BWV 4 - Christ lag in Todesbanden | Zimmermann Band

Bach was only 21 or so in 1707 when he wrote the first version of Christ lag in Todesbanden and already, Bach was writing masterpieces with huge emotional depth and symbolism.*

Bach was also already a well-cultured and international composer. This cantata is scored in the French style by including a second viola part yet includes a rustic Italian violin concerto in the Aria 'Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn' while also developing the German school further than his contemporaries or predecessors.

The cantata is based on the verses of the hymn of the same name by Martin Luther, written c. 150 years earlier. A short sinfonia in the grave style sets the scene before the opening chorus properly opens proceedings. With Bach and the baroque period in general, when it comes to Easter cantatas you normally expect D major, 3 trumpets, and timpani. Instead we get E minor, chorale in the soprano line, concerted lower voices, and the two violin parts working together to support the soprano while also engaging in 'suspiratio' which is to equate with "Christ's suffering in the grip of death" [John Eliot Gardiner 2000]. An alle breve on 'Hallelujah' closes the chorus in style!

Bach then turns the mood on its head with a duet where time stands still. Camilla Morse-Glover plays an ostinato bass line, with continuo from Jonatan Bougt on the Theorbo, while Tristam Cooke and Caroline Halls accompany and describe how no-one but Jesus was able to destroy death. Following this, Bach re-enacts the war between good and evil in the Tenor aria sung by Jonathan Hanley, with the violins frantically trying to keep up with Jesus, and a frenzied chorus.

The battle is won and Jesus is victorious! Bach now flips the structure, as if the entire cantata was a palindromic, with Stuart O'Hara (bass) singing of the Paschal lamb's burnt offering in the next aria; before a further duet between the soprano and tenor describes the celebration feast before the chorale concludes by reminding us that man cannot live by bread alone.

Zimmermann Band
Chris Jeanes

Soprano - Caroline Halls
Countertenor - Tristram Cooke
Tenor - Jonathan Hanley
Bass - Stuart O'Hara

Violin 1 - Will McGahon
Violin 2 - Maxim Del Mar
Viola 1 - Francesca Gilbert
Viola 2 - Alice Poppleton
Cello - Camilla Morse-Glover
Double Bass - Josie Jobbins
Theorbo - Jonatan Bougt
Organ - Oliver Doyle

* For a suitable comparison, at that age I was a gap-year choral scholar who spent most of his time either job hunting or in the pub; sometimes both at the same time.

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