🎶 cantāmus edition 🎶 Graupner Chorale No. 𝟙𝟘𝟝𝟡: 𝕰𝖘 𝖎𝖘𝖙 𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖚𝖌! 𝕸𝖊𝖎𝖓 𝖒𝖆𝖙𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖓𝖓 (from GWV 1169/45b)
Chorale No. 1059 of 1345 *Music:* Christoph Graupner (1683 - 1760) *First performance:* 02/02/1745 (Candlemas/Purification of Mary) *Verse text:* _Es ist genug! Mein matter Sinn_ *Text source:* 1st verse of hymn by Anton Ulrich, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1667) *Chorale melody* Origin unknown (Graupner?) 1st movement of cantata _Es ist genug! Mein matter Sinn_ (GWV 1169/45b) *Scoring:* SATB, 2 horns, 4 timpani, 2 flutes, strings and continuo Reissued performance with vocals powered by cantāmus (https://cantamus.app/) of this video: https://youtu.be/DRS20_LIkzI This chorale is for Candlemas, also known as Feast of the Presentation of Christ or the Feast of the Purification of Mary. It is by the latter title (DE: Mariae Reinigung) that Christoph Graupner would have known this feast. I present the sweet and gracious chorale which opens and closes his cantata for this day in 1745 (GWV 1169/45b). Graupner actually composed two cantatas for that day. Usually the second cantata to be performed was from the previous year. Apparently there was not a suitable cantata from 1744, perhaps because in that year Candlemas coincided with Septuagesima and the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany. The text of the chorale comprises two verses of the "Sterbelied" (Song of death) by the poet Anton Ulrich, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1633–1714). This was apparently vaguely inspired by a bible passage from the Elijah story (1 Kings 19). Indeed, a chorale more directly coming from that passage "Es ist genug, so nimm, Herr, meinen Geist" was doing the rounds and was set by Bach in BWV 60. Here is the text of the two verses used by Graupner (source: E.P Cortens "The Sacred Cantatas of Christoph Graupner: Music at the Intersection of Opera and Theology", PhD Thesis, Cornell University, 2014): 1. Es ist genug! mein matter Sinn sehnt sich dahin wo meine Vätter schlaffen: ich hab es endlich guten Fug Es ist genug! ich muß mir Ruh verschaffen. 5. So nimm nun hin Herr! meine Seel die ich befehl in deine Hand und Pflege; schreib sie ein in das Lebensbuch Es ist genug daß ich mich schlaffen lege. 1. It is enough! my feeble mind longs to go where my fathers sleep: I have at last good justification, it is enough, I must get peace for myself. 5. So take now, Lord, my soul, which I commend into your hands and care; write it into the book of life; it is enough, that I go to sleep. The rest of Graupner's cantata (the words of which can be read, complete with English translation on p129 of the excellent PhD thesis by E.P. Cortens) resonates with the theme of yearning for (eternal) rest/sleep which gets its exposition in the chorale. However, Graupner's chorale setting reflects well the yearning for rest in the text as it is rather gentle, blissful and in a sense, almost dreamlike. It is scored for the rather exquisite combination of 2 horns, 4 timpani (tuned to F,G,A,C), 2 flutes, muted strings and continuo. Despite the "loud" instruments involved, Graupner's tender realisation demonstrates his mastery at conjuring up sensitive music out of instruments normally associated (at the time) with pomp and grandeur. The chorale orchestration also reveals Graupner to be the micromanager that anyone who spends even a little time with his manuscripts will already know: While he gets his pair of flutes to play groups of 8 rocking semiquavers, the first and second violins play, on the same notes a dotted rhythm, but not a dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver, but a quaver followed by a semiquaver rest followed by a semiquaver. By explicitly marking the rest, Graupner demands some urgency and drive to the figure. I was not able to find the origin of the chorale melody. However, it appears already in 1728 in Graupner's own hymn book, so possibly it could even have been penned by him. Certainly the rather unusual distribution of syllables in the lines of Ulrich's text (4-4-4-7-8-4-7) would demand a "custom-built" tune. Due to the presence of the very short lines, Graupner uses a trick which seems to have been something of a trademark of his - to have a soloist "Intone" the words of the upcoming line before the whole chorus "answers" with the corresponding chorale line. For the four 4 syllable lines this answer is a simple cadence. In the present cantata the "intonation honours" fall to the bass. Considering that this was probably sung by one person (Graupner did not have a choir but just a handful of very fine soloists) it is quite a difficult part to sing due to the fact that there is hardly any break!
Chorale No. 1059 of 1345 *Music:* Christoph Graupner (1683 - 1760) *First performance:* 02/02/1745 (Candlemas/Purification of Mary) *Verse text:* _Es ist genug! Mein matter Sinn_ *Text source:* 1st verse of hymn by Anton Ulrich, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1667) *Chorale melody* Origin unknown (Graupner?) 1st movement of cantata _Es ist genug! Mein matter Sinn_ (GWV 1169/45b) *Scoring:* SATB, 2 horns, 4 timpani, 2 flutes, strings and continuo Reissued performance with vocals powered by cantāmus (https://cantamus.app/) of this video: https://youtu.be/DRS20_LIkzI This chorale is for Candlemas, also known as Feast of the Presentation of Christ or the Feast of the Purification of Mary. It is by the latter title (DE: Mariae Reinigung) that Christoph Graupner would have known this feast. I present the sweet and gracious chorale which opens and closes his cantata for this day in 1745 (GWV 1169/45b). Graupner actually composed two cantatas for that day. Usually the second cantata to be performed was from the previous year. Apparently there was not a suitable cantata from 1744, perhaps because in that year Candlemas coincided with Septuagesima and the 4th Sunday after the Epiphany. The text of the chorale comprises two verses of the "Sterbelied" (Song of death) by the poet Anton Ulrich, Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1633–1714). This was apparently vaguely inspired by a bible passage from the Elijah story (1 Kings 19). Indeed, a chorale more directly coming from that passage "Es ist genug, so nimm, Herr, meinen Geist" was doing the rounds and was set by Bach in BWV 60. Here is the text of the two verses used by Graupner (source: E.P Cortens "The Sacred Cantatas of Christoph Graupner: Music at the Intersection of Opera and Theology", PhD Thesis, Cornell University, 2014): 1. Es ist genug! mein matter Sinn sehnt sich dahin wo meine Vätter schlaffen: ich hab es endlich guten Fug Es ist genug! ich muß mir Ruh verschaffen. 5. So nimm nun hin Herr! meine Seel die ich befehl in deine Hand und Pflege; schreib sie ein in das Lebensbuch Es ist genug daß ich mich schlaffen lege. 1. It is enough! my feeble mind longs to go where my fathers sleep: I have at last good justification, it is enough, I must get peace for myself. 5. So take now, Lord, my soul, which I commend into your hands and care; write it into the book of life; it is enough, that I go to sleep. The rest of Graupner's cantata (the words of which can be read, complete with English translation on p129 of the excellent PhD thesis by E.P. Cortens) resonates with the theme of yearning for (eternal) rest/sleep which gets its exposition in the chorale. However, Graupner's chorale setting reflects well the yearning for rest in the text as it is rather gentle, blissful and in a sense, almost dreamlike. It is scored for the rather exquisite combination of 2 horns, 4 timpani (tuned to F,G,A,C), 2 flutes, muted strings and continuo. Despite the "loud" instruments involved, Graupner's tender realisation demonstrates his mastery at conjuring up sensitive music out of instruments normally associated (at the time) with pomp and grandeur. The chorale orchestration also reveals Graupner to be the micromanager that anyone who spends even a little time with his manuscripts will already know: While he gets his pair of flutes to play groups of 8 rocking semiquavers, the first and second violins play, on the same notes a dotted rhythm, but not a dotted quaver followed by a semiquaver, but a quaver followed by a semiquaver rest followed by a semiquaver. By explicitly marking the rest, Graupner demands some urgency and drive to the figure. I was not able to find the origin of the chorale melody. However, it appears already in 1728 in Graupner's own hymn book, so possibly it could even have been penned by him. Certainly the rather unusual distribution of syllables in the lines of Ulrich's text (4-4-4-7-8-4-7) would demand a "custom-built" tune. Due to the presence of the very short lines, Graupner uses a trick which seems to have been something of a trademark of his - to have a soloist "Intone" the words of the upcoming line before the whole chorus "answers" with the corresponding chorale line. For the four 4 syllable lines this answer is a simple cadence. In the present cantata the "intonation honours" fall to the bass. Considering that this was probably sung by one person (Graupner did not have a choir but just a handful of very fine soloists) it is quite a difficult part to sing due to the fact that there is hardly any break!