lch hatte viel Bekümmernis (BWV 21), a work of mighty proportions, raises problems regarding the history of its composition that will probably never be solved, owing to the dearth of knowledge that has come down to us. What is certain is that Bach performed this cantata in the order of movements we know today on the Third Sunday after Trinity, June 17, 1714, in Weimar and that it had several further performances during Bach's years in Köthen and Leipzig.
It may have been its complex structure that prompted Bach to provide the work with the designation ”per ogni tempo” (ie. for any time of the ecclesiastical year). And indeed, the usual derivation of the content from the Gospel reading tor the Sunday concerned, which is commonly practiced, can hardly be detected here, at rnost a reference to the Epistle (1 Peter 5: 6-11) with its exhortation "Cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you." The soul despairing in its tribulation receives comfort from Jesus; it is "now content again” and the work ends with a hymn of praise to God. The text is characterized by frequent alternation of biblical quotations with free poetry of a highly subjective character that culminates in a love duet between Jesus and the soul. These obvious influences of early pietisrn bring Salorno Franck to mind, whom we can probably regard as the author of most of the recitative and aria texts.
The abundance of biblical passages also has an effect on the composition. Hardly any other cantata by Bach is so strongly dominated by choral movements as this one. Although Bach had set the biblical words as recitatives in the preceding cantatas of 1714, he chose here the archaic form of the motet; each section of the text is set to its own thematic material in accordance with its content. The resulting forms consist of a series of sections varying in size, sometimes extending to considerable length in fugal development, but sometimes kept brief as well, especially in the chordal and monumental treatment of the word ”aber" (but), making the opening chorus so overwhelmingly impressive. ln the fugato movements Bach builds up his dynamics from an opening sung by soloists through gradual addition of instruments and ripieno singers and players to a powerful tutti of all musical forces at hand.
The archaic element evident in the choral movements is contrasted with the "modern” principles of the restrained stile recitativo and - in the arias - of concertante writing. It is here that we find most of the parallels to other works dating from l714, such as the independent Sinfonia before the opening chorus (cf. Cantatas Nos. 18, l82 and particularly 12) and in the recitative (movement 7) that opens Part II of the cantata: as in the biblical recitative of Cantata No. l2, which was performed eight weeks earlier, the first violin begins here with an ascending scale on sustained notes as an illustration of turning to God. A fall of a tenth subsequently characterizes the words “hier ist ja lauter Nacht” (here all is utter dark). In the arias the words are frequently illustrated, such as the "Streams of salt tears” by wavelike figures, "into the depths" by an extremely low register or the despair of the soul in the moving aria "Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not," not only by its chromaticism but also by its leaving the conclusion of the movement grammatically incomplete. Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis is thus probably the most magnificent exarnpie of the cantatas of Bach’s youthful period, and at the same time a farewell to them, for his future works are based to a far higher degree on the modern, concertante style.
Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (BWV 22) and Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn (BWV 23) areintimately bound up with one another as regards the history of their composition. Both were composed for the same day, Sunday, February 7, 1723, and were perhaps even performed in the same service as a quasi two-part work.
Both cantatas refer to one section each of the Gospel reading for the day (Luke 18: 31-43), the decision of Jesus to go to Jerusalem, where he will be crucified, and the healing of a blind man at the wayside who begs that Jesus, the son of David, might have mercy on him.
Cantata No. 22 takes up the tirst half of this story. The text, introduced by a Gospel quotation, irnplores in the name of a Christian then present that Jesus also takes him along his path of suffering. For the introductory movement with its setting of a biblical text (usually a striking passage spoken by Jesus but here a narration) Bach chooses the form Arioso-Chorus, which is justified not so much by the text as by his intention also to use St Thornas’s Choir. Of the work's two arias the first is characterized by the expressive musical rhetoric of the solo oboe; the second reminds us, in its dance-like character, that Bach at that time was still Court Conductor to the Prince of Köthen.
Cantata No. 23, on the other hand, appears to be a work ot deep personal commitment and unusual expressive power. Its text links up with the blind man’s prayer for mercy and, alluding to Psalm 145: 15, applies it to the present time and the assembled congregation: not only the eyes of the blind man, but "the eyes of all” wait upon the Lord. In the opening movement Bach combines the instrumental trio of two oboes and contlnuo and the vocal duet into skillful quintet writing of deeply moving intensity. The recitative "Ach gehe nicht vorüber” is heard against an instrumental quotation of the chorale melody ”Christe, du Lamm Gottes.” The prayer of the blind man for mercy is thus raised to the level of a desire of all Christendom, establishing the rolationship of the content to Christ’s Passion. The hymnic and expressive chorus ”Aller Augen” has a form which is not encountered very often in Bach. The full choral setting is heard seven times, shifting from key to key and interrupted by instrumental interludes ancl duet sections for tenor and bass which are sometimes written in canon. This rondo form with its multiple repetitions is highly compelling; the movement has by far outgrown its models, the dance-like final choruses of secular cantatas of homage. In Bach's full score this forms the conclusion of the cantata. In the performing material there follows an unusually earnest final chorale, "Christe, du Lamm Gottes,” with its three verses through-composed. Its reference back to the second movement imparts special formal unity to the cantata. It culminates in the middle verse (”Andante"), like the keystone of a baroque structure, where the melody is presented by the soprano, oboes and first violin in canon.