Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161

The cantatas which were probably first performed in 1716 used texts by the Weimar court poet Salomon Franck, published in his collections Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer (1715) and Evangelische Sonn- und Festtages-Andachten (1717).[3] Fewer cantatas have survived from this period than from the years before; possibly some were lost, and possibly some proposed cantatas were never written, reflecting Bach's loss of interest.[4]

From the start of the liturgical year on the first Sunday in Advent, Bach composed prolifically. He wrote works for three consecutive Sundays in Advent, prompted probably by the death of the Kapellmeister Johann Samuel Drese on 1 December 1716.[3] When Bach's hope to become Drese's successor was not realized, he ceased to compose cantatas for the Weimar court.[5]

These works were performed by Bach as concertmaster in 1716, according to Wolff and Alfred Dürr, an authority on Bach's cantatas:[3][6]

The cantata is structured in six movements: a series of alternating arias and recitatives leads to a chorus and a concluding chorale.[19] As with several other cantatas based on words by Franck, it is scored for a small ensemble: alto soloist (A), tenor soloist (T), a four-part choir and a Baroque chamber ensemble of two recorders (Fl), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), organ (Org) and basso continuo (Bc).[18] The title page reads simply: "Auf den sechzenden Sontag nach Trintatis" (For the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity). The duration is given as 19 minutes.[1]

One structural element is the anticipation of the closing chorale in the first movement, where the chorale melody is used as a cantus firmus. Bach also used this approach to unify the structure in two other Weimar cantatas, Alles, was von Gott geboren, BWV 80a, and Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185. He later used the juxtaposition of a chorale cantus firmus against vocal music on a grand scale in his St Matthew Passion, in both the opening chorus and the movement concluding Part I.[20] The use of recorders in Komm, du süße Todesstunde is reminiscent of the early cantata Actus tragicus, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106.[7]

At the Leipzig performances of the cantata, the first verse of the chorale was probably sung by a soprano, instead of using an instrumental rendition of the chorale tune in the first aria.[21] The cantata was transposed from C major to E-flat major at Leipzig,[1] where the recorders may have been replaced by transverse flutes.[7]

In the following table of the movements, the scoring and keys are given for the version performed in Weimar in 1716. The keys and time signatures are taken from Dürr, using the C symbol for common time (4/4).[18][22] The instruments are shown separately for winds and strings, while the continuo, playing throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Komm, du süße Todesstunde, BWV 161

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Winds	Strings	Other	Key	Time
1	Komm, du süße Todesstunde	Franck	Aria	A	2Fl		Org	C major
2	Welt, deine Lust ist Last	Franck	Recitative	T					3/4
3	Mein Verlangen ist, den Heiland zu umfangen	Franck	Aria	T		2Vl Va		A minor
4	Der Schluß ist schon gemacht	Franck	Recitative	A	2Fl	2Vl Va
5	Wenn es meines Gottes Wille	Franck	Chorus	SATB	2Fl	2Vl Va		C major	3/8
6	Der Leib zwar in der Erden	Knoll	Chorale	SATB	2Fl (obbl.)	2Vl Va		A minor

A Phrygian chorale melody, well known as the melody of "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden", provides the musical theme of the cantata, appearing in movement one in both its original form and the alto line derived from it. The themes of the two other arias are taken from the same melody, providing formal unity.[19] The same melody appears five times in chorales of Bach's St Matthew Passion.[21]

The opening aria for alto, "Komm, du süße Todesstunde" ("Come, o sweet hour of death"[23] or "Come, thou sweet hour of parting"[24]) is accompanied by the recorders. They move in the ritornello in parallel thirds and sixths.[12] The organ serves not only as a bass instrument but supplies the chorale melody.[21] In Weimar, Bach seems to have expected the congregation to know the words of the first stanza of Knoll's hymn.

Jones points out that the cantus firmus of the organ seems "objective",[12] in contrast to the subjective "display of personal feeling"[12] of the voice and the complexity of the other parts.[12]

In a later performance in Leipzig, a soprano sang the stanza with the organ.[21]

The tenor recitative, "Welt, deine Lust ist Last" (World, your pleasure is a burden),[23] begins as a secco recitative, but ends in an arioso as the words paraphrase a biblical verse from Philippians 1:23, "Ich habe Lust abzuscheiden und bei Christo zu sein" to "Ich habe Lust, bei Christo bald zu weiden. Ich habe Lust, von dieser Welt zu scheiden" (I desire to pasture soon with Christ. I desire to depart from this world).[23] Dürr notes that the development from secco to arioso is frequent in Bach's early cantatas, and is here especially motivated to highlight the biblical paraphrase.[25]

The aria for tenor, "Mein Verlangen ist, den Heiland zu umfangen" (My longing is, to embrace my Savior),[23] is the first movement with the strings, adding depth to the emotional expression.[21] It returns to the hope for union with Jesus of the first movement, expressed in an agitated way, with syncopies for "longing" and flowing motifs for "embracing". The middle section is mostly accompanied by the continuo only, but at times interjected by the strings playing the "longing"-motifs.[25]

The alto recitative, "Der Schluß ist schon gemacht" (The end has already come),[23] is accompanied by all instruments, creating images of sleep (in a downward movement, ending in long notes), awakening (in fast movement upwards), and funeral bells in the recorders and pizzicato of the strings.[9] The musicologist Tadashi Isoyama notes: "In this movement the anticipation of death appears to be fulfilled, and the alto's declamation, welcoming death and the ringing of the funeral bells, is filled with a pathos amounting almost to obsession."[21]

The first choral movement 5,"Wenn es meines Gottes Wille" (If it is my God's will),[23] is marked aria by Franck. Bach set it for four parts, using song-like homophony. Wolff compares the style to Thuringian motets of around 1700.[19] The first part is not repeated da capo, in keeping with the last words "Dieses sei mein letztes Wort" (May this be my last word).[23] While a textual da capo is impossible, Bach composed a musical da capo, giving the movement a structure of ABB'A'.[25] Dürr notes that Arnold Schering "has drawn attention to the increasing rapture".[25]

The closing chorale, "Der Leib zwar in der Erden" (The body, indeed, in the earth),[23] is illuminated by a fifth part of the two recorders playing a lively counterpoint in unison.[20]

The "soaring descant" of the recorders has been interpreted as "creating the image of the flesh transfigured".[8]

Wolff summarizes: "Cantata 161 is one of the most delicate and jewel-like products of Bach's years in Weimar. The writing in up to ten parts is extraordinarily subtle. ... The recorders additionally contribute in no small way to the spiritualised emotion and positive feelings associated with the 'sweet hour of death'".[19] Jones writes: "Bach's arrival at full maturity by about the middle of his Weimar period (1713–17) is attested by the stylistic and technical assurance, and the consistently high standard, of his writing at that time."[26] He counts the cantata as one of several that reached a level of mastery unsurpassed in later years, along with the Orgelbüchlein and the cantata Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21, among others.[26]