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Christum wir sollen loben schon, BWV 121
Christum wir sollen loben schon (Christ we shall praise splendidly[1][a]), BWV 121, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed this Christmas cantata in Leipzig in 1724 for the second day of Christmas and first performed it on 26 December 1724. It is part of his Chorale cantata cycle and is based on a hymn by Martin Luther, "Christum wir sollen loben schon". Christum wir sollen loben schon is part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the second cycle during his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723. In the format of this cycle, the text retains the first and last stanza of the chorale unchanged, while the inner six stanzas were paraphrased by an unknown librettist for alternating arias and recitatives. The librettist created a sermon about the miracle of the birth of Jesus and the believer's reaction to it. The work's outer movements are choral and use the hymn tune, while the inner four movements are composed for soloists, unconnected to the hymn tune. The cantata is scored for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of cornett and trombones to reinforce the voices, oboe d'amore, strings, and basso continuo. History and wordsBach composed the cantata in his second year in Leipzig for the Second Day of Christmas as part of his second cantata cycle.[2] The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the Epistle to Titus (Titus 3:4–7), and the Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:15–20),[2][3] of the shepherds at the manger.[1]: 106 The source for the text is Martin Luther's hymn "Christum wir sollen loben schon",[2] a German translation of the Latin "A solis ortus cardine" (c. 430).[1]: 112 [4][5] The hymn's first stanza and eighth stanza are retained unchanged for an opening chorus and a closing chorale. The inner stanzas were freely adapted as madrigalian recitatives and arias by an unknown poet,[1]: 112 [6] one stanza for each of the two arias, movements 2 and 4, and two stanzas for each of the two recitatives, movements 3 and 5.[1]: 112 The librettist created a sermon in versed poetry, devoting the first three free movements to the miracle of the birth of Jesus and the other three to the believer's reaction to it.[5] Bach led the first performance in the service on 26 December 1724.[2] MusicStructure and scoringBach structured Christum wir sollen loben schon in six movements. Both the text and the tune of the hymn are retained in the outer movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of cornett (Ct), three trombones (Tb), oboe d'amore (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), one viola part (Va), and basso continuo.[1]: 110–111 [2][7] The duration of the cantata is given as 21 minutes.[1]: 110 In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr's standard work Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach.[1]: 110–111 The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.
Movements The hymn tune goes back to the "A solis ortus" hymn from the 5th century. The version Bach used was first published in Strasbourg in 1537.[5] The opening choral motet, "Christum wir sollen loben schon" (Christ we shall praise splendidly),[1] is built on a quasi-church mode cantus firmus in the soprano. The archaic effect of the tune is underscored by a full four-part brass accompaniment.[4] The instruments, other than the continuo, largely double the vocal lines, while the continuo assumes an obbligato contrapuntal role.[5][8] Bach used fugal techniques and an extended final cadence.[9] It begins in E minor and, unusually, closes a tone higher in F-sharp minor.[10] The tenor aria, "O du von Gott erhöhte Kreatur, begreife nicht, nein, nein, bewundre nur" (O you exalted creature of God, do not understand, no, no, just marvel),[11] is composed as a modern da capo aria, in which the symmetrical scheme is broken up by irregular periodising and harmonization.[9] It includes a very prominent oboe d'amore part.[8] The movement is largely in B minor.[6] Craig Smith remarks that the aria is "marvelously off-kilter".[12] The third movement, "Der Gnade unermeßlich's Wesen" (The unfathomable being of Grace),[11] is an alto recitative. It ends with a "startling enharmonic progression – a symbolic transformation" to C major.[4][5] The bass aria, "Johannis freudenvolles Springen erkannte dich, mein Jesu, schon" (John's joyful leaps already acknowledge you, my Jesus),[11] is almost dance-like, playing with the harmony and portraying jumps, reflecting the movement's text's references to John the Baptist's leaping in his mother's womb during the Visitation of Mary.[4] The binary-form string ritornello repeats four times during the aria, framing three separate vocal sections of the da capo aria.[9] The penultimate movement, "Doch wie erblickt es dich in deiner Krippe?" (Yet how can it behold you in your manger?),[11] is a soprano recitative, short and arioso-like.[6] It is remarkable for its extended range.[9] The closing chorale movement presents the doxology, "Lob, Ehr und Danke sei dir gesagt, Christ, geborn von der reinen Magd" (Praise, honor, and thanks be said to you, Christ, born from the pure maid),[11], in a four-part setting,[13] illuminating the early-church melody in a modern major-minor tonality.[4] Unusually, the piece ends on a B minor imperfect cadence.[9] Manuscripts and publicationBach's autograph score is preserved. It was probably inherited by his son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and went, via other owners, to the royal library in Berlin, together with four parts. While the parts remained there, the score was moved during World War II. It is held in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Kraków, Poland. A set of 14 original parts was probably inherited by Anna Magdalena Bach who passed them to the Thomasschule. They are now held by the Bach Archive in Leipzig.[5] The cantata was first published in a critical edition in 1878 in the first complete edition of Bach's work, the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe. The volume in question was edited by Alfred Dörffel.[5] In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe it was published in 2000, edited by Uwe Wolf.[5] RecordingsA list of recordings is provided on the Bach Cantatas website.[3]
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