Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137

In office as Thomaskantor, director of church music in Leipzig, Bach composed for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity. It forms part of a cycle of chorale cantatas which Bach composed mainly from mid-1724, his second year in the position. He had composed chorale cantatas between the first Sunday after Trinity of 1724 and Palm Sunday, but for Easter had returned to cantatas on more varied texts, possibly because he lost his librettist. Later, Bach composed more chorale cantatas to complete the cycle. This cantata is one of the completing works. It is based entirely on the unchanged words on the hymn "" (1680) by Joachim Neander. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Second Epistle to the Corinthians, the ministry of the Spirit (), and from the Gospel of Mark, the healing of a deaf mute man (). Unlike most chorale cantatas of the second cycle, but similar to the early , Bach retained the chorale text unchanged, thus without a reference to the readings. John Eliot Gardiner assumes, looking at the festive instrumentation and the general content of praise and thanksgiving, that the cantata was also performed that year to celebrate Ratswahl, the inauguration of the town council. In 1729 Bach used the setting of the final chorale, transposed to D major, to conclude the wedding cantata , with the last two stanzas of the hymn. With its general content of praise, and no specific narrative, the cantata is suitable for many occasions. == Music ==

Structure and scoring Bach structured the cantata into five movements. A chorale fantasia and a closing chorale frame a sequence of three arias for vocal soloists with accompaniment of instruments. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir and a festive Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets (Tr), timpani, two oboes (Ob), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo. The duration is given as 18 minutes. In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr's . The continuo, playing throughout, and the timpani, always playing with the three trumpets, are not shown. Movements , with the lines more or less centered |The hymn text in a 1686 print As Dürr and Gardiner observed, the text as well as the chorale melody is present in all movements. The melody in bar form has an unusual of five measures and reaches a climax at the beginning of the , which Bach also stresses in a variety of means in the movements. The cantata is constructed in symmetry: the soprano carries the melody in the outer movements; in the second movement it is sung by the alto, and in the fourth movement played by the trumpet. In the central movement, the beginning of both the vocal and the instrumental theme are derived from it for the cantata's most intimate setting. 1 In the opening chorus, "" (Praise the Lord, the mighty King of honor), the first stanza of the hymn, is rendered as a chorale fantasia. The trumpets, oboes and strings begin with an instrumental concerto; the soprano sings the while the lower voices prepare the entries by imitation of the instrumental motifs. For the words "" (Come join the crowd, psaltery and harps, awake!), the setting is homophonic and thus singled out. 2 In the second movement, "" (Praise the Lord, who directs everything so gloriously), a solo violin accompanies the embellished melody of the chorale. Bach included this movement in his Schübler Chorales, but on a text for Advent, "" ('Come thou, Jesu, from heaven to earth'). 3 The third stanza, "" (Praise the Lord, who prepares you wisely and well), is set as a duet of soprano and bass. In great contrast to C major and G major, the central movement is in E minor. Two obbligato oboes take part in the setting; their motifs are derived from the beginning of the chorale melody. In an unusual way, the first vocal section is repeated three times; only the words "" (in how much suffering) are set differently, in "grinding chromatic descent". 4 The fourth movement, "" (Praise the Lord, who surely blesses your condition), is in A minor, but the cantus firmus of the trumpet is nonetheless in C major, in "a battle for harmonic supremacy". In the final movement of his Christmas Oratorio Bach would later embed the chorale in Phrygian mode in a concerto in D major. The independent vocal line quotes parts of the chorale melody several times. The words "" (consider this) are accented by a different metre, matching the slightly changed words "". 5 For the closing chorale, Bach set the last hymn stanza, "" (Praise the Lord, what is within me, praise his name!), as four-part vocal setting doubled by the strings and oboes, with independent parts for three trumpets and timpani. The first trumpet "[soaring] above all", illustrates the words of the final lines effectively for an affirmative conclusion. Gardiner notes that Bach "knew exactly how best to use the resources of the ceremonial trumpet-led orchestra and choir of his day to convey unbridled joy and majesty". \header { tagline = ##f } \layout { indent = 0 \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } \context { \Voice \remove "Dynamic_engraver" } } global = { \key c \major \time 3/4 } tn = \tempo 4 = 102 tf = \tempo 4 = 39 trumpet = \relative c''' { \global \set midiInstrument = "trumpet" \repeat volta 2 { 4^"3 trumpets" | 4. q8 4 | | 8 } \\ { g4 } >> | 2 4 | } 4. > | 2. | } \\ { e,4 r4 r | 4. 8 c4 } >> | 2. | 4 q2 | 4 8 | 2 4 } >> \bar "|." } soprano = \new Voice = "soprano" \relative c'' { \global \voiceOne \clef treble \set midiInstrument = "violin" %"oboe" \repeat volta 2 { \tn c4 c g' | e4. d8 c4 | b4. a8 g4 | c d e8 (f) | d2 \tf c4\fermata | } \tn e4. d8 e4 | f2.\fermata e4. f8 g4 | g4. f8 e4 | d2.\fermata | g,4 a b | c d e8. (f16) | d2 \tf c4\fermata \bar "|." } alto = \new Voice \relative c'' { \global \voiceTwo \set midiInstrument = "viola" %"flute" \repeat volta 2 { g4\ff g g | g4. g8 fis4 | d g g | g b g | g (f) e | } g4. g8 cis,4 | a'2. | a4. a8 d,4 | c g' g | g2. | d4 d d | g g g | g2 e4 \bar "|." } tenor = \new Voice \relative c' { \global \voiceThree \clef bass \set midiInstrument = "cello" %"clarinet" \repeat volta 2 { e4 e d | c4. g8 c4 | g' g, d' | c f, c' | d b g | } e'4. e8 e ([cis]) | d2. | e4. c8 b ([a]) | g4 b c | b2. | b4 d g, | g g g8 (c) | c4 (b) g \bar "|." } bass = \relative c { \global \voiceFour \set midiInstrument = "contrabass" %"bassoon" \repeat volta 2 { c4 c' b | c4. b8 a4 | g g, f' | e d c | g' g, c | } c4 e a | d,2. | a'4 g f | e4. d8 c4 | g2. | g'4 f8 ([e]) f (d) | e4 b c | g' g, c \bar "|." } verse = \new Lyrics = "firstVerse" \lyricsto "soprano" { > Er ist dein Licht, See -- le, ver -- giss es ja nicht; Lo -- ben -- de, schlie -- ße mit A -- men! } timpani = \relative c { \global \set midiInstrument = "timpani" \repeat volta 2 { c4^"timpani" c g | c4. c8 c4 | g g g | c g c | g8 g16 g g8 g c4 | } R2. | R | c4 r4 r4 | c4. g8 c4 | g2. | g4 g2 | c4 g c | g2 c4 \bar "|." } \score { > \new Staff \with { \override VerticalAxisGroup.staff-staff-spacing = % reduce spacing to timpani staff #'( (basic-distance . 0) (minimum-distance . 0) (padding . 0.5 ) (stretchability . 0) ) } > >> \new Staff \with { \magnifyStaff #3/4 } { \clef bass \timpani } >> \layout { } } \score { \unfoldRepeats { > } \midi { \context { \Score midiChannelMapping = #'instrument } \context { \Staff \remove "Staff_performer" } \context { \Voice \consists "Staff_performer" } } } == Manuscripts and publication ==

The manuscripts of the original parts of are extant, while the original score is lost. An extant copy of the score made by Christian Friedrich Penzel, and dated 1755, assigns the cantata to St. John's Day (24 June). It is unclear if this designation was copied from Bach's score. The first critical edition of the cantata, edited by Wilhelm Rust, was published by the Bach Gesellschaft in 1881 as part of its complete edition of Bach's works. In the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the second edition of Bach's works, the cantata was published in 1986, edited by Klaus Hofmann. == Recordings ==

The entries are taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website. Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked green under the header . {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} == References ==