BWV 51
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Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51 |
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| Church solo cantata by J. S. Bach | |
Gottfried Reiche, for whom the solo trumpet part was probably written
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| Occasion | 15th Sunday after Trinity |
| Performed | 17 February 1730: Leipzig |
| Movements | 5 |
| Cantata text | anonymous |
| Chorale | Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren |
| Vocal | soprano solo |
| Instrumental |
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Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen ("Exult in God in every land" or "Shout for joy to God in all lands") BWV 51, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. The work is Bach's only church cantata scored for a solo soprano and trumpet. He composed it for general use (ogni tempo), in other words not for a particular date in the church calendar, although he used it for the 15th Sunday after Trinity: the first known performance was on 17 September 1730 in Leipzig. The work may have been composed earlier, possibly for an occasion at the court of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, for whom Bach had composed the Hunting Cantata and the Shepherd Cantata.
The text was written by an unknown poet who took inspiration from various biblical books, especially from psalms, and included as a closing chorale a stanza from the hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren". Bach structured the work in five movements, with the solo voice accompanied by a Baroque orchestra of a virtuoso trumpet, strings and continuo. While the outer movements with the trumpet express extrovert jubilation of God's goodness and his wonders, the central introspective aria, accompanied only by the continuo, conveys a "profound expression of commitment to God". He set the closing chorale as a chorale fantasia, the soprano sings the unadorned melody to a trio of two violins and continuo, leading to an unusual festive fugal Alleluja, in which the trumpet joins.
The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann notes that the work, unusually popular among Bach's church cantatas, is unique in the demanded virtuosity of the soprano and trumpet soloist, and evidences "overflowing jubilation and radiant beauty".
Bach used the cantata in Leipzig for the 15th Sunday after Trinity on 17 September 1730. The prescribed readings for the Sunday came from the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul's admonition to "walk in the Spirit" (), and from the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew, which exhorts the faithful not to worry about material needs, but to seek God's kingdom first (). The author is unknown. Without any reference to the prescribed readings, he incorporates in the first movement ideas from , and , and in the central aria thoughts from and . The closing chorale is the fifth stanza of "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren", added to Johann Gramann's hymn in Königsberg in 1549. Bach used the same stanza in a different setting to close his cantata Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29. Bach led the performance on 17 September 1730.
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