Sunday Bach - Septuagesima

Song Sparrow

Septuagesima Sunday marks the beginning of the Lenten/Easter season; septuagesima means seventy, and the name of this Sunday means there are seventy days until Easter. Septuagesima Sunday is also the start of the 17-day Mardi Gras/Carneval season, when everybody gets their jollies in before the dour, penitential 40 days of Lent. Bach composed three cantatas for this Sunday, and for me this solo cantata for soprano best exemplifies the spirit of the season - BWV 84, Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke (I am content with my good fortune, Leipzig, 1727). There's a lighthearted, playful feel to this cantata, especially the interaction between the soprano and the accompanying instruments. Here's what Simon Crouch has to say about this cantata:

One of Bach's supreme gifts was to make so much out of what seems so little. Here is a good example. The cantata for solo soprano, BWV 84 has the very straightforward structure of aria, recitative, aria, recitative, chorale. None of the movements has a complicated orchestration or musical structure and the total duration is typically under fifteen minutes. The effect, however, is delightful. The first aria starts with an introductory ritornello on the oboe which skips along with delicate trills and the soprano is soon mirroring the oboe trill for trill. The second aria is even more playful. In the meantime the text, apparently by Picander, quietly but firmly reinforces part of the message of the Gospel of the day, that we should be happy with what we have.

Copyright © 1996 & 1998, Simon Crouch.

Today's performance is from a recording by the Collegium Vocale, featuring soprano Dorothee Mields, under the direction of Philippe Herreweghe. Enjoy!

      

Photo © 2013 by A. Roy Hilbinger