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- Bach, J.S.
- Dorffel, Alfred
- Todt, Bernhard
Duration: 25 minutes
Description: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) composed Cantata No. 180: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Rise, O Soul, This Happy Morning), BWV 180 in Leipzig in 1724 for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity, as part of the ambitious cycle of chorale cantatas he created during his second year as Thomaskantor. The work is based on Johann Franck’s 1649 Eucharistic hymn Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, sung to a melody by Johann Crüger, and relates the day’s Gospel reading—Matthew 22:1–14, the parable of the royal wedding banquet—to Holy Communion and the image of the believing soul preparing to receive Christ. Franck’s first and last stanzas are retained intact, as is the fourth stanza within the third movement, while an unidentified librettist transformed the remaining verses into recitatives and arias. The seven movements (1. Chorus: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele; 2. Aria (tenor): Ermuntre dich: dein Heiland klopft; 3. Recitative and Chorale (soprano): Wie teuer sind des heilgen Mahles Gaben; 4. Recitative (alto): Mein Herz fühlt in sich Furcht und Freude; 5. Aria (soprano): Lebens Sonne, Licht der Sinnen; 6. Recitative (bass): Herr, laß an mir dein treues Lieben; 7. Chorale: Jesu, wahres Brot des Lebens) are scored for SATB soloists and chorus with a particularly colorful ensemble of flutes and recorders, oboe and oboe da caccia, strings, violoncello piccolo, and continuo, and several movements incorporate graceful dance-like characteristics within Bach’s devotional framework. The cantata received its first performance in Leipzig on October 22, 1724, traditionally associated with the Thomaskirche and the Sunday service for which Bach composed it. Although the work disappeared from regular performance after Bach’s lifetime and was not published by the Bach-Gesellschaft until 1888, modern Urtext editions and the twentieth-century revival of historically informed performance have restored it to active circulation. Cantata No. 180: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 180 holds a respected place among Bach’s Leipzig chorale cantatas, particularly admired for the pastoral beauty and instrumental richness of its opening fantasia, its unusually prominent writing for flute and violoncello piccolo, and the expressive intimacy with which Bach transforms a Communion hymn into an extended meditation on spiritual preparation and union with Christ. While less universally familiar than such cantatas as BWV 140 or BWV 147, it is regularly represented in complete Bach cantata cycles, recordings, festivals, and historically informed performances. Reprint of the keyboard reduction and edition by Bernhard Todt. English text.