Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, BWV 130

Bach composed the cantata in his second year in Leipzig for St. Michael's Day. That year, Bach composed a cycle of chorale cantatas, begun on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724. The feast celebrated the Archangel Michael and all the angels each year on 29 September. In Leipzig, the day coincided with a trade fair. The prescribed readings for St Michael's Day were from the Book of Revelation, Michael fighting the dragon (), and from the Gospel of Matthew, heaven belongs to the children, the angels see the face of God (). The cantata is based on a 1554 hymn in twelve stanzas by Paul Eber, a paraphrase of Philipp Melanchthon's Latin "". Each stanza has four lines. The melody was first printed in the Geneva Psalter in 1551. It is attributed to Loys Bourgeois and is known as the famous tune of the Doxology "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow". The theme of the song, praise and thanks for the creation of the angels is only distantly related to the readings. An unknown librettist retained the first and 11th stanzas as the outer movements of the cantata. He derived movement 2, a recitative, from stanzas 2 and 3, movement 3, an aria, from stanzas 4 to 6, movement 4, a recitative, from stanzas 7 to 9, and movement 5, an aria, from stanza 10. In movement 3, a connection can be drawn from the mentioning of Satan as the "" (old dragon), to Michael's fight. Movement 4 mentions examples of angelic protection in the Bible, of Daniel (), and of the three men in the fiery furnace (). Prayer for protection by angels, such as Elijah being taken to heaven (), continues the text, concluded with general praise, thanks and the request for future protection. Bach first performed the cantata on 29 September 1724. == Music ==

Structure and scoring Bach structured the cantata in six even movements. The chorale tune is used in the outer choral movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. The inner movements are alternating recitatives and arias. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, a four-part choir, and a festive Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets (Tr), timpani, flauto traverso (Ft), three oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo. In the following table of the movements, the keys and time signatures are taken from the Bach scholar Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time. The instruments are shown separately for brass, woodwinds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown. Movements 1 In the opening chorus, (Lord God, we all praise you ... for your creation of the beautiful angels), Bach illustrates the singing of angels in different choirs by assigning different themes to the strings, the oboes and the trumpets, in a rich scoring typical only for the most festive occasions of the liturgical year such as Christmas. Mincham compares the movement to the 15 opening movements preceding it in the second annual cycle: "It is the most lavishly scored chorus so far and certainly the most extrovertly festive in character". 2 A recitative for alto, (Their brilliant radiance and exalted wisdom shows how God bends himself down to us humans), is set secco. Two lines from the original chorale are retained. 3 A bass aria, (The old dragon burns with envy), is unusually scored for only trumpets, timpani and continuo, describing the battle of the angels against Satan. 4 A duet recitative of soprano and tenor, (But it is fortunate for us, who day and night are guarded by the throng of angels), recalls guardian angels saving Daniel in the lions' den and the three men in the furnace. 5 An aria for tenor, (Allow, O Prince of the cherubim, ), John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, compared the flute line in a gavotte for tenor to "perhaps the fleetness of angelic transport on Elijah's chariot", which is mentioned in the text. 6 The closing chorale, (Therefore, we rightly praise you), is a four-part setting of the 11th hymn stanza that includes again "the angelic trumpets". Bach had intended to set also the 12th stanza, but he crossed it out in the score, and the extant parts only have the 11th stanzas's text. \header { tagline = " " } \layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } } global = { \key c \major \numericTimeSignature \time 3/4 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \set Timing.beamExceptions = #'()} su = \once { \stemUp \omit Beam \override NoteColumn.ignore-collision = ##t } sd = \once { \stemDown \override NoteColumn.ignore-collision = ##t } \score { > \new ChoirStaff > \new Lyrics \lyricsto "soprano" { Da -- rum wir bil -- lig lo -- ben dich und dan -- ken dir, Gott, e -- wig lich, wie auch der lie -- ben En -- gel Schar dich prei -- _ sen heut _ und im -- mer -- dar. } \new Staff > >> \new Staff \with { \magnifyStaff #5/7 } > >> \layout { \context { \Score \remove "Mark_engraver" \remove "Staff_collecting_engraver" } \context { \Staff \consists "Mark_engraver" \consists "Staff_collecting_engraver" } } } \score { > \new ChoirStaff > \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "choir aahs" } > >> \new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "timpani" } > >> \midi { } } == Manuscripts and publication ==

The original score was inherited by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, and is now in private ownership. The original parts belonged first to the Thomasschule in Leipzig as all the other parts from chorale cantata cycle, but they came in Hans Georg Nägeli's possession. When he died, they were split and auctioned to collectors. Bass, traverso and timpani parts have been lost, with only reproductions of their first pages available. Parts of the figured continuo part are also missing. The cantata was first published in 1878 in the first complete edition of Bach's work, the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe. The volume in question was edited by Alfred Dörffel. In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe it was published in 1973, edited by Marianne Helms, with a critical report following in 1989. == Variant versions ==

BWV 130.2 is a modified version of the cantata which Bach developed in the 1730s for a new performance on . The manuscript P 101 at the Berlin State Library, which was likely written in the second half of the 18th century, contains two variant versions of the cantata: == Recordings ==

The Dutch website Muziekweb lists several recordings of the cantata, also the Bach Cantatas Website: == References ==