Christ lay in death's cold prison Easter Sunday by Johann Sebastian Bach 4-Part - Sheet Music

SATB vocal soli, SATB choir, [3 trombones, cornet], 2 violins, 2 violas, basso continuo (Soli SATB, Coro SATB, [Ctto, 3 Trb], 2 Vl, 2 Va, Bc) - Grade 4

SKU: CA.3100403

Easter Sunday. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Edited by Reinhold Kubik. Arranged by Reinhold Kubik. This edition: Paperbound. Hymns by Martin Luther: Christ lag in Todes Banden. German title: Christ lag in Todes Banden. Sacred vocal music, Cantatas, Easter and Eastertide. Vocal score. Composed circa 1707/08 (before 1714). BWV 4. 48 pages. Duration 22 minutes. Carus Verlag #CV 31.004/03. Published by Carus Verlag (CA.3100403).

ISBN 9790007041496. 7.5 x 10.67 inches. Key: E minor. Language: German/English. Text: Martin Luther.

The surviving parts of the cantata Christ lag in Todes Banden (Christ lay in death’s cold prison) BWV 4.2 were used in a performance on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1725. Presumably this performance was an emergency solution, because the cycle of chorale cantatas from the years 1724/25 breaks off abruptly shortly before Easter 1725. As a chorale cantata, BWV 4 was of course ideally suited to fill this gap, even though this chorale cantata without recitatives follows a different (older) model. For a long time it was assumed that the work had been performed in Leipzig as early as Easter Sunday (April 1) 1724, but this is now regarded as doubtful. Although no pre-Leipzig sources have survived, the style of the cantata in fact points to a much earlier period, possibly Mühlhausen in 1707/08. Unlike the chorale cantatas of 1724/25, BWV 4 does not employ newly-written texts. All the movements are based on verses of the chorale by Martin Luther, whose timeless text is perhaps one reason why this powerful Easter cantata remains one of Bach's most popular vocal works today.