O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a

O angenehme Melodei (O pleasing melody), BWV 210a, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote the solo cantata for soprano in Leipzig as a "Huldigungskantate" (homage cantata) for Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, first performed on 12 January 1729, and dedicated it at least twice to different people and occasions. The cantata is part of his repertory of congratulatory and homage cantatas. Bach used it as the base for his wedding cantata O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit, BWV 210. Most of the music of O angenehme Melodei was lost, but can be reconstructed from the later work, which survived completely.

History and words

Bach used this cantata in three slightly different versions, paying homage to Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels on the occasion of his visit to Leipzig, performed on 12 January 1729. It was then dedicated to Joachim Friedrich Count Flemming (1665–1740), the governor of Leipzig (words for that occasion given below), finally for the "Gönner von Wissenschaft und Kunst" (Patrons of Science and Art), also called "Sponsorenkantate" (sponsors' cantata). The dates for the two latter occasions are unknown.^[1] Only the soprano part and a separate printed textbook of the earliest version were extant of this work. The soprano part was lost in World War II. Bach used the five arias, the first recitative and the beginning of the last recitative later in his wedding cantata BWV 210, therefore the music can be reconstructed.^[2] Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik edited a reconstruction, published by Edition Güntersberg.^[3] He chose the third text version as the most general one.^[4]

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored as BWV 120 for soprano, transverse flute, oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, and continuo with violone and harpsichord.^[2]

1. Recitativo: O angenehme Melodei
2. Aria (oboe d'amore, strings): Spielet, ihr beseelten Lieder
3. Recitativo: Ihr Sorgen, flieht
4. Aria (oboe d'amore, violin): Ruhet hie, matte Töne
5. Recitativo: Wiewohl, beliebte Musica
6. Aria (flute): Schweigt, ihr Flöten, schweigt, ihr Töne
7. Recitativo: Doch fasse dich, dein Glanz
8. Aria (oboe d'amore, 2 violins): Großer Flemming, alles Wissen
9. Recitativo (flute, oboe d'amore, strings): Erleuchtet Haupt, so bleibe fernerweit
10. Aria: Sei vergnügt, großer Flemming

References

1. ^ Bach and the Story of an “Aria tempo di Polonaise” for Joachim Friedrich Flemming Szymon Paczkowski (Institute of Musicology, Warsaw University), 2006 Biennial Meeting of the American Bach Society
2. ^ ^{a b} Alfred Dürr. 1971. "Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach", Bärenreiter (in German)
3. ^ O angenehme Melodei Johann Sebastian Bach, edited by Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik. Edition Güntersberg, January 2008, Retrieved 18 January 2011
4. ^ Johann Sebastian Bach: O angenehme Melodei Erstausgabe einer Rekonstruktion, Toccata (trade paper), 37/2008 (in German) Retrieved 21 January 2011

External links

• O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• Cantata BWV 210a O angenehme Melodei on bach-cantatas.com
• German text and English translation, Emmanuel Music
• O angenehme Melodei, BWV 210a on the Bach website (in German)
• BWV 210a O angenehme Melodei on uvm.edu
• Entries for BWV 210a on WorldCat