'ACH WIE FLUCHTIG, ACH WIE
NICHTIG '
(' All, how fleeting, ah, how fading')
Relayed from THE GUILDHALL
SCHOOL OF MUSIC
MARY HAMLIN (Soprano)
Doris OWENS (Contralto)
FRANK TITTERTON (Tenor)
WILLIAM BARRAND (Bass)
LESLIE WOODGATE (Organ)
THE WIRELESS CHORUS
THE WIRELESS ORCHESTRA
(Flute, Oboes, Trumpet and Strings)
Conducted by STANFORD ROBINSON
This Cantata is based on an old funeral hymn by Michael Franck , one on which Bach had made a chorale prelude some twenty years earlier. The first chorus here is really that prelude in a more elaborate form. In it Bach reproduces the text of the first verse of the old hymn, reserving the last verse for his final chorale. The melody is given, as so often, in its simple form to the soprano voices, while the others and the orchestra build up an impressive musical picture round the image which ' fleeting' suggests, 'like a cloud that quickly rises and as quickly passes.' Scale passages, hurrying upwards and downwards, and merging one into another, are the means Bach uses.
There are splendid arias for tenor and bass, the first very long and difficult, with an accompaniment, where the voice sings of our life hastening like a rushing stream, vividly presenting that idea by imitative passages.
The accompaniment throughout is richly varied, and fine use is made of the contrasting tone of oboes (there are three), flute and strings.
I. Chorus :
Ah, how fleeting. Ah, how fading
Is the life of mortals !
As a cloud-wreath quickly forming And as quickly then dissolving,
So is man's brief portion, know ye !
II. Aria (Tenor):
As rapid, rushing rivulets,
So hasten quickly days and moments.
Our life goes by. The hours do perish
As drops of water suddenly parted When streams from cliff to cliff are dashed.
III. Recitative (Contralto):
Lo ! Joy soon turns to mourning, And beauty withers like a flower, The greatest strength of man fast ebbs
And fortune changes e'en from day to day;
Brief as a breath are praise and honour,
And all man's vaunted knowledge, All his wisdom will surely in the grave disappear.
IV. Aria (Bass):
The riches and treasures that men seek and strive for
Are vain and deceitful, mere glittering toys.
As when fiery flames are devouring the stubble,
Or wild rushing torrents sweep all things before them,
So swiftly is shattered the pelf of this world.
V. Recitative (Soprano) :
The highest honour, pomp and might succumb
At last to death's dark night.
He who on earthly fame relies full soon to dust and ashes falls,
And when the mourning bell doth toll,
Down to the ground his honours tumble,
And aU his dignity is nought, His very name forgotten.
VI, Chorale :
Ah, how fleeting, Ah, how fading
Are man's richest treasures.
All things, all things that are human
Must like shadows faint and vanish;
Who God fears, he lives for ever.
The words are taken from'Bach's
Cantata Texts, Sacred and Secular,' by C. Sandford Terry , by permission of Constable and Co.
Cantatas for the next four Sundays are :
December 1. No. 62-
Nun komm, der Heidin Heiland. (Come, Thou Saviour of tho heathen.)
December 8. No. 107-
Was willst du dich betriiben T
(Why would'st thou grieve ?)
December 15. No. 125—
Mit Fried und Freud fahr' ich dahin.
(In peace and joy I now depart.)
December 22. No. 1—
Wie schon leuchtet der Morgenstem.
(How fair appears the morning star.)
(For 3.45 to 5.45 Programmes see opposite page)