Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe (BWV 185) is based on the Sermon on the Mount about the beam in one's own eye, which has to be removed before one deals with the splinter "in neighbor's eyes” (No. 4): an admonition to show compassion! Using elaborate melodic treatment, Bach brings all the meaning and emotional substance of the text right into the first aria, with the chorale melody that is played instrumentally by the trumpet (”lch ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,” Johann Agricola 1529?) forming a link with No. 6, the chorale itself.
The chorale lines stand like a tranquil island in the middle of the turbulent musical river: the profile given to the motifs here, especially to the instrumental ritornelli, points to the rnelodic and harmonic structure of the chorale. This creates a grandiose tension between music with a historic tradition (the chorale), which was still very much alive in the Leipzig of Bach's time, and new art music, between collective tradition and subjective new forms. The movements that follow show just how individually Bach was treating the italian ”import” forms recitative and aria as early as 1715. The recitative (No. 2) is given an arioso ending that interprets the text; in the following aria (No. 3) Bach substitutes a repetition of the instrumental prelude for the usual da capo; and in the bass aria (No. 5) the motto ”Das ist der Christen Kunst” is repeated like a rondo in the style of a religious precept.
The text of Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht (BWV 186) refers to the story told by the apostle Mark of the feeding of the five thousand: the basic idea of such opposing pairs as hunger and repletion, scarcity and abundance, runs through the entire cantata. Thus the instrumental accompaniment, for example, is set against the background of the resultant conflict: the plain continuo writing (No. 3) is intensified through the trio (No. 5) to a full body of strings, two olooes and basso continuo (No. 10). Just as in Cantata No. 185, here too Bach combines in the most skilful fashion instrumental and vocal principles of composition in the opening chorus and in the arias; the aria form is modified, recitatives all have an arioso ending that interprets the text. The two parts of the cantata both end with a stanza of the hymn "Es ist das Heil uns kommen her” (lt is salvation come to save us) by Paul Speratus (1523) in a stylistically sophisticated chorale movement (Nos. 6 & 11). While the soprano is given the chorale melody as a cantus firmus, the three other voices being set against it contrapuntally, Bach allocates a variety of thematic material to the instrumental accompaniment.
Bach also composed the Cantata Es wartet alles auf dich (BWV 187) for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (of the year 1726, however, so that this cantata belongs to the third annual cycle). The author of the verse, which tells the Gospel story of the feeding of the five thousand, is unknown. It was taken from a collection of Prayers for Sundays and Feast Days printed in a second edition in Rudolstadt in 1726. The texts, which all have the same structure - Old Testament dictum - recitative - aria - New Testament dictum - aria - recitative (and chorus) - chorale - seem to have enjoyed great popularity at the time, with their cheerful mood, the picture they paint of a kind and gracious God and their intimate relationship to nature. For Bach’s cousin Johann Ludwig Bach, who held the office of Kapellmeister at the Meiningen court from 1711 onwards, also used them for his cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach, incidentally, performed eighteen of these in 1726, and incorporated them into the third annual cycle of his own cantatas. Unlike his cousin, Johann Sebastian, who loved the rhetoric form, reduces the eight movements of the original to seven chiastically arranged movements, the intellectual centre of which is the New Testament text in the fourth movement. The musical emphasis, though, lies on the large-scale first choral movement, which is exceptionally characteristic of Bachs mature cantata style. The symphonically conceived introduction, which returns in ritornello fashion either in larger sections, or in small motifs in between the contrapuntally arranged vocal sections, and which is heard once more in full at the end, already contains the thematic material of all the vocal movements that follow. Bach's considerable interest in questions of theological exegesis led him to take his bearings in the word-bound structuring of the movement from the old psalmody: this is evident in the fact that he does not choose a soloistic form, preferring to skilfully combine canonic and concertante elements in a figured chorus. Nos. 2-6 also interpret the de tempore text in a Lutheran sense - "so take up the psalter and you will have a fine mirror, clear and bright, that will show you what Christianity is ..." (Bible of 1534) - while No. 7, the hymnic chorale ”Singen wir aus Herzensgrund" (Let us sing with all our hearts) by Hans Vogel (1563), gives a final résumé of all the preceding material. The plan of the keys used supports this concept: the beginning and end of the cantata are in the same key, G minor, while the remaining movements switch to other, related keys (B flat major, E flat major, C minor). Only the vox Christi in the bass aria, No. 4, underlines its central position by returning to G minor. Just how much Bach valued this particular cantata is shown by his reuse of the first, third, fourth and fifth movements, according to the so-called "parody method,” in his Mass in G minor, BWV 235, which dates without so much as a shadow of a doubt from later than l726.
Ich habe meine Zuversicht (BWV l88) is altogether in a sad state of preservation. The cantata belongs to the fourth annual cycle for the year 1728/29, only fragments of which have been preserved. The 18 pages of the original score were at some stage cut into many pieces, and are now scattered throughout the world. For many years, it was even doubted whether Bach was in fact the author. But the poet Henrici (Picander) confirms this in his preface to Cantatas for Sundays and Feast Days for the Whole Year (l728) without any ambiguity: ”...perhaps the absence of poetic charm may be compensated by the delightful music of the incomparable Capellmeister Bach, so that these songs can be heard in the main churches of the worshipful city of Leipzig." The cantata text is a hymn to faith in God, which is logically confirmed by the chorale (No. 6). The original introductory Sinfonia can only be reconstructed frorn a copy dating from 1836 in which we find the remark "the Organ Concerto forms the introduction.” The music meant is the third movement of the Harpsichord Concerto in D minor (BWV l052) which in turn is based on a lost violin concerto (without a BWV number). The first and second movements thereof were used by Bach for the cantata Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen (BWV 146) which was first performed in 1726 or 1728. A da capo aria (No, 2) follows, with the thematic anticipation of the opening instrumental ritornello characteristic of Bach.Over string writing with full, parts and the oboe - playing solo in places - a heavily emotional, slightly undecided melody is developed, while in the middle section, ”wenn alles bricht” (tho’ mountains burst), lively string figures and racing, almost cascading oboe runs illustrate the meaning of the text. In the alto aria (No, 4), which is sparsely scored for obbligato organ and cello, syncopation and both lithesome and thythmically sophisticated theme-writing emphasize the statement that ”unerforschlich ist die Weise” (all uncharted is the country). A brief but highly expressive recitative leads into a simple four-part closing Chorale "Auf meinen lieben Gott" Lübeck, before l603), in which the accompanying instruments support the chorale melody.