Music History: The Early to Late Changes in John Sebastian Bach Cantata

Music History Research Paper
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Music History Research Paper
Many classical music fans have heard of John Sebastian Bach and know that he was a musician from the baroque era. Born in 1685 in Eisenach, Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach displayed great musical talent early. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, a church organist, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. His father taught him to play the clavichord and violin. At ten, Johann Sebastian started taking harpsichord lessons from his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach. By age twelve, he had composed his first piano sonata and was writing in many different musical styles. This paper will focus on the early to late changes in his Cantata.[Atwood, G. E. (2019). Time, death, eternity: Imagining the soul of Johann Sebastian Bach. In New trends in psychobiography (pp. 299-323). Springer, Cham.]
As John Sebastian Bach became famous and his career progressed, his work later on in life became more complex. One of the examples of this is the early to late changes that he made to his cantata. This period was also a time where temperaments changed, and musical scales were not universally accepted as they are today. As a result, it was normal to change the work of other composers to make the music fit under the established rules. This is what Bach did with his cantata. John Sebastian Bach’s Cantata no. 199 and 200 were originally written in 1715. According to Bach, they are both enjoyable cantatas suitable for every Sunday and Feastday. Cantata no. 199 is a work in D minor scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and an orchestra of strings, horns, and continuo. Cantata no. 200 is scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and one oboe d'amore, bassoon, and continuo. Both cantatas had undergone changes that affected the music they were written in before Bach published them under his name in 1725. The first change was cantata no. 200, which Bach changed to a Christmas cantata called Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis [I had much affliction] for four voices and two oboes d'amore, two violins, and a cembalo. The second change that took place involved Cantata no. 199. Cantata no. 199 was originally written in D minor and scored for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and an orchestra of strings, horns, and continuo. In 1725, Bach changed the instrumentation to four vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and strings with continuo. He also changed the key to E minor. In the preface to this edition, Bach wrote that he was responsible for the changes made.[van der Leij, Anna. "Musical watercourses: German vocal music before and including Johann Sebastian Bach." (2020): 275-278.] [Friddle, David. "JS Bach Cantata 51: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen-Who Might Have Sung It?." Journal of Singing 77, no. 4 (2021): 471-484.] [Riley, Benjamin. "Lost in Translation? A Comparison of the Anna Magdalena Bach Manuscript and John W. Duarte Arrangement of Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009 by Johann Sebastian Bach." (2021).] [Yoo, Sujeung. "Accessible Bach Cantatas for Church Choirs Comprised of Amateur Singers and BWV 133 as Demonstration." (2020).] [van Erkelens, David, and Daan van den Berg. "Johann Sebastian Bach’s Music is S...