Description
Instrumentation: soprano, alto, mixed choir and orchestra
Edition: score
Publisher: Conrad Misch
Year: 1831
Difficulty: medium
Scoring: 2.2.2.2. 2.2.0.0, strings. This cantata, the text of which is related to birth, was composed a year after the birth of Fanny Hensel’s son Sebastian. The form (Pastorale, Chorus, Rez., Arie, Chorus) is based on the structure of Bach’s cantatas, the main difference being the lenghty choral fugue with which the work closes. The “heart” of the composition can be seen in the soprano aria “O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte”. In this aria the translation of the example set by Bach into Romantic compositional style is especially clear.
