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Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir, BWV 73

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Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir (Lord, do with me as You will), BWV 73, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote it in 1724 in Leipzig for the Third Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 23 January 1724.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig for the Third Sunday after Epiphany and first performed it on 23 January 1724. The prescribed readings for the day are Romans 12Template:Bibleverse with invalid book:17–21 and Matthew 8Template:Bibleverse with invalid book:1-13, the Healing of a leper. The unknown poet takes the words of the leper "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" as a starting point and recommends their attitude of trust for the situation of facing death. In the first movement he contrasts lines of Kaspar Bienemann's chorale Herr, wie du willst, so schick's mit mir with three sections of recitative. Movement 3 paraphrases Jeremiah 17Template:Bibleverse with invalid book:9. The words of movement 4 are the leper's words from the Gospel. The closing chorale is the final stanza of Ludwig Helmbold's chorale Von Gott will ich nicht lassen.[1]

Bach performed the cantata again in a revised version on 21 January 1748 or 26 January 1749.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for soprano, tenor and bass soloists, a four-part choir, horn (replaced by organ in the revised version), two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.[1]

  1. Chorale e recitativo (tenor, bass, soprano): Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir
  2. Aria (tenor, oboe): Ach senke doch den Geist der Freuden
  3. Recitativo (bass): Ach, unser Wille bleibt verkehrt,
  4. Aria (bass): Herr, so du willt
  5. Chorale: Das ist des Vaters Wille

Music

The opening chorus is based on the first stanza of the chorale Herr, wie du willt, so schicks mit mir, which is expanded by recitatives of the three soloists. A four-note motif on the words "Herr, wie du willt" is introduced by the horn and repeated throughout the movement. The accompagnato recitatives for all soloists are accompanied by the oboes with material from the ritornell, while the horn and the strings continue the motif. In the final repeat of the ritornell the choir sings the motif, and repeats it in a final "cadenza".

In movement 3 the will of man is described as "bald trotzig, bald verzagt" (quickly contrary, quickly dashed), illustrated in the melody. Movement 4 begins without a ritornell. The unusual three stanzas, all beginning with the words "Herr, so du willt", are delivered as free variations and closed by a coda. Similar to movement 1, a motif on "Herr, so du willt" opens and is repeated throughout the movement, finally in the coda.[1] This motiv is the beginning of the famous aria Bist du bei mir from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, long attributed to Bach, but written by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel.[2]

The closing chorale is set for four parts.[1]

Recordings

References

  1. ^ a b c d Alfred Dürr. 1971. "Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach", Bärenreiter (in German)
  2. ^ Julian Mincham (2010). "Chapter 38 BWV 73 Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange". jsbachcantatas.com. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
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