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The score of the E-flat major version of Bach's Magnificat was first published by [[N. Simrock|Simrock]] in 1811, edited by Georg Pölchau, however without the Christmas hymns.<ref name="Schweitzer1911V2p166" /><ref>Zenck 1986</ref> These were published in 1862, in the appendix of Volume 11/1 of the [[Bach-Gesellschaft|Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe]], a publication that contained the D major version of the Magnificat (and not the E-flat major version).<ref>[[Johann Sebastian Bach]] edited by Wilhelm Rust. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 11.1. ''Magnificat D dur und vier Sanctus''. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1862.</ref> |
The score of the E-flat major version of Bach's Magnificat was first published by [[N. Simrock|Simrock]] in 1811, edited by Georg Pölchau, however without the Christmas hymns.<ref name="Schweitzer1911V2p166" /><ref>Zenck 1986</ref> These were published in 1862, in the appendix of Volume 11/1 of the [[Bach-Gesellschaft|Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe]], a publication that contained the D major version of the Magnificat (and not the E-flat major version).<ref>[[Johann Sebastian Bach]] edited by Wilhelm Rust. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 11.1. ''Magnificat D dur und vier Sanctus''. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1862.</ref> |
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The [[Neue Bach Ausgabe]] published the E-flat major version in 1955, edited by [[Alfred Dürr]].{{sfn|Digital}} Novello published an edition in 2000, edited by Neil Jenkins.{{sfn|Jenkins}} [[Bärenreiter]] published a critical edition based on it again in 2014/15.{{sfn|Bärenreiter}} |
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== Recordings == |
== Recordings == |
Revision as of 21:05, 9 October 2014
Magnificat | |
---|---|
BWV 243a | |
by J. S. Bach | |
Key | E-flat major |
Related | base for Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 |
Occasion | |
Bible text | Luke 1:46–55 |
Performed | |
Movements | 12 (+4) |
Vocal | SSATB choir and solo |
Instrumental |
|
The Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a, by Johann Sebastian Bach is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat as a composition for voices and orchestra in twelve movements. Bach composed the piece in E-flat major, formally a cantata, in 1723, his first year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, for the feast of the Visitation, and first performed it on the feast day, 2 July. For Christmas the same year, he performed it again with four inserted hymns related to the occasion.[1] The sacred choral work on the Latin text is scored for five vocal parts (two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass), and a Baroque orchestra. In 1733, Bach transposed it to D major and reworked it to the Magnificat in D major, BWV 243, again for Visitation.
While the canticle Magnificat was often set to music, being a regular part of Catholic vespers and Anglican evensong, Bach's work is one of few extended settings, along with his son's Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Magnificat and the 1990 work by John Rutter. It is the first work which Bach scored for five vocal parts, followed by only a few unusual works such as the funeral motet Jesu, meine Freude and the Missa of 1733.
History
In Leipzig, the Magnificat was regularly part of Sunday services, sung in German on ordinary Sundays but more elaborately and in Latin on the high holidays (Christmas, Easter and Pentecost) and on the three Marian feasts Annunciation, Visitation and Purification.[2][3]
Bach composed the work in 1723, his first year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, for the feast of the Visitation.[4] A few weeks after he had taken up his post on the first Sunday after Trinity,[5] he presented an unusual extended composition and introduced five-part choral setting to Leipzig church music. Otherwise, he used five voices only in the funeral motet Jesu, meine Freude (1723), the Missa in B minor (1733) with the derived cantata [[[Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191|Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), and in the Mass in B minor. Musicologist Richard D. P. Jones notes: "Without exception these works lie outside the normal routine of Bach's sacred vocal works".[2]
Bach first performed the Magnificat on the feast day, 2 July.[4] For Christmas the same year, he performed it again with four inserted laudes, songs of praise partly in German, partly in Latin.[2][4] Bach used as a cantus firmus in movement 10 the Gregorian chant tonus peregrinus. A year later Bach composed for the feast of the Visitation the chorale cantata [[[Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10|Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10]]] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), on a paraphrase of the Magnificat as the text, and with the same tonus peregrinus as the base for the music.[5]
For Visitation of 1733, he transposed his Magnificat composition to D major and reworked it to BWV 243, the version better known today.
While the canticle Magnificat was often set to music, being a regular part of Catholic vespers and Anglican evensong, Bach's work is one of few extended settings. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and John Rutter followed his example.[6]
Scoring and structure
Bach scored the work festively for five vocal soloists (two sopranos (SI, SII), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)) and a SSATB five-part choir. The Baroque orchestra consists of "due violini, due oboe, tre trombi, tamburi, basson, viola e basso continuo",[7] i.e. two violins, two oboes, three trumpets, timpani, bassoon, viola and basso continuo. Two flutes were only added in the later D major version.[8]
Movements
Bach's Magnificat consists of eleven movements for the text of Luke 1:46-55, concluded by a twelfth doxology movement.[9] Each verse of the canticle is assigned to one movement, except verse 48, beginning with a soprano solo in the role of Mary (third movement),[10] then switching to the fourth movement chorus when "all generations" are mentioned.[11] The four Christmas hymn movements are placed after the second, fifth, seventh and ninth movement on the Magnificat text.
The full orchestra plays in the first and last movements and the choral movements 4 and 7, Fecit potentiam. As in other cantatas, the movements for soloists are accompanied by an obbligato instrument, only strings or even only continuo. The choral movements are followed by two solo movements, the second one often with richer scoring.[4]
The following table shows the title, Tempo marking, voices, time, key and text sources for the twelve movements for Visitation and the inserted movements for Christmas.
No. | Title | Voices | Key | Time | Tempo | Text source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Magnificat anima mea | SSATB | E-flat major | 3/4 | Luke 1:46 | |
2 | Et exultavit spiritus meus | SII | E-flat major | 3/8 | Luke 1:47 | |
[A] | Vom Himmel hoch | SSATB | E-flat major | Hymn by Martin Luther | ||
3 | Quia respexit humiltatem | SI | C minor | Adagio | Luke 1:48 beginning | |
4 | Omnes generationes | SSATB | G minor | Luke 1:48 end | ||
5 | Quia fecit mihi magna | B | E-flat major | Luke 1:49 | ||
[B] | Freut euch und jubilieret | SSAT | B-flat major | Verse by Sethus Calvisius[12] | ||
6 | Et misericordia | A T | F minor | 12/8 | Luke 1:50 | |
7 | Fecit potentiam | SSATB | E-flat major | Luke 1:51 | ||
[C] | Gloria in excelsis Deo | SSATB | E-flat major | Luke 2:14 | ||
8 | Deposuit potentes | T | G minor | 3/4 | Luke 1:52 | |
9 | Esurientes | A | F major | Luke 1:53 | ||
[D] | Virga Jesse floruit | S B | F major | 12/8 | fragment of a longer Christmas hymn[13] | |
10 | Suscepit Israel | SSA | C minor | Luke 1:54 | ||
11 | Sicut locutus est | SSATB | E-flat major | Luke 1:55 | ||
12 | Gloria Patri Sicut erat in principio |
SSATB | E-flat major | 3/4 |
Doxology |
The Christmas hymns
The four hymns Bach inserted in the Magnificat for the 1723 Christmas vespers had been used by his predecessor Kuhnau in a Christmas cantata.[13][12]
- A. Vom Himmel hoch
- For SSATB, E-flat major, . The text is a hymn by Martin Luther.
- B. Freut euch und jubilieret
- For SSAT, B-flat major, . The text is a verse by Sethus Calvisius.[12]
- C. Gloria in excelsis Deo
- For SSATB and violins, E-flat major, . Text: Luke 2:14.
- D. Virga Jesse floruit
- For S B, F major, 12/8. Text: fragment of a longer Christmas hymn.[13]
Publication
The earliest sources are autographs for the performances on 2 July and 25 December 1723, including the Christmas parts, kept by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.[4][2] These are available on-line at www.bach-digital.de.[14]
The score of the E-flat major version of Bach's Magnificat was first published by Simrock in 1811, edited by Georg Pölchau, however without the Christmas hymns.[1][15] These were published in 1862, in the appendix of Volume 11/1 of the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, a publication that contained the D major version of the Magnificat (and not the E-flat major version).[16]
The Neue Bach Ausgabe published the E-flat major version in 1955, edited by Alfred Dürr.[4] Novello published an edition in 2000, edited by Neil Jenkins.[17] Bärenreiter published a critical edition based on it again in 2014/15.[18]
Recordings
The first version of Bach's Magnificat in the Christmas version was recorded in 2002 by the Collegium Vocale Gent, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe, with soloists Carolyn Sampson, Ingeborg Danz, Mark Padmore and Sebastian Noack. A reviewer noted "bracing but not rushed tempos, infectiously energetic and technically solid contributions from the chorus, and an intelligently paced flow from movement to movement.[19]
References
- ^ a b Schweitzer 1911 (volume 2), p. 166
- ^ a b c d Jones 2013.
- ^ Schröder 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f Digital.
- ^ a b Rizzuti.
- ^ Bawden.
- ^ Simrock 1811
- ^ Dellal.
- ^ Score, p. 63.
- ^ Score, p. 20–22.
- ^ Score, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Cantagrel 2011.
- ^ a b c Spitta 1899.
- ^ Autograph
- ^ Zenck 1986
- ^ Johann Sebastian Bach edited by Wilhelm Rust. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Band 11.1. Magnificat D dur und vier Sanctus. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1862.
- ^ Jenkins.
- ^ Bärenreiter.
- ^ Vernier.
Sources
- Autograph (1720-1739): Johann Sebastian Bach. Magnificat E-flat major and Christmas hymns (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 38, at www
.bach-digital .de) Note: Virga Jesse incomplete - Bach, Johann Sebastian. Magnificat D-dur. Bärenreiter.
- Bawden, John. "Magnificat – John Rutter (b. 1945)". choirs.org.uk. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Cantagrel, Gilles (2011). J.-S. Bach : Passions, messes, motets (in French). Fayard. p. 260. ISBN 2-21-366547-8.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Dellal, Pamela. "Bach Cantata Translations / BWV 243a - "Magnificat" (E-flat Major)". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Jenkins, Neil. "Bach Magnificat in D & E flat BWV 243 & 243a / (Novello edition ed. N. Jenkins)" (PDF). neiljenkins.info/. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Jones, Richard D. P. (2013). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach, Volume II: 1717-1750: Music to Delight the Spirit. Oxford University Press. pp. 131–136. ISBN 0-19-969628-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Rizzuti, Alberto. "One Verse, Two Settings, and Three Strange Youths" (PDF). ojs.unito.it. p. 1. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - Schröder, Dorothea (2012). Johann Sebastian Bach. C.H. Beck. ISBN 0-19-969628-4.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Spitta, Philipp (1899). Johann Sebastian Bach: his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750. Vol. 2. Novello. pp. 369–371.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Vernier, David. "J.S. Bach: Leipzig Christmas cantatas; Magnificat/Herreweghe". classicstoday.com. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link) - "Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot BWV 39; BC A 96 / Cantata". Leipzig University. 1967. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
- "Magnificat Es-Dur" (PDF) (in German). Bärenreiter. 2014. p. 3. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- "Magnificat in E flat major (first version) BWV 243a; BC E 13 / Mass". Leipzig University. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
- Keep it Short: J S Bach Magnificat, a 2011 Gresham College lecture by Christopher Hogwood
- Albert Schweitzer, translated by Ernest Newman. The Magnificat and the St. John Passion, Chapter XXVI of J. S. Bach, Volume 2 of 2. Breitkopf & Härtel, 1911. Reprint: Dover, 1966. ISBN 0486216322 - ISBN 9780486216324
- Johann Sebastian Bach, edited by Georg Pölchau. Magnificat à cinque voci, due violini, due oboe, tre trombi, tamburi, basson, viola e basso continuo (first edition of the Magnificat score, E-flat major version, without the Christmas hymns). N. Simrock, Bonn, 1811.
- Martin Zenck. "Die Bach-Rezeption des späten Beethoven: zum Verhältnis von Musikhistoriographie und Rezeptionsgeschichtsschreibung der “Klassik”", p. 234 in Beihefte zum Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, ISSN 0570-6769 - Volume 24. Franz Steiner Verlag, 1986. ISBN 3515033122 - ISBN 9783515033121
External links
- Free scores by Magnificat in D major at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Magnificat in D major BWV 243 / Magnificat in E flat major BWV 243a from bach-cantatas.com
- Magnificat (Johann Sebastian Bach) Score and vocal score, CPDL.org
- Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz / D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 39 Manuscript, bach-digital.de
- Frontispiece of the 1811 first edition (at Sotheby's website)