The Actus Tragicus and Its Theology

A beloved cantata from Bach’s early 20s, the Actus Tragicus anticipates the future of opera more than it foreshadows Bach’s own later cantatas. Albert Schweitzer’s beautiful writing on Bach features heavily in this episode.

Here is the tuning video with chorale in question toward the end of the episode:

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Let’s have a look at BWV 106. I focus on the two recorders and their almost unison playing. The effect of one flute dropping a few notes from their otherwise identical melody is marvelous:

The theme of the cantata joins the Old-Testament ‘fear of death’ with the New-Testament ‘joy in death.’ Bach combines both testaments’ text in multiple movements. This idea of the soul rising above the old world, ‘as if hastening hither from another,’ musically detached from the fugue in the lower voices, a soprano floats over the texture, quoting Revelations:

And who can forget this moment? It even looks striking to the eye:

We find a similar image of the comforted soul floating above the music in the duet toward the end of the cantata. Over Jesus’ dying words, the alto slowly sings a Lutheran hymn:

Bach so carefully wants to paint the idea of peace in death, he gives one word (sleep) its own dynamic:

Performers today were: Masaaki Suzuki, Joshua Rifkin, Rudoplh Lutz. The additional organ chorale at the end of the episode is BWV 616.

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Concepts Covered:This episode is an Actus Tragicus, BWV 106 analysis, one of Bach's early cantatas. We examine the influence of Albert Schweitzer’s Bach research on our understanding of this work today. We also discuss Baroque cantata interpretation, and how Italian opera influence permeates Bach’s sacred compositions. The episode touches on historically informed performance, the comparison of recorder vs. flute in Bach's works and Cantata text interpretation. We spend time considering Bach Lutheran hymn settings and his chorale harmonizations. Additionally, we explore the symbolism in Bach’s music, examining the use of Bach musical rhetoric to convey deeper meanings, and how Bach’s sacred vocal music reflects both New Testament and Old Testament themes. The episode touches on themes of Revelation in Bach’s music, Baroque musical theology, and Bach’s death and peace themes, all within the context of Baroque counterpoint in sacred music.