BACH LASHES OUT AT SATAN’S KINGDOM IN STORMY ARIA SUNG BY BASS KREŠIMIR STRAŽANAC- BWV 178 MVT 3

Описание: The BACH ENTWURFF PROJECT
Recorded
21 JUNE 2025
Allerheiligen-Hofkirche, Residenz-Munich, Germany


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DESCRIPTION
As in his "Reformation Cantatas” (BWV 79, 80 and 129) Bach comes out swinging against all enemies of the Pietist Lutheran church and escalates his polemics from there to the boiling point. In that sense, it’s possible to think of Cantata BWV 178 Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält (If the Lord God does not stay with us) as belonging to a sub-genre of “Christian Soldier” cantatas riven with the most violent, invidious images imaginable.


Commenting on BWV 178 Bach scholars Michael Marissen and Daniel R. Melamed explain* that the text of BWV 178,


“... draws on one of the oldest Lutheran chorales, a paraphrase and expansion of Psalm 124 … It was designated as a hymn for the Lutheran church, which explains its stance of relentless persecution by “enemies,” doubtless meant to be understood here (with multiple references to “heresy”) principally as the Roman Catholic church.”


In addition to the Papist Church, Bach’s “enemies list” in this cantata also includes “Reason” (Vernunft) ie, the Enlightenment, then occupying a cultural high tide across the Continent. It is in this context, that the full force of the bass aria “Gleichwie die wilden Meereswellen” (“Just like the wild waves of the sea”**) can be grasped. Here the text compares turbulent waters to the raging anger of “enemies” who “want to enlarge Satan’s kingdom” and smash to bits Christ’s “little ship” (the Church).


Bass Krešimir Stražanac eloquently captures the forces of implacable confrontation that Bach sets to music with surging, jagged vocal lines.


https://bachcantatatexts.org/BWV178.htm
** ibid.
BachCantataTexts.org


The BACH ENTWURFF PROJECT

The BACH ENTWURFF PROJECT produces Modern World Premieres of Bach Cantatas Performed to the Exact Specifications of JS Bach’s 1730 Memorandum (“Entwurff”) on the proper performance of his cantatas. Bach asks for a choir of men and boys, three or four on a part. Soprano and alto solos are sung by boys; and all soloists sing as part of the choir ensemble. The Entwurff orchestra consists of at least 18 instrumentalists playing baroque instruments, plus additional members (such as trumpets) as required in the score.The Bach-Lehman tuning is used in the Entwurff series of performances and recordings.


Video Producer: Christoph Engel (Projekt-Engel)
Audio Engineer: Christian Jaeger


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