Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

76 'JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.in noble yearning, the gloom of darkness is representedin a strangely weird manner by means of sequencesof tone and harmony. Whether Bach thought that enoughhad been done in this direction, or from some othercause, the beautiful evening hymn "Ach bleib bei uns,Herr Jesu Christ," which v/as such an especial favouritefor evening services, and which forms the middle movementof the cantata, is rather wanting in depth for a compositionof Bach. As in an organ trio, the soprano singsthe Cantiis firmus while the figured bass and a Violoncellopiccolo have counterpoint upon it. The last-named instrumentderives its subject from the first line of the tune,but soon goes off into wonderful leaps, arpeggios, andruns. At the close, where we should expect the returnof the same chorale, we find the second verse of " Erhaltuns Herr bei deinem Wort," which was probably suggestedby the doctrinal turn now taken by the words of the cantata. *At all events, the remainder of the work cannot be comparedwith the impressive beauty of the first two movements.The cantatas " Es wartet alles auf dich " (seventhSunday after Trinity) ^^ and " Wer Dank opfert, der preisetmich" (fourteenth Sunday after Trinity)^^ were used for theMasses in G minor and G major, so that they must havebeen written before the date of these v/orks, and that isabout 1737. The Gospel tells of the feeding of the fourthousand, and the chief chorus of the first cantata extolsthe goodness of God, Who nourishes all His creatures withinexhaustible gifts, in the words of the Psalmist (Ps. civ., 27and 28). The chorus is grandly conceived and splendidlyworked out, excepting that, considering the subject, itis curiously gloomy. In the course of the work, whichgoes on to a general glorif3'ing of God's mercies, thischaracter is not however maintained. On words taken'^ The autograph score and original parts in the Royal Library at Berlin;the original instrumental parts are in the possession of Herr Professor Rudorffof Lichterfelde, near Berlin. I have lately observed that the watermark seemsto assign it to July 7, 1732. It is that described in note 48, Appendix A.,of Vol!^ II.9s B.-G., II., No. 17. P. 1282.