Gott ist mein König, BWV 71
Gott ist mein König (God is My King), BWV 71, is a cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.
It was performed for the first time at the inauguration of the new city council at Mühlhausen on 1708-02-04. The librettist is unknown. There has been speculation, but no evidence, that it was written by minister Georg Christian Eilmar, who had commissioned Bach to compose the cantata Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir, BWV 131 which was written around the same time.
In 1708, Bach was the organist of the Divi Blasii church. He composed few works at this time; his works from this period prominently featured the organ. BWV 71 was his first cantata for festive orchestra, including trumpets and timpani. Since Bach was instructed by the council to compose this work, it is also one of his very few works to fulfil a specific paid commission: most of his compositions were written as part of the normal duties of his employment.
It was so positively received that Bach was commissioned to compose another cantata for the next year's council inauguration; there is evidence that the piece was composed and even printed, but no copies are known to survive.
Theme
Even though the cantata was composed for a secular occasion, it is counted under Bach's religious cantatas. Fittingly for the occasion, the texts can be interpreted as a meditation on the transition from old to new, together with freely-composed congratulations for the "new regiment" of office bearers.
The text mostly consists of Bible passages: the text of the first and fourth movements is taken from Psalm 74, the rest from 2 Samuel, Genesis, and Deuteronomy.
The second movement, Ich bin nun achtzig Jahr ("I am now eighty years old"), probably refers to Adolf Strecker, the former mayor who had just left office aged 83 years, and was written for solo organ. In the second movement, the Bible quotes are complemented by the sixth verse of Johann Heermann's hymn O Gott, du frommer Gott. In the final chorus, there is a reference to the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany, Joseph I (1705–1711), as Mühlhausen was an imperial free city, and thus subject immediately to the emperor.
Scoring
- Vocal soloists: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass
- Choir: Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass
- Instruments (in the non-standard order used by Bach in the score):
- 3 Trumpets, Timpani
- 2 Violins, Viola, Violone
- 2 Oboes, Bassoon
- 2 Recorders, Cello
- Organ obbligato
Importance
Gott ist mein König is a significant early work of Bach. With its lack of recitatives, its arias and the short movements that flow into each other, it shows typical characteristics of traditional 17th-century cantatas. It differs from the other extant cantatas from Bach's time in Mühlhausen by its elaborate instrumentation. Very few of the formal characteristics of Bach's Leipzig cantatas (still some fifteen years in the future) are found in this early work. It is the first of Bach's works to be printed (an unusual event paid for by the city council); it is the only cantata to have been printed before the composer's death.
Recordings
- Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, dir. Ton Koopman, Soloists: Barbara Schlick, Kai Wessel, Guy de Mey, Klaus Mertens – J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 1, Antoine Marchand CC72231