Uns ist ein Kind geboren, BWV 142: Difference between revisions

'''''{{lang|de|Uns ist ein Kind geboren}}''''' (Unto us a child is born), [[BWV]]&nbsp;142, is a [[Christmas cantata]] formerly attributed to [[Johann Sebastian Bach]]. The text is based on a libretto by [[Erdmann Neumeister]] first published in 1711.<ref>{{harvnb|Glöckner|2000|page=117}}</ref> Since the cantata was first published by the [[Bach-Gesellschaft]] in the nineteenth century, Bach scholars, including Johannes Schreyer, [[Arnold Schering]] and [[Alfred Dürr]], have not accepted this attribution, although the identity of the original composer has not been established.<ref>See:
*{{citation| last = Dürr| first = Alfred| authorlink = Alfred Dürr| title = The cantatas of J. S. Bach| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]| year = 2006| isbn = 0-19-929776-2| pages = 926|chapter=Appendix: doubtful and spurious cantatas|translator=Richard Douglas P. Jones}}</ref><ref>
*{{harvnbcitation|first=Alfred|last=Dürr|authorlink=Alfred Dürr|title=Studien über die frühen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs|edition=2nd|publisher=Breitkopf & Härtel|year=1977|isbn=3765101303|language=de|pages=57–58, 209–211}}</ref><ref>
*{{citation|first=Arnold|last= Schering|journal=Bach-Jahrbuch|volume=9|pages=124–133|year=1912|title=Beiträge zur Bachkritik|language=de}}, page 133
</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Uns ist ein Kind geboren|url=https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00000174|website=Bach Digital|accessdate=22 January 2017|language=German}}</ref> In the late twentieth century it was withdrawn from the [[Neue Bach Ausgabe]], replaced by a detailed historical commentary on authenticity and attribution by Andreas Glöckner.<ref name="Glöckner2000">{{harvnbcitation|title=Johann Sebastian Bach, Varia: Kantaten, Quodlibet, Einzelsätze, Bearbeitungen. Critical commentary|series=Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (NBA)|volume= I/41|first=Andreas|last= Glöckner|publisher=Bärenreiter|year=2000|pages=117–118}}</ref> Because of uncertainty of attribution, it remains in [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach#BWV Anh.|Anhang II]] of the BWV.<ref name=cn>Classical Net [http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/bachjs/cantatas/142.php Uns ist ein Kind geboren (Unto us a child is born)], Classical Net, 1998</ref> It is now considered plausible that [[Johann Kuhnau]], Bach's predecessor as [[Thomaskantor]] in [[Leipzig]], may have composed the cantata, as originally suggested by {{harvtxt|Schering|1912}}.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Erler|first1=David|title=Johann Kuhnau|url=http://www.abendmusiken-basel.ch/Konzerte/2015/12.Kuhnau/Programmheft/2015.12.Abendmusiken.KUHNAU.pdf|website=Abendmusiken in der Predigerkirche|accessdate=23 January 2017|pages=8–9|format=PDF|date=2015}}</ref>

The biblical text, chorale and free verse come from the 1711 collection of librettos of the writer, theologian, pastor and theorist, [[Erdmann Neumeister]]. Parts of Neumeister's text were significantly modified in the cantata; these alterations are discussed in detail in {{harvtxt|Glöckner|2000}}. A cantata with this title is listed as having been performed in both of the main churches in Leipzig—the [[Thomaskirche, Leipzig|Thomaskirche]] and [[Nikolaikirche, Leipzig|Nikolaikirche]]–on Christmas Day 1720, during the period when Johann Kuhnau was [[Thomaskantor]]. It has not been determined whether that cantata is the same as the earliest surviving manuscript copy of BWV 142 made by [[Christian Friedrich Penzel]] in Leipzig in May 1756.<ref>{{harvnb|Dürr|1977|page=57}}</ref><ref name>{{harvnb|Glöckner|2000|page="Glöckner2000" 117–118}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Palisca|first= Claude V.|title= Baroque Music|edition=3rd|publisher=Prentice-Hall|year=1991|page=321|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Librettist.htm}}</ref><ref name="Boyd">{{citation|first=Konrad|last=Küster|editor=Malcolm Boyd|chapter=Erdmann Neumeister|pages=314–315|title=Bach|series=Oxford Composer Companion|year=1999|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> In 1939, [[Sydney Biden]] provided the English translation for the cantata ''For unto us a child is born.''<ref>{{cite web|title=Bach Bibliography|url=http://homepages.bw.edu/bachbib/script/bach1ctp.pl?0=Biden,%20Sydney&maxlimit=300&fullshow=ON&sorting=serially%20(table)&reviews=&nohtml=}}</ref>