I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief!
| Bach cantata | |
|---|---|
| I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief! | |
| BWV: | 109 |
| Occasion: | 21st Sunday after Trinity |
| Year of origin: | 1723 |
| Place of origin: | Leipzig |
| Genus: | cantata |
| Solo : | AT |
| Choir: | S, A, T, B |
| Instruments : | Cc; If; Str; BC |
| text | |
| unknown | |
| List of Bach cantatas | |
I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief! ( BWV 109) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach . He composed it in Leipzig for the 21st Sunday after Trinity , October 17th, 1723.
Story and words
In his first year in Leipzig, Bach wrote the cantata for the 21st Sunday after Trinity and performed it for the first time on October 17, 1723.
The prescribed readings were Eph 6.10–17 LUT and Joh 4.46–54 LUT , the healing of the son of a royal. The unknown lyricist emphasizes the faith mentioned in the Gospel as a prerequisite for healing. The opening choir sets a Bible word from a similar context, Mk 9.24 LUT , healing of a possessed boy to music . The following sentences contain a dialogue between faith and unbelief, hope and fear, as Bach composed three weeks later in O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 60 , and for Easter 1724 in Rejoy your hearts . Sentence 2 is a dialogue, sentence 3 expresses fear, sentences 4 and 5 turn to hope. The final chorale is the seventh stanza of By Adam's Fall Is Totally Corrupted by Lazarus Spengler (1524).
Occupation and structure
The cantata is composed for alto and tenor soloists , four-part choir, cor du chasse ( corno da caccia ), two oboes, two violins , viola and basso continuo . The Cor du Chasse is possibly the instrument corno di tirarsi , which a week earlier in the rerun of the Weimar cantata Ach! I see now that I'm going to the wedding . The part is not included in the score. In the opening chorus it usually reinforces the first violin, in the final chorale the cantus firmus in the soprano.
- 1. Coro: I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief
- 2. Recitativo (tenor): The gentleman's hand is not yet shortened
- 3. Aria (tenor, strings): How dubious is my hope
- 4. Recitativo (alto): O calm down, you doubtful courage
- 5. Aria (alto, oboes): The Savior knows his own
- 6. Chant: Who hopes in God and trusts him
music
The opening choir contains many elements of a concerto grosso . In the ritornello , oboe 1 and violin 1 form the concertino. The singing voices appear individually, in duets and four-part. Faith is expressed in an ascending motif derived from the theme of the ritornello, unbelief by a descending figure.
The inner dialogue in the recitative is indicated by alternating between forte and piano in one voice, not two different voices. The last anxious question Oh Lord, how long? is intensified as arioso , adagio . The following aria in torn lines and continuous dotted rhythm was compared with the aria Ach, mein Sinn from Bach's St. John Passion .
The final chorale is not a simple four-part movement, but a chorale fantasy, as Bach often later placed at the beginning of the chorale cantatas of his second cantata cycle. Embedded in an orchestral setting, the soprano sings, reinforced by the horn, the lines of the chorale Through Adam's Fall is completely corrupt in long note values, while the lower voices are more agitated.
Recordings
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 56. Helmuth Rilling , Gächinger Kantorei , Bach-Collegium Stuttgart , Gabriele Schreckenbach , Kurt Equiluz . Hänssler (LP), 1971.
- JS Bach: Das Kantatenwerk - Sacred Cantatas Vol. 6. Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Tölzer Knabenchor , Concentus Musicus Wien , Paul Esswood , Kurt Equiluz . Teldec , 1980.
- The Bach Cantata Vol. 56. Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Hildegard Laurich , Kurt Equiluz. Hänssler (CD), 1981.
- JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 8. Ton Koopman , Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir , Bogna Bartosz , Jörg Dürmüller . Antoine Marchand, 1994.
- JS Bach: Cantatas Vol. 14 - Cantatas from Leipzig 1723. Masaaki Suzuki , Bach Collegium Japan , Robin Blaze , Gerd Türk . UP TO 2000
- Bach Cantatas Vol. 11. John Eliot Gardiner , Monteverdi Choir , English Baroque Soloists , William Towers , Paul Agnew . Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
- I believe, dear lord, help my unbelief. Rudolf Lutz , choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation , Michi Gaigg ; Ruth Sandhoff, Bernhard Berchtold. Suzette Sandor (reflection). DVD. Gallus Media, 2010.
literature
- Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 .
- Werner Neumann : Handbook of the cantatas Johann Sebastian Bach. 5th unchanged edition. Breitkopf Haertel, Wiesbaden 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4 .
- Hans-Joachim Schulze: The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas. Evangelische Verlags-Anstalt, Leipzig; Carus-Verlag Stuttgart 2006, (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
- Christoph Wolff , Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas. Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2006, ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1]
- ^ A b John Quinn: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) The Bach Cantata Pilgrimage - Volume 11 ( English = ) musicweb-international.com. 2010. Retrieved October 17, 2010.
Web links
- I believe, dear sir, help my disbelief !, BWV 109 : Sheet music and audio files in the International Music Score Library Project
- BWV 109 I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief! Text, structure and line-up on Walter F. Bischof's personal homepage at the University of Alberta
- Cantata BWV 109 I believe, dear sir, help my unbelief in bach-cantatas (English)
- I believe, dear sir, help my disbelief, BWV 109 on the Bach website
