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This week, the parish choir resumes singing at the 10 AM Sunday Mass. The first anthem we sing this season is ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,’ from Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben (Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life), BWV 147. This was one of the first cantatas Bach wrote as the Cantor at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, where he worked from 1723 until his death in 1750. The cantatas of Bach are multi-movement works combining a choir, vocal soloists, organ, and orchestra, including both scriptural text and poetry relating to the readings for the Sunday service. Most are around 20 minutes in length. Bach was required to write cantatas each week while in Lepizig, and of the 500 or so that he wrote, about 200 remain today.
The tune from this particular movement comes from the German composer Johann Schop, and was first published in 1642. In 1661, Martin Janus wrote a new 16-verse text to fit the tune, called ‘Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne’ (Jesus, my soul’s bliss). More verses would be added by the time Bach encountered the text. On a related note- as the population of Lutheran Germany in the generations before Bach was mostly illiterate, the faith was taught through the singing of hymns. This resulted in very long hymns, which, despite their length, would be memorized and sung in the home. Bach chose stanzas 6 and 17 for the ‘Jesu, Joy’ movement.
Great music can be reinvented time and time again, across genres and generations. Here’s a reworking of Jesu, Joy by Jon Batiste for jazz band:
- David Anderson, Music Director
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