Lord, do not judge your servant
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| Lord, do not judge your servant | |
| BWV: | 105 |
| Occasion: | 9th Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1723 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | Church cantata |
| Solo : | SATB |
| Choir: | SATB |
| Instruments : | Co 2Ob 2Vl Va Bc |
| AD : | 25 min |
| text | |
| unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
Lord, do not go to court with your servant ( BWV 105) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach .
Occasion and content
Bach composed the cantata as part of his first cantata cycle in Leipzig for the 9th Sunday after Trinity . It was premiered on July 25, 1723 in one of the two main municipal churches in Leipzig. The text of the cantata ties in with the gospel intended for that day, which tells of the parable of the unjust steward ( Lk 16 : 1-9 LUT ). This parable is often interpreted as sacrum commercium , a "heavenly trade" in which Jesus takes the guilt of the people and tears up the debt. The cantata text speaks of sin as guilt and the difficulty of remission of sin. The first three sentences have nothing to do with the gospel.
The unknown librettist uses a verse from the 143rd Psalm , a penitential prayer of David ( Ps 143,2 LUT ) in the opening choir . The following alto recitative also ties in with such a penitential prayer ( Ps 51.13 LUT ). The subsequent soprano aria shows that salvation from sins is not yet in sight. The text of this aria follows on from a passage from the letter of the apostle Paul to the Romans, which speaks of thoughts that accuse or excuse one another ( Rom 2:15 LUT ). Only in the second recitative, which is linked to a letter from the apostle Paul to the Colossians ( Col 2: 13-14 LUT ), is the forgiveness of sins mentioned. With the following tenor aria a line is drawn under the commercial considerations ( Lk 16,9 LUT ). The penultimate stanza of Johann Rist's Choral Jesu, der du mein Seele (1641), signals an end to the distress of conscience .
construction
- Chorus : Lord, do not go to judgment with your servant
- Recitativo (old): My God, do not reject me
- Aria (soprano): How the sinner's thoughts tremble and shake
- Recitativo (bass): but probably for those who know their guarantor
- Aria (tenor): Can I only make Jesus my friend
- Chorale : Well I know you will breastfeed me
With this cantata, Bach achieved a very varied and exciting composition. The entrance chorus changes from pleading and slow gentleman do not go into judgment with your servant to a quick fugue Because in front of you no living person will do justice who is accompanied by relentlessly hammering quarters . In the soprano aria How Tremble and Shake the Sinner's Thoughts , Bach interprets the loss of stability through the absence of the continuo . A lot of fearful sounding repetitions illustrate the uncertainty mentioned in the text. In contrast, the following bass recitative is carried by a gentle, harmonious movement of the strings that conveys security and confidence. The final chorale, like the soprano aria, is initially shaped by the motif of trembling in front of the court, but the repetitions of notes slow down from line to line: They change from sixteenths to triplet movements, then eighths, finally quarters, and thus impressively depict the gradually growing confidence of the Christian.
literature
- Werner Neumann: Handbook of the cantatas by JS Bach, 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4
- Hans-Joachim Schulze: The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas, Carus-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-89948-073-2
Web links
- Lord, do not go to court with your servant : sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- BWV 105 Lord, do not go to court with your servant Text, structure and composition on the personal homepage of Walter F. Bischof at the University of Alberta
