J.S. Bach: Cantata Ein feste Burg, BWV 80: movements 1, 2, 8

J.S. Bach: Cantata Ein feste Burg, BWV 80: movements 1, 2, 8

Instrumentation

First movement:

• SATB choir

• Tutti orchestra

• Vocal lines are doubled by the orchestra

Second movement:

• Duet for soprano and bass

• String accompaniment

• Solo oboe

• The oboe doubles the soprano vocal lines

Eighth movement:

• SATB choir

• Orchestral accompaniment

• The Orchestral accompaniment exactly doubles the vocal lines.

Texture

First movement:

• Polyphonic

• Fugal style

• Counter melody

• Canon between the oboes

Second movement:

• Melody dominated homophony

• Polyphonic when soprano and bass comes in

• Heterophonic texture with the soprano and oboe part

Eighth movement:

• Homophonic

Melody

First movement:

• Based on the hymn tune by Martin Luther

• Conjunct with only small leaps from a fourth or fifth

• Ascending sequences within the violins

• Diatonic

• Some chromaticism  

Second movement:

• Soloists’ lines are scalic

• Bass line highly scalic with melismatic running semiquavers

• Some sequences

• Trills within the oboe…