ExclusiveBach: Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (The heavens declare the glory of God), BWV 76 - Part 1

【Classical music and nature 古典音樂小站】Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (The heavens declare the glory of God), BWV 76 - Part 1. This beautiful piece was played by The German Bach Soloists. It has Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0 DEED Attribution 3.0 Unported) and is provided through www.musopen.org.

The heavens declare the glory of God is the cantata for the second sunday after Trinity. Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Trinity in the liturgical year and premiered it on 6 June 1723.

Bach composed the cantata at a crucial turning point in his career. On 30 May 1723, the first Sunday after Trinity, he moved from his church and court appointments to the city of Leipzig, where he began the project of composing a new cantata for every occasion in the liturgical year. His first annual cycle began with the ambitious The Elderly Should Eat, BWV 75, in an unusual arrangement of 14 movements in two symmetric parts, one before and one after the homily. Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, performed a week later, has the same structure.

Lyrics:

Part One

1. Chorus
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament shows his handiwork.
There is no speech or language,
since one does not hear their voices.

2. Recitative T
Thus God does not leave himself unwitnessed!
Nature and grace speak to all mankind:
God has indeed done all this,
so that the heavens move
and spirits and bodies stir themselves.
God himself has leaned down to you
and calls to you through countless messengers:
rise up, come to my feast of love!

3. Aria S
Hear, you people, God's voice,
hasten to his throne of grace!
The source and end of every thing
is his only begotten Son:
so that all might turn to him.

4. Recitative B
Yet who listens,
when the greatest crowds
turn to other gods?
The willful desires of the oldest idols
rule the hearts of mankind.
The wise are hatching foolishness,
and Belial sits right in God's house,
since even Christians themselves run from Christ.

5. Aria B
Away, idolatrous guild!
Although the world be perverted,
yet I will honor Christ,
he is the light of reason.

6. Recitative A
You have, Lord, from all paths
called us to you
as we sat in heathen darkness,
and, as light enlivens
and refreshes the air,
we are also enlightened and enlivened,
indeed with you yourself fed and quenched
and given your spirit,
which continually hovers in our souls.
So may this prayer be humbly delivered to you:

7. Chorale
May God be gracious to us
and grant us his blessing;
may his countenance, with bright radiance,
shine upon us for eternal life,
that we may recognize his work,
and what is dear to him on earth,
and that Jesus Christ's blessing and strength
be known to the heathens
and convert them to God!

The video was filmed by Simone Schlegel and edited by Wenjing Ma.






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