Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben, BWV 248IV, is a Christmas cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, composed in 1734 as PartIV of his six-part Christmas Oratorio. Each part of the oratorio is a cantata, written for performance on one of the feast days of the Christmas period. Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben is meant for the New Year's Day feast of the circumcision and naming of Jesus. Based on a libretto by an unknown author, it tells the naming of Jesus from the Nativity of Jesus, according to the Gospel of Luke. Bach structured the cantata in seven movements, and scored it for three vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a festive Baroque orchestra with horns, oboes and strings. The opening chorus and the two arias are based on his earlier secular cantataLaßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213, composed for the 11th birthday of the crown prince of Saxony on 5September 1733. The tenor soloist, in the role of the Evangelist, narrates the Biblical verse in recitative style. The choir sings the elaborate opening movement and the closing chorale, a four-part setting of a stanza from Johann Rist's "Hilf, Herr Jesu, laß gelingen". Four solo movements reflect the name of Jesus, and life for him. Bach led the first performances at the two main churches of Leipzig in a morning service and a vespers service on 1January 1735.
Background and text
Bach composed Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben in 1734, eleven years after he became Thomaskantor in Leipzig, director of music in major churches in the town in the Electorate of Saxony. The cantata forms Part IV of his Christmas Oratorio which was performed on six occasions of Christmastide, beginning with Part I on Christmas Day:
Part I, Jauchzet, frohlocket!, for Christmas Day : Nativity of Jesus
The prescribed readings for the feast day were "by faith we inherit" from the Epistle to the Galatians, and from the Gospel of Luke, the ritual circumcision and naming of Jesus eight days after his birth. The librettist of the text is unknown; scholars debate whether he was Picander, who had collaborated with Bach before. After an opening chorus, the Evangelist narrates the short gospel about the naming of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke. It is reflected in the following movements, recitative and arias. Bach structured the work in nine movements, and scored it for four vocal parts and a festive Baroque orchestra with two natural horns, oboes and strings. Several movements rely on music which he had composed earlier, from the secular cantata Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213, a dramma per musica describing the story of "Hercules at the Crossroads", written for 11th birthday of Crown PrinceFriedrich Christian of Saxony and first performed on 5 September 1733. The tenor soloist narrates the verse from Martin Luther's translation of the Bible in recitative as the Evangelist. Bach incorporates two chorales, two stanzas from "Jesu, du mein liebstes Leben" by Johann Rist for a soprano complement to bass recitatives, and the 15th stanza of the same hymnist's "Hilf, Herr Jesu, laß gelingen" which the choir sings in a four-part setting with independent orchestra. Bach led the first performance at the Nikolaikirche with the Thomanerchor in a morning service on New Year's Day 1735, repeated in a vespers service at the Thomaskirche the same day.
Music
Scoring and structure
The cantata is structured in seven movements: it opens with an extended choral movement that expresses the call to fall down with thanks and praise, followed by a brief recitative that provides the account from the Luther Bible of the naming of Jesus on the day of his circumcision. Four movements then reflect on the name of Jesus in meditation and prayer, and the composition is closed with an affirming chorale. The work features three vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of two natural horns, two oboes, two violins, viola and basso continuo. The duration is given as 27 minutes. Other sections of the Christmas Oratorio have a brighter feel than Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben. Its music, in F major, is dominated by two horns and has a more intimate character than the sections with bright trumpets which precede and follow it. In the following table, the movement numbers of the Christmas Oratorio are added in brackets. The scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are from Alfred Dürr, and use the symbol for common time. No key is shown for the recitatives, because they modulate. The continuo, played throughout, is also not shown.
Movements
1
The opening chorus, "Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben vor des Höchsten Gnadenthron!", is a complex long form. The instrumental ritornello is dominated by two natural horns. The voices enter in unison. In the middle section, the vocal lines are also mostly homophonic. The last section uses the material from the first section, but differently.
2
The tenor sings in a secco recitative the verse from the Biblical Christmas story, "Und da acht Tage um waren, dass das Kind beschnitten würde", after Luke 2:21.
3
In a combination of recitative and chorale, the bass recitative, "Wer will die Liebe recht erhöhn", is balanced with line-by-line commentary by the chorus. The commentary is the first stanza from Rist's hymn "Jesu, du mein liebstes Leben". The voices are supported by strings.
4
In the central soprano da capo aria, "Flößt, mein Heiland, flößt dein Namen auch den allerkleinsten Samen jenes strengen Schreckens ein?", the singer asks Jesus three questions and imagines the answers as "no", "no" and "yes", illustrated in the form of an echo-aria. An oboe is the obbligato instrument.
5
In symmetry to the third movement, another bass recitative, "Wohlan, dein Name soll allein in meinem Herzen sein!", is commented on by another stanza, "Jesu, meine Freud und Wonne" from the same hymn. The voices are again supported by strings.
6
The tenor aria, "Ich will nur dir zu Ehren leben", expresses a vow to revere Jesus. It is a fugal trio composition with two solo violins.
7
The cantata is closed with the chorale "Jesus richte mein Beginnen", the 15th stanza of Rist's hymn "Hilf, Herr Jesu, laß gelingen". All instruments play interludes which recall the opening movement.
