Bach is so brilliant one can't help but feel sheepish. His genius is truly staggering. He could dash off a magnificent cantata in less than a week and if it was for a special occasion (like this one) he could seemingly, effortlessly compose something of deep complexity but also of joy and beauty and love for God and all mankind. What a treasure for us centuries later!

It feels like Christmas every time Richard uploads a video. This time, especially!

The german part means that the snake can't bring danger to the children of Adam, as it did in the beginning of time in Paradise (Eden, creation story). Greetings from Germany, Love your videos.

It's the fact that Bach could compose such intricate yet harmonious music that further solidifies him as the greatest and most important western composer to have lived. His grasp at the art of counterpoint was truly astonishing, and in my opinion, hasn't been surpassed by any other composer since. Music as a whole is better because Bach lived and pushed the boundaries of what is possible.

It's interesting how you are introduced to things. I wasn't big into music until my early teens and one thing that started that was my dad looking for notation software as he like me is an amateur organist. One such programme we found had sections of Uns ist ein Kind geboren, BWV 142 in a demo file and this is afaik, the first of the Bach cantatas I actually listened to. And here I am, almost 30 years later with a huge interest in music and music theory watching a brilliant piece being analysed. And I am completely loving it. Great work as always on your videos, Richard.

VI: Cum Sancto Spiritu from Mass in F Major, BWV 233 is an almost exact copy of the initial Chorus part of BWV40 Cantata (Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes) but with slower tempo. It's incredible how Bach reused a lot of his own works, he sometimes probably didn't have enough time to compose new material and he had to reuse the old one.

You know it’s gonna be good when the horn part is split into two lines

Another outstanding video!!! It's just amazing how such a complex composition just flows effortlessly.

Incredible! thanks for the video :) Your favorite section is super addictive. It boggles the mind how staggeringly prolific Bach was; despite listening to mostly cantatas lately, I've never come across this one. I can't wait to discover what other brilliancies he's hidden in his vast opus

i always enjoy your analysis so much! great stuff :)

I would translate the first sentence of the Recitative as: "The serpent, who in paradise brought down the venom of souls upon all of Adam's children, no longer puts us in danger." So it's talking about the original sin in paradise, the Garden of Eden.

Dear Richard, a french viewer here ! Your channel is just a gem ! I appreciate very much the hard work you put in these videos! I am learning a lot thank to you and your great analysis

Bach is a master of symbolism. I love it.

Congratulations from Italy too. Your videos are all very instructive!

And the result of his mastership - when you put all theory aside - is nothing but wonderful harmony.

fantastic analysis as always, I truly love these bach cantata videos, since I'm not smart enough yet to do thorough analysis like you do, so its always appreciated

I listened to this a while ago but never read the score, and I really recognized this distinctive common tone motive without actually being concious of it, as well as the huge Bb7 in the parts at 12:43. Quite amazing how clear this composition is even in the most complex counterpoint (as expected from Bach), but it just shows how incredibly well everything work together and just the way that descending syncopated line comes out from the repeated common tone is just beautiful and its what you actually hear at first without studying it

I love all your videos, but especially Bach and Mozart because they're my favorites! Keep them coming!

Can’t wait to watch the video! I really enjoy your work.

Great video! Crazy to think about how fast Bach wrote pieces like this. Just defies belief really!

Thank you, wonderful work on cantatas and food for thought for smaller and bigger Masses as well!

Thanks for your work on these.

Another great video! Bach's Cantatas never fail to amaze me with their complexity (so many of his pieces are so well though out, it's hard to believe that he made these in such quick succession.) Could I ask, can we give recommendations for pieces to analyse?

Marvellous. What I can't get over is how someone could compose so physically so much complex material like this. Ok Bach is Bach, but I also think that musical education today would not allow someone to be able to achieve any like this, no matter how talented or dedicated.

That bass aria is awesome too my god

9:41 well the serpent was at one point in paradise since I believe Satan was the closest to God before he thought he was better than Him which caused him to get kicked out of heaven

It must have been a lot easier to accomplish things back in the 1700’s. Bach, Mozart, Ben Franklin and the rest of those guys. Probably everything was easier before television. But now we have KZfaq and things may start to get interesting again. Nice analysis.

Love your videos!!! Please do more Shostakovich!

OMG WHAT A CHARMING GORGEOUS CANTATA VIDEO!!!! I ALWAYS LOOK SO FORWARD TO YOUR VIDS! AND CAN'T WAIT FOR EVEN MORE! GLAD TO HAVE BACH IN MY LIFE! IT'S NOT ALL I LISTEN TO... BUT IT'S 'OFFEN'BACH'🙈🤣💖🎶🎶

Thank you! I wish more people in the world could understand the inner beauty of this music. I really appreciate the time you put into helping us understand.

Try to imagine either the pure joy or utter despare if you happen to be member of the choir that has to perform these pieces! You were either in heaven or.... hell.

9:46 "Die Schlange, so im Paradies auf alle Adamskinder das Gift der Seelen fallen ließ [...]" He just specifies that he means the very special genesis serpent by referencing the role it played in starting the bible story arc. It is very clear that this would have been in the past.

Of course Bach is a genius, but I am not formally trained and sometimes the beauty of the piece is overshadowed by the many layers of orchestration. I wonder if the later composers were able to achieve a better balance of complexity and beauty while still using counter-point and fugue albeit in more limited ways. However, there are also many beautiful pieces by Bach including this one.

new analysis video!

Wonderful analysis, and amazing music. Who made this recording?

Great video, very enjoyable. Minor quibble: the counterpoint isn’t “difficult”; rather, it may better be viewed as intricate or complex or as a virtuoso display of technique in service of a higher musical goal.

It seems to me that in the German text the word Paradies is not used to mean paradise (which is the common meaning today) but garden /garden of Eden, which was the original meaning

This is the same composition with the closing movement of his F major mass, BWV 233. He took this from there or vice versa.

Great!

For me it's like looking into the universe. His brain was a marvel of creation indeed!

Native German speaker here. No, the original text doesn't have the hilarious ambiguity of the English text. The German text in the Recitativo (Alt) says in the modern(!) understanding of the German language, that the snake who once in paradise let the venom of souls fall on all children of Adam in this manner, no longer brings us danger. "In this manner" would refer to a text passage before the Recitativo. Another difference between the German and the English version of the Recitativo is "the seed of a woman" reads in German "the seed of woman," unless "woman" specifically refers to a particular woman, probably Eve. [EDIT]No, that's wrong. If it was one particular woman the text refers to, then the phrase would be "the seed of the woman." [/EDIT] And lastly, the English translation of the Choir part seems to say that the Son of God is either sucessful or not successful in destroying the work of the Devil. The German text seems to state that the Son of God will definitely destroy the works of the Devil. But again, I read German from the early 1800s with today's understanding of the language. In any case, thank you for your video of this beautiful piece of Bach's divine music!

Could you do an analysis of the counterpoint of Metamorphosen by Strauss?

Would love to see you do a video on something from Zelenka!

As usual a brilliant analysis video of a cantata I have never heard of. I think I know most of Bach but never got into the cantatas. I am just astounded at Bach's clever use of music and words, it is almost not to be believed. I mean, did he just toss this off late one Saturday night before church?? The fugal part reminds me of another Bach piece, I want to say something in the b minor Mass. I just can't place it right now. And yes, I can feel that snake slithering all throughout the piece, Bach just amazes me everyday even in works I have played or known for 40 years. Thank you Richard!

Brilliant analysis of a brilliant piece of music, thank you so much for enlightening us another time on this subject.

Your decoding is absolutely convincing! I am just starting to realise that in all Bach's works, including the "profane" works as well, there is a definite and strong Christian message - and where they have been recognised, how these parts work just reflects the concept of this Cantata - being an actual religious work!

The orange repeated motif and the yellow descending figure remind me of the 1st mvmt of Brandenburg concerto no. 2. That piece always sounded Christmas-y to me and perhaps this explains it!

About the repeated note motif and serpent like motif... The 4th fugue (C# minor) of WTC is considered by some to be a religious fugue. And as you said it contains the repeating "stomp" motif (also appeared in an earlier video of yours) and it does contain the "serpent-like" motif (as you already said in the current video). Would you like to analyze BWV 1000(Fugue)? Or it's note-repeatingly stompingly similar to other analyses you already made?

0:43 this channel is Christmas in April

Wow!

Great video as always! I think the German text is not as ambiguous as the translation, it's about the serpent having issued (literally: dropped ("fallen lassen" = to drop)) venom on Adam's children, which it did in the Garden of Eden (in the past). I believe the conjunction "once" is not a good choice here, but it's probably supposed to mean "The serpent, which was once in paradise issuing venom, no longer brings us danger". The German conjunction "so" feels outdated now, or just used to fit the rhythm. It doesn't necessarily convey a meaning of time, be it future or past, the meaning of the German text becomes clear only due to "fallen ließ" being past tense. I would translate this sentence "The serpent, which in paradise issued upon all Adam's children venom of the soul", to make it less ambiguous.

Bach: writing false recapitulations before it was cool (even before sonata form had evolved)

Hi, Mr. Atkinson. This is a viewer from China, with much thanks for your impressive hard work. I noticed that lots of your work are being "transferred" to Bilibili, a Chinese video platform like youtube, among them some translated into Chinese, since it is more convenient for people there to get access to your videos due to the government's blacklisting of youtube, google and other western internet content providers. I would suggest that you open an account on Bilibili so that your videos can be uploaded as "officially original" rather than being "transferred" from youtube, just like many other content creators on youtube did. I believe it is also possible to recruit some of the volunteer translators to translate and arrange subtitles to make your work more accessible to a wider audience. If my further elaboration could help, please reply to this message so we can use a channel of convenient and efficient communication.

LOL, I just started learning this for church this week and I thought "This one seems pretty complex" 🤣

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AWESOME!!! So much fun! Bravo!!! Had a DEVIL of a time watching and listening! ;)

Now how about the opening chorus of Cantata No. 4? (My favorite.)

is this composed during the Brandenburg Concerti period? there are a lot of similarities in thematic handling

I love this cantata

What is your favourite Bach cantata cycle?

Got a request, though I'm sure you've got more than you can manage... the Cum Sancto Spirito of the G minor Missa Brevis, or the original cantata movement. It's dizzying and I bet you could explain it perfectly. It's one of those Bach movements where you can imagine the reaction in the church... like the opening of the St. John Passion.

the german text is refering to the beginning of time in paradise where satan disguised as the serpent tricked adam and eve into sinning thus making humanity sinners by inheritance. it is not trying to say that the serpent is in paradise but rather refering to adam and eve and the forbidden fruit.

What recording is this?

For me the most obviously "serpentine" fugue subject of Bach is the B minor organ fugue: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/e7lnmbFj0b67eIk.html. No one else has ever seemed to mentioned this one but I feel like I can't be the only one who hears it this way.

Can you please do a video about the Rachmaninoff piano concertos? That would be sooo cool!

nice! have you considered doing a video of any female composers?

Mahler 8 double fugue?

wow - this cantata is just so gorgeous!! - I never heard it before - thanking for pointing it out to me! Did you ever consider to do an analysis of the Musical Offering? This would be great!! So far I was very dissatisfied with the renditions I heard so far of this peak of counterpoint (apart one for piano) - so I tried to do my own orchestration (with Beethoven's c#-quartet as a kind of model), which you might like to listen to: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fpmno8R9ssjJdGw.html

Bach is one of the chief comforts in a world of sometimes overwhelming madness and ignorance. As far as I’m concerned, a mind like that is a proof of God.