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Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim, BWV 89

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Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim (What shall I make of you, Ephraim), BWV 89, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the 22st Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 24 October 1723.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata in his first year in Leipzig for the 22nd Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 24 October 1726.[1] The prescribed readings for the Sunday were from the Epistle to the Philippians, Philippians 1:3–11, thanks and prayer for the congregation in Philippi, and from the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 18:23–35, the parable of the unforgiving servant.

The unknown poet of the cantata text stressed the opposites of the gospel, God's justice versus unjust men. The text begins with a related quotation from the prophet Hosea, Hosea 11:8. The next two movements, recitative and aria, reflect the sinful condition of man, another set of recitative and aria deals with God's mercy. The closing chorale is stanza 7 of Wo soll ich fliehen hin by Johann Heermann (1630), which Bach would treat completely one year later in his chorale cantata Wo soll ich fliehen hin, BWV 5.[2]

Scoring and structure

The cantata is scored for three solists, soprano, alto and bass, a four-part choir only in the chorale, horn, two oboes, two violins, viola, and basso continuo.[1]

1. Aria (bass): Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim
2. Recitativo (alto): Ja, freilich sollte Gott
3. Aria (alto): Ein unbarmherziges Gerichte
4. Recitativo (soprano): Wohlan! mein Herze legt
5. Aria (soprano): Gerechter Gott, ach, rechnest du
6. Chorale: Mir mangelt zwar sehr viel

Music

The cantata is scored like chamber music. Only the chorale is set for four parts, the alto voice sings of man's sin, the soprano of God's grace, and the bass is God's voice in the opening movement. On some copies of the parts the movement is marked aria but we don't know if that marking is authorized by Bach. Formally is has some characteristics of an aria, such as a ritornello to open the movement and frame the text sections, some aspects of an arioso, for example the free setting of the sections. The last section, which speaks of God's "too fervent mercy" ("meine Barmherzigkeit ist zu brünstig") is embedded in the ritornello, then the ritornello is repeated once more. One motif in the ritornello is similar to one in the chorus "Lasset uns den nicht zerteilen" from Bach's St John Passion and may illustrate undecidedness in both cases. The following three movements, two recitatives and an expressive aria, are only accompanied by the continuo, the last aria also by an obbligato oboe.[1] The closing chorale is set for four parts, the melody[3] in the soprano is doubled by the horn, the oboes and violin I.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Dürr, Alfred (1971). Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach (in German). Vol. 1. Bärenreiter-Verlag. OCLC 523584.
  2. ^ "Wo soll ich fliehen hin / Text and Translation of Chorale". bach-cantatas.com. 2005. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Chorale Melodies used in Bach's Vocal Works / Wo soll ich fliehen hin / Auf meinen lieben Gott". bach-cantatas.com. 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  4. ^ John Eliot Gardiner (2010). "Cantatas for the Twenty-second Sunday after Trinity / All Saints, Tooting" (PDF). bach-cantatas.com. Retrieved 1 November 2011.

Sources

The first source is the score.

General sources are found for the Bach cantatas. Several databases provide additional information on each single cantata:

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