"Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden" (If you are with me, I go with joy) is anaria fromGottfried Heinrich Stölzel's operaDiomedes, which was first staged on 16 November 1718. The aria is best known as "Bist du bei mir,"BWV 508, a version for voice andcontinuo found as No. 25 in the 1725Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.
Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel's operaDiomedes was staged inBayreuth in November 1718.[1][2][3][4] There has been some speculation how one of its arias, "Bist du bei mir," came to be known in the Bach household in mid-1730sLeipzig, whenAnna Magdalena Bach,Johann Sebastian's second wife, copied an arrangement of the aria into her second notebook.[5] 21st-century scholarship has shown that from the 1720s to the mid-1730s, at least several dozen to perhaps over a hundred of Stölzel's compositions were adopted by Bach or his family members in their public and private music practices.[6][7][8][9] Only indirect evidence suggests how such music was transferred from Stölzel to the Bachs;[5][7][10][11] Bach and Stölzel were in the same places at different times, and shared acquaintances, but whether they met in person can only be surmised.[11][12]
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From 1707 to 1710 Stölzel was a student atLeipzig University. At that time,Melchior Hoffmann was conductor of theCollegium Musicum founded byTelemann, which hadJohann Georg Pisendel as itsconcert master. Hoffmann wasdirector musices of theNew Church (German:Neue Kirche), and his operas were performed in theOper am Brühl when it reopened in 1708. Stölzel, eager to cultivate his interest in music, visited such venues of Leipzig's high-quality music life. Eventually he became an assistant of Hoffmann, initially as copyist, and later, shortly before leaving Leipzig, he saw his first compositions performed under Hoffmann's direction.[5][13][14]
Bach visited the court atGotha in 1711 and 1717.[12] In 1711 he had been hired as performer on the organ, and during the second of these documented visits he performed his so-calledWeimarer Passion duringHoly Week.[15] Stölzel moved to Bayreuth in 1717, where he was appointed to write church music for the second centenary ofReformation Day (31 October).[3][4] For the 39th birthday ofGeorge William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (16 November) he composed a theatricalserenata,Der Liebe Sieges- und Friedes-Palmen.[1][3][4] For the Margrave's next birthday he wroteDiomedes oder die triumphierende Unschuld (transl. Diomedes or the triumphant innocence), a large-scale opera which was staged on16 November 1718.[1][2][3][4] Before moving to Gotha the next year, where he would remain for the rest of his life, Stölzel still composed one further birthday serenata for the Margrave in Bayreuth.[3][16]
In 1720, three years before he becameThomaskantor in Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach started theKlavierbüchlein (keyboard-booklet) for his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann.[17] Some years laterWilhelm Friedemann copied a four-movement keyboard suite by Stölzel in this notebook, to which his father added a trio (BWV 929).[6][17][18] In 1725 Johann Sebastian started the second notebook for his second wife Anna Magdalena.[2] In the meantime he had assumed his position of cantor and music director in Leipzig: among many responsibilities that came with that title, he was now in charge of the music in the New Church.[19] From 1729 he also became director of the Collegium Musicum founded by Telemann.[20]
Meanwhile, in Gotha, Stölzel had presented his firstPassion oratorio,Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld, in Holy Week of 1720,[21] and composed a newcantata cycle every few years, among which:[22]
WhenAugustus the Strong died on1 February 1733, a period of mourning was declared in his realm, which included Saxony.[25][26] During this period, lasting fromSexagesima Sunday (15 February) to thefourth Sunday after Trinity (28 June), no concerted music was to be performed in church services.[25][26] Johann Sebastian Bach used the period to composehis Mass for the Dresden court.[27] He may have had the musicians of theDresden court orchestra in mind when composing this extended setting: one of these musicians was its then-time concert master Pisendel, with whom Bach had been acquainted since before Stölzel had known him as concert master of Hoffmann's orchestra.[27]
Early July 1733, Bach was still completing the composition, and the performance parts he intended to send to Dresden.[27] Around this time, there are the earliest documented signs he used cantatas composed by Stölzel for performance in Leipzig.[28] He may have performed two cantatas from Stölzel'sNamebook cycle, for the fifth and sixth Sunday after Trinity, in July 1733: his copies of these cantatas date from around this time.[28] He performed Stölzel'sEin Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld on Good Friday23 April 1734, and likely Stölzel's entireString-Music cantata cycle from 1735 to 1736.[6][7][29][30] Around the same time, that is, likely somewhere between 1734 and 1740, Anna Magdalena Bach entered a version for voice and continuo of "Bist du bei mir", an aria from Stölzel's 1718Diomedes opera, in her second notebook.[2][6][9][31]
That was not the end of Bach's dealings with Stölzel's music: in the early 1740s he reworked an aria from Stölzel'sEin Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld, "Dein Kreuz, o! Bräut’gam meiner Seelen" toBekennen will ich seinen Namen, BWV 200.[9][32] Stölzel's acquiring music composed by Bach is documented in 1747, when he bought a copy ofBach'sMusical Offering for Gotha, less than a month after its publication.[33] Both Stölzel and Bach joinedLorenz Christoph Mizler's exclusiveSociety of Musical Sciences [de]: Stölzel in 1739, and Bach in 1747.[34] After they died, Stölzel in 1749 and Bach in 1750, their obituaries were published in 1754, in the same issue of the Society's organ, theMusikalische Bibliothek [de].[34]
In its 18th-century manuscripts "Bist du bei mir" is ada capo aria forsoprano inE-flat major, in3
4time.[31][35][36] Its lyrics also survive in the printed libretto of Stölzel'sDiomedes opera:[2]
Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden | If you are with me, then I will go gladly |
| —Lyrics of "Bist du bei mir" atBach Digital. | —Translation |
Translations of the aria's text have been published, for instance, byNovello and byAlfred Music, and atThe LiederNet Archive.[37][38][39]
Two sources from the first quarter of the 18th century document text and music of Stölzel'sDiomedes opera:[40]
The libretto specifies the performance venue as "auf dem großen Theatro" (transl. at the grand theatre), where only some of the more remarkable Bayreuth theatrical productions of the time were staged.[1][2] The libretto names no composer.[1] In his autobiography, Stölzel describes the opera as "von meiner Arbeit" (transl. "made by me").[4] Also the 1720s manuscript copy of five arias mentions him as composer.[36] Stölzel often wrote his own librettos.[41] As far as known, the opera is his most extended composition: it contains over seventy arias, eight duets and six choruses, totalling over hundred movements.[5]
The 1720s manuscript with the five arias does not name the instruments for which it is scored: these are assumed to bestrings, that isviolins (vl),viola (va) andbasso continuo (bc). Thesoprano clef for the singer indicates a soprano voice for all arias. They are in differentkeys, and all of them are da capo arias. The fourth aria, that is "Bist du bei mir", is in E-flat major (although notated with only two flats at the clef), and has the most extended instrumentation: first violin (vl1), second violin (vl2), viola and continuo. It is also the only aria with adynamics indicator:semper piano (soft throughout). Apart from the second aria, which seems to be an addition to the 7th scene of the 3rd act, all texts of the five arias score correspond with passages of the libretto of 1718, thus the lyrics of these arias can be coupled with the characters of thedramatis personae of the opera.[2][42]
| # | text incipit | character | scene | signature | instruments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Es ist die Ursach' meines Leidens | Diomedes | Act II, sc. 11 | F major;3 4 | vl va bc[44] |
| 2. | Geht ihr Küsse geht ihr Blicke | Mosthenes | Act III, sc. 7 | G major;3 8 | vl bc[45] |
| 3. | Mein Glücke steht in deinen Händen | Copele | Act II, sc. 6 | A major;3 4 | vl va bc[46] |
| 4. | Bist du bei mir geh ich mit Freuden | Diomedes | Act III, sc. 8 | E♭ major;3 4 | vl1 vl2 va bc[35] |
| 5. | Sage mir doch wertes Glücke | Desania | Act I, sc. 5 | A minor;3 8 | vl va bc[47] |
Anna Magdalena Wilcke was an accomplished vocalist when she married Johann Sebastian Bach in 1721, around which time she was hired as a singer by his employer atKöthen.[48][49] A year later, her first notebook was started: it contains, as far as extant, only keyboard music, most of it written down by Johann Sebastian.[50][51] The first entries in her second notebook were, like the first entries in Wilhelm Friedemann's 1720 notebook, keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian, written down by the composer.[17][52] In the 1725 notebook these are followed by around ten short keyboard pieces by various composers, among whichChristian Petzold'sMinuet in G major (BWV Anh. 114), written down by Anna Magdalena without composer indication.[52] The next pieces, BWV 510–512, are the first compositions for singing that appear in Anna Magdalena's notebooks.[52][53]
The pieces in Anna Magdalena's 1725 notebook were written down by eight different scribes, that is, apart from Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena,Carl Philipp Emanuel (the second son from Johann Sebastian's first marriage), two sons of Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena (Johann Christoph Friedrich andJohann Christian), Bernhard Dietrich Ludewig (known to have worked as a copyist of some choral works for Bach), and two further writers who have not been identified.[52] Pieces were entered intermittently over a long period of time (e.g., Johann Christian was born in 1735), and their sequence in the manuscript does not reflect the chronology of when they were entered.[citation needed] The "Menuet fait par Mons. Böhm" (No. 21, entered by Johann Sebastian) is the only piece that is attributed to another composer in the manuscript.[citation needed]
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Two objectives are apparent in Anna Magdalena's second notebook:[citation needed]
No. 25, "Bist du bei mir", BWV 508, belongs to the second category, along with another dozen pieces of vocal music in the 1725 notebook.[citation needed] Most of these other vocal compositions (BWV 509–518,299 and82/2–3) can, according to the 1998 edition of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), be attributed to Johann Sebastian.[54] Doubts about this attribution have however arisen regarding following arias andsacred songs:
For many keyboard pieces that were unattributed in Anna Magdalena's 1725Notenbüchlein, doubts about authorship had been around for a longer time: twenty such pieces,BWV Anh. 113–132, had been listed in thesecondAnhang, that is theAnhang of doubtful compositions, since the 1950 first edition of the BWV catalogue.[61] Apart from "Bist du bei mir", all compositions from the three notebooks (Wilhelm Friedemann'sKlavierbüchlein and both of Anna Magdalena's notebooks) that have been positively identified as being originally composed by another composer than Bach are keyboard pieces.[citation needed]
In the notebook "Bist du bei mir" is entered on two non-consecutive pages: the first half of the aria is on page 75, and the second half is on page 78: in between, No. 26 on pages 76–77, is Anna Magdalena's copy of the aria of theGoldberg Variations.[31] That copy ofBWV 988/1 was written down no earlier than 1733–34, possibly even only in the 1740s.[52] There are various possibilities as to how theDiomedes aria became known in the Bach household, including, according toAndreas Glöckner, from scores that once belonged to theOper am Brühl (which had bankrupted in 1720), or that "Bist du bei mir" simply was a well-known ditty in Leipzig in the second quarter of the 18th century, which Anna Magdalena thought would make a welcome addition to herHausmusik collection.[5]
Like in the five arias manuscript, the "Bist du bei mir" version in Anna Magdalena's notebook is in E-flat major, and uses a soprano clef for the singing voice.[31] A difference in the notation is, however, that Anna Magdalena's manuscript uses three flats at the clef, which is the usualkey signature for a composition in that key.[31] Anna Magdalena likely copied her version from a score that used two flats at the clef.[31] Apart from one measure in the second half of the composition, the melody for the singing voice is identical in both manuscripts.[36][35] The continuo part of the BWV 508 version of "Bist du bei mir" is more lively and continuous in its voice leading than that of the extant orchestral version of the aria.[36][35] The characteristics of the BWV 508 version (and of its extant manuscript), do not prove that Anna Magdalena's husband was the arranger of that version.[36]
In 1866, a year after he had publishedhis two-volume biography of Johann Sebastian Bach,Carl Hermann Bitter published six songs from Anna Magdalena's secondNotenbüchlein, including "Bist du bei mir".[62][63][64]Ernst Naumann published the aria separately in 1890, with a keyboard realisation of the accompaniment of his own hand.[65][66] TheBach Gesellschaft published "Bist du bei mir" twice, both in the voice and continuo version as found in Anna Magdalena's notebook:
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Also in 1894, Novello publishedThree Songs from Anna-Magdalena Bach's Notebooks, among which "Bist du bei mir", with an English translation.[37][72] A story about Bach's family life, published in the same year for a youthful audience, describes the aria as especially captivating among the songs and dances of the notebooks.[73] After the publication of several anthologies, all the pieces of the second notebook were published in a single volume in 1904.[74][75] "Bist du bei mir" was recorded in 1906, sung byBlanche Marchesi.[71]
Around 1915Max Schneider discovered the orchestral version of "Bist du bei mir", along with four other arias by Stölzel, in an 18th-century manuscript at the library of theSing-Akademie zu Berlin.[76] At the time, this source was not further explored.[77] In the 1920s the aria appeared in fictionalised biographical accounts:[78]
Lotte Lehmann recorded "Bist du bei mir" in 1929.[81] Singers who recorded the aria in the 1930s includeElisabeth Schumann,Paula Salomon-Lindberg andJo Vincent.[82][83][84]Richard Crooks sang "If Thou Be Near", an English-language version of the aria, on a recording that was released in 1938.[85] Another English-language version, "Be Thou with me", was sung byIsobel Baillie on a war-time recording.[86] During theSecond World War, the archive of the Berlin Sing-Akademie went lost.[87]Otto Klemperer's orchestral version of the aria was recorded in the 1940s.[88]
In 1950Wolfgang Schmieder listed "Bist du bei mir" as a composition by Bach in the first edition of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis, assigning it the number 508 in that catalogue. In 1957 the aria was published in theNew Bach Edition, where its editor,Georg von Dadelsen, mentioned the lost orchestral version in the Critical Commentary volume.[89][90][91] The 1998 edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis kept "Bist du bei mir" in the main catalogue (i.e. without moving it to theAnhang either of the doubtful or of the spurious works), but mentions it was based on a setting by Stölzel in an inaccessible source.[92]
Recordings of the aria from the second half of the 20th century include:
In 1999 the lost archive of theSing-Akademie zu Berlin was recovered inKyiv.[94][87][95] Nonetheless, the manuscript with the five Stölzel arias was still considered lost as late as 2006.[89] That same year the manuscript was however described in a publication by theBach Archive, edited by Wolfram Enßlin.[87][43] In 2009 a full catalogue of the Sing-Akademie's archive was published, in which the manuscript containing the five arias by Stölzel is indicated as SA 808.[96] By this time "Bist du bei mir" and the four other arias of the SA 808 manuscript were identified as belonging to Stölzel's operaDiomedes.[96] The archive of the Sing-Akademie was transmitted to theBerlin State Library, which made a facsimile of the manuscript containing theDiomedes arias available on their website.[42][87]
"Bist du bei mir" has become a very popular choice for wedding ceremonies and other such occasions.[89][97] The question whether the perception and popularity of the piece would have been affected if it would have been identified as Stölzel's in an earlier stage remains unanswered.[89]
21st-century recordings of "Bist du bei mir" include:
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