BWV 2 - Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein

Week 2 (8 January - 13 January 2013)

Recording: Philippe Herreweghe, Collegium Vocale Ghent; Ingeborg Danz, alto; Jan Kobow, tenor; Peter Kooy, baritone

And for something completely different…from last week’s initial plunge into Bach’s church cantatas…here is BWV 2, the mournful plea of the people for divine assistance to eradicate false prophets and ideologies. This cantata certainly was a re-orientation after the shining glory of BWV 1. I should note that, since the BWV numbers were randomly assigned by Schmieder within each genre, this doesn’t reflect any intentional juxtaposition by either the composer or the church calendar of these two contrasting works.

There is of course much wonderful music in this cantata, particularly the opening chorus, with its dark, fugal structure and the tenor aria, where the diverging string parts seem to illustrate the tension between worldly influences and the desire to live a holy life. It rewards repeated hearings, but it would have greatest effect in the church setting it was originally intended to inhabit, as the listeners are exhorted to remain on guard against evil influences.

The alto aria Tilg, o Gott, die Lehren is an excellent study piece, less technically difficult than many Bach arias although there are not any that don't have challenges. The easier arias allow a singer to concentrate on diction and mastering typical Bach sequences. The phrasing here is straight-forward and the one extended passage (M. 31-35) is structured to allow an unobtrusive breath (as Ms. Danz does on the recording). It's also a good exercise in the differentiation in German vowel and consonant sounds, such as adjacent initial [z] and [ʃ] (sie sprechen) occurring in a rapid passage; [v], [f] (Wort verkehren); and [o], [ω] (o Gott). There is also the opportunity to work trills in the middle and lower part of the voice.

An unusual feature in this aria is the pairing of 16^th-note triplets in M.39 with the corresponding rhythm in the solo violin. It's very fun, and this aria is very much a chamber piece with the voice-violin dialogue. Note that the piano reduction in the Peters/Kalmus score that is on IMSLP doubles the violin part in some places where the actual orchestration has the voice and continuo only.  Because of the structure and text, this aria works best in the context of the cantata, and when performed with the violin and continuo.

I had selected the recording on the strength of Ingeborg Danz’ rendition of the aria, and not surprisingly it held up well in the other sections, yet another fine Herreweghe performance.

Another observation on that public domain vocal score: in the No. 2 tenor recitative there are some word substitutions that weaken the original , e.g. “Verwesung” [decay] for “Unflat ” [filth] - as if the editors were trying to make it more palatable for a less guilt-ridden audience. So far I haven't located the original version by Martin Luther - the middle verses are paraphrases attributed to an "unknown poet" - so the stronger language may not actually be the original.

I'm sure some researcher or specialist has probably considered whether that "unknown poet" could have been the master himself. For someone who could routinely churn out music of such complexity and mastery, one would think mere words would not present a problem, and the task could possibly have been born out of necessity as he worked quickly and would hear what he wanted the text-music match to be as he composed. But this will forever remain a mystery.

Lastly, for those who want to time travel, imagine yourself nearly (300) years ago in the church in Leipzig (looking at photos online at gives you the idea of place), hearing these words that are already (200) years old. The emotional distance between that 18^th-century congregation and Martin Luther was far smaller than the years indicate: life was sufficiently like 16^th-century life for them to still identify and accept those words literally. It is interesting to think about that connection spanning nearly (500) years, and ponder some words that are just as relevant for our time:

Wie wenig sind der Heilgen dein…Der Glaub ist auch verloschen gar bei allen Menschenkindern

How few among us are Your saints…Faith is quite extinguished among all mankind.