Merciful Heart of Eternal Love

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bach cantata
Merciful Heart of Eternal Love
BWV: 185
Occasion: 4th Sunday after Trinity
Year of origin: 1715
Place of origin: Weimar
Genus: cantata
Solo : SATB
Choir: SATB
Instruments : Whether Fg 2Vl Va Bc
text
unknown
List of Bach cantatas

Merciful Heart of Eternal Love ( BWV 185) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Weimar in 1715 for the 4th Sunday after Trinity and performed it for the first time on July 14, 1715.

Story and words

Bach was the court organist of Johann Ernst von Sachsen-Weimar in Weimar and was appointed concertmaster on March 2, 1714. This was accompanied by the task of performing a spiritual cantata in the castle church every month. Bach composed the cantata on the 4th Sunday after Trinity and performed it for the first time on July 14, 1715. He dated it himself "1715".

The prescribed readings for Sunday were Rom. 8 : 18-23  LUT , “All creatures long with us for the revelation of the children of God”, and Lk 6 : 36-42  LUT , the admonition from the Sermon on the Mount to be merciful and not to judge. The cantata text was written by court poet Salomon Franck for the occasion and published in Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer in 1715 . Franck goes into the gospel, recalls the admonitions and mentions the images of the splinter in the eye of the brother and the blind man who wants to lead a blind man. The last aria sums up the exhortations as "This is the Christian art". The cantata closes with the first stanza of Johann Agricola's chorale I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ (approx. 1530).

When Bach performed the cantata again in Leipzig on June 20, 1723, he transposed it from F sharp minor to G minor. In the same service, his fourth in Leipzig, he also performed his new cantata Ein undicoloured Mind , after taking up his position as cantor with two-part cantatas, with Die Elenden shall eat and The heavens tell the glory of God . Bach arranged the chorale in 1724 for the same occasion for the choral cantata I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ .

Occupation and structure

Like other cantatas based on words by Franck, the work is made up of chamber music with four soloists, soprano , alto , tenor and bass , four-part choir only in chorale, oboe , bassoon , two violins , viola and basso continuo . In the Leipzig version, a trumpet plays the cantus firmus of the chorale in the first movement instead of the oboe.

  1. Aria (Duetto e Choral) (soprano, tenor): Merciful Heart of Eternal Love
  2. Recitativo (Alto): Hearts, perverted in stone and rock
  3. Aria (Alto): Make an effort during this time
  4. Recitativo (bass): Self-love is flattering
  5. Aria (bass): This is Christian art
  6. Chorale: I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ

music

The opening duet is linked to the final chorale in two ways. The melody is played line by line by the oboe as cantus firmus , with decorations and in dance-like 6/4 time. The first interval in the voices and continuo is the same falling third as at the beginning of the chorale. The contra-subject is a reflection of the subject, just as human mercy should reflect divine.

The alto recitative is initially accompanied by strings and then turns into an arioso with continuo. The alto aria has the richest instrumentation, with figured oboe solos. The text of the bass aria with continuo sums up the admonitions of the gospel in one long sentence, but Bach breaks it down into parts that are introduced by “This is the Christian art”. The bass as the Vox Christi (voice of Christ) delivers this sermon. In Leipzig, the continuo part of the violins was doubled an octave higher. The final chorale is outshone by a fifth voice on the violin.

Recordings

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Julian Mincham: Chapter 6 BWV 185 Merciful Heart of Eternal Love . jsbachcantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2011.
Cantatas (BWV), oratorios and passions by Johann Sebastian Bach
Sacred cantatas

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69a • 70 / 70a • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 80a • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 • 108 • 109 • 110 • 111 • 112 • 113 • 114 • 115 • 116 • 117 • 118 • 119 • 120 • 121 • 122 • 123 • 124 • 125 • 126 • 127 • 128 • 129 • 130 • 131 • 132 • 133 • 134 • 135 • 136 • 137 • 138 • 139 • 140 • 143 • 144 • 145 • 146 • 147 / 147a • 148 • 149 • 150 • 151 • 152 • 153 • 154 • 155 • 156 • 157 • 158 • 159 • 161 • 162 • 163 • 164 • 165 • 166 • 167 • 168 • 169 • 170 • 171 • 172 • 173 • 174 • 175 • 176 • 177 • 178 • 179 • 180 • 181 • 182 • 183 • 184 • 185 • 186 • 187 • 188 • 190 • 191 • 192 • 193 • 194 • 195 • 196 • 197 • 199 • 244a

Bachsiegel.svg
Secular cantatas

30a • 34a • 36c • 134a • 173a • 198 • 201 • 202 • 203 • 204 • 205 • 206 • 207 • 207a • 208 • 209 • 210 • 210a • 211 • 212 • 213 • 214 • 215 • 216a • 249a

Cantatas not preserved

App. 1 • App. 2 • App. 3 • App. 4 • App. 4a • App. 5 • App. 6 • App. 7 • App. 8 • App. 9 • App. 10 • App. 11 • App. 12 • App. 13 • App. 14 • App. 15 • App. 16 • App. 17 • App. 18 • App. 19

Passions

St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244) • St. John Passion (BWV 245) • St. Luke Passion (BWV 246) (Bach's authorship questioned) • St. Mark Passion (BWV 247)

Oratorios

Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) • Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248) • Easter Oratorio (BWV 249)