' (O eternal fire, o source of love),

BWV The (, ; BWV) is a Catalogues of classical compositions, catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990 and the third edition in ...

34.2 (formerly BWV 34a) is an incomplete

wedding cantata The following is a list of church cantatas, sorted by the liturgical occasion for which they were composed and performed. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, although there are later examples. The liturgical calen ...

composed by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

, of which only the complete

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

and some parts (movements 2, 3 and 6) have survived.Work at

Bach Digital Bach Digital (German: ), developed by the Bach Archive in Leipzig, is an online database which gives access to information on compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and members of his family. Early manuscripts of such compositions are a major foc ...

website.

History and text

The cantata was composed in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

most likely in 1725 or 1726, or 1727 or later, as a

wedding A wedding is a ceremony in which two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnicity, ethnicities, Race (human categorization), races, religions, Religious denomination, denominations, Cou ...

commission, and performed shortly after its composition. As the choral numbers are lost, it is unknown whether any

chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

theme had been used by Bach as inspiration for the writing. The libretto, by an unknown author, is partly based on

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

. Specifically, movements 3 and 4 set verses from

Psalm 128 Psalm 128 is the 128th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Blessed is every one that feareth the ; that walketh in his ways". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and t ...

(), whereas the text of the final chorale is drawn from the biblical

Book of Numbers The Book of Numbers (from Biblical Greek, Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi'', , ''Bəmīḏbar'', ; ) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final f ...

().

Scoring and structure

The piece is scored for four vocal soloists (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

) and four-part choir, two

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s, two flauti traversi,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

(''tamburi''), three

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s (''trombe'') in D, two

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

, and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

.University of Alberta
/ref> The cantata has seven movements, divided in two parts (four movements performed before the sermon, and the remaining three afterwards): :Part 1 # Coro: ' #

Recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo () is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines ...

(bass): ' #

Aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

(for tenor) and Recitative (for alto): ' #Coro: ' :Part 2 #

Aria (alto): ' #Recitative (soprano): ' #Coro: '

Music

The opening chorus draws on imagery of eternal fire, represented in the strings. This is followed by a short secco bass recitative ending on an imperfect B minor cadence. The third movement exists only in reconstructed forms; it likely opened with strings and continuo. Its structure oddly alternates between aria and recitative episodes. The chorus appeals for peace. The second part opens with an alto aria that also appears in

BWV 34.1 (O eternal fire, o source of love), 34 (BWV34.1), is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for Pentecost Sunday, and it was the basis for a later wedding cantata, BWV 34a, beginning with the same line. Bach led th ...

. It includes an accompaniment of flute and muted violin in octaves. A brief secco soprano recitative leads into the closing chorus for which only soprano and bass parts are extant. As a result, it is unclear what role the other voices would play in the movement.

Recordings

Gächinger Kantorei Gächinger Kantorei (Gächingen Chorale), which uses the old German spelling of its name, the Gaechinger Cantorey, is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen (part of St. Johann close to Reutl ...

Bach-Collegium Stuttgart Bach-Collegium Stuttgart is an internationally known German instrumental ensemble, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1965 to accompany the Gächinger Kantorei in choral music with orchestra. Its members are mostly orchestra musicians from Germany and ...

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakade ...

. ''Edition Bachakademie Vol. 140 – Sacred Vocal Works/Magnificat BWV 243a''.

Hänssler Hänssler-Verlag is a German music publishing house founded in 1919 as Musikverlag Hänssler by (died 1972) to publish church music. In 1941 the Nazi government shut down the publishing house. It was allowed by the West German authorities to reo ...

Notes

References

Sources

* * J. C. J. Day. The texts of Bach's Church cantatas: some observations. ''German Life and Letters'', volume 13 (1960), num. 2, pages 137–144. *

Alfred Dürr Alfred Dürr (3 March 1918 – 7 April 2011) was a German musicologist. He was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Professional career Dürr studied musicology and Clas ...

: ''Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kantaten.'' Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, * Alfred Dürr: ''The Cantatas of J.S. Bach'', Oxford University Press, 2006. *

Werner Neumann Werner Neumann (21 January 1905, Königstein – 24 April 1991, Leipzig) was a German musicologist. He founded the Bach-Archiv Leipzig on 20 November 1950 and was a principal editor of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of the complete ...

: ''Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs'', 1947, 5th Ed. 1984, *

Hans-Joachim Schulze Hans-Joachim Schulze (born 3 December 1934) is a German musicologist, a Bach scholar who served as the director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig from 1992 to 2000. With Christoph Wolff, he was editor of the ''Bach-Jahrbuch'' (Bach yearbook) from 19 ...

: ''Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs''. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition

Bach-Archiv Leipzig The Bach-Archiv Leipzig or Bach-Archiv is an institution for the documentation and research of the life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Bach-Archiv also researches the Bach family, especially their music. Based in Leipzig, the city wher ...

) (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), (Carus-Verl.) * Geoffrey Turner.'' Singing The Word: The Cantatas of J S Bach''. New Blackfriars, volume 87, issue 1008, pages 144–154. *

Christoph Wolff Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...

/Ton Koopman (Eds.): Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten, Metzler/Bärenreiter, Stuttgart und Kassel, 3 Bände Sonderausgabe 2006

External links

Cantata BWV 34a
on the ''Bach Cantatas Website'' {{DEFAULTSORT:O ewiges Feuer o Ursprung der Liebe BWV 34a Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach Psalm-related compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach 1725 compositions 1726 compositions Christian wedding music