Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78
Cantata for the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity
First performance: Leipzig, September 10, 1724
Soloists: Soprano, alto, tenor, bass
Chorus (S-A-T-B)
Orchestra: Flute, 2 oboes, strings, continuo
(horn colla parte with chorus sopranos)
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Chorus
Duet (soprano, alto)
Recitative (tenor)
Aria (tenor)
Recitative and arioso (bass)
Aria (bass)
Chorale
Program Notes by Martin Pearlman
This popular cantata was first performed on September 10, 1724, the fourteenth Sunday after Trinity. The hymn used in the opening chorus and in the final chorale dates from the seventeenth century.
The enormously powerful opening movement is a huge chorale prelude in the dark key of G minor. Underpinning it is a four-bar descending chromatic passacaglia line that repeats throughout, mostly in the bass but sometimes in upper voices and sometimes in inversion. The movement is scored for a full ensemble of flute, two oboes, strings and continuo with the chorus. A horn doubles the sopranos in the chorale melody.
This pleading opening chorus is followed by a duet in a very different spirit. Over an exuberant, almost playful continuo, a soprano and an alto spin out lively, imitative lines as they sing of hurrying with eager steps to Jesus. In the agonized recitative that follows, the tenor exclaims, "Ach! ich bin ein Kind der Sünden" ("Ah! I am a child of sin"). It is full of ambiguous, practically atonal harmonies showing him astray and lost, until his music settles into a steadier tempo and the more stable though still dark key of C minor, as he turns to Jesus.
The remaining two arias feature solo instruments, the tenor aria a flute and the bass aria an oboe. The flute aria in particular reminds us that this cantata was written during a period of several months when Bach evidently had available to him a very fine flutist, for whom he wrote many expressive and virtuosic flute solos, including the extremely difficult ones in cantata BWV 8. The work ends with Bach's beautiful harmonization of the chorale tune that he used in the expansive opening chorus of this cantata.
Boston Baroque Performances
Jesu, der du meine Seele, BWV 78
March 18, 1983
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor
Soloists:
Janet Brown, soprano
Jeffrey Gall, countertenor
Frank Kelley, tenor
John Osborn, bass