Duration: 20 minutes

Description: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) composed Cantata No. 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Now Come, Savior of the Gentiles), BWV 61 [1st setting] in Weimar in 1714, during the year in which his appointment as concertmaster at the ducal court brought with it the responsibility of composing a new church cantata each month. Written for the First Sunday of Advent (the beginning of the Lutheran liturgical year), the work is the earlier of Bach’s two surviving cantatas bearing this title, preceding the Leipzig chorale cantata BWV 62 by a decade. The six movements (1. Chorus: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland; 2. Recitative (tenor): Der Heiland ist gekommen; 3. Aria (tenor): Komm, Jesu, komm zu deiner Kirche; 4. Recitative (bass): Siehe, ich stehe vor der Tür; 5. Aria (soprano): Öffne dich, mein ganzes Herze; 6. Chorale: Amen, Amen, komm du schöne Freudenkrone) use a libretto principally by Erdmann Neumeister, framed by the first stanza of Martin Luther’s 1524 Advent hymn and a concluding passage from Philipp Nicolai’s Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, while the bass recitative quotes Revelation 3:20 directly. The prescribed Gospel, Matthew 21:1–9, recounts Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, and Bach brilliantly reflects the imagery of an arriving king by casting the opening chorale fantasia in the form and dotted rhythms of a stately French overture, a genre traditionally associated with the ceremonial entrance of royalty. Here, however, the king being welcomed is Christ. The cantata received its first performance on December 2, 1714, in the Schlosskirche at Weimar, with Bach directing, and he revived it during his first year in Leipzig on November 28, 1723. Today, Cantata No. 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61 is among the more frequently encountered of Bach’s pre-Leipzig cantatas and remains especially associated with Advent programming. Its concise proportions, dramatic progression from the public arrival of Christ to the believer’s intimate invitation to enter the heart, striking French-overture opening, and exceptionally vivid setting of “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” have secured it an enduring place in Bach festivals, church performance, recordings, and historically informed concert repertoire. Reprint of the 1905 piano reduction by Gustav Schreck. In German with French translation.

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