Home > Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir

The piece was written for the occasion of the election of a new town council in Leipzig in 1731 (the cantatas number 119, Preise Jerusalem, den Herrn , and 120, Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille , were written for a similar occasion). It was first performed on August 27 of that year.

The instrumentation reflects the festive occasion for which it was written: soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, four-part choir, solo organ and an orchestra consisting of two oboes, three trumpets, timpani, violins, violaString instruments Alternate uses: Viola (disambiguation The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double basss and basso continuo.

The piece is in eight movements:

1. Sinfonia - an arrangementIn popular music an arrangement is a setting of a piece of music, which may have been composed by the arranger or by someone else. It may add details omitted by the composer, or it may replace those originally given and be merely based on the original wor of the prelude from Bach's E major Partita for solo violin. A solo organ plays the original violin part, while the orchestra adds an accompaniment.
2. "Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir" - a chorus sung and played by the whole ensemble. This was later adapted as the Gratias and Dona Nobis of Bach's Mass in B minor. The text is from the 75th psalm.
3. "Halleluja, Stärk und Macht" - a tenor da capo ariaThe da capo aria was a musical form prevalent in the Baroque era. It was sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria was common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio. A da capo aria is in ternar, accompanied by a solo violin and continuo.
4. "Gottlob! es geht uns wohl!" - a recitativeRecitative a form of composition often used in operas, oratorios, cantatas and similar works, is described as a melodic speech set to music, or a descriptive narrative song in which the music follows the words. Recitative is easily distinguished from more sung by the solo bass.
5. "Gedenk an uns mit deiner Liebe" - an aria for the soprano in the rhythm of a siciliana, accompanied by oboe, strings and continuo.
6. "Vergiß es ferner nicht, mit deiner Hand" - a recitative sung by the alto with a final "Amen" from the chorus.
7. "Halleluja, Stärk und Macht" - a reprise of the first part of the tenor aria, but now with solo organ rather than violin, and sung by the alto.
8. "Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren" - the fifth verse of Johann Gramann 's chorale, "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" played and sung by the whole ensemble.

The Sinfonia movement experienced a period of crossover popularity in 1968 when Wendy (then Walter) Carlos created an exuberant rendition of it for electronic synthesizer (at the time a novelty) for the album Switched On Bach.