| Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe | |
|---|---|
BWV 167 | |
| Church cantata byJ. S. Bach | |
 Zechariah (topic of the cantata),byAnton Sturm, 18th century | |
| Occasion | Feast of St. John the Baptist |
| Chorale | "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" |
| Performed | 24 June 1723 (1723-06-24):Leipzig |
| Movements | 5 |
| Vocal | SATB solo and choir |
| Instrumental |
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Johann Sebastian Bach composed thechurch cantataIhr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe (You people, glorify God's love),[1]BWV 167 inLeipzig for theFeast of St. John the Baptist (German:Fest Johannes des Täufers, alsoJohannistag) and first performed it on 24 June 1723. It is part ofhis first cantata cycle in Leipzig.
Bach composedIhr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe in his first year in Leipzig forSt. John's Day, soon after he had taken up his position asThomaskantor.[2][3] He had delivered an ambitious cantata in 14movements,Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in the first service as cantor on 30 May 1723. In comparison, his first cantata for a saint's feast day in five movements is small scale.
The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from theBook of Isaiah, "the voice of a preacher in the desert" (Isaiah 40:1–5), and from theGospel of Luke, thebirth of John the Baptist and theBenedictus ofZechariah (Luke 1:57–80). The unknown poet took some phrases from the Gospel, such as the beginning of movement 2, "Gelobet sei der Herr Gott Israel" (Praise be to the Lord God of Israel),[1] as in the canticle. The poetry follows the thought that Jesus, born of a woman (des Weibes Samen), is predicted to redeem sins, which are represented by the image of theserpent. The poetry concludes with the request to sing praises like Zechariah, fulfilled in the closingchorale, the fifthstanza ofJohann Gramann's "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" (1549).[2][4]
The cantata in five movements is scored like chamber music for four vocal soloists (soprano,alto,tenor andbass), afour-part choir only in the closing chorale,clarino,oboe da caccia,oboe, twoviolins,viola, andbasso continuo. The clarino only doubles the melody of the chorale.[2]
Different from his first cantatas performed in Leipzig, Bach begins the cantata not with a chorus, but with anaria. Possibly Bach looked at the canticle of Zechariah as an individual's song of praise. The aria is accompanied only by the strings, sometimes a solo violin, sometimes a dense texture of all strings. The following recitative, referring to St. John and Jesus in the course of redemption, ends in anarioso on the linesmit Gnad und Liebe zu erfreun und sie zum Himmelreich in wahrer Buß zu leiten (to delight with grace and love, and to lead to the kingdom of Heaven in true remorse).[1][2] This arioso is accompanied by an ostinato movement in the continuo in "a semiquaver, quasi-Alberti figuration".[5] The followingduet, accompanied by anobbligato oboe da caccia (the first recorded use of the instrument), achieves a dense texture because the voices and the oboe operate in the same range, often inhomophony. The middle section of theda capo structure is again in two different parts.[2] The first part leaves the "three beats in a measure" of the opening section for "common time", four beats.[5] Acanon of the voices is accompanied by its beginningmotif played both in the oboe and the continuo. The second part returns to the 3/4 but again in new material, endless jubilating runs and repetitions, expressing the joy that "we have, praise God, experienced".[2]
The following recitative ends again in an arioso, when it comes to the request to sing praises like Zechariah. At this point the melody of the following chorale is already present in the bass voice on the words "und stimmet ihm ein Loblied an" (and voice unto him a song of praise).[1][5] The closingchorale is a general song of praise. Bach did not simply set the melody for four parts, as usual. Instead, he finally used all instruments and voices together. The oboe doubles the violin, a clarino (slide trumpet) comes in for its only appearance, doubling the soprano, the choir is embedded in a concerto of the orchestra.[2][5] Thischorale fantasia setting anticipates the closing chorales of Bach'sChristmas Oratorio andAscension Oratorio, composed more than a decade later.
The listing is taken from the selection on the Bach Cantatas Website.[6]
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