Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

286 APPENDIX.i8. Ich bin ein guter Hirt,ig.Ich freue mich in dir.20. Ich hab in Gottes Herz.21. Jesu nun sei gepreiset.22. Liebster Immanuel.23. Mache dich mein Geist bereit.24. Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht.25. Meine Seele erhebet den Herren.26. Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin.27. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (B minor).28. Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele.29. Was frag ich nach der Welt.30. Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh.31. Wo soll ich fliehen hin.These are all chorale cantatas with the exception of Nos. 6, 7, 13, and18. We can verify the date at which this paper was first used byNos. 6 and 13, since in the original MSS. we find, besides the halfmoon, the watermark (see woodcut in note 2) which distinguishes thegroup immediately preceding : it is 1735 ; and further evidence is to befound in the connection between No. 7 and the Easter Oratorio (seeVol. II., p. 715) and between No. 19 and the Sandus of the B minorMass (see note 2). In No. 11 the text bears unmistakable reference tothe war in which the country was then engaged, though it must alsobe admitted that the immediate suggestion was given by the Epistle forthe day, which prophesies the dispersion of the Jews. Still the use ofthe hymn " Du Friedefürst " points to some contemporary event of asimilar character. The introduction of an independent verse as arecitative is, however, conclusive. The text—as is always the casewith Bach's later chorale cantatas—is mainly a paraphrase of some ofthe verses of a well known hymn. The alto aria is founded on thesecond verse, the tenor recitative on the third ; the fourth and fifth areomitted ; verse six is adapted for the terzett ; the seventh, which is thelast, is simply treated as the closing chorale. But the words of the altorecitative immediately before this finale are quite independent of thehymn, and to this effect :Let not Th}' people bleed, O God,Too long beneath Thy rod !O Lord, who art the Lord of law and right,Thou know'st the adversary's wrath,His cruelty and lawless might.Put forth Thy strong and saving hand,Defend our terror-stricken landFor Thou canst bid their raging cease.And keep us in abiding peace.These words indicate some stress of war in Saxony itself, and in 1774,