Luogo e data di registrazione		Rosario, Bever (Belgium) - 27/28 April 2009
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Recording Staff		Eckhard Steiger
	Prima Edizione CD		ACCENT - ACC 25311 - (1 CD) - durata 55' 42" - (p) 2009 (c) 2010 - DDD
	Note		-

COMMENTARY on the cantatas presented here This recording contains the Cantatas for “Quasimodogeniti”, “Misericordias Domini” and “Jubilate” Sundays; these are the three Sundays after Easter. For Quasimodogeniti we have two Bach Cantatas (BWV 67 and 42), and for Misericordias Domini we have three (BWV 104, 85 and 112) as we do for Jubilate (BWV 12, 103 and 146). All these pieces bear the overwhelming mastery of Bach in themselves. So our choice of these three Cantatas for the present recording was made for no particular reason. “Halt im Gedächnis Jesum Christ”, BWV 67 (Hold in remembrance Jesus Christ) for Quasimodogeniti Sunday 16th April 1724. Although the text of this Cantata was printed at the time (in Texte Zur Leipziger Kirchen=Music, auf die H.Oster=Feiertage, Und die beyden folgenden Sonntage Quasimodogeniti und Misericordias Domini. 1724. Leipzig, Gedruckt bey Immanuel Tietzeni), the name of the poet remains unknown; critical examination of the style alone does not permit any certain conclusion about the authorship. The compiler of the text, or the poet, has gathered up his material from various sources: Paul‘s Second Letter to Timothy (Ch. 2, 8), St. John‘s Gospel (20, 19) and old chorale texts by Nikolaus Hermans (1560) and Jakob Ebert (1601). The Gospel Lesson for Quasimodogeniti Sunday is St. John 20, Ch. 19-31: Jesus appears to his disciples after his Resurrection. Thomas, who was not there, did not believe his friends when they told him about it, and said that he would only believe it if he saw and could touch Jesus‘s wounds himself. A week later Jesus appeared again to the apostles and told Thomas that he should place his hand in the wounds, whereupon Thomas cried out loudly and said that Jesus would be my Lord and my God. Then Jesus spoke the famous sentence “Because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” So belief is – or rather the difficulty of believing – the main theme of this work, wholly in accord with the thoughts in the Gospel Lesson. The motto is the quotation taken from Paul‘s Second Letter to Timothy “Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ, der aufgestanden ist von den Toten“ (Hold in remembrance Jesus Christ, who is risen from the dead). The faithful are encouraged not to think and behave like Thomas. These words by St. Paul are sung in the opening chorus (No. 1). Although this is not a chorale text, Bach treats it as if it was. He lets these words wander through the piece like a red thread (as in a cantus firmus), and actually uses it as a musical motif, which we clearly recognise as the famous “O Lamm Gottes unschuldig” (O innocent Lamb of God). Through this association of ideas Bach, for his part, will lead us to the ulterior thought, that Christ was innocent when he suffered death on the Cross – and then rose from the dead. The opening chorus is monumentally laid out and deeply thought through. The richly coloured wind group characterises the sound of the whole: a corno da tirarsi (literally a ‘pull-horn’, also a ‘telescopic horn!’) introduces the cantus firmus and later reinforces the soprano. It is joined by a transverse flute and two oboes d‘amore, which are placed in dialogue or in unison with the vocal quartet or the strings. The instrumental introduction almost always anticipates the following vocal sections. Here Bach plays with the words. Thus he uses the opening word “Halt” (Hold) with a double meaning. On the one hand in the sense of hold, keep, always stay there (which he achieves through the long held note at the beginning of the cantus firmus before the related chorale motif (O Lamb of God) enters), and meanwhile, on the other hand, there is the imperious effect of the cry “Halt!”. At the same time he isolates it from the next word, and repeats it three times clearly separate, as a triple signal. This is actually also appropriate here: halt, go no further in thy thoughts, stand still ... The “Hold in remembrance” is clearly strengthened by this “wordplay”. Musically an insistent figure results from three exclamations, between which the oboe begins to play several ‘forlorn’ notes – a motif which is broken off (yes, a broken-off thought: the “Halt” stops so abruptly!) After the third and last “Halt”, however, the broken oboe motif finally continues in regular quavers (the picture of reinstated remembrances, which holds the right track?) After seven bars like this, in which the strings have a contrapuntal dialogue with material from the cantus firmus “Lamb of God”, the bass takes over the cantus firmus and the horn the running quavers. We hear this course in three lightly modified versions one after the other, first in the instrumental introduction and then twice with the singers. Then, in bar 33, the vocal ensemble starts a kind of double fugue with the basso continuo, with the cantus firmus as the subject and the running quavers as the counter-subject. There follows a tutti section, in which the woodwinds double the singers in a contrapuntal web (like the strings with each other previously). The higher strings undertake the running quaver motif again, and the basso continuo and the horn have a dialogue with the cantus firmus material. This very complex piece (a complete  description would be too long, and hardly possible to follow without a score) is so extremely varied; the most amazing construction, which intends to stamp the chief thoughts of this Sunday‘s liturgy deeply into our minds. Without an intervening recitative, the Cantata continues with an Aria (no. 2) for tenor and strings. The poet points to the terrible inner division: “Mein Jesus ist erstanden – allein, was schreckt mich noch?” (My Jesus is risen – but, what frightens me still?). Why do I not stand firm in my faith and still by so many things would be frightened (“... doch fühlt mein Herze Streit und Krieg”) (... still my heart feels strife and war)? Also I wish, like Thomas, to see the resurrected Jesus (“...erscheine doch, mein Heil”) (...yet appear, my Saviour), although my faith “des Heilands Sieg kennt ...” (knows of the Saviour‘s victory). The mind ‘knows’ (or tries to ‘know’, makes a big effort), though the heart doubts and knows fear and distress. Bach makes use of the course of the two first lines clearly and consistently: on “erstanden” (risen) an upwards run, and for “Allein, was schreckt mich noch” (But, what frightens me still), a sudden skipped beat: a sharply dotted rhythm. Here also in the introduction is a precise portrayal of the coming vocal episode. Both elements, the rising line and the dotted figure, are set in the most varied combinations in this aria, which is by and large restless. Next comes a long Secco Recitativo (nos. 3 and 5) for alto, interrupted by a Chorale (no. 4, text by Hermans, 1560), in which the poet addresses Jesus himself about our inner conflicts: how is it possible that “mich noch Gefahr und Schrecken trifft” (I still meet danger and terror) if Thou hast overcome death? We sing to Thee the hymn of praise “Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag, usw.“ (Now dawns the glorious day etc.) (this is the Chorale, no. 4, an old Easter hymn), but nevertheless my enemies do not let me rest in peace! From here on, however, the poet at last thinks positively, and finally expresses his confidence (“Ja, wir spüren schon im Glauben / Dass du, O Friedensfürst / Dein Wort und Werk an uns erfüllen wirst” – Yea, we already feel in our faith / that Thou, O Prince of Peace / will fill us with Thy word and work). After this triple structure (nos. 3-4-5) there again follows a three-part text: the complex Aria (no. 6) with woodwind and strings. In the Baroque way, the poet takes up the last words of the previous Secco Recitativo: he now brings on stage the risen Jesus, and in fact with those welcoming words, which he (according to St. John‘s Gospel) also directed at the disciples when appearing to them: “Friede sei mit euch” (Peace be with thee). Here, as usual, the divine words are sung by the bass, the Vox Dei (the Voice of God). The poet lets Jesus say these words three times (in St. John‘s Gospel three appearances are also reported). After each of these ‘greetings’, he allows the group of the faithful – in the shape of the three other singers – to arrive with their own poetic reaction to the word. They praise Jesus, who helps them to struggle and to calm the fury of their enemies (“hilft uns kämpfen und die Wut der Feinde zu dämpfen”), who refreshes both spirit and body (“...erquicket Geist und Leib zugleich”), and they beg for his help to enter into His glorious Kingdom through death (“um den Tod hindurchzudringen in dein Ehrenreich”). Bach has ‘darkened’ the original structure coming from the poet in so far as he allows an instrumental introduction to precede the setting, as already anticipated by the commentary of the assembled company, and anyway adds another (fourth!) greeting through the Vox Dei as a conclusion to the whole. Musically the impression of a four-part structure arises through this (four times the sequence of assembled company / Voice of God), while earlier the text produces a triple change of Voice of God/assembled company. Above all, Bach emphasised in this aria the contrast between earthly toil and distress on the one hand (the struggle, the refreshment after the fatigue, the hope of the Kingdom of Heaven), and on the other hand the universal wish for peace through Jesus, who towers over all this. To heighten the theatrical effect he opens the aria with a powerful prelude for strings, which portrays above all the struggle. This immediately connects with the first Vox Dei greeting “Friede sei mit euch”, which is framed by the transverse flute and the two oboes. After this ‘struggle music’ they form redeeming ‘heaven music’ in a dense, three-voice web, which is accompanied by a very spare basso continuo. The three other singers (the assembled company of the faithful, in the poet‘s words) respond to the wish for peace with “Wohl uns, Jesus hilft uns kämpfen” (Happy are we, Jesus helps us in the struggle) etc.: the strings unfold their warlike motifs again and the singers join in with a lively imitative counterpoint. Now comes the second wish for peace and again the three-voice response: “Wohl uns, Jesus holet uns zum Frieden / Und erquicket in uns / Müden Geist und Leib zugleich” (Happy are we, Jesus leads us towards peace / and refreshes both spirit and body when we are tired) (note the long held notes on “Müden”, during the continuing ‘warlike notes’ of the strings). Finally the third wish for peace, set for bass with the high wind, is followed by the last commentary of the assembled company with the strings “O Herr, hilf und lass gelingen” (O Lord. Help us and let us succeed) etc. At the close as already noted, Bach puts an additional greeting “Friede sei mit euch”. This device lends the whole structure a clear progression from war and strife to peace: God‘s help for the faithful (in the libretto it was just the other way round). At the same time, it must be pointed out that the distribution of the voices, which we find here, can very well be taken as an argument that Bach used only four soloists for his cantata performances. Had he actually had several singers per register at his disposal, then the three-voice writing (soprano, alto, tenor), which we find in the polyphonic sections between the bass ‘greetings’, would hardly be explicable, because a full four-voice choir would certainly have been natural here, if it had been in existence! The Cantata closes with a simple four-part Chorale (no. 7) to the text of J. Ebert (1601) “Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ” (Thou Prince of Peace, Lord Jesus Christ), in which the chief message is that the Christian should turn to Jesus as a “starker Nothelfer” (strong Deliverer), in whose name he cries to the Father. “Ich bin ein guter Hirt”, BWV 85 (I am a good Shepherd) for Misericordias Domini Sunday, the 15th April 1725. The leitmotif of this Cantata‘s text also comes from St. John‘s Gospel (ch. 10, 11-16), which is read on this Sunday: I am a good Shepherd, and give my life for my sheep – where the ordinary shepherd would allow the attack of the wolf on the sheep and then these would be killed. The poet of this text is also unknown. The Cantata begins with the quotation from St. John “Ich bin ein guter Hirt, etc” (I am a good Shepherd, etc) (no. 1). As expected, such a word of God is spoken by the bass alone (Vox Dei). In this short aria there is a dialogue between a solo oboe and the singer. (The shawm, typical ‘shepherd instrument’, is regarded as the archetype oboe). In the introduction we hear the theme in the instrumental bass, as it is later heard five times in the course of the piece by the bass singing “Ich bin ein guter Hirt” (the instrumental bass actually plays it in its original form a total of fourteen times. Perhaps a hidden Bach signature, the sum of B+a+c+h, or, ‘converted’, 2+1+3+8, which makes 14? It would not be the only time). The oboe, after a long held first note, plays the descending run of semiquavers, which will be the fundamental component of the composition: the Shepherd watches from above, because he is above ...! The run occurs for the first time on the words “lässt sein Leben ...” (gives his life), which clearly expresses the let go, the giving up. The aria proceeds with a lyrical flow, in horizontal polyphonic lines, occasionally in a six-part texture. There follows an Aria for Alto (no. 2) with basso continuo and obbligato Violoncello piccolo – therefore a Violoncello da spalla (shoulder cello), here at a higher pitch (G d a e‘, an octave below the violin pitch: the possible fifth string, for deep C, is not called for here and can be omitted). The part is actually entirely imagined in the violin idiom. Bach used here the contents of the text as the foundation for his composition. He set himself up so to speak as an instrument which must play the introduction, whose main theme is the ‘guarding’. As the sheepdog constantly circles round the sheep in order to watch over them, so the Shepherd Jesus cares for his sheep, mankind. We find this constant ‘encircling’ clearly expressed musically in the almost unbroken semiquavers of the solo instruments. When these are occasionally silent, the vocal soloist takes them over with a long vocalise on the words “... die ihm niemand rauben wird” (whom no one will carry off): as if Jesus is represented as the watching sheepdog. In the following Chorale Arrangement (no. 3) the librettist uses the first verse of a psalm-hymn by Cornelius Becker (1598): “Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt” (The Lord is my true Shepherd). The two oboes (again the ‘shepherd instruments’) present the melody in a slightly varied form in dialogue over steady quavers in the basso continuo. In the fourth bar the continuo also takes on the start of this theme, while the first oboe plays the other important motif (made up), which later appears time and again from both oboes as a ‘framework’ for the whole (this reminds us anew of the constant ‘guarding’, as in the previous aria). The soprano soloist sings the four lines twice in separate blocks, in which the melody is slightly varied. In the Accompagnato Recitativo for tenor (no. 4) with strings, which now follows, the poet portrays the scene in Baroque language: the ‘hireling’ sleeps (the ‘hired’ shepherd) and does not keep watch, but the good Shepherd watches over his sheep and leads them to “wo die Lebensströme fließen” (where the streams of life flow). If then “der Höllenwolf kommt, die Schafe zu verschlingen” (the wolf from hell comes, to devour the sheep) the Shepherd will scare it off. As is usual in such an accompanied recitative, some of the strings also illustrate it here: thus the ‘watching’ (as lively fast triplets) and the ‘flowing streams’ (as a horizontally downward figure). This is also illustrated at the close by the tenor with the sudden, large, upward interval as revenge is taken on the wolf from hell. The tenor immediately goes further with an Aria (no. 5): “Seht, was die Liebe tut / Mein Jesus hält in guter Hut / Die Seinen feste eingeschlossen” (See what love can do. / My Jesus holds with kindly care / his flock securely in his keeping). Once again it is noteworthy how Bach is prepared to arrange the contents of the text like an instrument, not because he wishes to portray every episode (as if he must above all be ‘painterly’, in order to make a story clear for the listeners), but only – as I believe at least – so that the medium used would be sensibly measured for or even ‘attached’ by himself out of the subject, even if this was not perhaps immediately apparent from the first hearing. What and how the material is, is just as important as how Bach makes use of it. Both aspects are inseparable and therefore it is, because of this among other things, impossible to express in words the true greatness of his art, or indeed of art in general. (We also find in many religions the impossibility of expressing the true Name of God.) The three string parts (both violins and viola) play in unison, thus with one sound. This idea comes from the text “feste eingeschlossen”. It would be normal for the three to be different from each other. The start of the text “Seht” (See) is given emphasis by Bach letting the tenor repeat it three times separately before continuing. When the words “Mein Jesus hält” (My Jesus holds) are heard for the first time, Bach writes three similar notes strung together (‘recto tono’). He repeats this, when on the words “Und hat am Kreuzesstamm” (And had on the Cross) the music changes to the key of the fifth, and then continues with a long vocalise on “vergossen” (spilt), which is repeated shortly afterwards in rather an extended form. The ‘bleeding’ is thus made noticeable as an event in time and space. The melodic invention of this movement seems very ‘pastoral’: the Shepherd inspires the music ... As a close to this rather intimate Cantata (there is no great choral movement!) we get a verse from the hymn “Ist Gott mein Schild und Helfersmann” (God is 9 my Shield and Helper) by Ernst Chr. Homburg (1658): “Ist Gott mein Schutz und treuer Hirt” (God is my Protection and True Shepherd) (chorale no. 6). The leitmotif of the Shepherd is used as a synthesis for the last time. The melody is no typical simple chorale, but rather the product of a clearly later aesthetic: it widens out like a four-part Baroque aria, with evermoving voice leading. “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen”, BWV 12 (Weeping, wailing, worrying, fearing) is one of Bach‘s early Cantatas. It was composed in Weimar for the Jubilate Sunday 22nd April 1714, though Bach performed it again in Leipzig on the 30th April 1724, as is verified by some sources. The Weimar score is in F minor, the Leipzig notation was in G minor. The ‘objective’ pitch actually gives much the same result, because in the Leipzig church, music was made in a lower key than previously in Weimar; but the notes are differently placed in the instruments (for example, the open strings of the stringed instruments in the Leipzig G minor are tuned to different notes than in the higher Weimar F minor!), so one has in fact the impression of another key. We have chosen, for practical reasons, the Leipzig version, and also decided to keep the instrumentation (as well as the voices) for this Cantata one-to-a-part. In my opinion, this corresponds more to the style and tradition in similar pieces. This Cantata feels very typical of the young Bach. For one thing, in his Weimar period he was inclined towards a definitely older tradition (for example the five-part strings), for another his tremendous imagination and the directly expressive power unfolded there in full maturity, which still surprises us today. The text comes from the famous cantata poet Salomon Franck, with whom Bach worked directly after his appointment as concertmaster in the Weimar court (BWV 182, 12 and 172). Franck was born in 1659 in Weimar, and also died there in 1724. After studying law and theology he became the Court Librarian. As a poet he wrote many cantata poems from 1694, in which he was sometimes conformist. In his later texts we find him using the familiar cantata form, with alternating arias and recitatives, but in the beginning he confined himself to bible texts combined with his own verses. Thus “Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen” belongs to his earlier method of working. The opening text follows closely the Gospel reading for Jubilate Sunday (St. John, ch. 16, 16-23), in which it is said “Ihr werdet weinen und heulen” (Ye shall weep and lament). Then follows a literal quotation (from the Acts of the Apostles this time: ch. 14, 22) “Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen” (We must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God). Then come three aria texts from his own pen, one after the other, without intervening recitatives (the schemas with recitatives are mostly only found in the later works). A chorale verse by Samuel Rodegast, 1675, the last verse of his hymn “Was Gott tut, das ist wohl getan” (What God does, that is well done) closes the work. Bach opens the Cantata with a Sinfonia (no. 1) for solo oboe with five-part string accompaniment (the basso continuo is strengthened by a bassoon). In this piece the lamenting is prepared, which we hear immediately afterwards from the singers. The two violins sometimes combine with the richly ornamented oboe cantilena, and the separate viola part maintains its simple, regular, quaver pulse throughout the whole piece. The bass supports the whole with slow strides (like pillars under the harmony). This section is reminiscent of the first movement of the E major Sonata for Harpsichord and Violin; although this latter movement is in the major it shows the same compositional method. In its Affekt this Sinfonia is also very like the oboe and strings Sinfonia from the Weimar Cantata “Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis” (I am much distressed) (BWV 21). There follows the real beginning of the Cantata (no. 2, “Chorus”. This movement is, as required by the text, a true Lamento, entirely in the tradition of the preceding seventeenth century. The basic structure is A-B-A. In the A-part (marked Lente) the instrumental bass is a striding figure of four bars in 3/2 time, which is constantly repeated, a so-called Ground, which we find so often in Purcell for example, among others. Here it is the familiar Lamento bass, a chromatic descending line, which closes with a V-I (dominant to tonic) phrase, before starting again. The four upper voices participate with homophonic chords on the first and third beats, which are very often dissonant. The third beat is left ‘blank’ each time, which gives a melancholic, sorrowful, ostinato feeling to the instrumental web. On the second ‘free’ beat one of the four singers gives a new impulse to the text almost every time. So the beginning of the Lamento is an insertion (on the second beat of the bar each time) of the words “Weinen – Klagen – Sorgen – Zagen” in a descending sequence presented by the soprano-alto-tenor-bass. From the third bar the tenor begins the sequence again, and the voices overlap more and more until the full four-part version develops, which expresses the words “Angst und Not” (anxiety and distress) homophonically in a lamenting harmony. After this the ‘individual’ laments from all the voices start again (always over the same ground!), in which very bold harmonic turns come and go. An instrumental interlude (the last time on the ground!) leads into the B-part (un poco allegro) on the words “die das Zeichen Jesu tragen” (who bear the sign of Jesus). This part of the movement is opposite to with the above; a flowing and very serene polyphony, without painful dissonances, advances, until Bach suddenly writes Andante, and again, in a slow tempo, a chromatic (this time rising) figure with trills enters on the word “Zeichen”; this short section leads up to a repeat of the Lente Lamento. Bach remembered the unusual Lamento of this Cantata, when much later he composed the “Crucifixus” in the Credo of the B minor Mass. He transposed the whole into E minor, added two transverse flutes, which play together on the second and third beats (there is a rest on the first), and adapted the Crucifixus text to the existing polyphony. The instruments play alone this time in an introduction on the ground with the appropriate harmony. So while the ground is repeated 12 times in the Cantata “Weinen, Klagen” etc., this figure appears in the Crucifixus 13 times in the bass. Speculatively, it must be suspected that Bach incorporated his ‘name-number’ 14 (the sum of B-A-C-H in the alphabet), here deliberately reduced by 1 (the crucifixus of the dying Christ) and thus his secret signature. Or does the 13 (instead of 12 in the original version) have another meaning? Now follows an Accompagnato Recitativo for alto and strings (no. 3), on the words from the Acts of the Apostles (as tradition wants, edited by St. Luke), ch. 14, 22: “Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes eingehen” (We must through much tribulation enter the Kingdom of God). With these words – or so, at least, it says in the Scriptures – Paul and Barnabas addressed the Christian faithful in Antioch, and emphasized them constantly to hold on firmly to faith. Bach repeats the idea of the “Trübsal” four times, each time with expressive harmony; the words “in das Reich Gottes ein(gehen)” are sung very significantly on an ascending line. The alto takes this further in an Aria (no. 4) with obbligato oboe and basso continuo. Salomon Franck again takes the main motif of his text from the Holy Scripture: “Kreuz und Krone sind verbunden” (Cross and Crown are joined together), see Revelations ch. 2, 10, where St. John says: “seid getreu bis in den Tod, so will ich euch die Krone des Lebens geben” (be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life); “Kampf und Kleinod sind vereint” (struggle and treasure are united). He alludes so to the First Epistle to the Corinthians (ch. 9, 24). There Paul says that, in the stadium, all the athletes run, but only one receives the prize – the Kleinod. Again, the continuing effort needed to “reach the Kingdom of God” is described. The alto and the oboe develop their dialogue over a calm walking bass. A couple of times they interfere with each other in their ‘conversation’. The music does without descriptive elements to a large extent, and remains abstract in its layout. With some effort, however, one can imagine in the opening motif the horizontal and vertical lines of the Cross, expressed through its sudden downward fall (of a seventh) and the immediate return to the higher tessitura in the middle of the opening horizontal motif. Without an intervening recitative it is followed by the Aria for Bass (no. 5) with two violins and basso continuo. The portrayal of the difficult requirements finally gives way here to the resolve of the faithful to set out on the road: “Ich folge Christo nach, von ihm will ich nicht lassen” etc. (I follow in the steps of Christ, I will not abandon Him etc.). A constantly recurring rising line from all the parts involved one after the other, heard at first canonically, illustrates the words “Ich folge Christo nach”. This aria breathes life into the firm intention, “Christi Schmach zu küssen, und das Kreuz umfassen” (to kiss Christ’s humiliation, and to embrace his Cross), as the poet phrases it. We hear a concertante structure with two high and two low parts; in the instrumental interludes the traditional trio sonata appears not to be too far away. Again without a recitative being pushed in between (we hardly ever come across this in the later recitative cantatas) a third Aria (no. 6) follows, this time for tenor and basso continuo, with obbligato tromba (da tirarsi), thus a ‘slide trumpet’! The text reads “Sei getreu, alle Pein / Wird doch nur ein kleines sein” etc. (Be true, all suffering / will then be only a small thing etc). Here we encounter again Bach’s deep immersion in the text. The “Sei getreu” is almost performed by the basso continuo, in that it repeats it as a continual obbligato motif, that actually submits itself to the vocal part as in true ‘service’, at the same time always remaining at a distance and never being concurrent. The tenor voice on the other hand is very lyrically melodic and is central to events; it attracts all attention to itself and also transmits the text. Finally the tromba frames the whole with the wordless performance of the slightly ornamented chorale melody “Jesu meine Freude” (Jesus my joy). For the experienced listener this was immediately recognisable. The profound closeness of this (hidden!) text with the sung text is obvious. Incidentally, the sentence from Revelations comes through at the beginning of this aria, which we have already heard in the alto aria (no. 4): “seid getreu” (... so I will give you the crown of life). So this aria is an example, of how Bach is able to bring three absolutely independent lines together in one unique and wonderful whole – a kind of Trinity. The Closing Chorale (no. 7) is a simple movement “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan” (What God does, that is well done), by Samuel Rodigast, 1675, to which Bach exceptionally added an independent instrumental descant in the high register, which was presumably meant for the tromba da tirarsi (the sources which have come down to us do not show clearly who should play it). Does it not symbolise the royal, divine accompaniment to our journey through life? Sigiswald Kuijken Translation by Christopher Cartwright and Godwin Stewart