2 violins, 1 viola
6 Herrscher über Tod und Leben Chorale SATB 1 flauto transverso (col soprano), 1 oboe d'amore (col soprano), 1 oboe d'amore (coll'alto) 1 natural horn (col soprano) 1 violin (col soprano), 1 violin (coll'alto), 1 viola (col tenore) E major

Music
Philippe Herreweghe and his Collegium Vocale Gent recorded BWV 8 in 1998

The opening chorus is a gapped chorale setting of the tune. The alto, tenor, and bass voices sing free counterpoint, while the sopranos sing the chorale unadorned in long notes. Philipp Spitta described the sound of this movement as a "church-yard full of flowers in the springtime". As Alfred Dürr comments, the chorus, with instrumental ensemble of high obbligato flute, two oboes d'amore and plucked arpeggios, presents "a sublime vision of the hour of death".[1][7]

The tenor aria is characterized by continued tones of the death knell and string pizzicato in the accompaniment, and an eloquent duet between the vocal line and the oboe d'amore. The following alto recitative "brings forth a bit of the terror of death", in contrast with the joyous bass aria in "jig tempo" that follows. The clipped soprano recitative leads into a "marching" chorale setting to end the cantata.[1][7][8] This closing chorale is listed as a spurious work in the third Anhang of the 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis: it is a revised version of Vetter's 1713 four-part setting.[9][10][11]

Other version

An alternative version of the cantata in D major is also extant, likely first performed in September 1747.[12][1] Several minor changes to the instrumentation were also implemented; for example, in the first movement the two oboe parts are given to concertante violins, and in the bass aria, the oboe d'amore is used colla parte with the flute. Both variants have been recorded: the aria by Ton Koopman with Klaus Mertens as the bass soloist and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, and the chorus by Koopman's pupil Masaaki Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan in addition to the full cantata in E major.[13]

Recordings

Muziekweb lists several recordings of the cantata:[13]

References
  1. Dürr, Alfred; Jones, Richard D. P. (2006), The cantatas of J.S. Bach, Oxford University Press, pp. 550–553, ISBN 0-19-929776-2
  2. Zahn, Johannes (1891). Die Melodien der deutschen evangelischen Kirchenlieder (in German). IV. Bertelsmann. p. 130.
  3. "Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben BWV 8/6". Bach Digital. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  4. Vetter, Daniel (1713). Musicalische Kirch- und Hauß-Ergötzlichkeit (in German). 2. Leipzig. No. 91. OCLC 857536916.
  5. "Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben [1st version] BWV 8.1". Bach Digital. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  6. "BWV 8 Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?". University of Alberta. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
  7. Smith, Craig. "BWV 8". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  8. Dahn, Luke, ed. (2019). "BWV 8.6 (=BWV 8/6)". bach-chorales.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  9. Dürr, Alfred; Kobayashi, Yoshitake, eds. (1998). Bach Werke Verzeichnis: Kleine Ausgabe – Nach der von Wolfgang Schmieder vorgelegten 2. Ausgabe [Bach Works Catalogue: Small Edition – After Wolfgang Schmieder's 2nd edition] (in German). Kirsten Beißwenger (collaborator). (BWV2a ed.). Breitkopf & Härtel. p. 468. ISBN 9783765102493. Preface in English and German.
  10. Platen, Emil (1976). "Zur Echtheit einiger Choralsätze Johann Sebastian Bachs" [On the authenticity of some of Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale settings]. In Schulze, Hans-Joachim; Wolff, Christoph (eds.). Bach-Jahrbuch 1975 [Bach Yearbook 1975]. Bach-Jahrbuch (in German). 61. Neue Bachgesellschaft. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt. pp. 50–62. doi:10.13141/bjb.v1975.
  11. Dahn, Luke (2018). "So how many Bach four–part chorales are there?". bach-chorales.com. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  12. "Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben [2nd version] BWV 8.2". Bach Digital. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  13. "Cantate voor soli (4), koor en orkest BWV.8, 'Liebster Gott, wenn werd ich sterben?'". Muziekweb. Retrieved 28 June 2020.


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