Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ lay in death's
bonds), BWV 4,[a] is a cantata by Johann Sebastian
Bach. The title also appears as Christ lag in
Todesbanden. It is one of Bach's earliest church
cantatas, and was probably intended for a performance
at Easter in 1707, related to his application for a
post at Mühlhausen. It is an early work in a genre to
which he later contributed complete cantata cycles for
all occasions of the liturgical year. John Eliot
Gardiner describes the work as Bach's "...(+)
Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ lay in death's
bonds), BWV 4,[a] is a cantata by Johann Sebastian
Bach. The title also appears as Christ lag in
Todesbanden. It is one of Bach's earliest church
cantatas, and was probably intended for a performance
at Easter in 1707, related to his application for a
post at Mühlhausen. It is an early work in a genre to
which he later contributed complete cantata cycles for
all occasions of the liturgical year. John Eliot
Gardiner describes the work as Bach's "first-known
attempt at painting narrative in music".
The cantata is a chorale cantata, a type of composition
in which both text and music are based on a Lutheran
hymn, in this case Martin Luther's hymn of the same
name, the main hymn for Easter in seven stanzas which
is based in text and tune on Medieval models. In the
format of chorale variations "per omnes versus" (for
all stanzas), Bach used in each of the seven vocal
movements the unchanged words of a stanza of the
chorale, and its tune as a cantus firmus. After an
opening sinfonia, the variations are arranged in
symmetry: chorus – duet – solo – chorus – solo
– duet – chorus, with the focus on the central
fourth stanza, about the battle between Life and Death.
Although all movements are in the same key of E minor,
Bach employs a variety of musical forms and techniques
to intensify the meaning of the text.
Christ lag in Todes Banden is Bach's first cantata for
Easter, also his only extant original composition for
the first day of the feast. He later repeatedly
performed it as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, beginning in
1724 when he celebrated Easter there for the first
time. Only the performance material from Leipzig is
extant. It shows a scoring for four vocal parts, a
string section of two violins, two violas and continuo,
and a choir of cornetto and trombones doubling the
voices at times. The scoring of the first performances
was possibly similar, in the style of a "Choralkonzert"
(chorale concerto) from the 17th century.
Gardiner calls Bach's setting of Luther's hymn "a bold,
innovative piece of musical drama" and observes "his
total identification with the spirit and letter of
Luther's fiery, dramatic hymn".
Bach is believed to have written the work in 1707 when
he was a professional organist aged twenty-two. He had
been employed for a few years in Arnstadt as organist
of St Boniface's church and was seeking promotion to a
more important post, which he found at Mühlhausen in
1707. His duties as a church musician involved some
responsibility for choral music, but the year when he
began composing cantatas is unknown. Christ lag in
Todes Banden is one of a small group of cantatas which
survive from his years at Arnstadt or Mühlhausen, and
these early works include some fine writing. The Bach
scholar Christoph Wolff suggests that Bach may have
composed other early cantatas which he did not think
worth preserving.
In his first years of composing vocal music, until
1708, Bach wrote cantatas only for special occasions
such as wedding and funeral. They were based on texts
built from biblical passages and hymns. Features which
were characteristic of his later cantatas, such as
recitatives and arias on contemporary poetry, were not
yet present. Instead, the works included elements from
the seventeenth century such as motets and chorale
concertos. The following table lists the seven extant
works composed by Bach before he moved on to the Weimar
court in 1708.
Bach structured the cantata in eight movements: an
instrumental sinfonia, and seven vocal movements
corresponding to the stanzas of the hymn. The duration
is given as 22 minutes.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_lag_in_Todes_Band
en,_BWV_4).
I created this arrangement of the closing Chorus: "Wir
essen und leben wohl" (We eat and live well) for
Double-Reed Quartet (2 Oboes, English Horn & Bassoon).
