Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174

I love the Most High with all your mind ( BWV 174) is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote it in Leipzig for Whit Monday and performed it on June 6, 1729 for the first time.

History and words

Bach composed the cantata for Pentecost Monday. The prescribed readings for the feast were Acts 10.16-21 LUT, the preaching of Peter Cornelius, and John LUT 3.16 to 21, "For God so loved the world ..." from the meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus. The cantata text was written by Picander and published first in his class of cantata texts 1728. Nine of his texts from this vintage are preserved in Bach's setting. If Bach was more composed, they were lost. In the first aria the poet considered the beginning of the gospel, and concludes that the Christian God you owe in response to his love. In the following recitative of the beginning of the sentence from the Gospel is commented and cited. The last aria calls on the community to take the salvation that is offered through God's love. The final chorale responds with the first verse of Martin Lings warm scarf dear I love you, O Lord.

For the introductory Sinfonia Bach added to the nine strings solo voices his third Brandenburg Concerto added five wind parts. He was able to use as many players as he had begun to lead the Collegium Musicum, founded by Telemann, a civic association of those interested in music, whose members also participating in church music. Bach led the cantata on June 6, 1729 the first time, he noted the year in the score.

Scoring and structure

The cantata is unusually richly decorated with three soloists, alto, tenor and bass, four-part choir only in the final chorale, two Corno da caccia, two oboes, taille ( tenor oboe), three violins, three solo violas, three solo cellos, two violins, viola and basso continuo.

Music

The cantata begins with a weighty Sinfonia, Bach developed from the first sentence of his third Brandenburg Concerto, which he had probably been composed in Weimar. He expanded the dense set of nine solo strings to two votes for Corno da caccia, two for oboe, doubled by violins, and one for waist, doubled by Viola.

In the first aria two obbligato oboe lead a theme that receives the voice. The recitative is accompanied by the strings, reminiscent of the occupation of the Brandenburg Concerto. In the second Aria the violins and the viola are combined into a powerful obbligato part. The cantata will be decided by a four -part setting of the well-known melody that Bach used to end his St John Passion with the second verse of the hymn, " O Lord, let thy loving angels ".

Recordings

  • The Bach Cantata Vol 5, Helmuth Rilling, Gächinger Kantorei, Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Julia Hamari, Aldo Baldin, Wolfgang Schöne, Haenssler 1984
  • J. S. Bach: The Complete Cantatas Kantatenwerk · · Les Cantates, sequence / Vol 40, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Tölz Boys Choir, Concentus Musicus Wien, soloist of the Tölz Boys Choir, Kurt Equiluz, Robert Holl, Teldec 1987
  • Bach Cantatas Vol 26: Long Melford For Whit Sunday Whit For Monday, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Nathalie Stutzmann, Christoph Genz, Panagiotis Iconomou, Soli Deo Gloria 2000
  • Bach Edition Vol 21 - Cantatas Vol 12, Pieter Jan Leusink, Holland Boys Choir, Netherlands Bach Collegium, Sytse Buwalda, Nico van der Meel, Bas Ramselaar, Brilliant Classics 2000
  • J. S. Bach: Complete Cantatas Vol 19, Ton Koopman, Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir, Bogna Bartosz, Christoph Prégardien, Klaus Mertens, Antoine Marchand 2003
  • J. S. Bach: Cantatas Vol 50 - They sing with joy, Cantatas · 49 · 145 · 149 · 174 ( Cantatas from Leipzig 1726-29 ), Masaaki Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan, Robin Blaze, Gerd Türk, Peter Kooij UNTIL 2011
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