Es erhub sich ein Streit, BWV 19

Es erhub sich ein Streit
BWV 19
Church cantata by J. S. Bach
The Fall of the Rebel Angels, 17th century
Occasion	Feast of Saint Michael
Cantata text	Picander, revised
Chorale	"Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr" by Christoph Demantius
Performed	29 September 1726 (1726-09-29): Leipzig
Movements	7
Vocal	SATB
Instrumental	3 trombe timpani 2 oboes oboe da caccia 2 oboes d'amore 2 violins viola continuo

Es erhub sich ein Streit (There arose a war), BWV 19, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig in 1726 for the Feast of Saint Michael and first performed it on 29 September that year. It is the second of his three extant cantatas for this feast, which also marked the start of an annual trade fair in Leipzig.

Bach composed the cantata in his fourth year as Thomaskantor (director of church music) in Leipzig. The text was originally written by Picander and published in Leipzig in 1725. The expanded text that Bach actually used appeared in a 1728 cantata collection by Christoph Birkmann in Nuremberg.

The cantata is structured in seven movements, with two choral movements framing a sequence of alternating recitatives and arias. The closing chorale is taken from a hymn by Christoph Demantius to the melody of "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele". The cantata is scored for soprano, tenor and bass vocal soloists, a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets and timpani, three kinds of oboes, strings and basso continuo. The opening chorus begins with immediacy without an instrumental introduction and depicts in its opening and closing section an agitated battle. The cantata's longest movement is a tenor aria as a pensive response, to which a trumpet plays the complete melody of Martin Schalling's hymn "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr". A chorale is in a dance-like triple meter closes the work.

Bach's sons Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach later performed parts of the cantata.

History and words

Leipzig fair at the market square c. 1800

Bach took up his position in Leipzig in 1723. His first two years in the city were particularly productive in terms of cantatas for the church calendar. As well as being a Christian festival, St. Michael's Day was important in the commercial life of Leipzig as it marked the start of one of the city's two annual trade fairs.

The prescribed readings for the day were from the Book of Revelation, Michael fighting the dragon (Revelation 12:7–12), and from the Gospel of Matthew, heaven belongs to the children, the angels see the face of God (Matthew 18:1–11). The text of the cantata was originally written by Christian Friedrich Henrici, better known as Picander, who published it in Leipzig in 1725 in his collection Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken über und auf die gewöhnlichen Sonn- und Fest-Tage Leipzig. Picander had become by then a regular collaborator of the composer, who had also provided the libretto for a previous St. Michael's Day cantata. The text that Bach actually used for the cantata, expands this model and appears in a cantata collection by Christoph Birkmann in Nuremberg 1728, GOtt-geheiligte Sabbaths-Zehnden; Birkmann may have been the poet who made the changes.

The closing chorale is the ninth stanza from a hymn by Christoph Demantius; the chorale theme is "Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele", which was codified by Louis Bourgeois when setting the Geneva Psalm 42 in his collection Pseaumes octante trios de David (Geneva, 1551). Bourgeois seems to have been influenced by the secular song "Ne l'oseray je dire" contained in the Manuscrit de Bayeux published around 1510.

Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performances on 29 September 1726, a morning service at the Nikolaikirche, with a sermon given by Friedrich Wilhelm Schütz, and a vespers service at the Thomaskirche where Urban Gottfried Sieber held the sermon. Bach's son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach conducted a performance in Halle around 1752, with a revised third movement. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach used parts of it for a pastiche that he performed in Hamburg first in 1770.

The cantata is regarded as part of Bach's third cantata cycle.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for three vocal soloists (soprano (S), tenor (T), and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets (Tr), timpani, two oboes (Ob), two oboes d'amore (Oa), taille (Ta), two violins (Vl), viola (Va), and basso continuo. During Bach's time in Leipzig, he always used the largest orchestra available for the celebrations of the Feast of St Michael. All complete Bach cantatas for this occasion include trumpet and timpani. The Bach scholar Alfred Dürr gave the duration as c. 22 minutes.

Bach structured the cantata in seven movements. In the following table, the scoring is based on the Neue Bach-Ausgabe. The keys and time signatures are taken from Dürr, using the symbol for common time (⁴
₄). The continuo, playing throughout, and the timpani, playing always with the trumpets, are not listed.

Movements of Es erhub sich ein Streit

No.	Title	Text	Type	Vocal	Brass	Winds	Key	Time
1	Es erhub sich ein Streit	Picander	Chorus	SATB	3Tr	2Ob Ta	2Vl Va	C major	6 8
2	Gottlob! der Drache liegt	Picander	Recitative	B
3	Gott schickt uns Mahanaim zu	Picander	Aria	S		2Oa		G major
4	Was ist der schnöde Mensch, das Erdenkind?	Picander	Recitative	T			2Vl Va	E minor
5	Bleibt, ihr Engel, bleibt bei mir!	Picander	Aria	T	Tr		2Vl Va	E minor	6 8
6	Laßt uns das Angesicht	Picander	Recitative	S
7	Laß dein' Engel mit mir fahren	Demantius	Chorale	SATB	3Tr	2Ob Ta	2Vl Va	C major	3 4

Music

As with other Bach cantatas written for the Feast of St. Michael, this work opens with an "imposing" chorus. The opening and closing section of this da capo movement focuses on a single line of text describing the battle against the forces of evil. The middle section sets the remaining five lines of the text. The movement includes no instrumental introduction, creating an "immediate dramatic effect". Craig Smith suggests that the "vaulting high-energy fugue theme is the perfect illustration of the heroic struggle".

The bass recitative in E minor describes the importance of the victory over Satan, but exudes a sombre mood, suggesting the continued difficulties of mankind.

The third movement is a soprano aria with obbligato oboes, "an oasis of protective tranquillity" in the major mode. However, elements of the music disturb the peace conveyed by the text: the extended ritornello begins with an "odd three-bar phrasing", leading into a passage of constant momentum between the two oboes.

The tenor recitative is again in the minor mode, this time to describe the fragility of man. This movement leads into a striking tenor aria, describing a personal response to the text. The aria is the longest movement of the cantata, representing a third of the total length of the work. The trumpet plays the full chorale melody of "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr", probably with the third stanza mentioning angels in mind, over a Siciliano rhythm in the strings and continuo.

The penultimate movement is a brief secco soprano recitative that returns to the major mode to prepare the closing chorale. The chorale has the feel of a minuet, although there is some tension because of the changing phrase lengths employed by the melody.

Manuscripts and publication

Both the autograph manuscript of the score and a complete set of 19 parts are extant. Unusually for Bach's third cantata cycle, Bach carefully revised the parts.

As with almost all Bach cantatas, the music did not appear in print until the 19th century. It was first published in 1852 in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (BGA), edited by Moritz Hauptmann. In the Neue Bach Ausgabe (NBA), it was published in 1973, edited by Marianne Helms.

Recordings

The following table is a selection from the Bach Cantatas website, where 36 recordings are listed as of 2026. Instrumental groups playing period instruments in historically informed performances are marked by green background under the header "Instr.".

Recordings of Es erhub sich ein Streit

Title	Conductor / Choir / Orchestra	Soloists	Label	Year	Instr.
J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 1 & BWV 19	Fritz Lehmann Berliner Motettenchor Berliner Philharmoniker	Gunthild Weber Helmut Krebs Hermann Schey	Deutsche Grammophon	1951 (1951)
J. S. Bach: Cantatas BWV 6 & BWV 19	Hans Grischkat Stuttgart Choral Society Bach-Orchester Stuttgart	Agnes Giebel Klaus Stemann Bruno Müller	Renaissance X-34	1951 (1951)
Les Grandes Cantates de J. S. Bach Vol. 2	Fritz Werner Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra	Edith Selig Georg Jelden Jakob Stämpfli	Erato	1964 (1964)
Die Bach Kantate Vol. 18	Helmuth Rilling Gächinger Kantorei Bach-Collegium Stuttgart	Barbara Rondelli Adalbert Kraus Siegmund Nimsgern	Hänssler	1971 (1971)
J. S. Bach: Das Kantatenwerk • Complete Cantatas • Les Cantates, Folge / Vol. 5 – BWV 17-20	Nikolaus Harnoncourt Wiener Sängerknaben Chorus Viennensis Concentus Musicus Wien	soloist of the Wiener Sängerknaben Kurt Equiluz Max van Egmond	Teldec	1971 (1971)	Period
Bach Edition Vol. 21 – Cantatas Vol. 12	Pieter Jan Leusink Holland Boys Choir Netherlands Bach Collegium	Ruth Holton Nico van der Meel Bas Ramselaar	Brilliant Classics	2000 (2000)	Period
Bach Cantatas Vol. 74: Ambronay/Bremen	John Eliot Gardiner Monteverdi Choir English Baroque Soloists	Malin Hartelius James Gilchrist Peter Harvey	Soli Deo Gloria	2000 (2000)	Period
J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 17	Ton Koopman Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir	Sandrine Piau Jörg Dürmüller Klaus Mertens	Antoine Marchand	2003 (2003)	Period
J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol. 46	Masaaki Suzuki Bach Collegium Japan	Hana Blažíková Gerd Türk Peter Kooy	BIS	2009 (2009)	Period
J. S. Bach: Kantate "Es erhub sich ein Streit", BWV 019 / Michaelisfest	Rudolf Lutz Vocal ensemble of Schola Seconda Pratica Schola Seconda Pratica	Julia Doyle Georg Poplutz Daniel Pérez	Gallus Media	2022 (2022)	Period
J. S. Bach: Magnificat, Unser Mund sei voll Lachens	Shunske Sato Netherlands Bach Society	Rachel Redmond Daniel Johannsen Matthew Baker	Channel Classics Records	2022 (2022)	Period

External links

• Es erhub sich ein Streit, BWV 19: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Luke Dahn: BWV 19.7 bach-chorales.com
• BWV 19 Es erhub sich ein Streit: text, scoring, University of Alberta
• Es erhub sich ein Streit, BWV 19: performance by the Netherlands Bach Society (video and background information)