Bist du bei mir
"Bist du bei mir" (English: "If you are with me") (BWV 508) is an aria in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. It was therefore attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, but the melody is part of the Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel opera Diomedes, oder die triumphierende Unschuld that was performed in Bayreuth on November 16, 1718. The opera score is lost. The aria had been part of the Berlin Singakademie music library and was considered lost in the Second World War, until it was rediscovered in 2000 in the Kiev Conservatory. The continuo part of BWV 508 is more agitated and continuous in its voice leading than the Stölzel aria; it is uncertain who provided it, as the entry in the Notebook is by Anna Magdalena Bach herself. In an essay in the Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, Andreas Glöckner speculates that either she obtained the song from the inventory of the Leipzig Opera that had gone bankrupt in 1720, or that it simply was a favourite known to nearly everybody in Leipzig that was particularly suitable for Hausmusik.[1]
The piece has become a very popular choice for wedding ceremonies and other such occasions.
Contents |
[edit] Text
| Alternative translation | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden |
If you are with me, then I will go gladly[N 1] |
When thou art near, I go with joy |
- ^ A translation to English is difficult, because the original German is poetry speech and can't be translated literally. "Bist du bei mir" is short for the conditional "Wenn Du bei mir bist", the event of a future rendered in the present tense.
[edit] See also
[edit] Recordings
The French soprano Natalie Dessay and the Mexican tenor Rolando Villazón recorded it in an arrangement for piano, violins, and cello by Philippe Rombi for the 2005 film Joyeux Noël. Hayley Westenra recorded the song on her third international album Treasure, released in 2007. Alfred Deller recorded it on his album Deller Vol. 4; Handel, Bach & The English Renaissance with Gustav Leonhardt.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Bach Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 172–174. This and the previous details are from the Glöckner article.
- ^ Bist du bei mir
[edit] External links
 External audio |
|
|---|---|
 |
1930 recording by Lotte Lehmann |
- Songs and arias from Notenbuch der Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV 508–518: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Bist du bei mir (from Stölzel's Diomedes): Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
- Sheet music for "Bist du bei mir"
- The text of "Bist du bei mir" and an English translation
- The score of the "Bist du bei mir" melody at the Mutopia Project
