Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4

Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/27 March 2016 by Brianboulton (talk) 08:39, 13 March 2016 (UTC)



Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4, is an Easter cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. Translated to "Christ lay in death's bonds" (pictured in an 18th-century Luther Bible), it is one of his earliest church cantatas, a genre to which he later contributed complete cantata cycles for all occasions of the liturgical year. The composition was probably intended for a performance in 1707, related to his application for a post at a church in Mühlhausen. It is a chorale cantata in which both text and music are based on Martin Luther's Easter hymn of the same name. An opening sinfonia is followed by seven chorale variations "per omnes versus": Bach used in each of vocal movements the unchanged words of a stanza of the chorale, and its tune as a cantus firmus. The variations are arranged symmetrically: chorus–duet–solo–chorus–solo–duet–chorus, with the focus on the central fourth stanza about the battle between Life and Death. For his first Easter as Thomaskantor in Leipzig in 1724, Bach used the cantata again, also the following year as part of his cycle of chorale cantatas. In the extant score of the Leipzig performances, the four vocal parts are sometimes reinforced by a choir of trombones.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Trinity Sunday 2016, May or June
 * Main editors: Gerda Arendt, Thoughtfortheday
 * Promoted: right now, bot was not there yet, but Easter is soon
 * Reasons for nomination: Easter cantata for Easter, a very early work, - a puzzle piece to cover stages in his cantata production by representative works
 * Support as nominator. Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:07, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Support - Terrific for Easter Sunday. Nice job on getting this to FA. — Maile (talk) 20:02, 11 March 2016 (UTC)
 * Support. Another impressive offering from the nominator, thoroughly vetted by GA and FA reviewers. This is an appropriate TFA for Easter Sunday. Bede735 (talk) 00:42, 12 March 2016 (UTC)