BWV 12 Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen Jubilate (Third Sunday after Easter). Salomo Franck.(1) 3. Acts 14:22; 6. Johann Crüger's chorale melody for "Jesu, meine Freude" by Johann Franck, 1650 (cf. BWV 227); 7. Samuel Rodigast, final verse of "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan," 1674 (Fischer-Tümpel, IV, #467). 22 April 1714, Weimar; 30 April 1724, Leipzig; Parody: → Mass in B Minor, BWV 232/16(II,5). BG 2; NBA I/11. 1. Sinfonia 2. Chorus (S, A, T, B) Weeping, wailing
3. Recit. [Dictum] (A) We must pass through great sadness that we come into God's kingdom. 4. Aria (A) Cross and crown are joined together,
Have their torment and their foe, But Christ's wounds shall be their comfort. 5. Aria (B) I'll follow after Christ, 6. Aria (T) with instr. chorale Be steadfast, every pain 7. Chorale (S, A, T, B) What God doth, that is rightly done, 1. So Dürr, p. 263. For further evidence of Franck's authorship see Ambrose, BJ (1980), pp. 35-44, and Bach (1982), pp. 20-22. 2. The idea of ameliorative metamorphosis in this movement is so strongly dependent upon the repetition of the sound ai, the sound of lamentation, I have chosen to rhyme the translation. It is particularly interesting that the final verse of Johann Frank's chorale "Jesu, meine Freude" concludes with the same conceit:
Jesu, meine Freude. Eu and ei were pronounced virtually alike in Bach's region, allowing the metamorphosis of "sadness" to "gladness" the support of a rhyme. Even without words the wailing of the trumpet, which plays this chorale in this movement, conveys effectively the sound "ai" in its text. This concept is also exploited in the other two cantatas for Jubilate Sunday, BWV 103 and BWV 146. © Copyright Z. Philip Ambrose |