Sheep may safely graze
{{Short description|Aria composed by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
"Sheep may safely graze" ({{langx|de|Schafe können sicher weiden|link=no}}) is a soprano aria by Johann Sebastian Bach to words by Salomon Franck. The piece was written in 1713 and is part of the cantata {{lang|de|Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd|italic=unset}}, BWV 208 (Only the lively hunt pleases me), also known as the Hunting Cantata.
Like Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", "Sheep may safely graze" is frequently played at weddings.{{cite web | url=http://www.naxos.com/news/default.asp?pn=News&displayMenu=Features&op=3 | title=A Bride's Guide: Sample Wedding Music Programme | publisher=Naxos | access-date=13 August 2016}} However, the cantata BWV 208 was originally written for a birthday celebration of Christian, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels. Bach was based at the nearby court of Weimar, and musicians from both courts appear to have joined in the first performance in Weißenfels. Bach is known to have used the music again for other celebrations, but it remained unpublished until after his death.
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Instrumentation
Bach had a Baroque instrumental ensemble at his disposal including two horns, an instrument associated with the hunt.{{cite journal | jstor=41640100 | title=Observations on Bach's Use of the Horn Part I | journal=Bach | date=April 1980 |author1=van Boer, Jr. |author2=Bertil H | volume=11 | issue=2 | pages=21–28}}
For this number (movement 9 of the complete work), the singer is not accompanied by the full ensemble used elsewhere in the cantata, but by two recorders and continuo. The use of flute-like instruments is typical of pastoral music.
Since the revival of Bach's music in the 19th century, "Sheep may safely graze" has been arranged for other instruments.
Text
{{external media|audio1=[https://archive.org/details/lp_cantata-no-51-cantata-no-82_johann-sebastian-bach-elisabeth-schwarzkop/disc1/01.02.+Sheep+May+Safely+Graze+(From+Cantata+No.+208).mp3 "Sheep may safely graze"], sung by soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf in 1954 – via Internet Archive}}
The piece's title evokes a pastoral scene and has been referenced in discussions of how European culture depicts domestic animals and sheep in particular.{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3581462/Clouds-over-the-rural-idyll.html|title=Clouds over the rural idyll|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|last=Gayford|first=Martin|date=14 August 2002|access-date=19 February 2018 |quote=Few words give as great a sense of reassurance as "and sheep may safely graze"}}{{Cite web |last=Leith |first=Sam |date=2013 |title=Feral, by Geoge Monbiot – review: Sam Leith enjoys a vision of Britain where sheep may no longer safely graze |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/feral-by-geoge-monbiot---review |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=The Spectator}}
In the cantata, the recitative and aria are sung by the role of the ancient Roman god of shepherds, flocks, and livestock, Pales. Pales compares the peaceful life of sheep under a watchful shepherd to the inhabitants of a state with a wise ruler.{{Cite web |url=https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~wfb/cantatas/208.html |title=Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!|type=text|language=de|website=University of Alberta|access-date=18 August 2022}}
{{Cite web |url=https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Texts/BWV208-Eng3P.htm |title=Cantata BWV 208 Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd! English Translation [by Francis Browne] in Parallel Format |type=text|language=en |website=Bach Cantatas Website |access-date=21 February 2023}}
If not performed within the cantata, the recitative is omitted.
Wo ein guter Hirte wacht.
Wo Regenten wohl regieren
Kann man Ruh' und Friede spüren
Und was Länder glücklich macht.
where a good shepherd watches over them.
Where rulers are ruling well,
we may feel peace and rest
and what makes countries happy.{{Clear|left}}
Recordings
The work has often been recorded. It can be found in:
- recordings of the complete cantata, for example:
- Bach: Secular Cantatas Vol. 2 (Hunting Cantata plus Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht). Bach Collegium Japan, Joanne Lunn (soprano), Masaaki Suzuki (conductor).
- compilation albums, for example albums featuring the following soloists:
- Emma Kirkby (soprano), (Emma Kirkby Collection){{Cite magazine |title=Emma Kirkby Collection |url=https://www.gramophone.co.uk/review/emma-kirkby-collection|magazine=Gramophone|access-date=14 May 2018}}
- Magdalena Kožená (mezzo-soprano), (J. S. Bach: Arias with Musica Florea)
- Danielle de Niese (soprano), (Beauty of Baroque with the English Concert)
- Nuria Rial (soprano), (Bach Arias with the Kammerorchester Basel directed by Julia Schröder).
Arrangements
{{Listen|type=music|filename=Sheep May Safely Graze BWV 208.ogg|title="Sheep may safely graze"|description=Instrumental arrangement by Kevin MacLeod}}
:
\relative c'' {
\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"flute"
\tempo 4 = 60
\clef "treble"
\time 4/4
\key bes \major
f8 f16( d) f8 f16( d) f8( g) g( bes)
| es,8 es16( c) es8 es16( c) es8( a) a( c)
| bes8~ bes32( c d16) bes( d) c( f,) bes8~ bes32\p( c d16) bes( d) c( f,)
| bes8 d32\f( es f16) d( bes) c( a) bes8 d32\p( es f16) d( bes) c( a)
| bes4 r r2
}
:
\relative c'' {
\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"piano"
\tempo 4 = 60
\clef "treble"
\time 4/4
\key bes \major
bes4 d8( c) c4. d8
|es4 g8( f) d4\trill c8( bes)
| d( bes) a( g) c4. d8
| a4 g8( f) f2
}
=Keyboard=
==Piano==
"Sheep may safely graze" was arranged for piano by the American composer Mary Howe.Schafe können sicher weiden = Sheep may safely graze, transcribed for two pianos by Mary Howe, Oxford University Press (1935) {{OCLC|5061704}} {{ISBN|978-0-19-372212-5}} Another notable piano transcription was made by Dutch pianist Egon Petri, published in 1944.{{cite news |last=Mark |first=Karsten |date=6 July 2008 |title=Klavierfestival Ruhr: Leon Fleisher spielt Bach |url=https://www.dorstenerzeitung.de/nachrichten/klavierfestival-ruhr-leon-fleisher-spielt-bach-1039304.html |work=Dorstener Zeitung |location=Dortmund |language=de |access-date=24 September 2020}}
Sometimes the piece is played as a duet (piano-four-hands); there are versions by Duo Petrof,{{Cite web|url=https://www.shazam.com/es/track/365355219/sheep-may-safely-graze-bwv208-duo-petrof|title=Shazam|website=Shazam}} and Lang Lang and {{ill|Gina Redlinger|de}} (released as a bonus track with Lang Lang's recording of the Goldberg Variations).
==Moog synthesiser==
American composer and electronic musician Wendy Carlos arranged and recorded "Sheep may safely graze" on a Moog synthesizer for her 1973 album Switched-On Bach II.
=Band and orchestra=
Australian-born composer Percy Grainger wrote "Blithe Bells" for elastic scoring in 1931 on Bach's "Sheep may safely graze".{{IMSLP|cname=Blithe Bells (Grainger, Percy)|work=Blithe Bells (Grainger, Percy)}}{{cite web | title=Blithe Bells | website=Schott Music | url=https://de.schott-music.com/shop/blithe-bells-no221205.html | language=de | access-date=24 September 2020}} In March 1931, he scored a wind band version.{{cite web | title=Blithe Bells | website=Wind Repertory Project | date=3 March 2016 | url=https://www.windrep.org/Blithe_Bells | access-date=24 September 2020}}
The piece was arranged for string orchestra by British composer Granville Bantock.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/OT-Bantock.htm|title=Bach-Bantock: Arrangements/Transcriptions of Bach's Works – Works|website=www.bach-cantatas.com}} There is also an orchestral arrangement by British composer Sir William Walton, part of the ballet score The Wise Virgins.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMSLP|work=Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 (Bach, Johann Sebastian)|cname=Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208}}
- {{YouTube|Gs6KvdWzigY|"Sheep may safely graze" (audio)}}, Kirsten Flagstad
{{Chamber music, Orchestral works and Transcriptions by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
Category:Compositions in B-flat major