Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele (Praise the Lord, O my
soul), BWV 143, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian
Bach. It is not known if he composed the cantata for
New Year's Day in Mühlhausen or Weimar, between 1708
and 1714.The librettist is unknown. The cantata draws
from Psalm 146 and the hymn Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu
Christ by Jakob Ebert to develop its seven
movements.
Bach wrote the cantata for New Year's Day, which is
also the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ. The
prescribed readings for the day were from the Epistle
to the Galatians, "by faith we inherit" (Galatians
3:23–29), and from the Gospel of Luke, the circumcision
and naming of Jesus eight days after his birth.
However, most of the text for the cantata was taken by
the unknown librettist from Psalms 146. Movements 2 and
7 are the first and third stanza from the chorale "Du
Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ" by Jakob Ebert, written
in 1601.
The provenance of this cantata is disputed: some
suggest that it may not be a Bach work because of its
"unpretentious" nature and the lack of authoritative
original music, or perhaps it was a transposition of an
earlier work. Alternatively, part of the cantata may
have been written by Bach, while other parts (likely
the choruses and the bass aria) were added or amended
by other composers.
The opening chorus is quite short, using imitative
fanfare figures without much harmonic development. It
employs a ritornello theme on the tonic and dominant
chords, incorporating a descending-third sequence. Its
text is the opening of Psalm 146.
The soprano chorale is accompanied by a violin
obbligato. Although the vocal line is mostly
undecorated, it is accompanied by a rhythmically active
violin counterpoint following the circle of fifths. The
obbligato line reaches a double cadence before the
soprano entrance.
The tenor recitative is quite short and is considered
unremarkable.
The fourth movement is a tenor aria in free verse. The
vocal line is "convoluted and angular", reflecting the
themes of misfortune, fear and death. Musicologist
Julian Mincham suggests that these themes suggest that
Salomon Franck may be the poet, as these were recurrent
images in his texts, but also notes a lack of
integration atypical of Franck's oeuvre.
The bass aria employs a triadic motif similar to that
of Gott ist mein König, BWV 71. It is short and has a
limited range of tonal development or chromatic
variation.
The sixth movement is another tenor aria characterized
by the layered scale figuration in the instrumental
accompaniment. The bassoon and continuo perform as a
duet against the chorale melody in the strings.
The closing chorus employs the third stanza of the
chorale as a cantus firmus in the soprano. The lower
voices sing Alleluias and are more varied in their
writing.
Although the cantata was scored for three vocal
soloists (soprano, tenor, and bass), a four-part choir,
three corni da caccia, timpani, bassoon, two violins,
viola, and basso continuo, I created this arrangement
for Concert (Pedal) Harp. |
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PARTITION