DESCRIPTION:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata BWV 56: Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (27 October 1726)

1. Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen (Aria: B)
2. Mein Wandel auf der Welt (Recitative :B) 06:55
3. Endlich, endlich wird mein Joch (Aria: B) 08:47
4. Ich stehe fertig und bereit (Recitative, Arioso: B) 15:31
5. Komm, o Tod, du Schlafes Bruder (Chorale) 16:57

Bass Soloist: Peter Kooy

Performed by Philippe Herreweghe and La Chapelle Royale. Recorded by Harmonia Mundi in 1991.

"'Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen', BWV 56, was written for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity 1726, i.e. 27 October. In the autograph manuscript this cantata is qualified as 'cantata a voce sola e stromenti' and, besides the strings and the continuo, calls for two oboes, an oboe da caccia and a four-part chorus. The first verse of the libretto recalls the opening of a poem published by Erdmann Neumeister in 1700 in his first collection of cantatas. We do not know who was responsible for the adaptation of the original text, but it is supposed to have been Christian Friedrich Henrici, known under the pseudonym of Picander. The episode of the healing of the man sick of the palsy (Matthew 9, 1-8) furnishes the point of departure for a meditation on suffering. In this respect it may be noted that the work could be listened to as a theatrical scene interpreted by a character who always speaks in the first person (which explains the recourse to a solo voice), but also as an invocation to death, whose kindly arms welcome the faithful at the moment that he attains Christ and redemption. The opening aria is a genuine lamentation, with the unusual tripartite form of A A' B. It has the character of a lullaby, which is further accentuated in the last section ('Da leg' ich den Kummer'), which will be repeated in a surprising and innovative manner as the conclusion of No. 4. The next piece (No. 2) is a recitative in which the accompanying figure imitates the rocking of a boat (the words speak of a sea voyage) which breaks off the moment it reaches the celestial city. A da capo aria (No. 3), in dance rhythm, is in the form of a dialogue between the solo voice and a solo oboe. The work ends with the sixth stanza of Johann Franck's chorale, Du, o schönes Weltgebäude, dating from 1653." - Alberto Basso

Painting: The Pilgrim of the World at the End of his Journey, Thomas Cole