Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169

God alone shall have my heart ( BWV 169) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig in 1726 for the 18th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on for the first time on October 20, 1726.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata in 1726 in his fourth year in office in Leipzig for the 18th Sunday after Trinity. It is attributed to his third cantata cycle. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were 1 Cor 1:4-8 LUT, where Paul gives thanks for the effect of the gospel, and from 22.34 to 46 Mt LUT, the double commandment of love. The unknown poet focused on the love of God in sentences 2 to 5, treated the love of neighbor in Theorem 6, and chose as the final chorale the third verse of Martin Luther Now we ask the Holy Spirit. The poet combined the first recitative with the following aria, by starting two thoughts, with one row of the aria text and with the important first line "God alone shall have my heart " graduated, as referring back to this " motto" of the cantata. The second recitative is a paraphrase of 2 Kgs 2.1 LUT, the ascension of Elijah. The second aria speaks of the contrast between love of God and love of worldly things and thus refers to 1 John 2:15-16 LUT.

Bach's only other preserved cantata for this Sunday is the choral cantata Herr Christian who is the Son of God, BWV 96 from the year 1724. Like three other cantatas, mind and soul is Confused, Resist but sin and Hilarious Ruh, popular soul desire is, "God alone shall have my heart " written for alto solo, but unlike the others it contains a four-part final chorale. Three of these cantatas, which were all composed within a few months, using the organ as an obbligato instrument, perhaps because Bach did not like the connection of the alto voice with certain organ stops. Perhaps coincidentally, both were also an accomplished violist and a capable organist available.

It is not known whether Bach specifically looked for texts for a solo voice or whether it by a clergyman texts were prescribed, the stressed individual piety and therefore indicated a need to occupation by a single vote.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is set for alto solo, four part choir only in the chorale, two oboes, taille ( tenor oboe), two violins, viola, obbligato organ and basso continuo.

Music

As in several other works by Bach used in this cantata music, which he had composed. The first movement ( Sinfonia ) and Theorem 5 go back to a lost solo concert, which he had perhaps composed for oboe or flute, probably during his time in Köthen ( 1717-23 ). This concert was also the basis for his Harpsichord Concerto BWV 1053, composed around 1739th According to John Eliot Gardiner, the music could have served as organ concert for the 1725 new Silbermann organ in the church of St. Sophia Dresden. Bach used the first movement of the concerto, in da capo form, as an extended instrumental introduction. He pointed to the solo part of the organ, the tutti strings and three oboes, whose voices he added for the cantata.

The first set is a sung Arioso, which is accompanied by continuo. Bach corresponded to the seal, but he sat by the framing lines from the following aria arioso, the widening thoughts as recitative. The frequent repetition of the crucial line " God is my heart alone who " acts like a rondo motif, as Gardiner. In the aria recalls the setting of the line at the Arioso, but in contrary motion. Gardiner describes that Bach arioso and aria the admonitions of the music theorist of his time followed, to grasp the meaning of a text (Mauritius Vogt, 1719) with the aim of a refined, the text corresponding musical expression, the actual goal of the music (Johann David Heinichen, 1711). The accompaniment of the aria by the virtuoso organ gives the core set of extra weight. A simple secco recitative leads to the second aria, as the Sinfonia, is again taken from the solo concert. The singing voice is artfully woven into the original material of the solo organ and strings. After Alfred Dürr 's aria is an example of how a business can gain by its use in other contexts, as in Bach's B Minor Mass is also the case in the Agnus Dei. The text of the aria is a farewell to the love in the world: "Die in me, the world and all your love." The music is called " Siciliano " in the slow movement of the Harpsichord Concerto. The character of the aria was compared with the aria of repentant Peter, " Have mercy " from Bach's St. Matthew Passion.

After the love of God was treated in great detail in the first few sentences, the love of neighbor appears only in a short recitative that leads to the final chorale. In the chorale, the Holy Spirit is asking for assistance, " that we heartily love each other and stay in one sense in peace."

Recordings

• JS Bach: Cantatas BWV 157 & BWV 169 Diethard Hellmann, choir & chamber orchestra of Christ Church Mainz, Lotte Wolf Matthew. Cantate, 1958.
• Maureen Forrester sings Bach & Handel. Antonio Janigro, I Solisti di Zagreb, Maureen Forrester. Vanguard, 1964.
• J. S. Bach & Handel: Solo Cantatas & Vocal Works. Yehudi Menuhin, Bath Festival Orchestra, Janet Baker. EMI, 1966.
• JS Bach: BWV 161 & BWV 169 Cantates Frigyes Sándor, Chamber Choir and Orchestra of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Julia Hamari. Hungaroton, 1966.
• JS Bach: The cantatas - Sacred Cantatas Vol 9, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölz Boys Choir, Paul Esswood, Teldec, 1987.
• Bach Cantatas BWV 35, BWV 169, BWV 49 ( Sinfonia ). Hartmut Haenchen, RIAS Chamber Choir, Chamber Orchestra Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Jochen Kowalski. Berlin Classics, 1994.
• Bach Cantatas Vol 9, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Nathalie Stutzmann. Soli Deo Gloria, 2000.
• JS Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol 17 Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz. Antoine Marchand, 2002.
• Bach Cantatas. ( BWV 82, BWV 169, BWV 200, etc. Hoffmann: BWV 53 ) Julia Schröder, Basel Chamber Orchestra, Andreas Scholl, and Junko Takamaya, Michael Feyfar and Raitis Grigalis ( in chorale). Decca, 2010.
• God alone shall have my heart. Rudolf Lutz, choir and orchestra of the JS Bach Foundation, Claude Eichenberger. Christiaan Lucas Hart Nibbrig ( Reflexion. ) DVD. Gallus Media, 2008.

As a solo cantata, the work is interesting for conductors and soloists who are not specialists in early music, so there are recordings with conductors Rudolf Barshai and Güttler.