Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172
Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! | |
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Schlosskirche in Weimar | |
Occasion | Pentecost Sunday |
Cantata text | Salomon Franck |
Bible text | John 14:23–31 |
Chorale | |
Performed | |
Published |
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Movements | 6 |
Vocal | SATB choir and solo |
Instrumental | (Weimar)
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Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! (Resound, you songs; ring out, you strings!),[1] BWV 172,[a] is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, composed in Weimar for Pentecost Sunday in 1714. Bach led the first performance on 20 May 1714 in the Schlosskirche, the court chapel in the ducal Schloss. Erschallet, ihr Lieder is an early work in a genre to which he later contributed complete cantata cycles for all occasions of the liturgical year.
Bach was appointed Konzertmeister in Weimar in the spring of 1714, a position that called for the performance of a church cantata each month. He composed Erschallet, ihr Lieder as the third cantata in
The work is in six
While Bach served as
Background
Bach is known as a prolific composer of cantatas. When he assumed the position as Thomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig in 1723, he began the project to write church cantatas for the occasions of the liturgical year – Sundays and feast days – a project that he pursued for three years.[3]
Bach was appointed organist and chamber musician in Weimar at the court of the co-reigning dukes in
In Weimar, Bach first concentrated on the organ, composing major works for the instrument,[4] including the Orgelbüchlein, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, and the Prelude and Fugue in E major, BWV 566. Christoph Wolff suggests that Bach may have studied musical material belonging to the Hofkapelle, ("court capelle" or court orchestra), and that he copied and studied works by Johann Philipp Krieger, Christoph Graupner, Georg Philipp Telemann, Marco Giuseppe Peranda and Johann David Heinichen in the period from 1711 to 1713.[6] In early 1713 Bach composed his first cantatas in the new style that included recitatives and arias: the so-called Hunting Cantata, BWV 208, as a homage cantata for Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, celebrated on 23 February,[4] and possibly the church cantata for Sexagesima (the second Sunday before Lent) Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee vom Himmel fällt, BWV 18, on a text by Erdmann Neumeister.[7]
In 1713, he was asked to apply for the position of music director of the Marktkirche in Halle, succeeding Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow.[8] Zachow had taught the young George Frideric Handel, and composed many church cantatas in the new style, adopting recitatives and arias from the Italian opera. Bach was successful in his application for the position, but declined[9] after Duke Wilhelm Ernst increased his salary and offered him a promotion.[10]
Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister on 2 March 1714, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the Schlosskirche:
Occasion and words
Erschallet, ihr Lieder is the third of the
Franck's text shows elements of early
Performances and theme
With Bach's appointment to concert master and his regular monthly cantata compositions, he achieved permission to hold rehearsals in the church, to ensure high performance standards: "the rehearsing of the pieces at the home [of the capellmeister] has been changed, and it is ordered that it must always take place at the Kirchen-Capelle [the music gallery in the palace church], and this is also to be observed by the Capellmeister".[28] The orchestra at his disposition consisted of the members of the court cappelle, three leaders, five singers and seven instrumentalists, augmented on demand by military musicians, town musicians and choristers from a gymnasium.[29]
Bach conducted the first performance of Erschallet, ihr Lieder on 20 May 1714. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach remembered that he often conducted and played first violin: "he played the violin cleanly and penetratingly, and thus kept the orchestra in better order than he could have done with the harpsichord".[13] The parts for the first performance are lost, but the score and performing material for later performances have survived. Bach performed the cantata again, possibly in Köthen between 1717 and 1722,[2][30] and several times as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. For the performance on 28 May 1724,[31] he changed the instrumentation slightly and transposed the work from C major to D major. He reverted to C major for a performance on 13 May 1731.[31] An organ part for a later performance of movement 5 is extant.[32]
John Eliot Gardiner remarked that Bach "particularly valued" this cantata, and that it set "a pattern for his later approaches to the Pentecostal theme".[2] Bach set the Gospel text of the recitative in a choral movement in other cantatas for Pentecost – Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 59,[33] and Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten, BWV 74.[34][35]
Music
Scoring and structure
In the Weimar version, Bach scored the cantata four vocal soloists (
In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Weimar version of the
4).
No. | Title | Text | Type | Vocal | Winds | Strings | Bass | Key | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Erschallet, ihr Lieder | Franck | Chorus | SATB | 3Tr Ti Fg | 2Vl 2Va | Bc | C major | 3 8 |
2 | Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten | Bible | Recitative | B | Bc | A minor – C major | |||
3 | Heiligste Dreieinigkeit | Franck | Aria | B | 3Tr Fg | Bc | C major | ||
4 | O Seelenparadies | Franck | Aria | T | 2Vl 2Va | Bc | A minor | 3 4 | |
5 | Komm, laß mich nicht länger warten | Franck | Aria | S A | Oa | Vc | F major | ||
6 | Von Gott kömmt mir ein Freudenschein | Nicolai | Chorale | SATB | Fg | 2Vl 2Va | Bc | F major | |
7 | "Chorus repetatur ab initio" (Repeat opening chorus) | Franck | Chorus | SATB | 3Tr Ti Fg | 2Vl 2Va | Bc | C major | 3 8
|
Movements
The cantata text does not tell a story but reflects different aspects of the Holy Spirit, celebrated on Pentecost. It begins with general praise, then concentrates on one line from the Gospel, addresses the Holy Trinity, refers to the Spirit that was present at the Creation, shows a dialogue between the Soul and the Spirit, and concludes with a stanza from Nicolai's hymn which picks up the topic of unity between God (Spirit) and man, as shown in the dialogue. The text thus proceeds from general to more and more personal and intimate reflection.[37]
John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted all Bach's church cantatas in 2000, placed the Pentecostal cantatas in the middle of the project, which he saw as a "year-long exploration of his cantatas in their seasonal context". He described Pentecost as "the culmination of those 'great fifty days' which follow the Resurrection, a watershed marking the completion of Jesus' work on earth and the coming of the Holy Spirit", and commented that Bach "comes up with music of unalloyed optimism and exuberance in celebration of ... the miraculous ignition of the divine Pentecostal spark which allows human beings to communicate across the language barrier". Regarding Erschallet, ihr Lieder, the first cantata written for the occasion, he observed that Bach reflects the "stages in the evolving relationship of God with man", both by scoring and by his choice of keys.[37] In the Weimar first version, the key of the first movements is C major, lowered to A minor (a third lower) in the fourth, lowered further to F major (again a third lower) in the fifth and sixth. The scoring is majestic, with three trumpets and timpani in movement 1 and three trumpets again in movement 3, reduced to strings in movement 4 and to single instruments in movement 5.[38]
1
"Erschallet, ihr Lieder" (literally: sound, you songs) is a festive concerto, marked Coro by Bach.[39] Words and music are possibly based on an earlier lost secular Glückwunschkantate (congratulatory cantata). A printing of Franck's works contains a cantata for New Year's Day, Erschallet nun wieder, glückwünschende Lieder (Sound again, congratulating songs) that may have served as a model.[40][41] The movement is in da capo form: the first section is repeated after a contrasting middle section.[26] It is scored for three "choirs": one of trumpets, another of strings and bassoon, and a four-part chorus.[2] The number three, symbolizing the Trinity, appears again in the 3
8 time signature and in the use of three trumpets.[42] The first part opens with trumpet fanfares, alternating with flowing coloraturas in the strings. The voices enter as a third homophonic choir. They repeat the first measure of the fanfare motif on the word "Erschallet" (resound!), as the trumpets echo the motif. The voices repeat the motif from the second measure of the fanfare on "ihr Lieder", and the trumpets echo it again. The chorus repeats measures 3 and 4 on "erklinget, ihr Saiten", commanding the strings to play.[43] As a culmination, the first syllable of "seligste Zeiten" (most blessed times) is held on a seventh chord (first in measure 53),[2] during which the instruments play their motifs.[44]
In the middle section in A minor the trumpets rest
The movement is comparable to the opening of Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten! BWV 214 (Resound, ye drums! Ring out, ye trumpets!) composed in 1733 on another text calling instruments to sound,[47] which Bach later used with a different text to open his Christmas Oratorio.[42][48] Bach used a festive scoring with three trumpets in triple meter in his 1733 Missa for the court in Dresden, in the Gloria,[49] in contrast to the preceding Kyrie.[50]
2
The cantata's only recitative quotes one line from the Gospel reading of the day: "Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten" (Whoever loves Me will keep My Word[, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him]).[25] Bach reflects Jesus' promise to "make Our dwelling with him" in melismatic lines in counterpoint with motifs in the cello similar to motifs in movement 5. He assigned the words of Jesus to the bass as the vox Christi (voice of Christ).[42] He illustrates the final rest in God by ending the solo line on a whole note low C, the lowest note he demanded of a soloist. The musicologist Julian Mincham describes the vocal line:
The initial bars of melody are warm and quietly authoritative, but at the mention of dwelling with Him the movement takes on a very different character. The bass line becomes enlivened with little leaps of delight ... The singer's last note is a bottom d (c in the transposed version) several notes lower than a bass's accepted range. ... when achieved it is an arresting sound, confirming the rock-like certainty of the promise that we shall eventually reside with God.[51]
3
The first aria,[52] addressing the Trinity, "Heiligste Dreieinigkeit" (Holiest Trinity),[25] is accompanied by a choir of three trumpets and basso continuo,[53] a rare combination that expresses the idea of the words. The trumpet is a symbol of a ruler.[54] The three trumpets sometimes play in unison, to further illustrate the Trinity.[46] The theme is composed of the three notes of the major chord. The aria is in three sections.[45]
Bach wrote an aria accompanied by only an obbligato brass instrument again in his
4
The second aria,[57] for tenor, "O Seelenparadies" (O paradise of the soul[25]), also contains three sections and a triple meter,[45] but in contrast to the previous movement, describes in continuous waves of the unison strings[58] the Spirit that was present at the Creation, worded O Seelenparadies, das Gottes Geist durchwehet, der bei der Schöpfung blies (O paradise of the soul, fanned by the Spirit of God, which blew at creation[25]).[37] Alfred Dürr wrote that the music "conveys the impression of release from all earthly gravity".[54][59]
5
The last solo movement, a duet aria,[60] "Komm, laß mich nicht länger warten" (Come, do not keep me waiting longer[25]), consists of a dialogue between the Soul and the Holy Spirit, and takes a form close to a love lyric. The part of the Spirit is assigned to the alto,[61] while similar duets of the Soul and Jesus in later cantatas are set for soprano and bass – for example in Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 and Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140.[62]
Bach set the text in a complex structure uniting two singers, a solo oboe and a solo cello. The soprano and alto sing of their unity in "neo-erotic"[21] or "overtly erotic/Pietistic"[37] language: "I shall die, if I have to be without you" the one; "I am yours, and you are mine!" the other. The cello provides an intricate counterpoint throughout,[33] which Albert Schweitzer describes as "a motif of purified happiness".[45] The voices and the cello form a trio, another symbol of the Trinity.[62] The musicologist Anne Leahy of the Dublin Institute of Technology notes that Bach had possibly stanza 3 in mind, which speaks of love, and used the instrument which is named after love.[63]
The oboe d'amore plays the richly ornamented melody of the Pentecost hymn "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott"[64] ("Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God, fill with the goodness of Your grace the hearts, wills, and minds of Your faithful. Ignite Your burning love in them".[25]) Bach set this hymn, which seems close to his heart, twice in his Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, as BWV 651 and BWV 652.[62]
Bach used duets again when he composed in 1733 his Missa (Kyrie and Gloria) in B minor for the court in Dresden, which he later integrated into his Mass in B minor. He wrote two duets movements in the style of contemporary operatic love duets and placed two of them in the centre of each part of the Missa: Christe eleison for two sopranos in the centre of the Kyrie,[50] Domine Deus in the centre of the symmetrical structure of the Gloria.[65] When he compiled the Mass in B minor, he chose another duet Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum for the Credo, scored for soprano and alto,[66] as in Erschallet, ihr Lieder.
6
The text of the concluding chorale is taken from Nicolai's "Geistlich Brautlied" (Spiritual bridal song) "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern", continuing the theme of unity between Soul and Spirit.[27] "Von Gott kömmt mir ein Freudenschein" (A joyful radiance reaches me from God[25]) is illustrated by a violin part added to the four-part choir.[67] The text ends with the words:
Nimm mich freundlich
In dein' Arme, daß ich warme
Werd' von Gnaden!
Auf dein Wort komm' ich geladen.(Take me like a friend / in your arms, so that I may become warm / with your grace / To your word I come invited.)[68]
Until 1724 the opening chorus was repeated after the chorale, marked "chorus repetatur ab initio" in the manuscript.[69][19]
Gardiner describes the cantata as "evidently ... a work which he particularly valued", adding: "he comes up with music of unalloyed optimism and exuberance in celebration of the first gifts of newly-awakened nature, as well as the miraculous ignition of the divine Pentecostal spark which allows human beings to communicate across the language barrier."[2] Dürr comments:
All the various changes he made show how much trouble Bach took over a work which – as the number of documented performances (at least four) suggests – he seems to have particularly loved.[70]
Publication
The cantata was published by
Recordings
The entries are taken from the listing on the Bach Cantatas Website.[73] Ensembles playing period instruments in historically informed practise are marked green.
Title | Conductor / Choir / Orchestra | Soloists | Label | Year | Orch. type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
J.S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 68 & BWV 172 | Klaus Martin ZieglerVokalensemble KasselDeutsche Bachsolisten | Cantate / Nonesuch | 1966 | ||
Cantatas BWV 172 & BWV 78 | Gewandhausorchester
|
Eterna | 1970 | ||
Cantatas. Selections (BWV 172–175) | Helmuth RillingFrankfurter KantoreiBach-Collegium Stuttgart |
|
Hänssler
|
1975 | |
Cantatas BWV 172 & BWV 78 | Gewandhausorchester
|
|
Berlin Classics | 1981 | |
J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk – Sacred Cantatas Vol. 9 | Gustav LeonhardtLeonhardt-Consort |
|
Teldec | 1987 | Period |
J. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 2 | Ton KoopmanAmsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir | Antoine Marchand | 1995 | Period | |
Cantatas Vol. 7 | Masaaki SuzukiBach Collegium Japan | BIS | 1998 | Period | |
Bach Edition Vol. 8 – Cantatas Vol. 3 | Holland Boys ChoirNetherlands Bach Collegium
|
Brilliant Classics | 1999 | Period | |
Bach Cantatas Vol. 26 | John Eliot GardinerMonteverdi ChoirEnglish Baroque Soloists | Soli Deo Gloria | 2000 | Period
|
Notes
- ^ "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.
References
- ^ a b Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 346.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gardiner 2006, p. 2.
- ^ Wolff 1991, p. 30.
- ^ a b c Koster 2011.
- ^ Arnold 2009, p. 37.
- ^ Arnold 2009, p. 40.
- ^ Dürr 1971, pp. 209–210.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 149.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 151.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 155.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 147.
- ^ Magdolna 2008, p. 9.
- ^ a b Wolff 2002, p. 157.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 165.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 156.
- ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 14.
- ^ Dürr 1971, p. 344.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 162.
- ^ a b Dürr 1971, p. 296.
- ^ Towe, Teri Noel. "The Portrait in Erfurt Alleged to Depict Bach, the Weimar Concertmeister". The Face Of Bach. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
- ^ a b Robins 2013.
- ^ Isoyama 1998, p. 32.
- ^ a b Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 347.
- ^ Arnold 2009, p. 38.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Dellal 2012.
- ^ a b c d Dürr 1971, p. 297.
- ^ a b Zedler 2008, p. 68.
- ^ Wolff 2002, p. 148.
- ^ Wolff 2002, pp. 157–158.
- ^ a b c d Bach Digital Weimar 1960.
- ^ a b Bach 2012.
- ^ a b c Isoyama 1998, pp. 32–33.
- ^ a b Dürr 1971, p. 298.
- ^ Dürr 1971, p. 301.
- ^ Zedler 2008, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Buelow 2004, p. 533.
- ^ a b c d Gardiner 2006, p. 3.
- ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, pp. 346–347.
- ^ Kilian 1965, p. 1.
- ^ Dürr 1951.
- ^ Kilian 1965, preface.
- ^ a b c Zedler 2008, p. 69.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 1.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 6.
- ^ a b c d Isoyama 1998, p. 33.
- ^ a b Zedler 2008, p. 70.
- ^ Dürr 1971, pp. 665.
- ^ Dürr 1971, pp. 115–117.
- ^ Rathey 2003, p. 8.
- ^ a b Rathey 2003, p. 6.
- ^ Mincham 2010.
- ^ Kilian 1965, p. 12.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 11.
- ^ a b Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 348.
- ^ Amati-Camperi 2005.
- ^ Baxter 2013, p. 5.
- ^ Kilian 1965, p. 15.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 13.
- ^ Quinn 2007.
- ^ Kilian 1965, p. 19.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 14.
- ^ a b c Zedler 2008, p. 71.
- ^ Leahy 2011, p. 30.
- ^ Braatz & Oron 2006.
- ^ Rathey 2003, p. 11.
- ^ Rathey 2003, p. 14.
- ^ Lowen 1999, p. 16.
- ^ Browne 2005.
- ^ Kilian 1965.
- ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 349.
- ^ Heidelberg 2014.
- ^ Bach Digital Leipzig 1960.
- ^ Oron 2012.
Cited sources
Scores
- Erschallet, ihr Lieder, BWV 172: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- "Erschallet, ihr Lieder [Weimar version] BWV 172.1; BWV 172; BC A 81a". Bach Digital. 1960. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- "Erschallet, ihr Lieder [2nd version] BWV 172.2; BWV 172; BC A 81b". Bach Digital. 1960. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- "Cantata BWV 172 – Erschallet, ihr Lieder (Johann Sebastian Bach)". CPDL Free Choral Sheet Music. Archived from the original on 19 May 2009. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
- "No. 171–180". Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
- New Bach Edition. Bärenreiter.
Books
- Arnold, Jochen (2009). Von Gott poetisch-musikalisch reden: Gottes verborgenes und offenbares Handeln in Bachs Kantaten (in German). ISBN 978-3-647-57124-9.
- Buelow, George J. (2004). A History of Baroque Music. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34365-8.
- ISBN 3-7651-0130-3.
- ISBN 3-423-04080-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-929776-4.
- Leahy, Anne (2011). J. S. Bach's 'Leipzig' Chorale Preludes: Music, Text, Theology. ISBN 978-0-8108-8182-2.
- ISBN 978-0-393-32256-9.
- ISBN 978-0-674-05926-9.
- Zedler, Günther (2008). Die erhaltenen Kirchenkantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs (Mühlhausen, Weimar, Leipzig I): Besprechungen in Form von Analysen – Erklärungen – Deutungen (in German). BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 3-8370-4401-7.
Online sources
The complete recordings of Bach's cantatas are accompanied by liner notes from musicians and musicologists;
- Amati-Camperi, Alexandra (2005). "Notes: Bach B Minor Mass". San Francisco Bach Choir. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- Bach, Peter (2012). "Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!" (in German). bach.de. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
- Baxter, Geffrey (2013). "Bach's Creed / Two Views of the Symbolum Nicenum of the Mass in B-Minor" (PDF). ASO Chamber Chorus. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
- Braatz, Thomas; Oron, Aryeh (2006). "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott". Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Browne, Francis (2005). "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern / Text and Translation of Chorale". Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 28 February 2014.
- Dellal, Pamela (2012). "BWV 172 – "Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!"". Emmanuel Music. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- Gardiner, John Eliot (2006). Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) / Cantatas Nos 34, 59, 68, 74, 172, 173 & 174 (Media notes). Soli Deo Gloria (at Hyperion Records website). Retrieved 8 June 2019.
- Isoyama, Tadashi (1998). "BWV 172: Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! / (Ring out, songs, resound, strings!)" (PDF). Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- Koster, Jan (2011). "Weimar 1708–1717". let.rug.nl. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
- Lowen, Marla (1999). "BWV 172 Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!" (PDF). Oregon Bach Festival Discovery Series. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
- Magdolna, Friedler (2008). "Johann Sebastian Bach Orgelbüchlein-gyűjteményének nyomában" (PDF) (in Hungarian). Magyar Bach Társaság.
- Mincham, Julian (2010). "Chapter 57 BWV 172 Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! / Resound songs, and ring out strings!". jsbachcantatas.com. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
- Oron, Aryeh (2012). "Cantata BWV 172 Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!". Bach Cantatas Website. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Quinn, John (2007). "Johann Sebastian Bach – Legendary Recordings". musicweb-international.com. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Rathey, Markus (2003). "Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor: The Greatest Artwork of All Times and All People" (PDF). bach.nau.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
- Robins, Brian (2013). "Cantata No. 172, "Erschallet, ihr Lieder," BWV 172". Allmusic. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
External links
- Literature by and about Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 in the German National Library catalogue
- Ambrose, Z. Philip (2012). "BWV 172 Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!". University of Vermont. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Luke Dahn: BWV 172.6 bach-chorales.com