Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76

Johann Sebastian Bach composed the church cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes (English: The heavens are telling the glory of God), BWV 76 in Leipzig for the second Sunday after Trinity of the liturgical year and first performed it on 6 June 1723.

Bach composed the cantata at a decisive turning point in his career. Moving from posts in the service of churches and courts to the town of Leipzig on the first Sunday after Trinity, 30 May 1723, he began the project of composing a new cantata for every occasion of the liturgical year. He began his first annual cycle of cantatas ambitiously with Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in an unusual layout of 14 movements in two symmetrical parts, to be performed before and after the sermon. Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, performed a week later, has the same structure.

The unknown poet begins his text with a quotation from

The cantata is structured in two parts of seven movements each, to be performed before and after the sermon. It is scored for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir SATB, trumpet (Tr), two oboes (Ob), oboe d'amore (Oa), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), viola da gamba (Vg) and basso continuo (Bc). The two parts of seven movements each are composed as the same arrangement of alternating recitatives and arias with a concluding chorale, only Part II is opened by a sinfonia instead of a chorus.^[3] The duration is given as 35 minutes.^[9]

In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the

, using the symbol for common time (4/4). The instruments are shown separately for winds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes - Part 1

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes	Psalms 19:1,3	Chorus	SATB	Tr 2Ob	2Vl Va	C major	3/4
2	So lässt sich Gott nicht unbezeuget!	anon.	Recitative	T		2Vl Va
3	Hört, ihr Völker, Gottes Stimme	anon.	Aria	S		Vl solo	G major
4	Wer aber hört	anon.	Recitative	B
5	Fahr hin, abgöttische Zunft!	anon.	Aria	B	Tr	2Vl Va	C major
6	Du hast uns, Herr, von allen Straßen	anon.	Recitative	A
7	Es woll uns Gott genädig sein	Luther	Chorale	SATB	Tr	2Vl Va	E minor

Movements of Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes - Part II

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
8			Sinfonia		Oa	Vg
9	Gott segne noch die treue Schar	anon.	Recitative	B		2Vl Va Vg
10	Hasse nur, hasse mich recht	anon.	Aria	T		Vg	A minor	3/4
11	Ich fühle schon im Geist	anon.	Recitative	A		Vg
12	Liebt, ihr Christen, in der Tat!	anon.	Aria	A	Oa	Vg	E minor	9/8
13	So soll die Christenheit	anon.	Recitative	T
14	Es danke, Gott, und lobe dich	Luther	Chorale	SATB	Tr	2Vl Va	E minor

Movements

Similar to the

In the first recitative the strings accompany the voice, most keenly in motifs in the arioso middle section, in Gardiner's words "to evoke the spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters".^[6][8] Trumpet and bass voice are used to convey the call "to banish the tribe of idolaters", while the strings possibly illustrate "the hordes of infidels".^[5] The last recitative leads in an arioso to the chorale. In the chorale,^[10] Bach has the violin play an obbligato part to the four-part setting of the voices and separates the lines by interludes, with the trumpet anticipating the line to follow. The continuo plays ostinato a motif which is derived from the first line of the chorale.^[5]

Whereas Part I begins with a trumpet announcing ("erzählen") God's glory, Part II starts on an intimate chamber music scale with oboe d'amore and viola da gamba, concentrating on "brotherly devotion" (brüderliche Treue).

A list of recordings is provided by Aryeh Oron on the Bach Cantatas Website.[12] Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed performance are shown with green background.

References