Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213
(Hercules auf dem Scheidewege)
Dramma per musica
Libretto by Picander
First performance: Leipzig, September 5, 1733
Soloists: Hercules (alto), Pleasure (soprano), Virtue (tenor), Mercury (bass), Echo (alto)
Chorus (S-A-T-B)
Orchestra: 2 oboes, oboe d'amore, 2 horns in F, strings, continuo
***
Chorus
Recitative (Hercules)
Aria (Pleasure)
Recitative (Pleasure, Virtue)
Aria (Hercules, Echo)
Recitative (Virtue)
Aria (Virtue)
Recitative (Virtue)
Aria (Hercules)
Recitative (Hercules, Virtue)
Duet (Hercules, Virtue)
Recitative (Mercury)
Chorus
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
This secular cantata of Bach is known by its first words Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen (Let us take care, let us keep watch) but it also is known by its title Hercules auf dem Scheidewege (Hercules at the Crossroads). It was first performed on September 5, 1733 in Zimmermann's coffee garden in Leipzig. In addition to his work as cantor of the St. Thomas Church, Bach was by that time also director of the Collegium Musicum, a local ensemble of university students and professionals that performed weekly at Zimmermann's coffeehouse during the winters and outside in his coffee garden during the summers.
The occasion for this cantata was the eleventh birthday of prince Friedrich of Saxony. Bach had a long musical relationship with the electoral court at Dresden, where the prince was heir to the throne, a relationship that eventually led to Bach's receiving a title as court composer. Over a fifteen-year period beginning in 1727, he composed a number of works for the Elector and his family. Only months before the present cantata, he dedicated the Kyrie and Gloria of his Mass in B minor to the Elector.
The problem with a very fine occasional work such as this is that once the occasion is past there may be no chance to perform the piece again. But Bach not infrequently recycled his music for use on other occasions and, in doing so, also helped to preserve it. The final chorus of this cantata, as well as a few of the solo movements, are themselves adapted from earlier religious cantatas, but Bach then adapted all the music of this cantata, aside from the dance-like final chorus, for use in his Christmas Oratorio. It is in this last incarnation that much of the music is best known today.
Hercules at the Crossroads is the kind of allegorical dramma per musica which Bach and his librettist Picander used for a number of celebratory cantatas. The story tells the legend of Hercules, who must choose between the path of Pleasure and the path of Virtue. When Pleasure attempts to seduce him with a lullaby, Hercules consults Echo for advice, who, not surprisingly, confirms Hercules' own preference for Virtue. Eventually Hercules and Virtue are united in a duet, and Mercury descends to explain that the drama has been an allegory for the eleven-year-old prince Friedrich. A "Chorus of Muses" closes the celebration with a gavotte-like song of praise in honor of the young heir to the throne.
Boston Baroque Performances
Laßt uns sorgen, laßt uns wachen, BWV 213
February 28 & March 2, 2002
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
David Walker, countertenor
William Hite, tenor
April 12, 1985
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
Sergio Pelacani, countertenor
Frank Kelley, tenor
February 15, 1980
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Susan Larson, soprano
Jeffrey Gall, countertenor
Ray DeVoll, tenor