Readings:
Romans 6:3–11, "By Christ's death we are dead for sin"
Matthew 5:20–26, Sermon on the Mount: "better justice"
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)
Cantatas:
- Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170, 28 July 1726
Aria: Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust
Recitativo: Die Welt, das Sündenhaus
Aria: Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen
Recitativo: Wer sollte sich demnach wohl hier zu leben wünschen
Aria: Mir ekelt mehr zu leben
"Delightful rest, beloved pleasure of the soul"
Text & translation
Scored for an alto soloist and a small ensemble of oboe d'amore, two violins, viola, obbligato organ and basso continuo.
Cantata for alto with organ obbligato. The theme is "sin" and the need to renounce it in order to attain salvation. Bach composed the cantata for the 6th Sunday after Trinity in Leipzig. It was premiered on July 28, 1726, together with the cantata "Ich will meinen Geist in euch geben" by Johann Sebastian Bach's cousin Johann Ludwig Bach in the main service, so that one cantata was heard before and one after the sermon. It is not known which cantata was sung before the sermon - probably the work of Johann Ludwig Bach, since only his text clearly refers to the Sunday Gospel.
With "Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust," Lehms begins a song of praise for "true peace of mind" and the "stillness and tranquility of the heart." But the first movement is only a gentle prelude. In the following recitative, which makes reference to the Sunday Gospel, the author then rails against the multitude of sinners. In the text of the second aria, he laments the false way of the human heart. As at the beginning, the last line of this aria reads: "Wie jammern mich doch die verkehrten Herzen". Thus Lehms returns to the beginning. The next recitative continues the lament until it finally returns to God's command to love even the enemy as a friend. The final aria completes the thought and returns to the "happy peace" of the beginning.
The opening aria is indeed one of the most beautiful and soothing arias Bach ever wrote, a rocking lullaby that brings a "delightful rest" to the soul.
The recitative and second aria, on the other hand, are more desolate, with tortured chromatisms in the music to depict the "perverted heart set against God". The aria also lacks a continuo, perhaps symbolic of the lack of direction in the lives of those who ignore the Word of God.
After another recitative, the final aria turns away from the world and looks to heaven - it is more upbeat, even buoyant, even though the text calls for death as the only possible release from sin.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop - Contemplation /
Netherlands Bach Society - Interview with altus Alex Potter - Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, BWV 9, c 1732–1735
Coro: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her
Recitativo (bass): Gott gab uns ein Gesetz
Aria (tenor): Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken
Recitativo (bass): Doch mußte das Gesetz erfüllet werden
Aria (soprano, alto): Herr, du siehst statt guter Werke
Recitativo (bass): Wenn wir die Sünd aus dem Gesetz erkennen
Chorale: Ob sichs anließ, als wollt er nicht
"It is our salvation come here to us"
Text & translation
Scored for a chamber music ensemble of four vocal soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass), a four-part choir SATB, flauto traverso, oboe d'amore, two violins, one of them solo, viola, and basso continuo.
Bach composed the cantata in Leipzig between 1732 and 1735 for the 6th Sunday after Trinity. When he composed his second cycle of chorale cantatas in 1724, he was not in Leipzig that Sunday but in Köthen with Anna Magdalena, probably for a concert for his esteemed former principal, Prince Leopold, so he added this late cantata to the cycle. It is based on the Lutheran chorale Es ist das Heil uns kommen her by Paul Speratus, which was published in 1524 in the Achtliederbuch, the first Lutheran hymnal. The theme of the chorale is a summary of the Lutheran doctrine that only faith and God's grace bring salvation, not good works. The three recitatives - all three for bass - can be seen as a sermon, deepened by the inserted arias.
The cantata begins with a chorale fantasia on this very theme, the cantus firmus sung by the soprano in unadorned long notes, with an "unusual sound" quality produced by the combination of flute and oboe d'amore in the accompaniment.
All three recitatives (secco) are sung by the bass as Vox Christi, a kind of sermon on the law of God. The tenor aria with solo violin accompaniment is an evocation of spiritual resignation - it depicts the "sinking" of "we were already too deeply sunk" in downward motifs.
The duet for soprano and alto is set in intricate canonic counterpoint. In Bach's time, canons were a metaphor for God's law and also - since they can be continued indefinitely - a bridge to the next world.
In the final chorale, the lower voices sing in unusual polyphony.
Video: J.S. Bach Foundation (St. Gallen) - Workshop (in German) - Contemplation (in German)