Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54

Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just resist sin), BWV 54, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote it in Weimar for the seventh Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 15 July 1714.

History and words

The texts are drawn from Georg Christian Lehms' Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer (1711) and concern the importance of avoiding sin. The poet had written the text for Oculi, the third Sunday in Lent, but there are reasons to believe that Bach composed it in Weimar for the Trinity VII of 1714.

The prescribed readings for that Sunday are from the Epistle to the Romans, Romans 6:19–23, "the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life", and from the Gospel of Mark, Mark 8:1–9, the feeding of the 4000.

The cantata is the first of four written for a single alto soloist, the others, written in 1726, being Geist und Seele wird verwirret, BWV 35, Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 and Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169, two of which also have texts by Lehms. The accompanying orchestra is made up of violins, violas and basso continuo.

With a typical performance lasting around twelve minutes, the cantata is unusually short, and is in just three movements:

1. Widerstehe doch der Sünde ("Just resist sin") - a da capo aria in E flat major, easily the longest movement at around seven minutes. Instead of immediately establishing the key by beginning with a simple tonic chord, the music begins with a series of dominant sevenths (see chord) over a bassline of repeated tonic eighth notes.
2. Die Art verruchter Sünden ("The way of vile sins") - a recitative accompanied by the continuo, which moves from C minor to A flat major.
3. Wer Sünde tut, der ist vom Teufel ("He who sins is of the devil") - another da capo aria in E flat major. This movement is fugal.

It is not clear who would have sung the alto part in Bach's time, although a countertenor is generally thought to be most likely. In modern performances, a woman sometimes takes the part.

The arias of this cantata were reused by Bach in an aria in his St Mark Passion.

This cantata is notable in being the only Bach cantata recorded under the direction of the famed Canadian pianist, conductor and Bach specialist Glenn Gould (1932–1982), who recorded the piece with countertenor Russell Oberlin in the 1960s. Gould himself played the continuo part on a "harpsipiano", a grand piano modified to sound more like a harpsichord.

Recordings

• Bach Made in Germany Vol. 2 - Cantatas III, Kurt Thomas, Marga Höffgen, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Eterna 1959
• Die Bach Kantate Vol. 43, Helmuth Rilling, Julia Hamari, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Hänssler 1975
• J.S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol. 3, Ton Koopman, Andreas Scholl, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, Antoine Marchand 1995
• Baroque Arias, Masaaki Suzuki, Yoshikazu Mera, Bach Collegium Japan 1996
• J.S. Bach: Cantates pour alto (BWV 170, 54, 35), Philippe Herreweghe, Andreas Scholl, Orchestre du Collegium Vocale Gent, Harmonia Mundi 1997

External links

• Cantata BWV 54 Widerstehe doch der Sünde on bach-cantatas
• Cantatas, BWV 51-60: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project.
• German text and English translation Emmanuel Music, Boston
• Widerstehe doch der Sünde on the Bach website (in German)
• Entries for BWV 54 on WorldCat