Readings:
Romans 8:18–23, "God's children await the glory of the body's redemption"
Luke 6:36–42, Sermon on the Mount: be merciful, judge not
Cantata Studies:
Bach Cantatas Website | Simon Crouch | Emmanuel Music | Julian Mincham | Wikipedia | Eduard van Hengel (in Dutch) | Bach Companion (Oxford U.P.) | Bach: The Learned Musician (Wolff) | Music in the Castle of Heaven (Gardiner)
[Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch (1877)]
Cantatas:
- Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe, BWV 185, 14 July 1715, revised 1723Arie e chorale (soprano, tenor): Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe
Recitativo (alto): Ihr Herzen, die ihr euch in Stein und Fels verkehret
Aria (alto): Sei bemüht in dieser Zeit
Recitativo (bass): Die Eigenliebe schmeichelt sich
Aria (bass): Das ist der Christen Kunst
Chorale: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesus Christ
"Merciful Heart of Eternal Love"
Text & translation
Scored for four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), oboe, two violins, viola, and basso continuo including bassoon.
The text (by Salomon Franck) of this short Weimar cantata recalls the admonitions of the "splinter in your brother's eye" and the "blind man who would lead another blind man". In other words: If you want to change the world, start with yourself!
The cantata begins not with the usual opening chorus, but with a duet for soprano and tenor, with an important role for the cello. The duet has a dancing melody in 6/8 time, reminiscent of a forlana. In the text, the believer reflects on God. Bach represents this by mirroring the melody of the two voices: where one voice goes up a tone, the other goes down a tone. Throughout the duet, the oboe (or trumpet) plays the melody of the final chorale, which is based on Agricola's hymn "Ich ruf zu dir". Bach thus links the first and last parts.
After an arioso recitative follows the alto aria, which is warm and pastoral, accompanied by figurative oboe solos. The text is the heart of the cantata: "He who has sown good will reap joyfully".
The bass recitative discusses the Gospel parable of the beam and the splinter: "Do not reproach your neighbor without first looking at your own faults". The bass aria (as Vox Christi) preaches the Christian attitude to life. The text is not very poetic and is really just a summary of Christian virtues, and the bass is accompanied only by the continuo. To make the stanza melodic, Bach uses the words "This is the Christian art" in a six-note motif.
Finally, the final chorale asks for help in realizing the desired ideal. In the four-part harmonization of the hymn "Ich ruf zu dir" by Johann Agricola, the oboe (or trumpet) plays a fifth upper voice.
Video: Netherlands Bach Society - Interview conductor and oboist Bernardini / Interview Bass Dominik Wörner /
J.S. Bach-Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Ein ungefärbt Gemüte, BWV 24, 20 June 1723
Aria: "Ein ungefärbt Gemüte" for altus, strings, and continuo.
Recitativo: "Die Redlichkeit ist eine von den Gottesgaben" for tenor and continuo.
(Coro): "Alles nun, das ihr wollet" for choir, clarino, oboes, strings, and continuo.
Recitativo: "Die Heuchelei ist eine Brut" for bass, strings and continuo.
Aria: "Treu und Wahrheit sei der Grund" for tenor, oboes d'amore, and continuo.
Chorale: "O Gott, du frommer Gott" for choir, clarino, oboes, strings, and continuo.
("An Unblemished Conscience")
Text & translation
Scored for three vocal soloists (alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir, clarino, two oboes, two oboes d'amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo.
This cantata was first performed in Leipzig, but its tone is based on Bach's Weimar cantatas - which may have been done to ensure stylistic consistency with the 1715 cantata "Merciful Heart of Eternal Love" (BWV 185), which was repeated in the same service after the sermon.
The Gospel reading for the cantata, intended for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, is taken from Luke 6:36-42, a section of Jesus' famous "Sermon on the Mount" in which he articulates principles for the Christian life. This passage includes teachings such as "Judge not, lest ye be judged" and "With the measure that ye mete, with that ye shall be measured," which represent various formulations of the Golden Rule, echoed in phrases such as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Bach used a cantata text by Erdmann Neumeister, published already in 1714 in the collection Geistliche Poesie mit untermischten Biblischen Sprüchen und Choralen (Spiritual poetry with inserted biblical quotations and chorales).
The cantata is built rather didactically as a palindrome around the weighty message of the stern chorus in the third and central movement: "Now everything you want people to do for you, do also for them. This is typically baroque: the reciprocity of the central message is exactly mirrored in the surrounding movements. The preceding tenor recitative meditates at length on "sincerity," and the following bass recitative castigates "hypocrisy. So the Sermon on the Mount is framed by two other sermons!
The rather casual and lighthearted opening alto aria sings of an "unblemished conscience," and this is reflected in the fifth movement, which is a warmly expressive tenor aria about "faith and truth. The final chorale is a beautiful setting of "O Gott, du frommer Gott."
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German) - Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, BWV 177, 6 July 1732
Coro: Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
Aria (alto): Ich bitt noch mehr, o Herre Gott
Aria (soprano): Verleih, daß ich aus Herzensgrund
Aria (tenor): Laß mich kein Lust noch Furcht von dir
Chorale: Ich lieg im Streit und widerstreb
("I call to You, Lord Jesus Christ")
Text & translation
Scored for three soloists (soprano, alto and tenor), a four-part choir, two oboes, two oboes da caccia, two violins, viola, basso continuo, an obbligato violin and an obbligato bassoon.
Bach composed this cantata in Leipzig around 1732 to complete his second annual cycle of chorale cantatas of 1724/25. This addition was necessary because the original cycle did not include a cantata for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity; instead, the Feast of the Visitation was celebrated with BWV 10.
BWV 177 is a chorale cantata "per omnes versus," meaning that the unaltered chorale verses serve as the cantata text. The text consists of five stanzas from Johann Agricola's chorale "Ich Ruf zu Dir" (1529), which corresponds to the Gospel reading for the day.
The opening chorus is grand and complex, presenting the chorale line by line, with the soprano carrying the cantus firmus. The original hymn tune is used, and the extended movement serves as an elaborate musical fantasy. The vocal writing is woven into a concerto with solo violin and two oboes harmonizing with the soprano, strings, and continuo.
The following three arias show increasing instrumental complexity. The first, for alto (emphasizing trust in God over one's own strength), is subtle and poignant with sparse accompaniment. The soprano aria (alluding to Jesus' commandment of mercy in the Sermon on the Mount) is lively and joyful, even dance-like. The brisk tenor aria features a quartet with a prominent violin, solo bassoon, and continuo.
The final chorale brings the composition back to simplicity, which proves remarkably effective.
Video: Residentie Bachkoor