BWV 115

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata (Make yourself ready, my spirit), 115, in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 5 November 1724. It is based on the 1695 hymn of the same name by Johann Burchard Freystein.

belongs to Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the second cycle during his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723. The text of the hymn is retained for the first and last stanzas unchanged, while the text of inner stanzas was paraphrased by an unknown librettist into a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives. The first movement is a chorale fantasia, and the work is closed by a four-part chorale setting.

The cantata is scored for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn to double the soprano in the chorale, flauto traverso, oboe d'amore, strings including violoncello piccolo and basso continuo.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in his second year in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity. That year, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas, begun on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Philippians, thanks and prayer for the congregation in Philippi (), and from the Gospel of Matthew, the parable of the unforgiving servant ().

The cantata is based on a hymn in ten stanzas by Johann Burchard Freystein, published in 1695, which expands a single theme related to the Gospel: be prepared by awareness and prayer for the arrival of the Lord. An unknown poet retained the first and the last stanza as movements 1 and 6 of the cantata. He derived the inner movements as a sequence of alternating arias and recitatives from the inner stanzas, using stanza 2 for 2, stanzas 3 to 6 for 3, stanza 7 for 4, keeping the first two lines unchanged, and stanzas 8 to 9 for 5. The chorale is sung to the anonymous melody of "" from the 17th century, of secular origin.

Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance of the cantata on 5 November 1724.

Music

Structure and scoring

Bach structured the cantata in six movements. Both text and tune of the hymn are retained in the outer movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn (Co) to double the soprano in the chorale, flauto traverso (Ft), oboe d'amore (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), one viola part (Va), violoncell piccolo (Vp), and basso continuo.

In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr's standard work . The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.

Movements

1

The opening chorus, "" (Make yourself ready, my spirit, be vigilant, plead, and pray), is a chorale fantasia in the form of a passacaglia. The instruments perform independent concertante chamber music, set for a quartet: the flute, the oboe d'amore, the strings in unison and basso continuo. The soprano sings the melody as a cantus firmus, the lower voices are set partly in imitation, partly in homophony.

2

The alto aria, "" (Oh, sleepy soul, how? Do you still rest? Arouse yourself now!), begins, as Klaus Hofmann noted, "as a musical sleep scene of a kind that could have graced any opera of the time". Marked Adagio, the oboe d'amore plays a solo in siciliano rhythm, leading to a "long, peaceful, quasi-'sleeping' note", supported by "tranquil basslines". The text's admonition to be vigilant, "Judgment might abruptly awaken you", appears in the contrasting middle section, marked Allegro.

3

The bass recitative, "" (God, who watches over your soul, has disgust for the night of sin), is set as a secco recitative.

4

The soprano aria, "" (Pray nevertheless also during your vigil!), uses these two lines from the original hymn. Flute and violoncello piccolo play chamber music, to which the solo adds what Hofmann describes as a "noble cantilena". It is marked ''Molto adagio'', and is built on mostly descending basslines.

5

The secco recitative for tenor, "" (He yearns for our cries, he bends his gracious ear to them), refers to Jesus coming to help.

6

The closing chorale, "" (Therefore, let us always watch, plead, and pray), is a four-part setting of the final call to remain alert always. The lower voices, especially the bass, move unusually lively.

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Recordings

A list of recordings is provided on the Bach Cantatas Website. Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performances are shown with a green background.

References

Cited sources

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External links

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Cantata BWV 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit
history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas Website


English translation, University of Vermont

BWV 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit
text, scoring, University of Alberta

Chapter 23 BWV 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit / Come, prepare yourself, my soul.
Julian Mincham, 2010

{{DISPLAYTITLE:''Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit'', BWV 115

Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
1724 compositions
Works based on the Gospel of Matthew