Saxon Court Joyous Homage Cantatas
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Saxon Court Joyous Homage Cantatas

William L. Hoffman wrote (August 24, 2018):
The largest number of Leipzig University-related concerts involved at least a dozen extant, joyous cantatas mostly labeled drammi per musica (mini-operas) that Bach composed for the Dresden court visits and celebrations. Usually there were held under the auspices of the Leipzig University students, sometimes with a ritual torchlight parade to the Market in front of the Apel house for the visiting court (BWV 1156=Anh. 9, BWV 215, and BWV 1161=Anh. 13), as well as observances at Zimmermann's coffee house and garden. Most notably were the ceremonies for birthday and name day celebrations in August as well as courtly visits for the opening of the Spring Fair on the 3rd Sunday after Easter (Jubilate) and the Fall Fair at the Michaelfest, September 29, as well as other special events.¹ Bach began in 1725 to compose homage works for Leipzig patrons of science and art, many having connections to the Dresden Court. Many of these works, previously listed as Bach Werke Verzeichnis BWV Anh. (Anhang, Appendix), are now found in the just-published BWV 3, listed as BWV 1135-1163 and as official works of Bach²

Meanwhile, Bach was able to subsidize his restricted salary as church cantor and town music director with commissions from the university students and town elite, possibly being the first free-lance noted musician. He also gained income representing publishers and instrument makers, had printed and distributed sacred service and profane librettos, as well as received payments from the courts he continued to serve at Cöthen until 1729 then Weißenfels, and officially in Saxony beginning in 1736. Many of these profane works also enabled Bach to transform reusable materials (arias and choruses) through parody or new-text underlay into major vocal works that he composed almost entirely in the 1730s as part of a Christological cycle of oratorios for feast days and Latin Mass music, both for the main service liturgy as well as special services of thanksgiving. In particular are the Cantatas 213-215 profane dramas parodied as a sacred Oratorio drama for the five festive Christmas and New Year's services in 1734-35.

The Dresden Court extant congratulatory cantatas are BWV 206, 213, 214, and 215; parodied cantatas originating from other occasions are BWV 193a, 205a, 207a, and 208a, and text-only surviving cantatas originally classified as BWV Anh. (Anhang) or Appendix are Anh. 9=1156, Anh. 11=1157, Anh. 12=1158, and Anh. 13=1161. Two possible works for which no text or music exists are: BWV deest, no title, 3 August 1734, and BWV 1159, also Bach Compendium BC G25, no title, 10/07/39, according to extant documents. Parodies works for patrons include weddings Cantatas BWV Anh. 195=1163, Anh. 14=1144, as well as congratulatory works BWV 249 and 36. The four extant Dresden works (BWV 206 and 213-215) were inherited by Emmanuel and are found in the 1850 accounting of Bach's occasional works in Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt's Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Wirken, and Werke (http://bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Joy-Sorrow-Occasional-Cycle.htm). Emmanuel also inherited the sacred oratorio dramas for the Christmas season, Easter Sunday, and Ascension Day. Five text-only works (BWV 193a, 1156-58, 1161) may have been inherited by Friedemann and are lost. Emmanuel inherited Cantata 207a, as well as Cantatas 213-215 and 206, found in his 1790 Estate Catalogue and first surfaced in Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt's 1850 Bach study, under the rubric "Occasional Cantatas."³ Friedemann inherited Cantatas 205 and 205a and the extant former score was given to Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach's first biographer.

The following Dresden Court cantatas, all presented under the auspices of Leipzig University, are summarized in order of composition: three works for Augustus "The Strong": BWV Anh. 9=1156, 12 May 1727; BWV 193a, 3 August 1727; and BWV 1157=Anh. 11, 3 August 1732; works from 1733 to 1742 for his son, August III, and family, BWV 1158=Anh. 12, BWV 213-215 and 206, parodies BWV 205a, 207a, and 208a, and lost works, BWV 1161=App. 13, BWV 1159, and BWV deest.

Four Earliest Tributes (Text Only, Some Parody)

1. Cantata BWV Anh. 9=1156, "Entfernet euch, ihr heitern Sterne" (Disperse yourselves, ye stars serenely, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001317?lang=en, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entfernet_euch,_ihr_heitern_Sterne,_BWV_Anh._9), librettist Christian Friedrich Haupt, Das frohlockende Leipzig (Leipzig, 1727), wioth the mythological figures Philyris, Apollo, Mars, and Harmony. Haupt presumably was a university professor with connections to the Saxon Court (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001317?XSL.Style=detail, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/X.html), dramma per musica, birthday visit of August II, 12 May 1727 (details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWVAnh9-D.htm; Dok 2:219-220, NBR 132, NBA KB I/36: 11-15). The text refers to Governor Joachim Friedrich von Flemming, "most trusted," who a year previous staged the event in honor of the elector. Cantata BWV 1156 was a new composition which may have provided three movements through contrafaction in the B-Minor Mass: opening chorus, 1. BWV Anh. 9/1, as Missa Credo, BWV 232/17, “ Et resurrexit tertia die" (“And the third day he rose again), www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDNKBo9TKWA; BWV Anh. 9/8, love duetto (SA), “Seyd zu tausend mahl willkommen" (For a thousand times be welcome), as BWV 232/2, "Christe Eleison" (Christ have mercy upon us), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWSmtLoGs0Q; and BWV Anh. 9/12, Aria “Soll des Landes Seegen wachsen” (If the land's good luck shall increase), as the 1733 "Gloria," BWV 232/10, "Qui sedes ad dextram Patris" (Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Q0A6YYILA).

2. Cantata BWV 193a, "Ihr Häuser des Himmels, ihr scheinenden Lichter" (Ye houses of heaven, ye radiant torches,) was presented as a serenade for the name day of August II, on 3 August 1727 (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000235?lang=en, Dok: 2:221, NBA KB I/36:16-19)), no location determined, text by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), with the allegorical figures of Providence, Fame, Health, and Piety (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000235?XSL.Style=detail, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV193a.html). This music, which may have originated as a serenade in Cöthen, was parodied on August 25 as Town Council Cantata BWV 193, "Ihr Tore zu Zion" (Ye gates to Zion, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyqzO3gT_n8). The love duet, BWV 193a/5, "{Ich will/Du solt} ruehmen, {ich will/du solt} sagen" ({I will/Thou shalt} boast now, {I will/thou shalt} speak now), became the "Gloria," BWV 232/8, "Domine Deus, Rex coelestis" (O Lord God, heavenly King), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12gZOHhRxuo.

3. Homage Cantata BWV 1157=Anh. 11, “Es lebe der König, der Vater im Lande” (Long life to the King now, the nation's true father, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001319?lang=en, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Es_lebe_der_König,_der_Vater_im_Lande,_BWV_Anh._11, Dok 2: 313, NBA KB I/39:126-9), was composed for the name day of Augustus II, August 3, 1732, dramma per musica serenade text by Picander, with allegorical figures Love of Country, Good Fortune of Country, and Providence of Country (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001319?XSL.Style=detail, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/II.html). The opening eight-part chorus was likely used as a model for the opening chorus of Cantata BWV 215, “Preise deine Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen” (Praise now thy blessings, O fortunate Saxon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Ea5TxZvjg), for the visit of his son and heir, August III, on 5 October 1734, and as a contrafaction for the "Osanna" in the B-Minor Mass, BWV 232/23, 25 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UThkfs8WP0M). A parody of echo aria (no 7, Love of Country) is found in Cantata 213/5 for the birthday of the eleven year-old Crown Prince Friedrich Christian, son of Augustus III, in the following year, 5 September 1733 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gppdAH8Jw3Q) and in the Christmas Oratorio, Part 4 (New Year's naming of Jesus 1735), no. 4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_JzpDcW3Zc). A parody of menuet-style bass aria no. 9 (Providence of Country) is found in Cantata 30a, 1737 congratulatory dramma per musica, and its virtual parody BWV 30, for the Feast of John the Baptist 1738 (no. 8, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qTYw7c_hSI).

4. Cantata BWV 1158=Anh. 12, "Frohes Volk, vergnügte Sachsen" (Happy folk, contented Saxons, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001320?lang=en, Dok 2:333-334, NBA KB I/36: 24-7), was performed for new Elector August III's nameday, 3 August 1733, at Zimmermann's Coffee house by the Collegium musicum, to a text of Picander (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001320?XSL.Style=detail, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/IV.html). The cantata is a virtual parody (new recitatives) of BWV Anh. 18=1162, “Frohe Tag, verlangte Stunden” (Joyous day, desired hour) for the reopening of the renovated Thomas School, a year earlier on Thursday, 5 June 1732 (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001326?lang=en, Dok 2: 311). The Lombard rhythm alto aria (no. 3) was parodied in Cantatas 30a and 30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM4_9iFtRkg) and may have originated in a comic tribute (Cantata 195) for an unknown Leipzig couple tribute, possibly with connections to the Saxon court, between 1727 and 1732 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV195-D4.htm). The aria (no 7) may have influenced the 1733 Gloria love duet, "Domine Deus" (Lord God) in the B Minor Mass, BWV 232. The opening chorus was parodied to open the 1735 Ascension Oratorio, BWV 11, "Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen" (Praise God in his kingdoms, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJeqUaqfkYk).

Extant 1733-34 Cantatas BWV 213-215 (XO Parodies)

5 - 7. Three newly-composed drammi per musica for the Dresden Court honored the three key figures: BWV 213, Hercules at the Crossroads (Picander text, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV213-D3.htm), for the birthday of Prince Friedrich Christian, 5 September 1733; BWV 214, "Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!" (Sound, all ye drums now! Resound, all ye trumpets!, text ?Picander, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV214-D3.htm), for birthday cantata for the Saxon Electress Maria Josepha on 8 December 1733 (both probably performed at Zimmermann's coffee house and garden in from of the Grimma Gate by the Collegium musicum (Dok 2: 336-337, Dok 2 343-344); and Cantata 215, "Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen" (Praise now thy blessings, O fortunate Saxon, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV215-D3.htm), text Johann Christoph Clauder, on the anniversary of the royal election Elector Friedrich August III to the king of Poland on 5 October 1734, performed on the Market in the presence of the King and Queen. In contrast to spiritual qualities in birthday and New Year's serenades of Cöthen Prince Leopold, as well as the promotions of Leipzig University professors, these three progressive works have superior music that eclipse the profane texts hastily written for special occasions, involving arias and choruses that often were readily adapted to joyous, festive music for the Christmas season, including New Year's Day.

All three Cantatas (BWV 213-215) had materials that were parodied in the Christmas Oratorio of 1734-35 and may have been composed with parody in mind. In the first two cantatas, classical figures of allegory or mythology espouse general qualities of the court with various descriptions of the land and allusions to classical situations: BWV 213, contest between Pleasure and Virtue, with Prince as Hercules, and Mercury and Muses in praise; and BWV 214, characters Peace, War, Muse/Science, and Fame. Cantata BWV 215 is contemporary chronicle of the Saxony assets and Augustus' virtues during the successful War of Polish Secession. Cantata 215 Librettist Clauder (1701-1779), Leipzig University Magister of philosophy, probably came from Zörbig, according to liner notes (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Timm-D.htm#C2: 34; https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://unichor.uni-leipzig.de/index.php%3Fpage%3Dfestmusiken&prev=search 34). The history of the conflict over Polish Secession is described in Cantata 215 liner notes (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Timm-D.htm#C2). The evening event began with the illumination of towers and church steeples and 600 student parading with torches from the University to the Market. The rya family (King, Queen, Prince) observed the Cantata 215 performance beginning at 9 p.m. from the Apel mansion official residence. Cantata 215 closes with a prayer (no. 9), "Stifter der Reiche, Beherrscher der Kronen" (Founder of the empires, ruler of the crowns, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-Ea5TxZvjg: 28:48).

Three Augustus Parodies from Birthday Cantatas

Three parodies from earlier congratulatory birthday cantatas served as vehicles for Augustus III tributes: BWV 205a of 1734, 207a of 1735 (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BachCantatas/conversations/messages/39590), and 208a of 1740. In all three cases the original texts are preserved with changes usually only in the recitatives, possibly by Picander, for the new honoree, Augustus III. In these, the framing allegorical and mythological figures discusscontemporary conditions in the Saxon realm and the renewed collaboration with the Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire as the Age of Enlightenment, nurtured in universities, began to prosper.

8. Cantata 205a, "Blast Lärmen, ihr Feinde! verstärket die Macht" (Blow uproar, opponents! Increase ye your might), congratulatory work in 15 movements with four characters (Valor, Justice, Grace, Pallas) with the Collegium musicum performing on 19 February 1734 at Zimmermann's coffee house on the Katharinenstraße (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000256?lang=en, NBA KB I/37). This 1725 festive name day tribute, BWV 205, "Aeolus Appeased," for gifted, distinguished local professor August Friedrich Müller became a victory and coronation tribute a decade later to Augustus III with three newly composed recitatives (nos. 8, 12, and 14) and other adjustments in the texts (http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV205a.html) to affirm his attributes and those of his kingdom. The original four learned characters — Pallas (soprano), Pomona (alto), Zephyrus (tenor), Aeolus (bass) — now are virtues of the Elector and his realm: Valor (bass), Justice (tenor), Grace (alto), and Pallas (wisdom & the arts, soprano). Bach was able to recycle through parody two arias: Pallas’ aria (No. 9) was reused in the 1729 New Year’s Cantata BWV 171, soprano aria m(no. 4), "Jesus soll mein erstes Wort," (Jesus should be my first word, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw1ZO2DZUQc), and the Pomona-Zephyrus duet (no. 13, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZ1m30youA), was used in the 1728 profane wedding and homage cantata, BWV 216(a).

Although there is no version of the parodied Cantata BWV 205a (the original score is lost), conductor Ton Koopman has composed the new recitatives. He explained the process in a 2003 interview with BCW’s Uri Golomb (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Koopman-Golomb.pdf): Like the St. Mark Passion, BWV 247, “where I composed the missing recitatives; and at the moment I am working on a similar project, reconstructing Cantata BWV 205a – my first version is ready. We’re going to perform that in Dresden, it’s not for a recording. There are major problems, nothing is 100% clear. Musicologists have made suggestions on how things should go; but BWV 205a is lost, and I think it is impossible to reconstruct it as Bach performed it.” The provenance of surviving Cantata 205 is: J. S. Bach – W. F. Bach – J. N. Forkel – G. Poelchau (1819) – Berlin, Königliche Bibliothek (1841) – now Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung.

9. Cantata 207a, "Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten" (Resound, pealing notes of the vigorous trumpets), drammi per musica for the name day of Augustus III, in 9 movements, was presented on 3 August 1735, also at Zimmermann's coffee house with the Collegium musicum (7-14; DOK 2:346-348, BJ 93 (2007): 205-212). The 1726 homage cantata, BWV 207, "Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten (United division of strings ever changing), for the appointment of jurist Gottlieb Kortte as a Leipzig university professor was parodied with new music (recitatives nos. 2, 4, & 6, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pyLtCUc6bU) for four Roman Gods celebrating the King's birthday with allusions to Saxony and its Golden Age: presumably the soprano as Mercury, alto as Fortune, tenor as Minerva, and bass as Mars (Cantatas 207(a) have two distinct features: a closing summary ensemble dialogue recitative and a post-performance Marsch appendix, derived from the third movement of Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 BWV 1046, suggesting a parade to honor the Elector (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYsLX5B3xi8, https://www.bach-digital.de/rsc/viewer/BachDigitalSource_derivate_00002843/db_bachp0174_page001v.jpg).

The ensemble dialogue recitative uniting all the characters (BWV 207a/10), an operatic convention, is used selectively and found in four other works (two sacred, two profane): 1727 St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244/67, "Nun ist der Herr" (http://youtubetomp3converter.co/mp3/st-matthew-passion-bwv-244-67-recitative-nun-ist-der-herr-zu-ruh-gebracht-bass-tenor-alto-soprano.html); Cantata 201/12 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ykKYdbh1DY), Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248/63, "Was will" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWelSHMqME), and Cantata 206/10, "Ich muß" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGb7gt8bxVI, 36:31). Textually, Minerva's reference (no. 2), "Castalian Muses sing their lyrics," also found in Mar's reference (BWV 1156=Anh. 9/9, 1727 August II birthday visit), "Castalian nymphs so daring," is a reminder of the Castalian fountain of Delphi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castalian_Spring). An encyclopedia of classical knowledge is conflated into the life of Saxony and its ruler in Cantata 207a with particular associations to Leipzig, says Martin Petzoldt in his liner notes (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Timm-D.htm#C2: 42f). Of particular note are the allusions in Minerva's recitative to "Pallas' charming grove," could be the Leipzig Rosenthal park where August the Strong had wanted to build a palace (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.leipzig.de/freizeit-kultur-und-tourismus/parks-waelder-und-friedhoefe/parks-und-gruenanlagen/rosental/&prev=search), and Mercury's song (no. 3) about "our land's own father's chamber," is Saxony's forests that would have provided the wood for the palace.

10. Cantata BWV 208a, Frohlockender Götterstreit (A Merry Contest of the Gods): "Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!" (My only joy / Is in the merry hunt!, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baGrzOY1bmI), for the name day of August III, probably 8 August 1742,. It retains the four original characters (Diana, Endymion, Pan, & Pales) from the original congratulatory Cantata BWV 208 for the birthday of Duke Christian of Saxe-Weißenfels, 23 February 2013), Bach's first"modern" cantata, text of Salomo Franck of 15 movements lasting 40 minutes. The latest version presented by the Collegium musicum at Zimmerman's coffee garden (Dok: 2: 480, NBA KB I/37: 91-6, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000263?lang=en), to a revised text of cousin and secretary Johann Elias Bach (1705-55, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV208a.html for the recitative (no. 8, "curious changes," says Z. Philip Ambrose) and aria (no. 12) with the name change from Christian to August in movements 12-14. The music is lost but the scoring is assumed to be the original: pairs of hunting horns, recorders, and oboes with hunting oboe and bassoon plus strings and continuo. A description of the work, its performances and parodies and the use of the S, BWV 1046a/1071 (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001229?lang=en) is found at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV208-D4.htm).

Besides the three drammi per musica, BWV 213-215, there is extant one other new work, drama per musica BWV 206, that was composed for the Saxon Court in the mid 1730s. The text of another work, 1738 BWV 1161=Anh. 13, is extant while another work is catalogued BWV 1159 in 1739 and two are not catalogued, being labeled BWV deest, of 1734 and 1741.

11. Cantata 206, Schleicht, spielende Wellen, und murmelt gelinde! (Flow, playful water, and murmur gently!) was first performed for Augustus III’s birthday, 7 October 1736, inside at Zimmermann's coffee house (Dok 2: 386, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000257?lang=en) and a second version for his name day, August 3, 1740, with small adjustments in the text, outside at Zimmermann's coffee garden (Doc 2: 479, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000258?lang=en). No members of the royal household attended either performance (details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV206-D3.htm). Bach began composing this 11-movement work eventually lasting 43 minutes for the King's visit in early August 1734 (http://allofbach.com/en/bwv/bwv-206/), but instead composed BWV 215 for the family's visit (details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV215-D3.htm). The text by an unknown poet, presumably was updated for the King's birthday two years later. The orchestra is the same as drammi per musica BWV 201, BWV 207, BWV 214, BWV 215, and BWV 249: 3 trumpets, timpani, 2 oboes (d’amore), 3 transverse flutes, 2 violins, viola, continuo (cello & double-bass). Although no copies of the libretto that was printed on this occasion have survived, Bach’s autograph score is extant, as is a complete set of parts. The libretto refers to the War of Polish Secession and the battle near Danzig (1733-35, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Polish_Succession), the rivalries, and the conciliation of the Catholic Saxon House of Wettin and the Hapsburgs. The libretto frames this history with classical elements in a fictive conversation among the Saxon realm's rivers of Vistula (Poland), Elbe (Saxony), Danube (Austria), and Pleiße in Leipzig, says the liner notes (Ibid.: 36f). The recent Klaus Hofmann liner notes are fund at http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Suzuki-Rec5.htm#S8, "Liner Notes"). Bach composed some of his most progressive music for this work as well as lost Cantata BWV 1161=Anh. 13 in 1738, using Lombard style in the opening chorus and the Pleiße aria (no. 9), "Hört doch" (http://eagtge.haoshou.ltd/T10wREvTVCs/Schleicht_spielende_Wellen_und_murmelt_gelinde_BWV_206_Aria_Hort_doch_der_sanften_Floten_Chor/).

Lost Progressive Evening Serenade, BWV Anh. 13

12. Bach’s last “original” homage work, Cantata BWV 1161=Anh. 13, "Willkommen! Ihr herrschenden Götter der Erden!" (Be welcome! You ruling Gods of the earth!), an evening serenade to a text of Johann Christoph Gottsched (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWVAnh13-Ger5.htm, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XV.html, Riemers' Chronik), leading poet and Leipzig University professor, was presented on Monday, April 28, 1738, during the Easter Fair that began the previous day, Jubilate Sunday. A Leipzig University student commission for the king’s visit and betrothal of Princes Amalia, it was presented at 9 p.m. in front of the royal residence in torchlight but without the preceding one-hour parade [BD II: 424-5], as was Cantata BWV 1157=Anh. 11 of August 3, 1732. Bach acknowledged payment from Leipzig University on May 5 (BD I: 122).

No music survives from Cantata BWV Anh. 13 (BCW Details, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWVAnh13.htm, BG XXXIV Forward [Waldersee 1887, NBA KB I/37 [Neumann 1961]). This work, cited in Lorenz Mizler’s 1738-39 defense against Scheibe’s attack on Bach’s old-fashion style, “was written entirely in accordance with the latest taste and was approved by everyone” (NBR/BD II: 346). Philip Z. Ambrose’s English translation and notes are found at http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/XV.html. Like Cantata 206, the nine-movement work opens and closes with festive choruses (called “arias” here) with alternating recitatives and two arias in between, singing the praises of the Elector. The text praises August and has Arcadian and classical images incorporated into contemporary commentary as well as allusions to the monarch as David and Salomon, the recent war and the reunion with the Hapsburgs and Queen Amalia.

Cantata BWV Anh. 13 is not a dramma per musica with mythological or allegorical figures but all four lyrical movements may involve Lombard syncopated rhythms, says Gerhardt Herz.⁴ “The chronological proximity of the Wiederau Cantata [November 1737] to the lost Cantata of 1738 . . . should allow us to deduce that Cantata BWV App. 13 was even more up to date, more lavish in use of short-long and Lombard rhythms and syncopation than the Wiederau Cantata, BWV 30a.” The two da-capo choruses have dactyllic meter (3/8) in the Gottsched text: No. 1, "Willkommen! Ihr herrschenden Götter der Erden!," and No. 9, "Auf! theuerste Enkelinn mächtigster Kaiser!" (Hail! Dearest granddaughter of mighty Emperors!). The two arias, Nos. 3 and 5, have trochaic meter common to” the previous Saxon Court homage cantatas BWV 214, BWV 215, BWV 206 as well as music in BWV Anh. 12 and BWV 213, “and by the fact that they were created during the heyday of Bach’s use of these rhythms.”

In all, Bach composed extant music for six of the court homage cantatas with Lombard rhythm (Ibid.: 254). As Bach’s last original composition for the court, Cantata BWV Anh. 13 “deserves a final moment of attention. “Once Bach had (in November 1736) received the title of court composer but not the position he had so fervently sought in 1733, there no longer seemed to be any practical reasons to continue to strive for Augustus III’s favor by creating new compositions in his and his family’s honor. While cantata performances for the Name Day of his sovereign are documented for the years 1740 and 1742, they turn out to be repeat performances of Cantata 206” and Cantata BWV 208a.

Three other Saxon homage cantatas are listed, one is catalogued while two are not.⁵ Cantata BWV 1159=BWV deest (no title), birthday cantata for Elector Friedrich Augustus, on 7 October 1739, Zimmermann's Coffee House, performed by Collegium musicum; no libretto or music extant, cited in Leipzig newspapers (BD II:459, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001536?lang=en. Cantata BWV deest (no title), is a name day cantata for Elector Friedrich Augustus, 3 August 1734, Zimmermann garden (Dok 2: 350, NBR 170) and Cantata BWV deest, cantata honoring Augustus and family by 29 April 1741 (Dok 2: 487, possibly for a visit to the Spring Fair, opening 24 April (Jubilate Sunday); no further information available.

FOOTNOTES

¹ Specific venues identified in Christoph Wolff ‘s Johann SBach: The Learned Musician (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000: 360), based on the number of printed copies of the homage cantata texts, as found in Thomas Braatz’ “Bach’s Text and Music Business Connections,” BCW, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/BachBusiness.pdf and through http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BachCantatas/conversations/topics/37508. Braatz summarizes “references detailing Bach’s business with books and texts as extracted from the Bach-Dokumente II (Bärenreiter, 1969) [henceforth referred to simply as BD II].”
² See https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://www.bacharchivleipzig.de/de/bach-archiv/das-neue-bach-werke-verzeichnis&prev=search, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Johann_Sebastian_Bach.
³ Carl Ludwig Hilgenfeldt, Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Wirken, and Werke: ein Beitrage zur Kunstgeschichte des achzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig: Hofmeister, 1850; reprint, Hilversum: Knuf, 1965: 107).
⁴ Gerhard Herz, “Lombard Rhythm in Bach’s Vocal Music,” Essays on J. S. Bach (Ann Arbor MI: UMI Research Press, 1985: 257f).
⁵ Cited in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London & New York: Routledge, 2017: 524, 531).

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To Come: Thomas School homage cantatas and other cantatas for patrons of science and arts.