Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Jesus, now be praised), BWV
41,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He
composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for New Year's
Day, the feast also celebrated the naming and
circumcision of Jesus, and first performed it on 1
January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Johannes
Hermann (1591).
That year, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas,
begun on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724. The
cantata is based on the hymn for New Year's Day in
three ...(+)
Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Jesus, now be praised), BWV
41,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He
composed the chorale cantata in Leipzig for New Year's
Day, the feast also celebrated the naming and
circumcision of Jesus, and first performed it on 1
January 1725. It is based on the hymn by Johannes
Hermann (1591).
That year, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas,
begun on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724. The
cantata is based on the hymn for New Year's Day in
three stanzas by Johannes Hermann (1591) who was also a
Thomaskantor. Its melody is by Melchior Vulpius, who
first published it in his Ein schön geistlich
Gesangbuch, printed in Jena (1609). The hymn calls
Jesus by name first, fitting to the celebration of the
naming. Otherwise it is more concerned with the
beginning of the New Year. It was popular in Leipzig
and was used in two more of Bach's cantatas for the
occasion, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190 and
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171. An
unknown poet kept the first and the last stanza as
movements 1 and 6, and paraphrased stanza 2 to a
sequence of alternating arias and recitatives,
expanding the 14 lines by additional ideas, but not
specifically referring to the gospel.
In the opening chorus, a chorale fantasia, Bach faced
the problem of structuring the unusually long stanza of
14 lines and an additional repeat of the first two
lines, as seems to have been customary in Leipzig. The
concerto of the orchestra is dominated by a syncop
fanfare motif from the trumpets. In the first four
lines, repeated in the next four and the final two, the
soprano sings the cantus firmus, with the lower voices
in free polyphony. Lines 9 and 10, speaking of "in
guter Stille" (in good silence) are marked adagio; the
choir sings in homophony in triple meter, accompanied
by the orchestra without the trumpets. Lines 11 and 12,
repeated in 13 and 14, are a presto fugato, with the
instruments playing colla parte, expressing "Wir wollen
uns dir ergeben" (We want to devote ourselves to you),
an "enthusiastic rededication to spiritual values". The
fugal subject is derived from the first phrase of the
chorale melody. Lines 15 and 16 repeat lines 1 and 2,
saying "behüt Leib, Seel und Leben" (Protect our body,
soul and life).
In contrast, both arias have been described as chamber
music. The first aria is sung by the soprano,
accompanied by three oboes in pastoral 6/8 time. A
short secco recitative leads to a tenor aria, which is
dominated by an obbligato violoncello piccolo in
expansive movement. The last recitative for bass
contains one line from Martin Luther's Deutsche Litanei
(German litany), which Bach set for four-part choir,
marked allegro, as if the congregation joined the
prayer of the individual. The closing chorale
corresponds to the first movement. The lines are
separated several times by its trumpet motif; the
trumpets are silent in lines 9 to 14; lines 11 to 14
are in 3/4 time; the final fanfare recalls the
beginning.
John Eliot Gardiner notes that Bach achieves a
suggestion of the year's cycle by ending both the first
movement and the end of the cantata as the work began,
as a "closing of the circle".
The cantata in six movements is scored for four
soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part
choir, three trumpets, timpani, three oboes, two
violins, viola, violoncello piccolo da spalla and basso
continuo.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesu,_nun_sei_gepreiset,
_BWV_41).
I created this arrangement of the opening Chorus:
"Jesu, nun sei gepreiset" (Jesus, now be praised) for
Small Orchestra (Bb Piccolo Trumpet, Bb Trumpet,
Flugelhorn, Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Bassoon, Timpani,
4 Violins, 2 Violas and Cellos).
SHEET MUSIC