O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60
Encyclopedia
O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (O eternity, you word of thunder), BWV
60, is a church cantata
written by Johann Sebastian Bach
in Leipzig
for the 24th Sunday after Trinity
, first performed on 7 November 1723.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were Colossians 1:9–14 and Matthew
9:18–26, the story of Jairus' daughter. The unknown poet sees her rising as foreshadowing the resurrection, expected with an attitude of fear and hope. Two allegorical figures, Furcht (Fear) and Hoffnung (Hope) enter a dialogue. The cantata is opened and closed by a chorale
, verse 1 of Johann Rist's O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, expressing fear, and verse 5 of Franz Joachim Burmeister's Es ist genug. Also in symmetry, two Bible
words are juxtaposed in movements 1 and 4. Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil (Exodus 49:18), spoken by Jacob
on his deathbed, expresses hope against the fear of the chorale. Selig sind die Toten
(Revelation
14:13) is the answer to a recitative of Fear (Blessed are the dead).
, tenor
and bass
soloist, a four-part choir (only for the final chorale), horn
, two oboe d'amore
, two violin
s, viola
, and basso continuo.
, as an inner dialogue, given to one singer. In this cantata he assigned Fear to the alto, Hope to the tenor, and has them sing three movements in dialogue. In movement 4, Fear is answered instead by the bass, the Vox Christi
(voice of Christ) with Selig sind die Toten
.
In the first duet, a chorale fantasia, the alto (Fear) and the horn perform the chorale, accompanied by strings in tremolo
, which Gardiner
connects to Monteverdi
's agitated style (stile concitato). The tenor (Hope) contrasts with the line spoken by Jacob.
The second duet is a secco recitative
, intensified to an arioso
twice: Fear sings the word martert (tortures) as a chromatic melisma to short chords in the continuo, Hope stresses in a long melisma the last word ertragen (borne).
The third, central duet is dramatic and therefore not in da capo
form, but closer to a motet
, unified by the instrumental Ritornells. Three different sections are developed in a similar way: Fear begins, Hope answers, both argue, Hope has the last word. Even the instruments contrast, sometimes at the same time: the solo violin (with Hope) plays gentle scales to dotted rhythms of the oboes d'amore and the continuo (with Fear).
The last duet is no longer between Fear and Hope, but Fear is met by the Vox Christi quoting the consoling words from Revelation three times as an arioso, each time expanded.
The melody of the closing chorale, originally due to Johann Rudolph Ahle
, begins with an unusual sequence of four notes progressing by steps of major second
s (whole tones), together spanning the interval of a tritone
. Alban Berg
used Bach's chorale setting in his Violin concerto
.
In 1724 Bach wrote a chorale cantata
on the complete chorale, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20, for the First Sunday after Trinity.
BWV
The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis is the numbering system identifying compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. The prefix BWV, followed by the work's number, is the shorthand identification for Bach's compositions...
60, is a church cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
written by Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
for the 24th Sunday after Trinity
Trinity Sunday
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity...
, first performed on 7 November 1723.
History and words
Bach wrote the cantata in 1723 in his first year in Leipzig for the 24th Sunday after Trinity and performed it first on 7 November 1723.The prescribed readings for the Sunday were Colossians 1:9–14 and Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...
9:18–26, the story of Jairus' daughter. The unknown poet sees her rising as foreshadowing the resurrection, expected with an attitude of fear and hope. Two allegorical figures, Furcht (Fear) and Hoffnung (Hope) enter a dialogue. The cantata is opened and closed by a chorale
Chorale
A chorale was originally a hymn sung by a Christian congregation. In certain modern usage, this term may also include classical settings of such hymns and works of a similar character....
, verse 1 of Johann Rist's O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, expressing fear, and verse 5 of Franz Joachim Burmeister's Es ist genug. Also in symmetry, two Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
words are juxtaposed in movements 1 and 4. Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil (Exodus 49:18), spoken by Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
on his deathbed, expresses hope against the fear of the chorale. Selig sind die Toten
Selig sind die Toten
Selig sind die Toten , is a line from the Bible frequently used in funeral music of German-speaking composers.The text begins in Revelation 14:13, in the Luther Bible Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben von nun an, in English begins Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord, from...
(Revelation
Revelation
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...
14:13) is the answer to a recitative of Fear (Blessed are the dead).
Scoring and structure
The cantata is scored for altoAlto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
, tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
and bass
Bass (voice type)
A bass is a type of male singing voice and possesses the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C...
soloist, a four-part choir (only for the final chorale), horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, two oboe d'amore
Oboe d'amore
The oboe d'amore , less commonly oboe d'amour, is a double reed woodwind musical instrument in the oboe family. Slightly larger than the oboe, it has a less assertive and more tranquil and serene tone, and is considered the mezzo-soprano of the oboe family, between the oboe itself and the cor...
, two violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, and basso continuo.
- 1. Aria (alto, horn, chorale – tenor): O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort – Herr, ich warte auf dein Heil
- 2. Recitativo (alto – tenor): O schwerer Gang zum letzten Kampf und Streite! – Mein Beistand ist schon da
- 3. Recitativo (alto – tenor): Mein letztes Lager will mich schrecken – Mich wird des Heilands Hand bedecken
- 4. Recitativo (alto – bass): Der Tod bleibt doch der menschlichen Natur verhaßt – Selig sind die Toten
- 5. Chorale: Es ist genung (also: Es ist genug)
Music
The cantata is sometimes called a solo cantata, because solo voices perform all movements but the closing chorale. Bach had composed a dialogue three weeks before in Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben, BWV 109Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben, BWV 109
Ich glaube, lieber Herr, hilf meinem Unglauben , BWV 109, is a church cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig for the 21st Sunday after Trinity, first performed on 17 October 1723.-History and words:...
, as an inner dialogue, given to one singer. In this cantata he assigned Fear to the alto, Hope to the tenor, and has them sing three movements in dialogue. In movement 4, Fear is answered instead by the bass, the Vox Christi
Vox Christi
Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a term for the bass voice representing Jesus in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and others. This part appears prominently in Bach's Passions...
(voice of Christ) with Selig sind die Toten
Selig sind die Toten
Selig sind die Toten , is a line from the Bible frequently used in funeral music of German-speaking composers.The text begins in Revelation 14:13, in the Luther Bible Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben von nun an, in English begins Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord, from...
.
In the first duet, a chorale fantasia, the alto (Fear) and the horn perform the chorale, accompanied by strings in tremolo
Tremolo
Tremolo, or tremolando, is a musical term that describes various trembling effects, falling roughly into two types. The first is a rapid reiteration...
, which Gardiner
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
connects to Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
's agitated style (stile concitato). The tenor (Hope) contrasts with the line spoken by Jacob.
The second duet is a secco recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
, intensified to an arioso
Arioso
In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo accompagnato....
twice: Fear sings the word martert (tortures) as a chromatic melisma to short chords in the continuo, Hope stresses in a long melisma the last word ertragen (borne).
The third, central duet is dramatic and therefore not in da capo
Da capo
Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning . It is often abbreviated D.C. It is a composer or publisher's directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space. In small pieces this might be the same thing as a repeat, but in larger works D.C...
form, but closer to a motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
, unified by the instrumental Ritornells. Three different sections are developed in a similar way: Fear begins, Hope answers, both argue, Hope has the last word. Even the instruments contrast, sometimes at the same time: the solo violin (with Hope) plays gentle scales to dotted rhythms of the oboes d'amore and the continuo (with Fear).
The last duet is no longer between Fear and Hope, but Fear is met by the Vox Christi quoting the consoling words from Revelation three times as an arioso, each time expanded.
The melody of the closing chorale, originally due to Johann Rudolph Ahle
Johann Rudolph Ahle
Johann Rudolph Ahle was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.-Biography:Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. While not much is known of his early musical training, he studied at the grammar school in Göttingen and then studied theology at the University of...
, begins with an unusual sequence of four notes progressing by steps of major second
Major second
In Western music theory, a major second is a musical interval spanning two semitones, and encompassing two adjacent staff positions . For example, the interval from C to D is a major second, as the note D lies two semitones above C, and the two notes are notated on adjacent staff postions...
s (whole tones), together spanning the interval of a tritone
Tritone
In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...
. Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
used Bach's chorale setting in his Violin concerto
Violin Concerto (Berg)
Alban Berg's Violin Concerto was written in 1935 . It is probably Berg's best-known and most frequently performed instrumental piece.-Conception and composition:...
.
In 1724 Bach wrote a chorale cantata
Chorale cantata
In music, a chorale cantata is a sacred composition for voices and instruments, principally from the German Baroque era, in which the organizing principle is the words and music to a chorale. Usually a chorale cantata is in multiple movements or parts. Most chorale cantatas were written between...
on the complete chorale, O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20, for the First Sunday after Trinity.
Recordings
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 5 - Sundays after Trinity II, Karl Richter, Münchener Bach-ChorMünchener Bach-ChorMünchener Bach-Chor is a mixed choir for concert and oratorio in Munich. Performances, international tours and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Orchester made the choir internationally known.- Heinrich-Schütz-Kreis :...
, Münchener Bach-Orchester, Hertha TöpperHertha TöpperHertha Töpper is an Austrian contralto opera singer.Töpper, the daughter of a music teacher, began her singing studies at the Graz Conservatorium while still at high school. In 1954, she began her career at the Graz Opera in the role of Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera...
, Ernst HaefligerErnst HaefligerErnst Haefliger was a Swiss tenor.Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland and studied at the Zürich Conservatory. He studied with Fernando Capri in Geneva and Julius Patzak in Vienna....
, Kieth Engen, Archiv ProduktionArchiv ProduktionArchiv Produktion is a subsidiary label of Deutsche Grammophon founded in 1948.The first head of Archiv from 1948–1957, was Fred Hamel, a musicologist who set out the early Archiv releases according to 12 research periods from 1. Gregorian Chant to 12. Mannheim and Vienna...
1964 - J.S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 3, Nikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus HarnoncourtNikolaus Harnoncourt is an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music from the Classical era and earlier. Starting out as a classical cellist, he founded his own period instrument ensemble in the 1950s, and became a pioneer of the Early Music movement...
, Tölzer KnabenchorTölzer KnabenchorThe Tölzer Knabenchor is a boys' choir with roots in the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz.The choir group is still led by director and singing master Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, who founded the choir in 1956 when he was only nineteen years old. The founder was once a student of Carl Orff's and worked with him...
, Concentus Musicus WienConcentus Musicus WienConcentus Musicus Wien is a baroque music ensemble founded by Nikolaus and Alice Harnoncourt in 1953. It generated the now well-established movement in performance and recordings to play early music on period instruments....
, Paul EsswoodPaul EsswoodPaul Esswood is an English countertenor. He is best known for his singing in Bach cantatas and the operas of Handel and Monteverdi. Along with his countrymen Alfred Deller and James Bowman, he led the revival of countertenor singing in modern times.Esswood was born in West Bridgford, England. He...
, Kurt EquiluzKurt EquiluzKurt Equiluz is an Austrian classical tenor in opera and concert, known for recording works of Johann Sebastian Bach with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Helmuth Rilling, a member of the Vienna State Opera as a tenor buffo from 1957 until 1983.- Professional career :Kurt Equiluz was an alto soloist of...
, Ruud van der Meer, TeldecTeldecThe Teldec is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.-History:...
1976 - Die Bach Kantate Vol. 59, Helmuth RillingHelmuth RillingHelmuth Rilling is an internationally known German choral conductor, founder of the Gächinger Kantorei , the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , the Oregon Bach Festival , the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart and other Bach Academies worldwide, and the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart"...
, Gächinger KantoreiGächinger KantoreiGächinger Kantorei is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen and still conducted by him. A "Kantorei" is a choir of high standard dedicated mostly, but not exclusively, to sacred music. The ensemble operates in Stuttgart now and is therefore...
, Bach-Collegium StuttgartBach-Collegium StuttgartBach-Collegium Stuttgart is an internationally known German instrumental ensemble, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1965 to accompany the Gächinger Kantorei in choral music with orchestra...
, Helen WattsHelen WattsHelen Watts CBE was a Welsh contralto. She was born at Wales in Milford Haven and educated at the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley and the Royal Academy of Music. She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service...
, Adalbert KrausAdalbert KrausAdalbert Kraus is a German tenor in opera and concert, known for singing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.- Biography :...
, Philippe HuttenlocherPhilippe HuttenlocherPhilippe Huttenlocher is a Swiss baritone.He was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He first studied violin at the conservatory in Neuchâtel, and then voice in Fribourg...
, HänsslerHänssler ClassicHänssler Classic is a German classical record label based in Holzgerlingen.Friedrich Hänssler Senior founded Musikverlag Hänssler in 1919 to publish church music. Since 1972 Hänssler Classic has also published contemporary and jazz music...
1983 - J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 8, Ton KoopmanTon KoopmanTon Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & ChoirAmsterdam Baroque Orchestra & ChoirThe Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in...
, Bogna BartoszBogna BartoszBogna Bartosz is a Polish classical mezzo-soprano and alto.- Biography :Bogna Bartosz studied voice at the Academy of Music in Gdansk and graduated with distinction...
, Jörg DürmüllerJörg DürmüllerJörg Dürmüller is a Swiss classical tenor in concert and opera.- Biography :Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the conservatory of Winterthur and took voice master classes with Edith Mathis, Christa Ludwig and Hermann Prey....
, Klaus MertensKlaus MertensKlaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Professional career:Klaus Mertens took singing lessons while attending school...
, Antoine Marchand 1998 - J.S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 15 (Solo Cantatas), Masaaki SuzukiMasaaki Suzukiis a Japanese organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan.He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christians and amateur musicians...
, Bach Collegium JapanBach Collegium JapanBach Collegium Japan is composed of an orchestra and a chorus specialising in Baroque music, playing with period instruments. It was founded in 1990 by Masaaki Suzuki with the purpose of introducing Japanese audiences to European Baroque music. Suzuki still remains its music director...
, Robin BlazeRobin Blaze- Childhood and education :The son of a professional golfer Peter, Robin Blaze grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, Uppingham School, and Magdalen College, Oxford....
, Gerd TürkGerd Türk- Biography :Gerd Türk received his first musical training as a choir boy at the cathedral of Limburg. He studied in Frankfurt and then at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Richard Levitt and René Jacobs, continuing in master classes with Ernst Haefliger and Kurt Equiluz.In the field of...
, Peter KooyPeter KooyPeter Kooy is a Dutch bass singer specialized in baroque music.- Biography :Peter Kooy started his musical career at 6 years as a choir boy. However he started his musical studies as a violin student...
, BISBIS RecordsBIS Records is a record label founded in 1973 by Robert von Bahr. It is located in Åkersberga, Sweden.BIS focuses on classical music, both contemporary and early, especially works that are not already well represented by existing recordings....
2000 - Bach Cantatas Vol. 12, John Eliot GardinerJohn Eliot GardinerSir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir , the English Baroque Soloists and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique...
, Monteverdi ChoirMonteverdi ChoirThe Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1964 by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in King's College Chapel, Cambridge. A specialist Baroque ensemble, the Choir has become famous for its stylistic conviction and extensive repertoire, encompassing music from the early...
, English Baroque SoloistsEnglish Baroque SoloistsThe English Baroque Soloists is a chamber orchestra playing on period instruments, formed in 1978 by English conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Its repertoire comprises music from the early Baroque period to the Classical period...
, Robin Tyson, James GilchristJames Gilchrist (tenor)James Gilchrist is a British tenor specialising in recital and oratoria singing. He began his working life as a doctor, turning to a full-time music career in 1996...
, Peter Harvey, Soli Deo GloriaSoli Deo Gloria (label)Founded in 2004 in order to release the recordings made during the Bach Cantata pilgrimage that took place in the year 2000. Following its launch in 2005, Soli Deo Gloria has established itself as one of the leading independent record labels....
2000
External links
- Cantata BWV 60 O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort on bach-cantatas
- German text and English translation, Emmanuel MusicEmmanuel MusicEmmanuel Music is a Boston-based collective group of singers and instrumentalists founded in 1970 by Craig Smith. It was created specifically to perform the complete cycle of over 200 sacred cantatas of J.S. Bach in the liturgical setting for which they were intended, an endeavor twice completed...
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort University of AlbertaUniversity of AlbertaThe University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
- O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 on the Bach website (in German)
- Entries for BWV 60 on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...