Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170

Template:Use shortened footnotes Template:Use list-defined references Template:Infobox Bach composition Johann Sebastian Bach composed (Delightful rest, beloved pleasure of the soul),Template:Sfn BWV170, a church cantata for the sixth Sunday after Trinity in Leipzig. It is a solo cantata for alto that he first performed on 28 July 1726.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity.Template:Sfn The prescribed readings for the Sunday are from the Epistle to the Romans, "By Christ's death we are dead for sin" (Romans 6:3–11), and from the Gospel of Matthew a passage from the Sermon on the Mount about better justice than the justice of merely observing laws and rules (Matthew 5:20–26).Template:Sfn The text of the cantata is drawn from Georg Christian Lehms' (1711)Template:Sfn and speaks of the desire to lead a virtuous life and so enter heaven and avoid hell.Template:Sfn

Bach first performed the cantata on 28 July 1726.Template:Sfn Its brevity, compared to the cantatas in two parts written before and after, such as , can be explained assuming that in the same service another cantata Ich will meinen Geist in euch geben, JLB 7, by Johann Ludwig Bach was also performed.Template:Sfn It is regarded as part of Bach's third cantata cycle.Template:Sfn

Bach performed it again around 1746.Template:Sfn Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach performed the first movement around 1752 in Halle.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Scoring and structure

The cantata is one of three Bach cantatas written in Leipzig in the summer and fall of 1726, in which an alto soloist is the only singer, the others being , and . It seems likely that Bach had a capable alto singer at his disposal during this period.Template:Sfn

Bach structured the cantata in five movements, alternating arias and recitatives.Template:Sfn He scored the work for an alto soloist and a small ensemble of oboe d'amore (Oa), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), obbligato organ (Org) and basso continuo (BC).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The duration of the cantata is given as 24 minutes.Template:Sfn

In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.Template:Sfn The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).Template:Sfn

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Music

The first aria is a da capo aria in a pastoral rhythm. The musicologist Julian Mincham notes: "The first stanza is enigmatically poetic and its essence is an evocation of that peace and inner contentment".Template:Sfn The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr describes the mood as contemplative, and the melody of the voice as expansive, on a background of repeated quavers in the instruments.Template:Sfn

The first recitative is secco, only accompanied by the continuo.Template:Sfn

The second aria is set without continuo, rare in Bach's compositions, and symbolic of the lack of direction in the lives of those who ignore the word of God, as spoken about in the text. The organ plays the upper parts, which the violins and viola in unison form the lowest part.Template:Sfn

The second recitative is accompanied by the strings and continuo. The strings play mostly long chords but illustrate the words "Template:Langr" (to live with God, whose name is love)Template:Sfn by more lively movement.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The final aria is a triumphant song of turning away from the world and desiring heaven. The words "Template:Langr" (I feel revulsion)Template:Sfn are expressed by an unusual tritone opening the melody. The voice is ornamented by figuration in the organ, which Bach set for flauto traverso for a performance in his last years.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Recordings

Notable singers in the alto range recorded the cantata, male (as in Bach's time, also called altus or countertenor) and female (contralto or mezzo-soprano), including Alfred Deller, Maureen Forrester, René Jacobs, Julia Hamari, Aafje Heynis, Paul Esswood, Jochen Kowalski, Nathalie Stutzmann, Andreas Scholl, Michael Chance, Guillemette Laurens, Magdalena Kožená and Robin Blaze.

• J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 170 & BWV 189, Elisabeth Höngen, Bavarian State Orchestra, conductor Fritz Lehmann, American Decca / Deutsche Grammophon, Archiv 1951
• J. S. Bach: Cantatas – Kantaten, Janet Baker, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conductor Neville Marriner, Decca 1966
• J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 16, Bogna Bartosz, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, conductor Ton Koopman, Antoine Marchand 2003
• Lamento, Magdalena Kožená, Musica Antiqua Köln, conductor Reinhard Goebel, Archiv Produktion 2005
• Bach: Sacred Arias and Cantatas, David Daniels, The English Concert, conductor Harry Bicket, Virgin Classics 2008
• J. S. Bach: Solo Cantatas, Bernarda Fink, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conductor Petra Müllejans, Harmonia Mundi 2009
• J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 54, 82 & 170, Iestyn Davies (countertenor), Jonathan Cohen, Arcangelo, Hyperion 2017

References

Cited sources

Bach Digital

Books

Online sources

External links

• Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Cantata BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, history, scoring, sources for text and music, translations to various languages, discography, discussion, Bach Cantatas website
• BWV 170 Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, English translation, University of Vermont
• Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)