13. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme. J.S. Bach

Hey, Anonymous! Last Bach cantata! You have to love this one, though.

We sang this cantata about a year ago, I think. Until then it had never really registered with me; we had sung Mendelssohn's Sleepers, Wake before but it wasn't familiar to me. Then we did this and I heard it everywhere. Sleepers, Wake is on my King's College Advent CD. Wachet auf is on my Tallis Scholars Christmas CD. I heard a Respighi arrangement which interposes the tune of the tenor aria from this cantata with the Wachet auf tune.

I like the alto line of this chorus: we get to sing, "Wach auf! Wach AUF!" (Wake up! Wake UP!). To me this chorus has a particularly German sound - very imperative.

The text is from the parable of the ten virgins, which I first studied many years ago in my first-year Anglo-Saxon class. It was there that I learned how to say, "Lord, Lord, let us in!" in Anglo-Saxon: "Dryhten, dryhten, laet us inn." I use that line sometimes when I'm knocking at someone's door, but they never know what it means. Too bad for them.

Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme
Der Wächter sehr hoch auf der Zinne,
Wach auf, du Stadt Jerusalem!
Mitternacht heißt diese Stunde;
Sie rufen uns mit hellem Munde:
Wo seid ihr klugen Jungfrauen?
Wohl auf, der Bräutgam kömmt;
Steht auf, die Lampen nehmt! Alleluja!
Macht euch bereit zu der Hochzeit,
Ihr müsset ihm entgegen gehn!

Wake up, the voice calls us
of the watchmen high up on the battlements,
wake up, you city of Jerusalem!
This hour is called midnight;
they call us with a clear voice:
where are you, wise virgins ?
Get up, the bridegroom comes;
Stand up, take your lamps! Hallelujah!
Make yourselves ready for the wedding;
you must go to meet him!