Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben (Lord, when our insolent enemies snort),[1]BWV 248VI (also written as BWV 248 VI), is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, composed for Epiphany as the sixth part of his Christmas Oratorio for the Christmas season of 1734–35 in Leipzig. The cantata was first performed in two major churches there on 6 January 1735.
The topic of Part VI follows the Gospel of Matthew, telling of the Adoration of the Magi. Bach scored it for a festive orchestra, with all instruments from Part I except the flutes. Its exceptional closing chorale, with the voices embedded in an orchestral concerto dominated by the first trumpet, closes not only the cantata but also the oratorio.
Bach led the first performances with the Thomanerchor at the two main churches of Leipzig on 6 January 1735.[1][7]
Cantata fragment BWV 248 VI a
BWV 248 VI a, also indicated as BWV 248a, is a fragment of a cantata, transmitted without text, the opening chorus of which Bach likely borrowed from So kämpfet nur, ihr muntern Töne, BWV 1160, one of his secular cantatas. Picander wrote the libretto of the BWV 1160 cantata (also known as BWV Anh. 10), which otherwise, that is, apart from the likely borrowed opening chorus, survived without music. It was first performed on 25 August 1731, for the birthday of Joachim Friedrich von Flemming [de].[9][10][11]
The cantata transmitted in the BWV 248a fragment, consisting of four revised performance parts in the bundle of contemporary performance material for BWV 248 VI, is a sacred cantata for Michaelmas (29 September), likely first performed in 1734. While nothing more survives of the Michaelmas cantata as such, the four revised performance parts show that most of its music, including the music of its opening chorus and recitatives, was parodied in Part VI of the Christmas Oratorio.[9][10][11]
Music
Structure and scoring
The cantata is structured in 11 movements.[12] An extended choral introduction is followed by two scenes. Both scenes are composed of a quotation from the Gospel of Matthew, a recitative reflecting the narration, an aria-like prayer or meditation, and a chorale setting a stanza from a Lutheran hymn. Bach scored the cantata for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a festive Baroque orchestra with trumpets, timpani, oboes and strings. A tenor soloist narrates the Biblical story in secco recitative, as the Evangelist. There are two chorales: a four-part setting of Paul Gerhardt's "Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier" and a closing chorale with an independent orchestra, "Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen".[12]
BWV 248 VI is scored for three trumpets (Tr), timpani (Ti), two oboes (Ob), two oboes d'amore (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), a viola part (Va) and continuo.[7] In the following table, the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.
Movements of Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben
