103 A Movement with Distinct Sarabande Rhythms: BWV 6 In BWV 122 above, we saw an example of a cantata movement in which Bach incorporated obvious minuet structure and rhythms. Bach has included similarly distinct sarabande rhythms in the first movement of his Cantata BWV 6, ‘Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden” (Music Example 4.3a). The piece is set in a slow 3/4 with a serious and passionate Affekt, but itis the recurrent rhythms that most markedly identify this movement as a sarabande. The main melodic motive, which appears in the oboe and later in the chorus, prominently features the “sarabande syncopation" described by Little and Jenne." As we saw in Chapter 3, in this rhythm the second beat receives a stress or emphasis that often corresponds to an expressive movement in the dance. Bach seems to use the Affekt of the sarabande and the expressive nature of this rhythm in particular as an appropriate setting for the emotional character of the movement's text. The sarabande rhythms provide a unifying device throughout the movement. This movement's terse two-line text does not have the scope to offer the usual framework of cantata texts, so the dance rhythm plays a larger role in clarifying the design of the piece."® The recurrence of the opening four- +62 Little and Jenne, 97. “8 Text in cantata movements usually conforms to “Bar Form,” in which three sections of text, two Stollens and an Abgesang, delineate the structure of the movement. In such movements, the instrumental accompaniment for the two Stollens often remains quite similar to or even unchanged, while the Abgesang often inspires Bach to depart from or further develop the initial