Picander
Template:Short description Template:Infobox writer Christian Friedrich Henrici (January 14, 1700 – May 10, 1764), writing under the pen name Picander, was a German poet and librettist for many works by Johann Sebastian Bach, notably the St Matthew Passion of 1727.
Life and careerEdit
Henrici was born in Stolpen. He studied law at Wittenberg and Leipzig. He wrote to supplement his income from tutoring and continued even after obtaining regular employment as a civil servant.
Librettist for BachEdit
Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723. There is uncertainty as to who was writing the libretti he set during his first years in the city. The authors of the libretti for the Chorale cantata cycle of 1724/25 are anonymous. By 1725, Henrici and Bach were working together, resulting in two related compositions, the Shepherd Cantata and an Easter cantata which became the Easter Oratorio. Their best-known collaboration was the St Matthew Passion of 1727. They worked together on other cantatas, secular (such as the Coffee Cantata and the Peasant Cantata) and religious.
Sammlung Erbaulicher GedankenEdit
For a year from the start of Advent 1724 Picander had published spiritual poetry in weekly editions, which he collected in 1725 as Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedanken. This caught Bach's eye who started using Picander's poetry for his cantatas from 1725, and used poems from Picander's first collection in his St Matthew Passion.<ref>Flossman 1899, p. 44–46</ref><ref>Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Sammlung erbaulicher Gedancken über und auf die gewöhnlichen Sonn- und Festtage. Leipzig: 1724/25</ref>
Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische GedichteEdit
All volumes of Picander's {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Leipzig, 1727–51) contain texts set to music by J. S. Bach, including those for the St Matthew Passion and an associated funeral music for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen (Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, BWV 244a).<ref>Alberto Basso. Frau Musika: La vita e le opere di J. S. Bach, Volume 2: Lipsia e le opere de la maturità (1723–1750). Turin: EDT, 1983. Template:ISBN, p. 395</ref>
Volumes and editions:
- Vol. I: 1727, reprinted in 1732 and 1736.<ref name="Picander1727">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Ernst-Scherzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume I. Leipzig (1727); 2nd printing 1732; 3rd printing 1736.</ref>
- Vol. II: 1729, reprinted in 1734.<ref name="Picander1729">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Ernst-Scherzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume II. Leipzig (1729); 2nd printing 1734.</ref>
- Vol. III: 1732, reprinted in 1737.<ref name="Picander1732">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume III. Template:Webarchive Leipzig: Joh. Theod. Boetii Tochter (1732); 2nd printing 1737 Template:Webarchive. B/W copy at archive.org (1732 edition)</ref> This volume contained texts published in 1728 as Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr.<ref name="Picander1728">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr. Leipzig (1728)</ref>
- Vol. IV: 1737.<ref name="Picander1737">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume IV. Template:Webarchive Leipzig: Friedrich Matthias Friesen (1737). B/W copy at archive.org</ref>
- Reworked fourth edition, containing a selection of previous editions, in two volumes: 1748.<ref name="Picander1748">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Picanders bis anhero herausgegebene Ernst-Scherzhafte und Satyrische Gedichte: Volume I Template:Webarchive – Volume II. Leipzig: Johann Gottfried Dyck (1748). Other MDZ scan (Vol. I) Template:Webarchive; B/W copy at archive.org (Vol. II)</ref>
- Vol. V: 1751.<ref name="Picander1751">Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Picanders neu herausgegebene Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume V. Template:Webarchive Leipzig: Johann Gottfried Dyck (1751). Other MDZ scan Template:Webarchive; B/W copy at archive.org</ref>
Lost scores and reconstructionsEdit
In some cases, Henrici's texts have survived and Bach's settings have not. The lost scores include cases where the music has vanished without trace and others where there are clues as to what music Bach used to set the words, allowing the possibility of reconstruction.
Lost scoresEdit
In the preface to the third volume (1732) Picander claimed that J. S. Bach set a whole cycle of his cantata texts in 1729.<ref name=fm>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> As only nine of Bach's settings are known to have survived (they include the cantatas for Christmas Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, BWV 197a, New Year Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm, BWV 171, Whit Monday Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174, and the feast of St Michael Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg, BWV 149) the statement made in the preface has been debated.<ref name=fm /><ref>However, since those compositions which have survived are spread widely over the liturgical year, it is not impossible then that J. S. Bach did indeed set to music all the texts in that volume, as claimed by the preface, and that those compositions are now lost.</ref>
Reconstructed scoresEdit
Examples of reconstructions include:
- Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen, a 1725 secular cantata (BWV 249a) also known as the Shepherd Cantata. This can be reconstructed using the music of the Easter Oratorio
- Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt, 1729 funeral music for Prince Leopold (BWV 244a). Bach used music from an earlier funeral ode (to a text by Johann Christoph Gottsched) and music from the St Matthew Passion (to a text by Picander),
- the St Mark Passion, a passion performed in 1731 (BWV 247)
In these cases, Bach's music can be reconstructed because it is known to have been used in surviving pieces. Bach sometimes returned to compositions commissioned for one-off occasions and recycled the music. Picander was able to help the composer in this process by providing metrically similar new texts, effectively setting words to Bach's music. In the case of the Shepherd Cantata, there was not much of a gap between this work and a religious version, suggesting that the composer may have envisaged a double use of the music from the outset.
ReferencesEdit
SourcesEdit
- Template:In lang Paul Flossman. Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici). Leipzig: Liebertwolkwitz (1899)