Die Elenden sollen essen (The miserable shall eat), BWV
75, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach
composed the cantata for the first Sunday after Trinity
and first performed it in Leipzig on 30 May 1723. It is
the first cantata of his first annual cycle of
cantatas.
Bach composed the cantata for the First Sunday after
Trinity and first performed it in the service in the
Nikolaikirche on 30 May 1723, to take up his position
as Thomaskantor. From then he was responsible for t...(+)
Die Elenden sollen essen (The miserable shall eat), BWV
75, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach
composed the cantata for the first Sunday after Trinity
and first performed it in Leipzig on 30 May 1723. It is
the first cantata of his first annual cycle of
cantatas.
Bach composed the cantata for the First Sunday after
Trinity and first performed it in the service in the
Nikolaikirche on 30 May 1723, to take up his position
as Thomaskantor. From then he was responsible for the
education of the Thomanerchor, performances in the
regular services in the Thomaskirche and the
Nikolaikirche, and until 1725 also for one of two
services in the Paulinerkirche. He started a project of
composing one cantata for each Sunday and holiday of
the liturgical year, termed by Christoph Wolff "an
artistic undertaking on the largest scale".
The autograph score is written neatly on non-Leipzig
paper, probably while Bach lived still in Köthen.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the
First Epistle of John, "God is Love" (1 John
4:16–21), and from the Gospel of Luke, the parable of
the Rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). The unknown
poet begins the cantata with a verse from a psalm,
Psalms 22:26 (verse 27 in the Luther Bible), "The meek
shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord
that seek him: your heart shall live for ever",
connecting the gospel to the Old Testament as a
starting point. The later cantata for the same
occasion, Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39, (Break
your bread for the hungry) started similarly with a
quotation from the Old Testament. The poet expands the
contrast of "Reichtum und Armut" (wealth and poverty,
rich and poor) in fourteen elaborate movements,
arranged in two parts to be performed before and after
the sermon. The focus of the second part is to be poor
or rich in spirit. Both parts are concluded by a stanza
of Samuel Rodigast's hymn "Was Gott tut, das ist
wohlgetan", stanza 2 in movement 7, stanza 6 in
movement 14.
A Leipzig chronicle, "Acta Lipsiensium academica",
reported the social event: "... führte ... Hr. Joh.
Sebastian Bach ... mit gutem applauso seine erste Music
auf" (... performed ... with good applause his first
music). "Good applause" means "great approval" rather
than clapping of hands. A different translation renders
the note as "... the new Cantor and Director of the
Collegium Musicum, Herr Johann Sebastian Bach, who has
come hither from the Prince's court of Cöthen,
produced his first music here with great success."
Bach marked the occasion, creating the opening chorus
reminiscent of a French overture, with a slow first
section in dotted rhythm and a fast fugue. He chose the
same form one year later to begin his second annual
cycle with the chorale cantata O Ewigkeit, du
Donnerwort, BWV 20. The composition can also be seen as
a prelude and fugue on a large scale. The prelude is
again in two sections separated by a short interlude,
in the way of a motet according to the different ideas
of the text. In the fugue on the words "Euer Herz soll
ewiglich leben" (your heart shall live for ever), the
subject is developed three times, again separated by
interludes.
Four of the recitatives are "secco", accompanied only
by the continuo, but the first one of each part is
"accompagnato", brightened by the strings. In the
arias, the voice and the instruments mostly share the
themes. The arias can be considered as a suite of
French dance movements, the tenor a Polonaise, the
soprano aria a Minuet, the alto aria a Passepied and
the bass aria a Gigue. In the last aria, the trumpet
opens the setting and then accompanies the bass in
virtuoso figuration, adding splendour to the words
"Mein Herze glaubt und liebt" (My heart believes and
loves).
The music of the two stanzas of the chorale is
identical. The tune is not a simple four-part setting
as in most of Bach's later cantatas, but the voices are
embedded in a concerto of the orchestra, lead by violin
I and oboe I. The instrumental theme is derived from
the first line of the chorale tune.
The sinfonia beginning Part II, rare in Bach's
cantatas, is especially remarkable because it is a
chorale fantasia on the same chorale melody. The tune
is played by the trumpet which was silent throughout
Part I, as the cantus firmus against a polyphonic
string setting, emphasizing once more "Was Gott tut,
das ist wohlgetan" (What God does is well done).
Although originally scored for four vocal soloists
(soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir,
trumpet, two oboes, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola,
and basso continuo including bassoon, I created this
arrangement for Bb Trumpet, French Horn & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC