Christ lay in death's cold prison
Easter Sunday BWV 4 (BWV3 4.2), 1707/08 (?) (vor 1714)
The surviving parts of the cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ lay in death’s cold prison) BWV 4.2 were used in a performance on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1725. Presumably this performance was an emergency solution, because the cycle of chorale cantatas from the years 1724/25 breaks off abruptly shortly before Easter 1725. As a chorale cantata, BWV 4 was of course ideally suited to fill this gap, even though this chorale cantata without recitatives follows a different (older) model. For a long time it was assumed that the work had been performed in Leipzig as early as Easter Sunday (April 1) 1724, but this is now regarded as doubtful. Although no pre-Leipzig sources have survived, the style of the cantata in fact points to a much earlier period, possibly Mühlhausen in 1707/08. Unlike the chorale cantatas of 1724/25, BWV 4 does not employ newly-written texts. All the movements are based on verses of the chorale by Martin Luther, whose timeless text is perhaps one reason why this powerful Easter cantata remains one of Bach's most popular vocal works today.
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, english translationhtml file, singing text, english translation (Sample)1 Sinfonia 2 Coro. Versus IChrist lay in death’s cold prison,
3 Duett. Versus II
bound fast for our transgression;
but now he has arisen
and brought all men salvation.
Let us all be joyful then,
praise God now and give thanks to him,
Hallelujah!Grim death had spared no mortal man
4 Aria. Versus III
of any race or nation.
This is because of our sin;
none was without transgression.
Therefore came grim death so soon
and took possession of all men,
and held us in its realm of terror.
Hallelujah!Our Lord Christ Jesus, God’s own Son, assumed our lowly station
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, singing text, originalhtml file, singing text, original (Sample)??1 Sinfonia 2 Coro. Versus I Christ lag in Todes Banden
für unsre Sünd gegeben,
er ist wieder erstanden,
und hat uns bracht das Leben;
des wir sollen fröhlich sein
Gott loben und ihm dankbar sein,
Halleluja!
3 Duett. Versus II (Soli SA) Den Tod niemand zwingen kunnt
bei allen Menschenkindern,
das macht alles unsre Sünd,
kein Unschuld war zu finden.
Davon kam der Tod so bald
Und nahm über uns Gewalt,
hielt uns in seinem Reich gefangen.
Halleluja!
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, Introductory text, englishhtml file, Introductory text, english (Sample)
The Easter cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden [Christ lay in death’s cold prison] belongs to a group of works in which Johann Sebastian Bach rendered the pure, unchanged chorale text in cantata form. This practice was in no way his invention, but was in relatively common usage during the 17th and early 18th centuries and enjoyed a certain popularity among the Leipzig Thomaskantors. At that time, the most outstanding contributions to the chorale cantata genre were made by the north German masters Dietrich Buxtehude, Nicolaus Bruhns and Joachim Gerstenbüttel, in central Germany by Johann Philipp Krieger, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow and Johann Pachelbel, as well as by the Leipzig Thomaskantors Knüpfer, Schelle and Kuhnau. What is peculiar in all this is that the Leipzig lexicographer Ernst Ludwig Gerber in his musicians’ lexicon, published in Leipzig in 1790, honors the achievements of Johann Kuhnau and Johann Friedrich Doles yet makes no mention of Bach’s contribution. This is even less comprehensible as his father, Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber, had started studying in Leipzig in May 1724 and must have heard the largest part of Bach’s annual cycle of chorale cantatas during that time – including the presentation of the cantata Christ lag
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Digital text (without sheet music) incl. printing licence, html file, Introductory text, germanhtml file, Introductory text, german (Sample)
Die Osterkantate Christ lag in Todes Banden gehört zu einer Gruppe von Werken – an Zahl weniger als ein Dutzend – in denen Johann Sebastian Bach den reinen, unveränderten Choraltext in Kantatenform komponiert hat. Dieses Verfahren war keineswegs seine eigene Erfindung; es ist im 17. und im frühen 18. Jahrhundert relativ häufig angewandt worden und erfreute sich auch unter den Leipziger Thomaskantoren einer gewissen Beliebheit. In seinem 1790 in Leipzig gedruckten Tonkünstler-Lexikon berichtet der Sondershäuser Hoforganist Ernst Ludwig Gerber über Bachs zweiten Amtsnachfolger Johann Friedrich Doles: „Er führt größtentheils seine eigenen Kompositionen in den Kirchen auf. Und um mehrer Abwechselung willen setzte er seit 1766 Chorale ganz durch, in der Manier des berühmten Kuhnau, nach Gelegenheit des Inhalts der Strophen in Recitative, Arien, Duette und Chöre, und führte sie mit unter mit vielem Beyfalle auf, statt der gewöhnlichen Kirchencantaten“. Die Angabe der Jahreszahl verleiht dieser Mitteilung erhöhte Glaubwürdigkeit, denn im Frühjahr ebendiesen Jahres hatte Gerber sich an der Universität Leipzig immatrikulieren lassen. Sein Bericht spiegelt also augenscheinlich die ersten musikalischen Eindrücke wider, die ihm in der
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Composer
Johann Sebastian Bach
| 1685-1750Johann 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
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Editor
Reinhold Kubik
| 1942-2024
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Songwriter / Librettist
Martin Luther
| 1483-1546
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Continuo realization
Reinhold Kubik
| 1942-2024
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Translator
Jean Lunn
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