Sunday Bach - Trinity 13

Bach wrote three cantatas for the 13th Sunday after Trinity. Today we'll listen to the one with the most interesting history, BWV 164, Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet (You, who call yourselves of Christ, Leipzig 1725). Although this solo cantata was first performed in Bach's third year in Leipzig, it was written much earlier in his career in Weimar; unfortunately it was never performed there because of the death of the young prince Johann Ernst and the mourning period which silenced all music. Thankfully Bach brought it out in public eventually! It has all the characteristics of his Weimar work - simplicity in both style and scoring (due to the access to a smaller group of musicians than he would later have in Leipzig), and a libretto by the poet Salomo Franck. Here's the late Craig Smith of Emmanuel Music on this cantata:

Perhaps the greatest achievement in Bach’s first year in Leipzig is the monumental chorus that begins the Cantata BWV 77. There has perhaps never been such a profound reaction to the parable of the Good Samaritan in all of art. About ten years before the composition of this work, Bach wrote an altogether more personal and modest reaction to this parable. The work was written in Weimar during a period when Bach was expected to provide service music once a month for the court chapel. The resulting work, BWV 164, was never performed in Weimar, because soon after its conception a period of mourning and thus silence was declared for the tragic death of the young Prince Johann Ernst, who was also one of Bach’s favorite pupils. 

The work was finally first performed in Bach’s third year at Leipzig. Bach never had a better librettist than his Weimar poet Salomo Franck. In our cantata today, Franck builds a series of touching and skillful metaphors: the pair of hands, wringing and open to help the victim; the weeping eyes, both hypocritical and real; and the heart, hard as stone or full of compassion. The work begins with a melancholy, rolling tenor aria with strings, reflecting Christ’s sadness at the hypocrisy of the professed Christian. The following bass recitative is tougher in tone and unforgiving in its judgment upon the priest and the Levite. 

Bach portrays the mercy of the Samaritan in the alto aria with gorgeous flutes, which are like a balm after the austerity of the continuo recitative. Bach then brings back not only the tenor voice but the strings as well, in a melting and forgiving texture in the accompanied recitative. The following duet for soprano and bas is a surprise. Mercy and forgiveness are usually portrayed in music with quiet and soft-edged music. Here the quicksilver music of all the treble instruments, often in canon with the bass instruments, creates a rapier lively texture. Notice how the close canons between the top and bottom instruments sound like the two open hands moving symmetrically. While it is true that the extraordinary grand design of the Cantata BWV 77 might have been beyond Bach in this Weimar period of his career, there is a personal warmth and connection to the text that is truly heart-warming in this lovely piece. 

© Craig Smith

The Gospel text that all three of Bach's cantatas for the 13th Sunday after Trinity are based on is the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke, and this particular cantata scolds those who passed by the injured man, and by implication the Christians of Bach's day, for their unloving and hard-hearted response to the man's need. By the end of the work Bach and Franck extoll the loving heart and soul of the true Christian, not only in word but also in the music. I rarely let my political views bleed over into these Sunday Bach posts, but in light of the fact that a certain segment of today's Christian community seems to be emulating the actions of the priest and the Levite in their use of their religion to excuse their hard-heartedness, I thought it appropriate to point out Franck's first verse of the work:

You, who call yourselves of Christ,
where is your mercy,
by which one recognizes Christ's members?
It is, alas, all too far from you.
Your hearts should be rich with love,
yet they are harder than a stone.

It seems that Bach's work still has some relevance in these times!

Today's performance is from a recording by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir under the direction of Ton Koopman. Enjoy!

Photo © 2018 by A. Roy Hilbinger