https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Zeit,_die_Tag_und_Jahre_macht,_BWV_134a
The libretto by Christian Friedrich Hunold , an academic at the University of Halle , takes the form of a dialogue between two allegorical figures, Time and Divine Providence, representing the past and future, respectively. Bach set the words in eight movements consisting of alternating recitatives and arias, culminating in a choral finale. Most movements are duets of solo voices, an alto as Divine Providence and a tenor as Time. Even the closing movement features long duet passages, leading to parts for four voices. The singers are supported by a baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes, two violins, viola and continuo . The character of the music is close to baroque opera , including French dances.
Later, in Leipzig , Bach used the secular cantata as the basis for a church cantata for the Third Day of Easter 1724, Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß. In the initial version of the Easter cantata, he made no changes to the 1719 music other than to omit two movements and replace the text with words for the occasion, written by an unknown author. In an adaptation for performances in the 1730s, he composed new recitatives for the Easter texts and made further changes to the music.
The cantata, written for a specific occasion, has been performed and recorded rarely compared with other Bach cantatas . It has been used for congratulatory events such as the 80th birthday of Bach scholar Alfred Dürr , when the cantata title was chosen as that of an international conference about chronology in Bach’s music, on which Dürr had focused.
History and words
Edit
Bach composed Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht in Köthen , where he served at the court of
Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen , between 1717 and 1723. [3][4] Bach had earlier been employed at the subordinate position of concert master at the Weimar court, now was Kapellmeister in Köthen, directing a qualified musical ensemble. [5]
Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen
[b]
The prince was enthusiastic about music, was a good bass singer, and played violin, viola da gamba and harpsichord. [5] The court adhered to the Reformed Church ; therefore, Bach had no obligation to compose church music as he had in his earlier posts and later as Thomaskantor in
Leipzig . In Köthen, he had to write cantatas only for the court’s two secular feast days: the prince’s birthday and New Year’s Day. He wrote Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht as a congratulatory cantata for New Year’s Day of 1719. [6]
Only few cantatas survived of the twelve that Bach is thought to have composed in his six years while in Köthen”, including Durchlauchtster Leopold, composed for the prince’s birthday, probably in 1722. [6] The homage cantatas were performed as serenatas or evening serenades. Their style is similar to opera of the period and includes dance-like music. [7]
Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht is based on words by Christian Friedrich Hunold , whose pen name was Menantes. [2][8] A novelist as well as a
librettist , Hunold taught at the University of Halle , about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Köthen. Bach collaborated with him on several cantatas between 1718 and 1720. Hunold published the text in the collection Auserlesene und theils noch nie gedruckte Gedichte unterschiedener Berühmten und geschickten Männer (Selected and partly never printed poems of different notable and skillful men) in Halle in 1719. Other texts published by Hunold include that of Bach’s cantata Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück , BWV 66a
, written for the prince’s birthday on 10 December 1718. [9][10] Literally “Heaven thought of Anhalt’s glory and fortune”, it has also been translated in a singable version as “Since Heaven Cared for Anhalt’s Fame and Bliss”. [11]
The text of the serenata Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, for most of the movements, recounts a dialogue between two allegorical figures: Time , representing the past, and Divine Providence, representing the future. [1][7] The music remained in manuscript and, like most of Bach’s works, was not printed in his lifetime . Bach led the first performance of the cantata on 1 January 1719. [2][6][12]
Easter cantata
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Bach later used the secular cantata in Leipzig as a basis for the Easter cantata Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß, BWV 134, which was first performed in the Nikolaikirche on 11 April 1724.
[13] In the first version of this Easter cantata, Bach made no significant changes to the music other than omitting the fifth and sixth movements. [14] The new text, by an unknown poet, did not require musical adaptation. Bach had the parts for the singers of the retained movements copied without text and added the new text himself, with minor changes to the music. The instrumental parts were usable without changes but were duplicated for more performers. Perhaps for lack of time, Bach managed only the first page of a score with the new text and probably conducted from the Köthen score. [15]
For another performance of the Easter cantata on 27 March 1731, Bach made changes to the music, including the composition of new recitatives for the 1724 text. [14] He probably used this revised version again on 12 April 1735[16] and likely wrote a new score for this occasion. [15]
Publication
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With the revival of interest in Bach’s music in the 19th century, Philipp Spitta , the author of a three-volume biography of Bach, discovered the printed text, making reconstruction of the entire work possible. The editors of the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe , the first complete edition of the composer’s works, were aware of the cantata and observed its relationship to BWV 134. However, the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe printed Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht in 1881 only as a fragment edited by Paul Waldersee. It is titled Mit Gnade bekröne der Himmel die Zeiten , which is a line from the first tenor aria. [2][17] In 1963, the cantata was published in the Neue Bach-Ausgabe (NBA), the second complete edition of Bach’s works, edited by Alfred Dürr , with a critical report the following year. [2]
Music
Edit
Structure and scoring
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The cantata is structured in eight movements, with alternating recitatives and arias including mostly duets, culminating in a final choral movement. [18] Bach scored the work for two soloists, alto as Divine Providence and tenor as
Time, a four-part choir ( SATB ), and a baroque instrumental ensemble of two oboes (Ob), two
violins (Vl), viola (Va) and basso continuo . [2] The duration is given as 41 minutes. [19]
In the following table, the scoring follows the
Neue Bach-Ausgabe ( New Bach Edition ). The
keys and time signatures are from Alfred Dürr and use the symbol for common time. [18][20] The continuo, played throughout, is not shown.
Movements of Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht
No.
Title
Text
Type
Vocal
Winds
Strings
Key
Time
1
“Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht”
Hunold
Recitative
tenor alto
B-flat major
2
“Auf, Sterbliche, lasset ein Jauchzen ertönen”
Hunold
Aria
tenor
2Ob
2Vl Va
B-flat major
3/8
3
“So bald, als dir die Sternen hold”
Hunold
Recitative
tenor alto
G minor
4
“Es streiten, es siegen, die künftigen Zeite
euzicasa 
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