HL Chapter 3 Bach’s Cantata on the Destruction of Jerusalem

Chapter 3 Bach’s Cantata on the Destruction of Jerusalem
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anonymous sixteenth-century painting now known by the title Gesetz und Gnade (“law and grace”)
Note:NELLA CHIESA DI LIPSIA DOVE B LAVORÒ

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a powerful series of theologically conventional contrasts of type with antitype.
Note:OGGETTO

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Moses is shown on his knees at the edge of a precipice, receiving stone tablets—the law
Note:SULL ESTREMA SINISTRA

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Mary, with wavy blond hair, is shown receiving a cross-bearing baby Jesus
Note:A DESTRA

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Adam and Eve break God’s law
Note:IN ALTO

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Jesus, with heavenly rays beaming from his head, suffers on the cross (a sort of tree) and is shown conquering death.
Note:IN BASSO

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serpent amid exodus encampments of the Hebrew
Note:IN ALTO A DS

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a large church of Christian worship amid the established city of God,
Note:IN BASSO A SIN

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on the left, a neatly long-bearded, fancy-headdress-bearing, unidentified prophet, richly clad in red;
Note:SULL SFONDO TRE FIGURE...PRIMA

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nimbus-bearing John the Baptist, poorly clad in red;
Note:SECONDA

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a seminaked man.
Note:LA TERZA IN MEZZO

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man without grace”).
Note:ISCRIZIONE SOTTO IL PROFETA BARBUTO

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proclaimer of Christ”).
Note:ISCRIZIONE SOTTO IL BATTISTA

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The picture appears to show humanity per se presented with a Hercules-like choice between the virtues of redemption and life on the one hand and the vices of sin
Note:L ALLEGORIA...IL PROFETA È IL VECCHIO CHE RIFIUTA UN NUOVO PATTO CON DIO

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an extraordinary tree; its right side teems with foliage, while its left side is completely withered.
Note:DAVANTI A TUTTO

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following inscriptions: at the left, Moses mit dem Gesetz. / Der Sünder. / Propheten (“Moses with the law. / The sinner. / Prophets”); and at the right, Unsere Rechtfertigung. / … Anzeiger Christi (“our justification. / … proclaimer of Christ”).
Note:SOGGETTO COMUNE...QUADRO SIMILE NELL ALTRA CHIESA DI LIPSIA DOVE B LAVORÓ

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judgment about the progress made in moving narratively from the historical failings of an old Israel under the law
Note:L ALLEGORIA DI QS QUADRI È CHIARA

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the triumphs made possible for a new Israel grounded in faith through God’s grace.
Note:LA META

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law is considered “good” only insofar as it is a necessary step leading forward to the inclusion of the grace
Note:LA BONTÀ RELATIVA DELLA LEGGE

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Thesis
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Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgendein Schmerz sei wie mein Schmerz (BWV 46),
Note:OGGETTO ANALISI

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contrasts between the first three and the last three of its six movements.
Note:CARATTWRISTICA

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Bach’s musical setting of Cantata 46 projects a theological anti-Judaism similar to that of the St. Thomas and St. Nicholas law-and-grace paintings
Note:TESI

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a response to a highly emotional and, in my view, alarmingly ill-informed 1998 academic conference discussion
Note:UNA RISPSTA AI TEOLOGI CHE SCAGIONAVANO BACH

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the Tenth Sunday after Trinity was the one time in the Lutheran church year when the liturgy focused specifically on the matter of historical and spiritual “Israel,”
Note:IL GIORNO PRESCELTO x LA CANTATA

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“Did Bach personally espouse anti-Jewish contempt?”
Note:QUI LA BIOGRAFIA NN C ENTRA

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“What does Bach’s church cantata mean?”
Note:QUELO CHE CI INTERESSA

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Lucan and Josephan Background for Bach’s Cantata 46
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Luke 19:41–48,
Note:IL VANGWLO DELLA DOMENICA

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Jesus is depicted weeping over the future destruction of Jerusalem and driving merchants out of the Temple.
Note:MERCANTI

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Temple were indeed destroyed by the Romans in the first century,
Note:STORIA

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it was widely agreed that this represented God’s punishment
Note:PRESSO I CRISTIANI

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sternly warning the Lutheran parishioners of their own similar sinfulness and possible similar punishment.
Note:I CATTIVI LUTERANI PARAGONATI AGLI EBREI

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General Theological Background for Bach’s Cantata 46
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Bach owned a large number of books on religion and theology,20 and his various biblical commentaries,
Note:MOLTO UTILI A COMPRENDERE LA SUA MUSICA LITURGICA

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For just as the Jews want neither to see nor hear his Word, God therefore subsequently wants also neither to see nor hear their shouting,
Note:LE DURE PAROLE DI LUTERO SULL EVENTO

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Heinrich Müller, a seventeenth-century Lutheran
Note:ALTRO ESEMPIO DI PREDICHE DELLA DCIMA

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Since, however, even there they did not want [to repent], they subsequently no longer found mercy.
Note:EBREI CONDANNATI

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Johann Olearius, another seventeenth-century Lutheran theologian,
Note:ALTRO ESEMPIO

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God warns: render yourself open to repentance, or else God will punish;
Note:OLEARIUS

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The Libretto from Bach’s Cantata 46 and Its Specific Theological, Biblical, and Liturgical Contexts
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authorship is unknown,
Note:LIBRETTO

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a musical counterpart to the Bugenhagen-Josephus vespers reading of the destruction of Jerusalem;
Note:PRIMA PARTE

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spiritual application of the story to the daily lives of his listeners.
Note:LA SECONDA PARTE

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The choral lines of the first movement are a massive, motet-style, canonic (that is, “law”-like) prelude-and-fugue
Note:PRIMA PARTE OLD STYLE

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The last movement is a typical four-part Lutheran chorale harmonization, with extremely atypical short instrumental interludes,
Note:SECONDA PARTE NEW STYLE

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Much like the particular way in which the pairs in the Leipzig church paintings are juxtaposed,
Note:ANALOGIA

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the texts of the internal recitative and aria pairs
Note:PRIMO OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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The first recitative and aria narratively address Old Jerusalem
Note:IL PRIMO

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the second pair then addresses only the church.
Note:SECONDO

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libretto contains a remarkable number of key expressions also found in a printed sermon by Heinrich Müller
Note:SERMONE GUIDA

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the tenor recitative of Cantata 46 further echoes Müller, Luther, and other writers in Bach’s library by teaching not merely a critical but also a strongly contemptuous attitude toward the city
Note:IL DISPREZZO DEL TENORE

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destruction of Jerusalem was a punishment from God
Note:PER MULLER È VVIO

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not in their stubbornness per se but in their not wanting to be otherwise.
Note:LA COLPA

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From a passage Bach marked in his Calov Bible Commentary,
Note:SAPPIAMO CHE BACH CONOSCEVA LA TEOLIGIA DELKA CATASTROFE COME CASTIGO

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the remaining Jews have to experience the same sort of thing for over 1600 years,
Note:SECONDO CALOV

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Under Calov’s “1600,” Bach wrote “1700.”
Note:SECONDO BACH...ATTUALITÀ DEL CASTIGO

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What exactly constitutes Jerusalem’s sin
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The Lutheran theologian Christoph Scheibler
Note:UNA VERSIONE

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Idolatry—this is the greatest sin for which the Lord has [ever] punished his people…
Note:ECCO LA COLPA

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sin than that the Messiah promised to them was sent, and yet they did not want to accept the same, rather [they wanted to] have him cut off and killed,
Note:MA C È DI PIÙ...DEICIDIO

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not recognizing and being turned to Jesus.
Note:LA COLPA

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Oh, better that you were utterly destroyed
Note:IL LIBRETTO DI BACH

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having the tenor recitative explicitly call the loss irreparable.
Note:LA CONDANNA DI BACH VA OLTRE LUTERO E DIVENTA ETERNA

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the first (586 BCE) or the second (70 CE),
Note:A QUALE DISTRUZIONE DEL TEMPIO CI SI RIFERISCE...POCO CHIARO

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“there has befallen the City of God an irreparable loss of the Most High’s favor.”
Note:LA CONSEGUENZA È CHIARA

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Old Jerusalem was right to lament its having lost God’s favor
Note:CONFERMATE MOLTE PROFEZIE

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The present-tense verbs in the last five lines of the recitative
Note:PUNITI ORA...GLI EBREI

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be read in “historical present tense,”
Note:LETTIRA PIÙ PROBABILE

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Support for perhaps simply viewing the latter part of the recitative as narratively admonishing Jews of only the first century is weakened by several considerations
Note:L AMMONIMENTOVALE ANCHE ORA

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noting how frequently the descendants of Old Jerusalem who are not turned to Jesus are characterized as blasphemers in the theological literature
Note:NUMEROSI PRECEDENTI...NELLA STESSA BIBLIO DI B

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Judaism’s ongoing and ever-current rejection of Jesus.
Note:ATMOSFERA NEI TESTI LUTERANI

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what does it mean to say that “God … breaks the staff in judgment”?
Note:E POI...SEMPRE NEL RECITATIVO...C È UN ALTRO PROBLEMA

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Commenting on 2 John 1:9, the Calov Bible
Note:MA SENTIAMO IL LUTERO LETTO DA BACH

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[We Christians know] that [the Jews] still do not have the proper God, for they do not want to hear his Word,
Note:COMMENTO DI LUTERO

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and therefore the Jews, with their lying and blaspheming, lie to and blaspheme not us but God
Note:ANCORA

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“children of whoredom” the descendants who pursue the synagogue and the blaspheming of God,
Note:ANCORA

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Bach’s Cantata 46, too, appears to allege that those who are not now turned from the ways of the old to the new covenant are to be understood as utterly condemned,
Note:...E BACH SEGUE

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not only temporally but also eternally,
Note:E SI VA OLTRE...I FIGLI DEI FIGLI DEI FIGLI

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by asserting that “God ‘breaks the staff’ in judgment,”
Note:DOVE SI SISTEMA ONCRETIZZA QUESTA ASPREZZA

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appropriated from Zechariah 11:10 in Luther’s particular rendering:
Note:DA DOVE ORIGINA QUELL ESPRESSIONE DEL RECITATIVO

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I took my staff Gentle, and broke it into pieces, that I would annul my covenant, which I had made with all of the peoples [of Judah and Israel.]
Note:PAROLE DI ZACCARIA...IL BASTONE ROTTO È LA ROTTURA DELL ALLEANZA

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Jews were punished by God in the year 70 and that this was not merely a temporary measure:
Note:ANCHE X MULLER LA COSA È CHIARA

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Consider, for example, Scheibler,
Note:MOLTI ALTRI SI ACCODANO

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On Judgment Day [‘the Day of the Lord, following after this life, which is our day’]55 no tears will save you
Note:MULLER

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Related ideas are also found in the Olearius Bible.

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ALTRA FONTE DALLA BIBLIO

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The notion that those who are not turned to the grace of Jesus shall be utterly condemned—that is, not only temporally but also eternally—is also expressed clearly and forcefully in several devotional and liturgical prayers
Note:ALTRE FONTI...

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The Leipziger Kirchen-Staat provides the following prayer for the occasion:
Note:PREGHIERA DECIMA SETTIMANA A LIPSIA

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the following collect for the Tenth Sunday after Trinity:
Note:SEMPRE A LIPSIA

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The contrast of an eternally cursed “old Zion” with an eternally blessed “new Zion”
Note:LA TIPICA ANTITESI

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from the hymn book listed in Bach’s library as the Wagneri Leipziger Gesangbuch:
Note:FONTE DELL ANTITESI...

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eternal condemnation for those who remain committed to Judaism was expressed altogether unambiguously in the Lutheran catechism,
Note:ALTRA FONTE X LA CONDANNA ETERNA

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Bach’s Musical Setting and Its Theological Import
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opening chorus from Cantata 46
Note:OGGETTO

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powerful lament on the destruction of Jerusalem;
Note:LAMENTO

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tonal centers far and wide,
Note:IL CENTRO

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it never leaves the minor modes.
Note:TUTTAVIA...

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unsettling harmonies and chromaticisms abound while the choral lines move forward in canon,
Note:A UN CERTO PUNTO...TIPICO DI BACH QUANDO RINVIA ALLA LEGGE CHE SPROFONDA...IL CANONE E L EBREO

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For the Lord has made me full of distress on the day of his fierce wrath”),
Note:IL VERSO SUCCESSIVO...

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tempo speeds up, and canon gives way to permutation
Note:RELATIVO COMMENTO MUSICALE

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the same melodic lines are continually shuffled among the various voices.
Note:ALTRO ESPEDIENTE BACHIANO

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What contributes thereafter to the relentlessness of this fugue is its almost complete lack of episodic material.
Note:UNA FUGA SPOGLIA...QUASI OTTISA

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and somewhat monotonously,
Note:Ccccccccccc

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a striking harmonic catabasis to the distant key of F minor.
Note:ALLA TERZA RIPRESA C È era NA FRATTURA TONALE DELLA LINEA DI HASSO

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the harmonic breach of section 2, it seems then, acts as a sort of “destruction,”
Note:DISYRUZIONE

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reflecting the chorus’s biblical lines concerning the Lord’s fierce wrath
Note:EFFETTO DELLA COLLERA

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musically highlights the charged import of the various expressions employed in its libretto.
Note:STRETTA CONNESSIONE

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“an irreparable loss
Note:QUI UN PASSAGGIO TONALE SINGOLARE...SIAMO ALLA CADENZA NEL RECITATIVO DEL TENORE

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striking leap of a minor tenth between the first and second words
Note:LE DUE PAROLE

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read before its revision in the original performing part as only a minor third.
Note:PRIMA DELLA REVISIONE

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“Gomorrah”

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ALTRE ASPRESSIONI DEL RECITATIVO

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“Christ’s enemy”

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“God … breaks the staff in judgment”

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linked by melodic tritone, the diabolus in musica
Note:DIABOLOUS IN MUSICA NWL MEXDIOEVO

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“to condemn someone,”
Note:ROMPERE IL BASTONE SECONDO LA LESSICOGRAFIA DI KEITH SPALDING

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sentencing somebody to death,
Note:OVVERO

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“final judgement has been pronounced.”
Note:OVVERO

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On the whole, Bach’s tenor recitative in Cantata 46 is extraordinary, even for him.
Note:NEL COMPLESSO

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a remarkable concentration of dominant and diminished-seventh chords.
Note:CONCENTRAZIONE

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unusually disjunct vocal line accompanied by several continuo instruments
Note:ALTRA CARATTERISTICA

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Bach’s musical setting of this recitative is no unwitting, straightforward, stereotyped, or conventional affair.
Note:CONCLUSIONE...TUTTO VOLUTO

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There follows a ferocious aria
Note:MA IL PICCO NN È IL RECITATIVO

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the singer declares to the city that its punishment was slow in coming,
Note:MALEDIZIONE...LENTA MA FOLGORANTE

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God was angry with the city for rejecting Jesus
Note:CONCETTO

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God simmered before finally blowing up and using the Romans to destroy
Note:LE MODALITÀ

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The string writing is set in the tradition of Monteverdi’s stile concitato:
Note:COME È RESA LA FEROCIA

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The trumpet’s first gesture is to outline a tonic chord B-flat, D, F, B-flat, with a jarring A
Note:UN ENTRATA STONATA

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a prolonged series of sixteenth-note oscillations between the second and third degrees
Note:LA CHIUSURA ASSURDA PER IL TEMPO DEGLI OTTFONI

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odd trumpet part,
Note:NELL ARIA....RICHIAMA L ASSALTO ROMANO COSÌ COME NARRATONEL SESTO LIBRO DO JOSEPHUS

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two knights, and one trumpeter,
Note:L AVANGUARDIA DELL ATTACCO ROMANO SECONDO JOSEPHUS

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the sound of the trumpet [Trompeten-Schall], aroused such impressions in them that they thought a great band of the enemy would have to have climbed up the citadel.
Note:LE TROMBE SIMULANO UNA GRANDE FORMAZIONE X TERRORIZZARE GLI EBREI

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Sin and the New Covenant
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the second part of Cantata 46,
Note:OGGETTO DEL ANALISI

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the “grace” side
Note:DALLA LEGGE ALLA GRAZIA

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the alto appears to speak directly to Bach’s church audiences.
Note:NEL LIBRETTO SI USA IL VOI PER MINACCIARE PUNIZIONI SIMILI A QUELLE DEGLI EBREI

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(Christian) sinners are also described as having the true possibility of salvation, that is, if they are properly turned to Jesus.
Note:UNICA DIFFERENZA

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the Old Jerusalem/Israel of the synagogue and Temple has been replaced in God’s favor by the New Jerusalem/Israel of the Gentile church
Note:L INSEGNAMENTO TEOLOGICO DELLA CANTATA...PASSI MOLTO SOTTOLINEATI NEI COMMENTARI BIBLICI TANTO AMATI DA BACH

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Luther’s notion that God’s covenant with Old Israel is to be strictly distinguished from the new covenant;
Note:ENFASI

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there was nothing special about their disdain toward Judaism; they were, so the claim goes, equally condemning of the theologies of Islam, Roman Catholicism, and so on, holding each of these attitudes for the same reasons,
Note:DIFESA MINIMIZZATRICE: LA CONDANNA DEL GIUDAISMOL NN È POI DIVERSA DALLA CONDANNA DI CATTOLICI E ISLAM...CANTATE 18 E 126

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what should one make, for example, of those South Africans during apartheid who said that they could not properly be labeled antiblack because their passionate desire to be kept apart from the Bantu was not essentially different from their desire to be kept apart from the Indian and Pakistani populations in their country?
Note:ANALOGIA X DIMOSTRA L ASSURDITÀ DELLA DIFESA

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the bass aria’s poetry focused on the threatening hellish notion that God wants to take vengeance on those who are not turned from the ways of impenitent Old Jerusalem; the alto aria’s poetry focuses on the comforting heavenly notion that Jesus wants to protect upright Christian believers from God the Father’s eternal wrath.
Note:CONFROKNTO TRA LE DUE ARIE NELLE DUE PARTI...LA PRIMA MALEDICE ISRAELE...LA SECONDA I PECCATORI CRISTIANI MA LASCIA APERTA UNA VIA

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Pairs of recorders
Note:TIPICA FORMAZIONE DAI SIGNIFICATI PIÙ VARI...PRESENTE ANCHE NELLA SECONDA ARIA

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sunny pastoral themes in Cantatas 180
Note:SIGNIFICATO 1

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sorrow in Cantata 13
Note:2

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death in Cantatas 81
Note:3

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Curiously, in the textually hopeful alto aria from Bach’s Cantata 46, the recorders adopt much more the sorrowful manner
Note:L UTILIZO DEI FLAUTI NELLA 46

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What may be called an exquisite monotony of musical form also contributes to this alto aria’s
Note:MONOTONIA => DOLORE...STRANO EFFETTO

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Conclusion
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to call Christians to turn away from their own sin,
Note:IL PUNTO PRINCIPALE

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theological anti-Judaism
Note:ESSENZIALE X VEICOLARE IL MESSAGGIO

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the verbal polemic in Bach’s Schauet doch is not particularly vitriolic.
Note:SI PREFERISCE OCCULTARE

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His cantata is altogether temperate, for example, compared with Luther’s violence-espousing
Note:UNICA ATTENUANTE

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there can be no real problem of theological anti-Judaism in the narrative of Bach’s cantata.
Note:TESI IMPOSSIBILE DA SOSTENERE

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Bach’s magnificent harmony and counterpoint appear to cast a certain pall of melancholic resignation or sorrowful, apprehensive uncertainty over the poetry’s assurances and entreaties in the second half of the work.
NN SI APRE MAI ALLA SPERANZA PIENA...A VOLTE ANCHE CONTRADDICENDO IL LIBRETTO