Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
BWV 26 performed by the Netherlands Bach Society
conducted by Shunske Sato
Grote Kerk, Naarden
Behind the music
Story
Story
Texts
Texts
Credits
Credits
All is vanity
In this cantata, Bach emphasises the transience of life
You slip – your feet take awkward steps, but you can’t get a grip on the loose sand and you slide down at tumbling speed into the valley. That’s more or less how the listener feels on hearing the opening chorus of the cantata Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig – and sometimes in life too.
Even before the voices enter with their ominous text about mortality, and even before the sopranos – reinforced by a horn – start the chorale melody by Michael Franck – Bach succeeds in musically communicating the theme of the cantata: life is uncertain, fleeting and futile. Even the basso continuo, otherwise always the foundation of Bach’s musical structures, is anything but stable here. Beneath the twittering of the fragmented oboe parts, the bass part sways up and down frightfully in meaningless scales, sometimes even disappearing from view altogether, and is eventually subjected to a predictable repeated harmony (sequence).
Before you know it, the chorus is finished and the tenor aria begins. At six minutes, this is the longest movement of the cantata. An apparently peaceful, flowing melody from the transverse flute and violin leads us to the virtuoso and delightful tenor part. The musical line is filled with lengthy melismas, series of notes to one syllable, which are supposed to express the fleeting nature of life. Near the end, Bach, master of the musical trick, even lets us get rather impatient: the many repeats and the return of the ritornello could easily get on your nerves.
Following a short alto recitative, there is another spectacular aria: a ‘dance of death’, as it has been described by musicologists. The bass advises the listener against selling his heart to the material world. The dance rhythms and the undirected harmonies in the awkward oboe parts suggest the treacherousness of the world. The faithful must place their hope in God rather than in that world. Afterwards, in a pointed, morally inspired recitative, the soprano emphasises once again how transient the earthly world is. A closing chorale lasting barely one minute, which gives a simple repetition of the chorale melody from the opening chorus, looks the finiteness of the world straight in the eye, but ends with the eternity of godliness: “God-fearing man will endure.”
- BWV
- 26
- Title
- Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
- Instrument
- alto, bass, soprano, tenor
- Genre
- cantatas
- Year
- 1724
- City
- Leipzig
- Lyricist
- Michael Franck (ca 1650/1652)
- Occasion
- 24th Sunday after Trinity
- First performance
- 19 November 1724
In loving memory of
Mr. Duan-Fang Wang and Mrs. Shu Chao Lin Wang
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
1. Chor
Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
ist der Menschen Leben!
Wie ein Nebel bald entstehet
und auch wieder bald vergehet,
so ist unser Leben, sehet!
2. Arie (Tenor)
So schnell ein rauschend Wasser schießt,
so eilen unser Lebenstage.
Die Zeit vergeht, die Stunden eilen,
wie sich die Tropfen plötzlich teilen,
wenn alles in den Abgrund schießt.
3. Rezitativ (Alt)
Die Freude wird zur Traurigkeit,
die Schönheit fällt als eine Blume,
die größte Stärke wird geschwächt,
es ändert sich das Glücke mit der Zeit,
bald ist es aus mit Ehr und Ruhme,
die Wissenschaft und was ein Mensche dichtet,
wird endlich durch das Grab vernichtet.
4. Arie (Bass)
An irdische Schätze das Herze zu hängen,
ist eine Verführung der törichten Welt.
Wie leichtlich entstehen verzehrende Gluten,
wie rauschen und reißen die wallenden Fluten,
bis alles zerschmettert in Trümmern zerfällt.
5. Rezitativ (Sopran)
Die höchste Herrlichkeit und Pracht
umhüllt zuletzt
des Todes Nacht.
Wer gleichsam als ein Gott gesessen,
entgeht dem Staub und Asche nicht,
und wenn die letzte Stunde schläget,
daß man ihn zu der Erde träget,
und seiner Hoheit Grund zerbricht,
wird seiner ganz vergessen.
6. Choral
Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig
sind der Menschen Sachen!
Alles, alles, was wir sehen,
das muß fallen und vergehen.
Wer Gott fürcht, bleibt ewig stehen.
Translation
1. Chorus
Ah, how fleeting, ah, how transitory
Is the life of humankind!
Just as a mist quickly develops
And also quickly fades away again,
So is our life—see!
2. Aria (Tenor)
As fast as a rushing waterfall cascades,
So the days of our life hurry by.
Time flies, the hours hurry by,
Just as drops suddenly divide [into spray]
When all [the torrent] cascades into the abyss.
3. Recitative (Alto)
Joy turns into sadness;
Beauty withers like a flower;
The greatest strength is weakened,
Fortune changes with time;
Honor and renown is quickly over and done with.
Knowledge and whatever a person fashions,
In the end, is obliterated by the grave.
4. Aria (Bass)
To hang one’s heart on earthly treasures
Is a seduction of the foolish world.
How easily do consuming embers form;
How the roiling floods rush forth and tear apart,
Until everything, dashed to pieces, crumbles in ruins.
5. Recitative (Soprano)
The most exalted glory and splendor
Death’s night envelops
at the end.
He who may have sat, as it were, like a god
Does not escape [death’s] dust and ashes;
And when the final hour strikes,
In that he is carried to interment,
And the foundation of his exaltedness shatters,
He is entirely forgotten.
6. Choral
Ah, how fleeting, ah, how transitory
Are the concerns of humankind.
Everything, everything that we see,
It must fall and fade away.
Whoever fears God, abides eternally.
transl. © Daniel R. Melamed and Michael Marissen
For the annotated version of the text and translation, see here.
Credits
-
- Release date
- 21 November 2024
-
- Recording date
- 30 May 2023
-
- Location
- Grote Kerk, Naarden
-
- Violin and direction
- Shunske Sato
-
- Soprano
- Griet De Geyter
-
- Alto
- Franz Vitzthum
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- Tenor
- Guy Cutting
-
- Bass
- Felix Schwandtke
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- Ripieno soprano
- Marta Paklar, Amelia Berridge
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- Ripieno alto
- Sofia Gvirts, Bernadett Nagy
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- Ripieno tenor
- João Moreira, Immo Schröder
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- Ripieno bass
- Matthew Baker, Donald Bentvelsen
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- Violin 1
- Lidewij van der Voort, Kano Imada, Mayumi Sargent Harada
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- Violin 2
- Lucia Giraudo, Alyssa Wright, Andrew Wong
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- Viola
- Anneke van Haaften, Esther van der Eijk
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- Cello
- Lucia Swarts, Anne-Linde Visser
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- Double bass
- Robert Franenberg
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- Traverso
- David Westcombe
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- Oboe
- Rodrigo Lopez Paz, Katharina Verhaar, Esther van der Ploeg
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- Bassoon
- Benny Aghassi
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- Horn
- Christopher Price
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- Organ
- Bart Naessens
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- Harpsichord
- Siebe Henstra
-
- Director and editor
- Bas Wielenga
-
- Music recording
- Guido Tichelman, Pim van der Lee, Ernst Coutinho
-
- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
-
- Camera
- Martin Struijf, Bjorn Tiebout, Tom de Beer, Jesper Blok
-
- Lights
- Ernst-Jan Thieme
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- Grip
- Jordi Kooij, Joey Marcoux
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- Assistant director
- Ferenc Soeteman
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- Set technique
- Justin Mutsaers
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- Data handling
- Ruben Kuyl
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- Project manager nep
- Ron Vermeulen
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- Assistant music recording
- Marloes Biermans
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- Producer concert
- Imke Deters
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- Producer film
- Wietske Hovingh
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- In loving memory of
- Mr. Duan-Fang Wang and Mrs. Shu Chao Lin Wang, who bequeathed to their children and grandchildren the love of music
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