Bach, Christ lag in Todesbanden

Your image of J.S. Bach is probably shaped by the portrait of an older man with a white wig. We don’t have many images of Bach as a young man, and the authenticity of the one here (left) is in doubt. But Bach was undoubtedly young once and apparently had a rather feisty temperament and impetuous nature. He bounced around in his early jobs, testing the patience of his employers, probably in part because his abilities exceeded the requirements of his posts.

Christ lag in Todesbanden (Christ lay in death’s bonds) was probably written in 1707 around the time of Bach’s 22nd birthday. Bach would have been wrapping up his first real job at Arnstadt and applying for his next in Mühlhausen (where he would remain for only one year). It is his earliest surviving cantata and the only one written for Easter day.

Those of you in the Circle of Scholars will find much more detailed information on Bach’s life and music in our Composer of the Month series.

The cantata is based on the Lutheran chorale of the same name. As usual, the chorale appears as the final movement (at 20:52 here). To better understand the cantata, you might want to become familiar with the chorale tune first, if it is new to you.

The cantata begins with an instrumental sinfonia based on the chorale tune. Each subsequent movement presents a stanza of the Lutheran hymn in a different musical setting, but the overall structure is symmetrical: chorus – duet – solo – chorus – solo – duet – chorus.

Bach presents some interesting text painting so you may want to follow the German and English side by side here as you listen.