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*Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet*
BWV 212
Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet; BWV 212
Secular cantata by J. S. Bach
Other name	Peasant Cantata
Occasion	Birthday of Carl Heinrich von Dieskau
Text	by Picander
Performed	30 August 1742

Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet (We have a new governor), BWV 212, is a secular cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was entitled the "Cantate burlesque" (burlesque cantata) by Bach himself, but is now popularly known as the Peasant Cantata. It is the last definitely dated Bach cantata.

History and text

This cantata's libretto was written by Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, and was written for performance on 30 August 1742. On that day the Erbherr, Lehnherr and Gerichtsherr Carl Heinrich von Dieskau, Saxon-Crown-Princely Kammerherr to the Rittergut Kleinzschocher near Leipzig, celebrated his thirty-sixth birthday with a huge fireworks display and, as was customary, took homage from the peasants on the same occasion. It is thought that Picander asked Bach to set his poetry to music.

The text describes how an unnamed farmer laughs with the farmer's wife Mieke about the tax collector's machinations while praising the economy of Dieskau's wife, ending by especially cheering on Dieskau. In places it uses the dialect of Upper Saxony ("Guschel" for mouth, "Dahlen" for love-games, "Ranzen" for belly and "Neu-Schock" for a 60 Groschen piece).

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for two voices: the farmer (bass) and Mieke (soprano). The instrumentation includes a string trio of violin, viola and basso continuo, accompanied by a flute, horn and second violin respectively.

The piece has 24 movements, more than any other Bach cantata:^[1]^[2]

Overture (A major- A minor- A major)
Duet aria: Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet (A major)
Duet recitative: Nu, Mieke, gib dein Guschel immer her (A major)
Aria (soprano): Ach, es schmeckt doch gar zu gut (A major)
Recitative (bass): Der Herr ist gut: Allein der Schösser (D major)
Aria (bass): Ach, Herr Schösser, geht nicht gar zu schlimm (D major)
Recitative (soprano): Es bleibt dabei (B minor)
Aria (soprano): Unser trefflicher (B minor)
Duet recitative: Er hilft uns allen, alt und jung
Aria (soprano): Das ist galant (G major)
Recitative (bass): Und unsre gnädge Frau
Aria (bass): Fünfzig Taler bares Geld (B-flat major)
Recitative (soprano): Im Ernst ein Wort!
Aria (soprano): Klein-Zschocher müsse (A major)
Recitative (bass): Das ist zu klug vor dich
Aria (bass): Es nehme zehntausend Dukaten (G major)
Recitative (soprano): Das klingt zu liederlich
Aria (soprano): Gib, Schöne (D major)
Recitative (bass): Du hast wohl recht
Aria (bass): Dein Wachstum sei feste und lache vor Lust! (A major)
Duet recitative: Und damit sei es auch genung
Aria (soprano): Und dass ihr's alle wisst (B minor)
Duet recitative: Mein Schatz, erraten!
Chorus: Wir gehen nun, wo der Dudelsack (F major)

Music

In accordance with the nature of the text, Bach kept the musical phrases short and the accompaniment mostly simple. He repeatedly drew on popular dance forms, folk and popular melodies (such as La Folia and the folk song "Mit dir und mir ins Federbett, mit dir und mir aufs Stroh", whose title translates as "With you and me into the feather bed, with you and me onto the straw") and excerpts from his own pieces (BWV Anh. 11 and BWV 201 / 7).

Recordings

Rudolf Ewerhart, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra. Bach Cantatas. Vox 1965
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Concentus Musicus Wien. J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 211 & BWV 212. Telefunken 1967
Peter Schreier, Kammerorchester Berlin. Bach made in Germany Vol. VII – Secular Cantatas VII, Eterna 1975
Rosmarie Hofmann, Gregory Reinhadt, Linde-Consort, Hans-Martin Linde. J. S. Bach: Bauern-Kantate; Kaffee-Kantate. EMI Reflexe 1984
Emma Kirkby, David Thomas, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood. J. S. Bach: Coffee Cantata / Peasant Cantata. L'Oiseau-Lyre 1987
Helmuth Rilling, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart. Edition Bachakademie Vol. 67 – Secular Cantatas. Hänssler 1996
Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 5. Antoine Marchand 1996
Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan. J. S. Bach: BWV 203, 209, 212. BIS 2016
Bach: Kantaten No. 32, Orchester der J. S. Bach-Stiftung, Rudolf Lutz, J. S. Bach-Stiftung, 2020

References

^ "BWV 212". University of Alberta. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
^ Mincham, Julian. "Chapter 98 BWV 212". Retrieved 10 September 2022.

Bibliography

Alfred Dürr: Johann Sebastian Bach: Die Kantaten. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1999. ISBN 3-7618-1476-3
Werner Neumann: Handbuch der Kantaten J.S.Bachs. 1947, 5. Auf. 1984. ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
Hans-Joachim Schulze: Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführungen zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006. (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
Christoph Wolff, Ton Koopman: Die Welt der Bach-Kantaten. Stuttgart; Weimar: Verlag J. B. Metzler, 2006. ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4