Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende (BWV 28) is, together with BWV 24, the only existing cantata which Bach had still composed during his Leipzig period, based on a text by Erdmann Neumeister, creator of the ”modern” cantata form. It is part of Bach's third Leipzig cantata cycle and was composed for December 30, 1725. In his text setting Neumeister renounces any closer connection with the sermons for the Sunday after Christmas, and similarly the obtrusive schoolmasterly trait which makes so many a Neumeister text appear strange to us, giving way here to thanks and praise for God’s goodness in the past year and the prayer for future blessings. This corresponding division into an aspect recalling past events and a forward-looking element is based on the poetry’s formal structure, with a section each of thanksgiving and worship symmetrically grouped around a central biblical phrase:
free poetry - choral
Jeremiah 32: 4l
free poetry-choral.
Bach’s composition of the opening aria is entirely attuned to joyful gratitude. Clarity of structure dominates in the choric treatment of the woodwind and string group, as is also evident in the dance-like periodic structure with antecedent and consequent and various kinds of rnotivic alternation - all imbued with the injunction in the text to strike up "a joyful song of thanks".
The choir now sings the thanksgiving song on behalf of the congregation. Bach chose for this the motet-like movement, which seems rather archaic (with wind and string augmentation) where every song line is prepared by the three bottom parts in an imitative movement before it rings out in the soprano in long note values. Bach in this instance may have reused an existing movement he had previously composed.
The three succeeding movements are marked by contrasting minor part elements which, as is so often the case with Bach, are at the same time characterized by a strong, individualized expressive melody: The arioso on the biblical passage is composed as a continuo theme, the recitative as an accompagnato featuring strings, and the aria that follows as a continuo-accompanied duet in the polyphonic style after the Italian pattern.
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir (BVV 29), composed for the church service marking the town council change on August 27, 1731, appears to have been particularly dear to the heart of the Thomasschule cantor. The work is not only one of the few cantatas for which we have documentary evidence of its further performance, namely for 1739 and 1749 (naturally Bach frequently made repeated use of many of his works, though there is not always proof of this); but over and above this Bach reused the opening chorus in the B minor Mass, and on two occasions at that: above the text ”Gratias agimus tibi” in the Gloria, and for the phrase “Dona nobis pacem” at the conclusion of the work.
Just as at the close of the ycar, the induction ceremony of the town council members also represented a break calling for a retrospective look back and a look forward, and thus it is no coincidence that we find in the poetry thoughts similar to those in the previously observed cantata: Thanks for good deeds rendered and prayers for future blessings. The large number of biblical allusions indicate that the unknown text writer could have been a theologian who adroitly accomplished his task, and in doing so vested in free poetry a characteristic framework by the final repetition of the lines ”Halleluja, Stärk und Macht..."
By placing a Sinfonia at the beginning, Bach provided the composition with a splendid introduction. He uses for this purpose the ”Preludio" from the E major Partita for solo violin (BWV 1006) and rearranges it as an organ concerto, or more correctly - since the entire violin part is taken over in the organ voice and the orchestra part was composed in addition to it - as an organ solo with accompanying orchestra. This explains why the alternation between tutti and solo typical of the baroque instrumental concerto, is only noticeable in certain sections in this arrangement.
By contrast, the pithy introductory chorus embodies the rnotet-style principle. Grand intensification is achieved by the fact that the vocal parts are reinforced initially only by strings and woodwind, but subsequently also by a trumpet, and that ultimately the trumpet chorus, by independent voice and theme leading, at the conclusion breaks through and extends the original tour-part basis of the movement.
The succeeding solo movement's can be experienced as a tonally subdued internal group set off by themselves, the nucleus of which is formed by the profoundly perceived siciliano aria ”Gedenk an uns mit deiner Liebe,” while the ”Halleluja” movements, with similar themes but different instruments (solo violin - organ), serve as a frarne. The radiant tutti of the concluding chorale then brings the listener full circle, back to a full-voiced texture first heard in the opening movements.
Freue dich, erléste Schar (BWV 30), one of Bach's latest church cantatas, probably owes its existence mainly to Bach’s intention to secure an opportunity for subsequent reuse of the music of the congratulatory cantata Angenehmes Wiederau (BWV 30a). Since Angenehmes Wiederau was composed September 28, 1737, its church parody can have been played on St John’s Day (June 24) ofthe following year at the earliest. At first glance the music might appear to be scarcely appropriate for a church cantata, but there are two aspects to be borne in mind: At the focal point of the Gospel reading on St John’s Day is the hymn of Zechariah ”Gelobet sei der Herr der Gott Israels..."; the text of the cantata alludes to this (especially clearly in section 3), and the joyful, even gay character of the music certainly accords with it. What is more, the later Bach appears by no means to have been so oblivious to the stylistic influences of the younger generation as is sometimes assumed. Such influences are made evident by the syncopated rhythm of the (musically identical) outer choruses and the aria ”Kommt, ihr angefochtnen Sunder” as well as the Lornbardic rhythm of the aria ”lch will nun hassen"; furthermore, what is for Bach the relalivelv homophonic character with emphasis placed on the soprano line in most movements and their dance-like qualitv, expressed in the clearly noticeable periodic structure, but occasionally also with reference to certain types of dances, such as the Passepied (movement 3) or Gigue (movement 10). All of this certainly does not need to have been conditioned solely by the original secular subject of the text; it proves rather that Bach, even in old age, was prepared ti fuse vvith his own stvle alien peculiarities of style, if they proved vvorthv and suitable from his point of view.