Johann Sebastian Bach Our saviour Christ to Jordan came

Cantata for St. John's Day BWV 7, 1724

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The cantata Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Our saviour Christ to Jordan came) (BWV 7 for the feast of John the Baptist (24 June) in 1724 is the third cantata of the annual cycle of choral cantatas beginning on the 1st Sunday after Trinity (11 June 1724). It is based on Martin Luther’s song of the same name, which deals with baptism rather than the Gospel text (the birth of St. John and the Song of Zechariah). The powerful opening movement combines a cantus firmus motet with an effervescent violin concerto. The violin concerto – now with two violins – returns in the second aria, while the first continuo aria features repeated 32nd-note downward scales in the accompaniment, certainly intended to represent the pouring of the baptismal water. A two-part recitative (narrator: secco, Jesus’s words: accompagnato) and alto aria with string tutti lead to the four-part concluding chorale.
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  • 1 Coro

    Our saviour Christ to Jordan came
    to do his father’s bidding,
    to be baptized by blessed John
    and enter on his own calling.
    So he appointed us this bath,
    to cleanse us from transgression,
    to wipe away the sting of death
    by his own blood and passion;
    new life by this he gave us.

    2 Aria

    See and hear, O earthly children,
    what this rite is called of God.
    It is water, that is plain,
    but not water all alone,
    for God’s Spirit and God’s word
    cleanse and purify all sinners.

    3 Recitativo

    God made it plain by word and the example of his Christ:
    at Jordan’s bank the Father spoke to men;

    ...
  • 1 Coro

    Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam
    nach seines Vaters Willen,
    von Sankt Johann’s die Taufe nahm,
    sein Werk und Amt zu erfüllen;
    da wollt er stiften uns ein Bad
    zu waschen uns von Sünden,
    ersäufen auch den bittern Tod
    durch sein selbst Blut und Wunden;
    es galt ein neues Leben.

    2 Aria (Basso)

    Merkt und hört, ihr Menschenkinder,
    was Gott selbst die Taufe heißt.
    Es muss zwar hier Wasser sein
    Doch schlecht Wasser nicht allein:
    Gottes Wort und Gottes Geist tauft
    und reiniget die Sünder.

    3 Recitativo (Tenore)

    Dies hat Gott klar mit Worten und mit Bildern dargetan,
    am Jordan ließ der Vater offenbar die Stimme bei der Taufe Christi hören;

    ...
  • Foreword of the Edition Carus 31.007/03

    Sven Hiemke
    Translation: David Kosviner

    The cantata Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (Our saviour Christ to Jordan came) BWV 7 was composed for St. John’s Day, 24 June 1724 and is part of the so-called annual cycle of chorale cantatas which Bach began in his second year of service as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. The objective was to include all the Sundays and feast days of the liturgical year in one cycle of cantatas, each of which was based on a hymn – usually the Hymn of the Day for the Sunday or feast day in question. In the process, the framing verses of the hymn are performed with the text and melody unchanged: In the opening movement of the cantata they appear as a figured chorale arrangement in which three choral voices imitationally prepare the individual hymn lines which are then heard in the fourth voice (mostly the soprano) in augmented note values, and at the end as a setting in the cantional style. The inner verses are paraphrased in the intervening recitatives and arias.

    The author of the madrigal-like texts for Bach’s chorale cantatas remains unknown. It is possible that it was Andreas Stübel (born 1653), the former deputy headmaster of St. Thomas’s

    ...
  • Vorwort der Ausgabe Carus 31.007/03

    Sven Hiemke

    Die Kantate Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam BWV 7 entstand für den Johannistag am 24. Juni 1724 und ist Bestandteil des sogenannten Choralkantaten-Jahrganges, den Bach in seinem zweiten Amtsjahr als Leipziger Thomaskantor begonnen hatte. Das Vorhaben zielte auf einen alle Sonn- und Festtage des Kirchenjahres umfassenden Zyklus von Kantaten, die jeweils auf einem Kirchenlied basieren – meist auf dem Hauptlied des betreffenden Sonn- bzw. Feiertages. Dabei erklingen die Rahmenstrophen des Liedes in unveränderter Text- und Melodiegestalt: im Eingangssatz der Kantate als figurierte Choralbearbeitung, bei der drei Chorstimmen mit Imitationen die einzelnen Kirchenliedzeilen vorbereiten, die dann in der vierten Stimme (meist der Sopran) in vergrößerten Notenwerten zu hören ist, und am Schluss als schlichter Kantionalsatz. Die Binnenstrophen werden in den dazwischenliegenden Rezitativen und Arien paraphrasiert.

    Welcher Dichter die madrigalischen Texte von Bachs Choralkantaten verfasste, ist nicht bekannt. Vielleicht handelt es sich um den ehemaligen Konrektor der Thomasschule Andreas Stübel (*1653), der auch dichterisch tätig war und am 31. Januar 1725 überraschend starb.

    ...
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  • Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most important composers of Western music history. He came from a widely ramified musical dynasty, which produced numerous musicians and organists in the Thuringian-Saxon area.

    Bach vocal

    Ever since Carus-Verlag was founded in 1972, publishing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been a special focus for us. In the 2017 Reformation anniversary year we completed the Bach vocal project. Bach's complete sacred vocal works are now available in modern Urtext editions, together with performance material. A complete edition of all the full scores is also available in a high quality box set. Personal details
  • Paul Horn war ein deutscher Kirchenmusiker, Organist, Komponist und Musikwissenschaftler. Er studierte Kirchenmusik und Orgel an der Evangelischen Kirchenmusikschule Esslingen am Neckar bei Hans-Arnold Metzger und Musikwissenschaft, Theologie und Geschichte an der Universität Tübingen. Seine berufliche Laufbahn begann als Kantor an der Evangelischen Michaelskirche in Stuttgart-Degerloch. 1954 wurde er Kantor an der Evangelischen Stadtkirche Ravensburg, eine Position, die er bis zu seiner Pensionierung innehatte. Als Musikwissenschaftler arbeitete Horn bis ins hohe Alter eng mit Carus zusammen. So stammen zahlreiche Carus-Klavierauszüge aus seiner Feder. Personal details

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