Secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
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Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach by BWV number
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Schwingt freudig euch empor (Soar joyfully aloft), BWV 36.1 (formerly BWV 36c), is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach.[1] He composed it in Leipzig, most likely in 1725. There is evidence that the cantata was performed in April or May that year, and that it was re-staged six years later for the 40th birthday of Johann Matthias Gesner.[1] Bach reused parts of the cantata in two other secular cantatas, and in a church cantata for the first Sunday in Advent, Schwingt freudig euch empor, BWV 36.
Bach wrote several works for celebrations of the Leipzig University, Festmusiken zu Leipziger Universitätsfeiern.[2] This cantata was originally probably composed as a homage to one of the composer's academic colleagues, but it is not known which. Johann Burckhard Mencke[1] and Johann Heinrich Ernesti (the septuagenarian rector of the Thomasschule) have been suggested as possible recipients. The unmodified cantata was likely re-staged for Johann Matthias Gesner's 40th birthday (9 April 1731).[1] Gesner had become rector at the Thomasschule in Leipzig in 1730 and had been acquainted with the composer since the 1710s when both worked in Weimar.[3] Bach reworked this cantata in both secular and sacred versions:
The libretto is likely by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), who published the Steigt freudig in die Luft version of the text in 1727, as a cantata for the birthday of the duchess of Anhalt-Köthen, which fell on 30 November. The duchess's birthday cantata was set by Bach (in 1726 or earlier), but the music is lost.[8][9]
The cantata is scored for three soloists—soprano, tenor and bass—a four-part choir, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola, viola d'amore and basso continuo.[10]
The opening chorus is a "jolly" gavotte form, highlighting the oboe d'amore (which is also important in introducing the third movement).[11][12] The recitatives are all secco and fairly short, with the tenor recitative being only six measures long.[12]
