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Music for the Fifteenth Sunday
after Pentecost
Cantor and soloist:
Robin Smith
Mass Setting:
Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan
Voluntary
Opening Hymn 10:
New every morning is the love, Kedron
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
The congregation chants each half-verse of the psalm beginning at the asterisk *
At the Offertory—
Cantata 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (mvt. 4), Johann Sebastian Bach
Tief gebückt und voller Reue
Lieg ich, liebster Gott, vor dir.
Ich bekenne meine Schuld,
Aber habe doch Geduld,
Habe doch Geduld mit mir!
Deeply bowed and filled with regret
I lie, dearest God, before you.
I acknowledge my guilt;
but yet have patience,
have patience yet with me!
Offertory Hymn 675:
Take up your cross, the Savior said, Bourbon
During Communion—
Cantata 199 Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut (mvt. 2), J. S. Bach
Stumme Seufzer, stille Klagen,
Ihr mögt meine Schmerzen sagen,
Weil der Mund geschlossen ist.
Und ihr nassen Tränenquellen
Könnt ein sichres Zeugnis stellen,
Wie mein sündlich Herz gebüßt.
Mute sighs, silent cries,
you may tell my sorrows,
for my mouth is shut.
And you, moist springs of tears,
can bear certain witness
to how my sinful heart repents.
Communion Hymn 343:
Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless, St. Agnes
Closing Hymn 484:
Praise the Lord through every nation, Wachet auf
Voluntary
Music Notes:
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was appointed to the ducal court at Weimar as organist in 1708, and promoted to concertmaster there at the end of 1713. There were no demands on him to compose church cantatas prior to this appointment. Recent research has shown that Cantata BWV 199, Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut, (My Heart Swims in Blood) provides one of the few exceptions, having been first given at Weimar on August 27, 1713, the 11th Sunday after Trinity. Bach revised the cantata on a number of occasions with the result that there are now three existing versions of the score.
It is likely that Bach had limited resources available for the initial performance; no use is made of a choir, even the obligatory chorale is sung by the soloist. With the exception of this typically Lutheran gesture, the scheme closely conforms to that of the Italian cantata, a form Bach is known to have studied with considerable interest. Only a single wind instrument is called upon to support the strings and continuo. Interestingly there is a rare viola obligato part for the sixth movement and it is tempting to speculate that if players were in short supply, Bach may well have performed this himself.
Cantata BWV 199 is the earliest extant cantata by Bach for a solo voice (in this case, soprano). The vocal part is technically demanding, containing challenges that only a few of Weimar’s accomplished professional singers could meet. In fact, the work may have been composed for one such singer, falsettist Johann Friedrich Weldig. The composer later revived the work in Cohen (where it might well have been sung by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, a highly accomplished singer) and in Leipzig—hence the three different performing versions.
The text, by Darmstadt court poet Georg Christian Helms, draws on the Gospel for the day (Luke 18:9-14), which relates the parable of the proud Pharisee and the humble tax collector. The theme is that of humility and repentance leading to redemption.
The first aria, Stemma Seizer, stile Kalgan (offered today during communion) is a grief-stricken supplication of great beauty to God to have patience with the sinner. The shape of the beautiful oboe ritornello melody suggests striving, sorrow, and falling tears. It takes us briefly to a cadence in F major—as though offering a possible moment of hope—but returns immediately to the lachrymal key of d minor. Interestingly, there are two long rising Melisa’s on the word geschlossen (closed) accentuating the silent loneliness of the lamenting sinner as well, perhaps, as suggesting the effort of trying to communicate through a mouth that remains steadfastly mute in grief.
The second aria, Tief gebückt und voller Reue (heard today at the offertory) is in the form of a minuet and it conveys a direct statement of repentance. It is the central movement of the cantata—and the longest—indicating that Bach would have expected his audience to attach particular significance to it. Warmly accompanied by strings, the soprano expresses remorse unreservedly—I acknowledge my guilt; but yet have patience yet with me! This, the keystone of the cantata might even be said to express the centrality of Lutheran dogma: sorrow will disappate when we as sinners repent, and reformation begets reconciliation.
-- Owen Burdick
