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The Chorale Cantata in Leipzig: The Collaboration between Schelle and Carpzov in 1689-1690 and Bach's Chorale Cantata Cycle

2012; Baldwin Wallace University; Volume: 43; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bach.2012.a820289

2767-4843

Markus Rathey,

Musicology and Musical Analysis

The Chorale Cantata in Leipzig: The Collaboration between Schelle AND CARPZOV IN 1689-1690 AND Bach's Chorale Cantata Cycle MarkusRathey Jrt I crucial ohann 1724-1725, been answered. questions Sebastian poses It pertaining Bach's some is not challenges chorale known, to itsgenesis cantata for to instance, Bach and cycle, scholars.1 context who composed wrote have Several not the in 1724-1725, poses some challengesto Bach scholars.1Several I crucialquestionspertaining to itsgenesisand contexthave not t been answered.It is not known,forinstance,who wrotethe textsforthecycleofcantatas.Hans-Joachim Schulzehas suggested thatthe formerassociaterectorof the Thomas School, Andreas Stübel (1653-1725), 2 could be a possible candidate.However, as Stiibelwas dismissedfromhis post in 1699 because of sectarian theological views,itis rather unlikely thathe wrotelibretti forBach *See the overview inMarkus Rathey, "Choralkantaten," inBach-Handbuch 1:Bachs Kantaten, Reinmar Emans andSvenHiemke, eds.(Laaber: Laaber-Verlag, 2012), 331-450. Thisstudy is,for themost part, a translation ofmyarticle "Schelle, Carpzov und dieTradition der Choralkantate inLeipzig" published inthe Jahrbuch 2011des Staatlichen Instituts fiir Muńkforschung Preußischer Kulturbeńt %(Mainz: Schott, 201 1),185-210. 1am gratefiil tothe publisher ofthe Jahrbuch ,Simone Hohmaier, and tothe publisher, Schott, for granting mepermission topublish anEnglish version. Translating thearticle hasgiven metheopportunity toinsert someadditional material inSection III,the relationship between Schelle's cantatas andCarpzov's sermons, and inthe conclusion (Section IV).Theresearch for this article would not have been possible without the generous support ofthe Yale Divinity School Library, which acquired scans ofnumerous hymn sermons for me, andthe Beinecke Library atYale, which gave meaccess toits large collection ofhymnals, theological treatises and, above all, hymn sermons from the seventeenth andeighteenth centuries. SeeHans-Joachim Schulze, "Texte und Textdichter," inDieWelt der Bach Kantaten, Band III:Johann Sebastian Bachs Ijeipņger Kirchenkantaten ,ed.Christoph Wolff (Stuttgart: Bärenreiter, 1999), 116. 46 Schelle and Carpzov 47 in the early1720s.3It is likewiseunknownif the librettoswere written by a singleauthoror by several.4Closely linkedto the question of authorshipis the question of why Bach did not complete the cycle but abandoned it with Wie schönleuchtet der Morgenstern , BWV 1 (composed forMarch 25, 1725). It could be thatthelibrettist either diedaroundthattimeor movedawayfrom Leipzig and thatcollaborating withBach was no longerpossible. Finally, it is unclearwhyBach and his librettist embarkedon the huge task of transforming congregationalhymns into cantata librettosand cantatas for an entireyear.Even thoughwe can observean increasing interest on Bach's partin experiments with hymnsetting in the initialmovementsof his cantatasduringhis first yearin Leipzig,5it is likelythatBach's decisionin 1724 was motivated byexternal reasonsas well. AlfredDürr has suggestedone possible influenceon the genesisofBach's choralecantatacycle.Based on earlier research by Arnold Schering,he pointed out that Leipzig Pastor Johann BenedictCarpzov had preacheda cycleof hymnsermonsin 16906 for whichJohann Schelle,cantorat St. Thomas's, had set the hymnsas "pleasant music" ("in eine anmuthige music").7 Dürr entertains thepossibility thatBach's cyclecould have originated in thecontextof a similar cycleof hymnsermonsin 1724-1725. To date, the assumptionis unsubstantiated as no sources about a similarcyclein Bach's timehave survived.Furthermore, Bach's cantatas and Schelle's settingsare formallydifferent: Schelle's 3See Schulze, Texte und Textdichter ; 125.Seealsomy critique ofMeinrad Walter's attempt toidentify Stübel aslibrettist for the St. John Passion in"Johann Sebastian Bach's Passions: Recent Publications andTrends inScholarship," BACH43/1 (2012), 70. 4See ElkeAxmacher, "DieTexte zuJohann Sebastian Bachs Choralkantaten" in Bachiana etaliaMusicologica. Alfred Dürr Festschrift , ed.Wolfgang Rehm (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1983), 16. 5Friedhelm Krummacher, Bachs Zyklus der Choralkantaten. Aufgaben und Lösungen š. Veröffentlichungen der Joachim Jungius-Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Hamburg 81(Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995). 6For a history ofthe genre ofthe hymn sermon, seeMartin Rössler, DieUedpredigt: Geschichte einerPredigtgattung (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &Ruprecht), 1976 and Rössler, Bibliographie der deutschen Uedpredigt (Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1976). Dürr,Cantatas , 30 and Dürr,"Zur Entstehungsgeschichte des Bachschen Choralkantatenjahrgangs" in Bach-Interpretationen , ed. Martin Geck(Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1969), 7-8. 48 Bach cantatasarechoralecantatas peromneš versus , employing theoriginal texts and melodies of the specific chorale and devoting one movementto each hymnstanza.Bach's chorale cantatas,on the other hand, maintainedthe originalhymnonly in the framing movementswhilethehymntextsforthemiddlemovementswere transformed intoariasand recitatives.8 Dürrpointsout that,"Bach, of course,not onlymaintained the tradition but modifiedit. For sincethehymntextwas paraphrased in the spirit of the 'modern...