Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140

Bach structured the cantata in seven movements. The text and tune of the hymn are kept in the outer choral movements and the central movement, set as two chorale fantasias and a four-part closing chorale, which frame two sequences of recitative and aria.[6] Bach scored the work for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), tenor (T), bass (B)), a four-part choir, (SATB) and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of horn (Co), two oboes (Ob), taille (Ot), violino piccolo (Vp), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo including bassoon.[4][11] The heading of the original parts reads: "Dominica 27. post Trinit. / Wachet auf, rufft uns die Stime / â / 4. Voc. / 1. Violino picolo. / 2. Hautbois. / Taille. / Basson. / 2 Violini. / Viola. / e / Continuo. / di Signore / J.S.Bach."[12] The duration is given as 31 minutes.[6]

In the following table of the movements, the scoring follows the Neue Bach-Ausgabe.[11] The keys and time signatures are taken from the book on all cantatas by the Bach scholar Alfred Dürr, using the symbol for common time (4/4).[6] The continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Key	Time
1	Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme	Nicolai	Chorale fantasia	SATB	Co 2Ob Ot	Vp 2Vl Va	E-flat major	3/4
2	Er kommt	anon.	Recitative	T			C minor
3	Wann kommst du, mein Heil?	anon.	Duet	S B		Vp	C minor	6/8
4	Zion hört die Wächter singen	Nicolai	Chorale	T		2Vl Va (unis.)	E-flat major
5	So geh herein zu mir	anon	Recitative	B		Vp 2Vl Va
6	Mein Freund ist mein!	anon.	Duet	S B	Ob		B-flat major
7	Gloria sei dir gesungen	Nicolai	Chorale	SATB	Co 2Ob Ot	Vp 2Vl Va	E-flat major

In the first movement, the ninth chorale-line starts with a fugato alleluja in the altos, tenors and basses culminating in the cantus firmus in the sopranos. Manuscript copied by C. F. Barth, c 1755

The first movement, "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" ("Awake", we are called by the voice [of the watchmen]),[6] is a chorale fantasia based on the first verse of the chorale, a common feature of Bach's earlier chorale cantatas.[13] The cantus firmus is sung by the soprano. The orchestra plays independent material mainly based on two motifs: a dotted rhythm and an ascending scale "with syncopated accent shifts".[7] The lower voices add in unusually free polyphonic music images such as the frequent calls "wach auf!" (wake up!) and "wo, wo?" (where, where?),[7] and long melismas in a fugato on "Halleluja".[13]

John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage in 2000, notes two instrumental choirs, the strings and the double-reeds (two oboes, taille and bassoon), playing in the style of a French overture double-dotted motifs in triple rhythm. He writes:

From this a rising syncopated figure emerges, taken up later on by the altos as they lead off with their funky 'alleluia' figure and adopted by all the other singers. If anyone in the posh world of classical music ever doubted that JS Bach could also be considered the father of jazz, here is the proof.[3]

"Er kommt" (He comes),[6] is a recitative for tenor as a narrator[13] who calls the "Töchter Zions" (daughters of Zion).[7]

John Eliot Gardiner, who conducted the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage, in 2007

In the following duet, "Wann kommst du, mein Heil?" (When are You coming, my Salvation?),[6] with obbligato violino piccolo, the soprano represents the Soul and the bass is the vox Christi (voice of Jesus). In a slow siciliano, the violino piccolo illustrates "the flickering of lamps 'lit with burning oil'" in arabesques.[3] Gardiner comments: "A rich tradition of similarly sensual musical allegories, including fine examples by Bach's own cousin, Johann Christoph, stands behind this ravishing number."[3]

The fourth movement, "Zion hört die Wächter singen" (Zion hears the watchmen singing),[6] is based on the second verse of the chorale. It is written in the style of a chorale prelude, with the phrases of the chorale, sung as a cantus firmus by the tenors (or by the tenor soloist), entering intermittently against a famously lyrical melody played in unison by the violins (without the violino piccolo) and the viola, accompanied by the basso continuo.

Bach later transcribed this movement for organ (BWV 645), and it was subsequently published along with five other transcriptions Bach made of his cantata movements as the Schübler Chorales.[6]

The fifth movement, "So geh herein zu mir" (Then come in to me),[6] is a recitative for bass, accompanied by the strings. It pictures the unity of the bridegroom and the "chosen bride".[6]

The third stanza as the closing chorale

The sixth movement, "Mein Freund ist mein!" (My Friend is mine!),[1] is another duet for soprano and bass with obbligato oboe. This duet, like the third movement, is a love duet between the soprano Soul and the bass Jesus.[14] Gardiner notes that Bach uses the means of "contemporary operatic love-duets in his use of chains of suspensions and parallel thirds and sixths".[3] Dürr describes it as giving "expression to the joy of the united pair", showing a "relaxed mood" in "artistic intensity".[6]

The closing chorale, "Gloria sei dir gesungen" (Let Gloria be sung to You),[1] is a four-part setting of the third verse of the hymn. The high pitch of the melody is doubled by a violino piccolo an octave higher, representing the bliss of the "heavenly Jerusalem".[6]

The Bach scholar Klaus Hofmann sees the cantata as one of the composer's "most beautiful, most mature and, at the same time, most popular sacred cantatas".[7] Dürr notes that the cantata, especially the duets in a unity of "earthly happiness in love and heavenly bliss", are an expression of Christian mysticism in art.[6] William G. Whittaker wrote: "It is a cantata without weaknesses, without a dull bar, technically, emotionally and spiritually of the highest order, its sheer perfection and its boundless imagination rouse one's wonder time and time again."[2][3]