Explore me, God, and experience my heart
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Explore me, God, and experience my heart | |
| BWV: | 136 |
| Occasion: | 8th Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1723 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | ATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Co Ob 2Vl Va Bc |
| text | |
| unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Explore me, God, and experience my heart , BWV 136, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach , written in Leipzig in 1723 for the eighth Sunday after Trinity , July 18, 1723.
Story and text
The cantata was performed in Leipzig on the eighth Sunday after Trinity. However, the sources only show a composition at this point in time for the middle part of movement 3 and the final chorale. Other parts are probably based on a lost secular or ecclesiastical cantata. The text for the opening chorus is Psalm 139 , verse 23. The prescribed readings for Sunday were as Epistle Rom 8 : 12-17 LUT , "Those who are led by the Spirit of God are God's children", and as the Gospel Mt 7:15 - 23 LUT , a section from the Sermon on the Mount , the warning about false prophets. The poet of the recitatives and arias , which are closely related to the readings, is unknown. The chorale is verse 9 of Johann Heermann's Where shall I flee to (1630), based on the melody of To my dear God , which Bach used again in 1724 for his cantata Where shall I flee .
Cast and structure
The cantata is composed for three soloists and a four-part choir, horn , oboe , oboe d'amore , two violins , viola and basso continuo .
- Coro: Explore me, God, and experience my heart
- Recitativo (tenor): Oh, that the curse hits the ground there
- Aria (alto, oboe d'amore): A day will come
- Recitativo (bass): The heavens themselves are not pure
- Aria (tenor, bass, violins): The spots of sins hit us
- Choral (violin): Your blood, the noble juice
music
The opening choir consists essentially of two parts, A and A ′, choir fugues on the same topics for the entire text. An extensive instrumental ritornello , determined by the horn, sounds at the beginning, between the parts and at the end. The first fugue is preceded by a vocal “motto”. During the whole movement the oboes do not play independently, but instead reinforce the violins in the ritornelles and the soprano in the choir parts. Bach later used the movement for Cum Sancto Spiritu of his Missa in A major.
The two recitatives are mostly secco , only in the last bars of movement 4 do they merge into arioso .
The aria is accompanied by the oboe d'amore, the middle section (which was certainly composed in 1723) is overwritten presto . Both violins accompany the duet in unison , while the singing voices sometimes imitate and sometimes sing homophonically , similar to the duets that Bach wrote in Koethen.
The chorale is extended to five voices by a violin, as in the chorale of Schallet, you songs, resound, you strings! .
Recordings
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 44. Conductor Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Helen Watts , Kurt Equiluz , Niklaus Tüller . Hänssler, 1978.
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 7. Conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Tölzer Knabenchor , Concentus Musicus Vienna , Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz , Walter Heldwein . Teldec , 1983.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 7. Conductor Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Bogna Bartosz , Gerd Türk , Klaus Mertens . Antoine Marchand, 1997.
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 11 - Cantatas from Leipzig 1723 IV. Conductor Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Kai Wessel , Makoto Sakurada , Peter Kooij . UP , 1998.
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 5. Conductor John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , Robin Tyson , Christoph Genz , Brindley Sherratt . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- Explore me, God, and experience my heart. Conductor Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Markus Forster, Johannes Kaleschke, Ekkehard Abele. Bea Wyler (reflection). DVD. Gallus Media, 2011.
Web links
- Cantata BWV 136 Explore me, God, and experience my heart . Bach Cantatas
- Explore Me, God, and Experience My Heart, BWV 136 : Sheet Music and Audio Files in the International Music Score Library Project
- BWV 136 Explore me, God, and experience my heart Text, structure and cast on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
- Explore me, God, and experience my heart on the Bach website (in German)
- Entries for BWV 136 on WorldCat
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Gardiner: Cantatas for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity Christkirche Rendsburg ( en ) Soli Deo Gloria. 2000. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
- ^ Bach: Cantatas Vol 11 / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan . Arkivmusic. 1999. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
- ↑ John Quinn: Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750) The Bach Cantata Pilgrimage - Volume 5 Cantatas for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity ( en ) Musicweb-international.com. 2009. Retrieved July 15, 2010.
