Bach Cantata Notes

BWV 14

Bach Cantata BWV 14 is one of his headiest and most learned works. The opening chorus is a contrapuntal marvel with each subject in all of the chorale phrases presented simultaneously with its inversion. For all of its dense counterpoint, the work shows the composer, here in the 1730s, experimenting with some of the new galant techniques. The actual chorale melody appears in the horn and the oboes. The soprano aria is of a brilliant cast. It's two main ideas, a fanfare like horn tune, followed by an exuberant upward scale, are so unusual in their combination that the work is somewhat hard to follow. What is obvious is the relish with which Bach sets this militaristic text. The tenor recitative is tortured and flailing. The great bass aria with two obbligato oboes is dense in the way that the opening chorus is dense but spitting an extraordinary and intense energy. The final chorale is characteristic of Bach's more detailed chorale settings of the 1730s.

©Craig Smith