Music for the Eleventh Sunday
after Pentecost

Proper 14, Year C, August 8, 2010

Cantor and Soloist:
Chris Riggs

Mass Setting:
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena Healey Willan

Voluntary

Opening Hymn 596:
Judge eternal, throned in splendor Komm, o komm, du Geist des Lebens

Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24
The congregation chants each half-verse of the psalm beginning at the asterisk *

At the Offertory—
Cantata 54, Widerstehe doch (mvt. 1) J. S. Bach

Widerstehe doch der Sünde,
Sonst ergreifet dich ihr Gift.
Laß dich nicht den Satan blenden;
Denn die Gottes Ehre schänden,
Trifft ein Fluch, der tödlich ist.

Just resist sin,
lest its poison seize you.
Don't let Satan blind you;
for those who defile God's honor
will incur a curse that is deadly.

Text: Georg Christian Lehm, 1711

Offertory Hymn 623:
O what their joy and their glory must be, O quanta qualia

During Communion—
Cantata 54, Widerstehe doch (mvt.5) J. S. Bach

Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel,
Denn dieser hat sie aufgebracht.
Doch wenn man ihren schnöden Banden
Mit rechter Andacht widerstanden,
Hat sie sich gleich davongemacht.

Whoever sins is of the devil,
since he has brought it forth.
Yet if one is able, with virtuous devotion,
to withstand its contemptible bonds,
it is already done away with.

Text: Georg Christian Lehm, 1711

Communion Hymn 300:
Glory, love, and praise, and honor, Benifold

Closing Hymn 68:
Rejoice! rejoice, believers Llangloffan

Voluntary

Music Notes:

The exact date of composition for Johann Sebastian Bach’s (1685-1750) Cantata BWV 54, Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin, or Nevertheless resist sin) has not been established, but most authorities believe it was composed around 1714, shortly after Bach was promoted to the post of concertmaster at the Weimar court. Bach, who had joined the Weimar court as organist in 1708, had no duties in Weimar that formally involved the composition of sacred cantatas until 1714; only BWV 21 has been firmly assigned an earlier date.

The libretto of BWV 54 is drawn from a collection by Georg Christian Lehms first published in 1711, and intended for the two Kapellmeisters at Darmstadt, Gottfried Grünewald and Christoph Graupner. From the libretto we learn that the cantata was intended for the third Sunday in Lent. At the beginning of his tenure as court composer in Weimar, Bach set several of the Lehms texts, which are by far the most luridly bloody and preachy of all the Bach libretti. They also have a raw power that suits Bach’s youthful in-your-face compositional style of this period.

Cantata 54 is one of the dozen cantatas we are sampling this summer (among Bach’s 200 or so extant cantatas) that call for a solo voice—in this instance an alto. The formal scheme is simple: two arias separated by a recitative; there is no concluding chorale. It therefore demonstrates the influence—especially in its clear division of da capo aria and recitative—of the secular Italian cantata and opera seria. The textual theme, a warning to resist the wiles of Satan, is clearly inspired by the Gospel for the day (Luke 11:14-28) which relates the story of the casting out of devils by Jesus.

The opening aria of Cantata 54, Widerstehe doch der Sünde, (heard today at the offertory) is one of the most astonishing moments in all of Bach. Sin is portrayed as a gorgeous, irresistible thing. The aria begins with a grinding and shocking dissonance in the orchestra. Sinewy, lapping phrases build up like layers of velvet over a dissonant bass. The expansive and harmonically rich string writing exhorts the Christian to resist sin “lest its poison seize you” while the expressive voice part is like a rich, deep nap atop the many levels of gorgeous chromatic harmony. Bach clearly wants us—manipultates us—in this lengthy and incredibly expressive aria to experience, and yet to overcome, the lure of temptation.

After a recitative warning that those “wed with sin” will not enter God’s kingdom, comes a second aria, Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel, (heard today during communion) in which Bach’s colorful symbolism is fully evidenced. Formally, it is a three-part fugue between voice, unison violins and violas, the sinuous chromatic subject of which paints an ever-present of picture of sin in its many guises. The text again makes reference to the presence of the devil in sinners as Bach highlights and underscores its meaning through astonishingly chromatic writing.

While this Cantata BWV 54 is not very well known, it is a remarkable missing link in the Back oeuvre and essential to our continued exploration and understanding of this master composer.

--Owen Burdick

Music for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Music Notes:

Music for the Eleventh Sunday
after Pentecost