Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht, BWV 55

I, poor man, I a slave to sin ( BWV 55) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the 22th Sunday after Trinity, November 17, in 1726.

History and words

Bach wrote the cantata, his only surviving solo cantata for tenor, in his fourth year in Leipzig for the 22th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on November 17, 1726 for the first time on.

The prescribed readings were Phil 1:3-11 Mt 18:23-35 LUT and LUT, the parable of the unforgiving servant. Emphasizes the unknown librettist, from the Gospel, starting in the first aria the contrast "He's just, I unfair ". Blocks 3 and 4 both begin with the words Have mercy. The final chorale is the sixth stanza of career perk up my spirit of Johann Rist (1642 ). Bach used the verse one more time in his St. Matthew Passion, according to the aria Have mercy, repent in Peter to have denied Jesus.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is set for tenor soloists, four-part choir in the final chorale, flute, oboe d' amore, two violins, viola and basso continuo.

Music

A dense polyphonic set of flute, oboe d' amore and two violins, viola without, accompanied the first aria. The motives seem to illustrate the uncertain steps and the despair of the servant who is summoned before his master ( by John Eliot Gardiner ). The second aria is equally expressive, accompanied by a virtuoso flute. The first recitative secco, the second enriched by sustained notes in the strings.

The concluding chorale text and melody put Bach in his St Matthew Passion, There in a more complex four -part harmony. The text appears in Bach's works only in these two positions, while the melody is more common, such as completion of both parts of the cantata Heart and Mouth and Deed and Life.

Gardiner concludes from the autograph, that at least the last three cantata movements were composed earlier, perhaps in Weimar as parts of a lost passion.

Recordings

  • Bach Cantatas Vol 5 Karl Richter, Munich Bach Choir, Munich Bach Orchestra, Ernst Haefliger. Archiv Produktion, 1959.
  • Bach Made in Germany Vol 3 - Cantatas II, Erhard Mauersberger, St. Thomas Choir, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Peter Schreier. Eterna, 1968.
  • Bach: Solo Cantatas. Hans -Martin Linde, Schola Cantorum, Nicolai Gedda, EMI, 1971.
  • J. S. Bach: The cantatas - Sacred Cantatas Vol 3 Gustav Leonhardt, Hannover Boys Choir, Leonhardt Consort, Kurt Equiluz. Telefunken, 1975.
  • The Bach Cantata Vol 57, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Adalbert Kraus. Hänssler, 1982.
  • J. S. Bach: Solo Cantatas and arias. Peter Schreier, RIAS Chamber Choir, Chamber Orchestra Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Peter Schreier. Philips, 1994.
  • J. S. Bach: Cantata BWV 55 · Concerto in A minor. Matthias Eisenberg, Thomas Choir of Leipzig, Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Martin Petzold. RAM 1998.
  • Cantatas, Arias & Motet. Güttler, Virtuosi Saxoniae, Christoph Genz. Dresden Classics, 1999.
  • Bach Cantatas Vol 12 John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, James Gilchrist. Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
  • J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol 18 Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Christoph Prégardien. Antoine Marchand, 2002.
  • J. S. Bach: Cantatas for the Complete Liturgical Year Vol 1 Sigiswald Kuijken, La Petite Bande, Sophie Carthusian, Petra Noskaiová, Christoph Genz, Dominik Wörner. Accent, 2004.
  • J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol 38 (Solo Cantatas ). Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Gerd Turk. BIS, 2006.
  • I, poor man, I a slave to sin. Rudolf Lutz, choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation, Bernhard Berchtold, Gallus Media, St. Gallen 2012

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