Bach, J S: Cantata BWV82 'Ich habe genug'

J S Bach wrote several cantatas for alto solo, however there is one that is rarely performed or recorded: the alto version of the famous bass cantata Ich habe genug BWV 82. Scored for voice, oboe and strings, the cantata consists of three arias which are completely different in character and expression, with two short recitatives between them.

It was composed for the feast of Purification of Mary (2 February), and its text which incorporates the words of old Simeon to Mary about the coming of the Messiah, concentrates on the subject of welcoming death. Since the feast of Purification was one of the most solemn occasions in the Lutheran liturgical calendar, there is a strong argument in favour of completing the program with figural Latin mass parts, and this recording includes sections from other works in an attempt to re-create music for the full event.

The performers are the period instrument group La Tempesta under the artistic direction of Jakub Burzynski. Burzynski is also an excellent countertenor, and he takes one of the alto parts in this production. Other soloists include the soprano Julita Miroslawska, the tenor Mariusz Cyciura, and bass-baritone Artur Janda.

As on two other recent instalments (Vols 37 & 38) in his Cantata cycle, Masaaki Suzuki here concentrates on the so-called solo cantatas, providing an opportunity for two of the highly acclaimed soloists of this series, Carolyn Sampson and Peter Kooij, to shine even more brightly.

Of the two cantatas for soprano, Ich habe genung (BWV82) is among the best-known of all of Bach’s cantatas, and was evidently held in high regard from an early stage. It was originally set for bass (and appears as such on Volume 38), and source materials show that Bach performed it at least four times. Bach’s wife Anna Magdalena must also have been especially fond of it: a partial arrangement for soprano and harpsichord was included in her second Klavierbüchlein. Ich bin vergnügt (BWV84) is a slighter work in which the oboe plays an important soloistic part. Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen, the weightier of the bass cantatas, is a meditation on the cross of Jesus, but also on the suffering and need that mankind must bear. The texts, by an unknown librettist, inspired Bach to produce music of sublime earnestness, great expressive depth and full of rich, immediate imagery.

Whereas these three cantatas were all composed during the winter of 1726-27, Der Friede sei mit dir has a less certain place in the chronology. It is in fact probable that it was assembled from movements from various sources, perhaps by an arranger rather than by Bach himself.