Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
Cantata for the twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity
First performance: Leipzig, November 25, 1731
Soloists: Soprano, tenor, bass
Chorus (SATB)
Orchestra: 2 oboes, taille, violino piccolo, strings, continuo.
(A horn doubles chorus sopranos on the hymn tune.)
(Continuo parts extant for bassoon and organ.)
***
Chorus (1st verse of chorale)
Recitative (tenor)
Duet-dialogue (soprano, bass)
Chorale (2nd verse)
Recitative (bass)
Duet-dialogue (soprano, bass)
Chorale (3rd verse)
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
The chorale cantata Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme (Awake! the voice calls to us) is one of the most popular of all of Bach's cantatas. It was first performed on November 25, 1731. The chorale on which it is based comes from the end of the sixteenth century; it has only three verses, all of which are sung in this work.
The opening movement, which has been called a chorale fantasia, sets the first verse of the "Wachet auf" chorale. It begins with a stately dotted rhythm that is passed between a trio of upper strings (first and second violins plus viola) and a trio of oboes (two oboes and a taille). In modern-instrument performances, an English horn generally substitutes for the taille, i. e. the oboe da caccia or tenor oboe in F. With the choral entrance, the sopranos sing the hymn tune over the counterpoint of the lower voices, while the orchestra continues to play the dotted rhythms and other figuration.
Following a tenor recitative, there is the first of two duet dialogues between the soul (a soprano) and Christ (a bass). As the symbolic bride and bridegroom, each voice has its own text, so that soul's questions are answered by Jesus: "When will you come?"/"I am coming." Overlaid above their dialogue is a sensuous, highly ornamented solo line for a violino piccolo, a small violin tuned a minor third higher than the other violins.
The famous middle movement of this cantata sets the second verse of the chorale, with the tenor singing the hymn tune, as the violins and viola in unison play an independent melodic line. The rich sonority of the movement is thus in the middle alto-tenor range, accompanied by the continuo bass. Bach's later transcription of this movement for organ was published as one of his Schübler Chorales.
Following a recitative for bass, there is then the second duet dialogue for soprano and bass. Like the first one, this is also accompanied by a solo instrument with continuo, the soloist in this case being an oboe. In this second dialogue, the soul is now united with Jesus: "My friend is mine"/"And I am yours."
The cantata concludes with the third and last verse of the chorale text in a simple four-voice harmonization.
The autograph score of this cantata was lost after the composer's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, auctioned off many of his father's manuscripts to pay his own debts. However, the original parts have survived, as have manuscript scores by later copyists.
Boston Baroque Performances
Wachet auf! ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140
March 25, 1995
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Dominique Labelle, soprano
Frank Kelley, tenor
Sanford Sylvan, baritone