# BWV 147 "Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben"



## JSBach85

Composed originally in 1716 in Weimar, this cantata was revised by Bach during his Leipzig years, and premiered in an expanded version in 1723 for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the feast which commemorates the visitation of the archangel Gabriel to the young, betrothed by as yet unwed Mary to announce that she would become the Mother of God.

The cantata is set in ten movements divided into two parts (1-6 and 7-10). It is scored for SATB choir, trumpet, two oboes, bassoon, strings, and continuo. Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass solos are used.

Here you have two different performances. The first one uses an OVPP choir and the second one uses various voices per part:

BWV 147 Rifkin, The Bach Ensemble






BWV 147 Christophers, The Sixteen


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## Bulldog

The Rifkin has been my favorite BWV 147 for many years. The Christophers is a fine version but not as crisp, more homogeneous.


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## JSBach85

Bulldog said:


> The Rifkin has been my favorite BWV 147 for many years. The Christophers is a fine version but not as crisp, more homogeneous.


Christophers is not my favourite recording. It was intended to put this performance here just to know your opinion about it. Yes, I am mad . The thing is I have been listening it about 5 times and still I am not strongly convinced about some soloists, especially the soprano Gillian fisher. I noticed is difficult for her to reach the highest pitch. The choir is great, however.


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## Scott in PA

I love this concert performance by Concentus Musicus Wien.


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## Pugg

Münchener Bach-Chor & -Orchester, Karl Richter will do it for me any day of the week.


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## JSBach85

Scott in PA said:


> I love this concert performance by Concentus Musicus Wien.


A really good performance, much better than the older one in Teldec. The soloists are among the top Bach performers, especially Ian Bostridge, one of the best tenor voices especialized in baroque period. Thank you for sharing.


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## Musicaterina

This is one of my favourite cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach; it was also my grandfather's favourite cantata. He sang in a church choir, and he could sing the beginning chorus and both chorals by heart. For this cantata, he didn't need sheets.

There are really a lot of good instrumental versions, of which I like most the ones played on the cello.


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## Allegro Con Brio

Sumptuous, lyrical, achingly tender, compositionally flawless...a.k.a., J.S. Bach in a nutshell. The "Jesu" theme is one of those that has become so familiar that we have forgotten how perfect a melody it is.


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## Rogerx

Elly Ameling; "Bereite dir, Jesu"; Cantata BWV 147; (Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben
Wonderful performance.


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## Marc

Allegro Con Brio said:


> Sumptuous, lyrical, achingly tender, compositionally flawless...a.k.a., J.S. Bach in a nutshell. The "Jesu" theme is one of those that has become so familiar that we have forgotten how perfect a melody it is.


The chorale melody though, the Lutheran hymn, is not by Bach, but by Johann Schop (ca. 1590 - 1667). It's the same melody as f.i. "Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen" in the Matthäus-Passion.

To me, the cantata as a whole is indeed, as you said, Bach in a nutshell. Together with the secular cantata BWV 198, I count BWV 147 as the-ones-to-go-to-first if one wanted to know how the 'mature' Bach sounds in vocal music.


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## Marc

I also have very special memories of this particular cantata… it was one of my first classical recordings on a personally bought music cassette, in the autumn of 1980, when I was 14 years of age. We were staying in the appartment of an auntie, who had a stereo (yes!) cassette recorder. So I bought a cassette (not a very good one though, cause I did not have much money) and recorded this cantata and the Magnificat BWV 243 from a radio broadcast. It was a recording of a live performance by Philippe Herreweghe, earlier that year. I do remember the joy when I heard the chorale for the first time... I shouted something like "mum, dad, I know this tune, it is very famous!" :lol:
Even though I had only a small mono cassette player/recorder at home, this stereo recording sounded much better than the other recordings I had made. So I relistened to it very often when doing my homework and such. At that time I had just begun to enjoy Bach's Passions and his Weihnachts-Oratorium. These pieces were a great addition to my 'knowledge' of Bach. Sweet times.


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## Musicaterina

Here a wonderful instrumental version of the final choral played with cello and organ:


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## Allegro Con Brio

I don't normally connect with "old-school" performances of Bach cantatas (too thick and plodding) but the classic Willcocks with an amazing vocal lineup (Ameling, Baker, Partridge, Shirley-Quirk) delivers the beauty of this cantata remarkably. There is no better Bach vocal work to play for anyone who wants to understand what he is all about.


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## BrahmsWasAGreatMelodist

Allegro Con Brio said:


> The "Jesu" theme is one of those that has become so familiar that we have forgotten how perfect a melody it is.


Really.

Check out this scene from _End of Evangelion_ that I think incorporates this piece to great effect (SPOILER ALERT - although it doesn't really spoil much in terms of the plot of the show):






The rest of the cantata is wonderful as well. If not my favorite, certainly up there.


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## Josquin13

I like the Willcocks recording as well, & likewise for its wonderful line up of singers. Elly Ameling & Dame Janet Baker have long been favorite sopranos of mine, and they were remarkable in Bach (& everything else).

However, I've also been won over by the one-voice-per-part argument and aesthetic in Bach's choral music & particularly in his 4-part Cantatas.

So, Joshua Rifkin's 1980s OVPP recording of Cantata BWV 147 is another favorite of mine.

Yet my current favorite of BWV 147 is Eric Milnes & Montreal Baroque's recording on Atma. The singers are again wonderful, especially Monika Mauch, who has become one of my favorite Bach sopranos (joining Ameling, Auger, Baker, Schlick, Keohane, and several others on my list of special favorites). Her intonation is flawless. Plus, it is a pleasure to hear a Bach performance that has been so well rehearsed and prepared. Milnes is one of the finest Bach conductors today, IMO, though there are a few others that I like, too.


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