Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut (Exalted flesh and blood),
BWV 173, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
He composed it in Leipzig for Pentecost Monday and
first performed it on 29 May 1724.
Bach probably wrote the cantata in his first year in
Leipzig for Pentecost Monday. He based it on a
congratulatory cantata Durchlauchtster Leopold, BWV
173a, composed in Köthen. The music of the 1724 version
is lost, but a version of 1727 is extant. Possibly the
1724 version was even closer to the secular work than
the existing version. The unknown poet wrote parodies
for six of the eight movements of the congratulatory
cantata, including two recitatives in movements 1 and
5. Bach did not use movements 6 and 7 in this church
cantata, but 7 later in Er rufet seinen Schafen mit
Namen, BWV 175.
The prescribed readings for the feast day were from the
Acts of the Apostles, the sermon of Peter for Cornelius
(Acts 10:42--48), and from the Gospel of John, "God so
loved the world" from the meeting of Jesus and
Nicodemus (John 3:16--21). The poetry is a general
praise of God's great goodness towards men. Only
movements 1 and 4 relate to the Gospel; the first
stanza of movement 4 is a close paraphrase of the
beginning of the gospel text, "Also hat Gott die Welt
geliebt ..." (For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.) This
verse became the opening chorus of Also hat Gott die
Welt geliebt, BWV 68, for the same occasion a year
later.
Bach gave the first movement to the tenor instead of
the soprano in the secular work and changed the vocal
line considerably, but wrote these changes into the
original part. Movement 4, a paraphrase of the
quotation from the gospel, is a duet, which handles
three stanzas in ever richer variations: the first
stanza is for bass and strings in G major, the second
in higher D major for soprano and additional flutes,
the final one for both voices in A major and with more
figuration. The structure of this duet is unique in
Bach's cantatas, the variations in rising keys, and the
increase in instruments and musical texture all add to
illustrate the exaltation mentioned in the title of the
cantata. For the Baroque, the exaltation of the noble
employer of the secular cantata could be adapted
without change to the exaltation of God. The final
chorus, based on a duet as movement 8 of BWV 173a, is
partly expanded to four parts, but in homophony.
Although this cantata was scored for four vocal
soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part
choir, two flauto traverso, two violins, viola and
basso continuo, I created this arrangement for Concert
(Pedal) Harp. |
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PARTITION