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Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe BWV 108 / BC A 72
Cantate Sunday, April 29, 1725
This cantata originated at the end of April 1725 in Bach’s second year in office as cantor of St. Thomas School. As in most of Bach’s cantatas, the text of this work is closely related to the Gospel reading for the Sunday or holiday, which in the case of Cantate Sunday is found in John 16 and comes from the complex of farewell speeches by Jesus:Now though I go to him, who sent me; and no one among you asks me: Where are you going? Rather because I have said such things to you, your heart has become full of sorrow. But I say to you the truth: It is good for you that I go away, for should I not go away, the comforter would not come to you; should I, however, go away, I will send him to you. And if he comes, he will punish the world for the sin, that they do not believe in me; for the justice, that I now go to the Father; and for the judgment, that the prince of this world is judged. I have yet much to say to you, but you cannot yet bear it. When, however, that one, the Spirit of Truth, will come, he will lead you in all truth. For he will not speak of himself, rather what he shall hear, that shall he speak, and what is of the future, that he will announce to you. He will transfigure me; he shall take from that of mine and reveal it to you. All that the Father has, that is mine. Therefore, have I said: He shall take from that of mine, and reveal it to you. (5–15)
The libretto for our cantata, based upon this Gospel text, is by the Leipzig poet and follower of Gottsched, Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. In 1728 she published this and eight other cantata texts under the rubric “Andächtige Gedichte” (Devotional poetry) in her volume of poetry Versuch in Gebundener Schreib-Art; the text must have been available to Bach for composition three years earlier. Exactly how the thirty-year-old poet and the Thomaskantor became acquainted has not yet been investigated. A hint, however, is offered by a godparent relationship. Bach began work on his composition of von Ziegler’s text in April 1725. Among the godparents of Bach’s son Christian Gottlieb (born April 12, 1725) was the owner of the house in Leipzig in which Frau von Ziegler rented a room at the time. However, nothing more can be said about the relationship in terms of cause and effect.
Here, as in the majority of her cantata texts, Mariane von Ziegler places a passage from the Gospel reading at the beginning: “Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe, denn so ich nicht hingehe, kömmt der Tröster nicht zu euch; so ich aber hingehe, will ich ihn zu euch senden” (It is good for you that I go away, for should I not go away, the comforter would not come to you; should I, however, go away, I will send him to you). Instead of describing the punishment of the unfaithful that follows immediately in the Gospel reading, the second cantata movement, an aria, goes in a different direction:
Mich kann kein Zweifel stören,
Auf dein Wort, Herr, zu hören,
Ich glaube, gehst du fort,
So kann ich mich getrösten,
Daß ich zu den Erlösten
Komm an gewünschten Port.
No doubt can deter me
From heeding, Lord, your word.
I believe, if you go forth,
Then I can assure myself
That I along with the redeemed
Will reach the desired port.
Johann Sebastian Bach adopted this aria from his source text without change. The ensuing recitative, on the other hand, was subject to heavier intervention. Frau von Ziegler’s version read as follows:
Dein Geist wird mich indessen schon regieren,
Daß ich, so lang ich hier die Wallfahrt muß verführen,
Nicht von der rechten Bahne gleite;
Durch deinen Hingang kommt er ja zu mir,
Drum frag ich ängstiglich: Ach ist er nicht schon hier?
Your spirit will, meanwhile, govern me
That I, as long as I continue my pilgrimage here,
Do not stray from the right path.
Through your death he surely comes to me,
So I ask anxiously: Ah, is he not already here?
The third of these five verses has no rhyme partner. The version set to music by Bach shortens and compresses the text to four lines, of which in fact two—namely, the first two—are left unrhymed, without consideration of the usual conventions:
Dein Geist wird mich also regieren,
Daß ich auf rechter Bahne geh;
Durch deinen Hingang kommt er ja zu mir,
Ich frage sorgensvoll: Ach, ist er nicht schon hier?
Your spirit will, therefore, govern me
That I go upon the proper path;
Through your departure he surely comes to me.
I ask anxiously: Ah, is he not already here?
A second passage, verse 13 from the Sunday Gospel reading, provides a response to this question: “Wenn aber jener, der Geist der Wahrheit, kommen wird, der wird euch in alle Wahrheit leiten. Denn er wird nicht von ihm selber reden, sondern was er hören wird, das wird er reden; und was zukünftig ist, wird er verkündigen” (When, however, that one, the Spirit of Truth, will come, he will lead you in all truth. For he will not speak of himself, rather what he will hear, that shall he speak; and what is of the future, that he will announce to you). The second aria gives thanks for this prophecy:
Was mein Herz von dir begehrt,
Ach, das wird mir wohl gewährt.
Überschütte mich mit Segen,
Führe mich auf deinen Wegen,
Daß ich in Ewigkeit
Schaue deine Herrlichkeit.
What my heart desires of you,
Ah, that will be provided me.
Shower me with blessing,
Lead me on your paths,
That I may in eternity
Behold your glory.
The concluding chorale strophe, from Paul Gerhardt’s hymn Gott Vater, sende deinen Geist (God our Father, send your spirit), draws the train of ideas in the cantata text together. In service of better continuity and in contrast to the hymnals of the era as well as Mariane von Ziegler’s text, the first word is changed from “Der” to “Dein”:
Dein Geist, den Gott vom Himmel gibt,
Der leitet alles, was ihn liebt,
Auf wohlgebähntem Wege.
Er setzt und richtet unsren Fuß,
Daß er nicht anders treten muß,
Als wo man findt den Segen.
Your spirit, which God grants from heaven,
Which leads all those who love him
Upon a well-laid path.
He places and guides our foot
That it need walk nowhere else
Than where one finds blessing.
In Bach’s composition, the opening movement with the word of the Lord “Es ist euch gut, daß ich hingehe” deserves perhaps the closest attention. It certainly meets our expectation that the bass appears as the vox Christi. But the overall form of the movement eludes any precise classification. The arioso, an obvious and frequently used setting for biblical passages, is not Bach’s solution here; nor is an aria in its mature form. The composer very wisely avoided any such category. More important than this external formality is the deployment of musical means. Since string instruments and the basso continuo are indeed clearly outlined but play a secondary role in the course of the movement, the other participant, the oboe d’amore, becomes the actual partner of the voice. The warm, comforting tone of the woodwind accompanies the urgently repeated exclamation, “Es ist gut, daß ich hingehe.” When the opposite is considered in what follows, in the text “denn so ich nicht hingehe, kömmt der Tröster nicht zu euch,” the bond of sound is suddenly ripped asunder and, despite multiple attempts, cannot be regained. It is only restored when the instrumental ensemble plays a six-measure introduction to the third section of the movement with its positive exclamation “so ich aber hingehe.”
The ensuing aria is intended for tenor with an obbligato solo violin. Against the rather stubborn, arrogant manner of the solo instrument, the basso continuo places a clear counterbalance, expressed in stubbornly maintained motives as well as insistent pitch repetitions. In this way, the exclamation “Mich kann kein Zweifel stören” is heavily underscored, just as the prominent sustained tones do for the words “ich glaube.”
A brief tenor recitative is followed by the second biblical passage of the cantata text, now in the form of a dense, motet-like fugal movement for four voices and colla parte instrumental accompaniment. Like its text, the fugue complex is in three sections. However, the third fugal theme approximates the first and in this way counteracts the danger of a plain sequence.
In this cantata, major keys are reserved for the biblical passages: A major for the first movement; D major for the fourth. The F-sharp minor of the first aria for tenor is joined by the B minor of the second aria for alto and strings. Corresponding to the character of the text “Was mein Herz von dir begehrt, / Ach, das wird mir wohl gewährt,” the gesture of this movement is friendly. The elegance of the measured motion in
8 meter and the playful virtuosity make one think of the slow movement of an instrumental concerto.
One is struck by the density of the concluding four-part chorale on the melody Kommt her zu mir, spricht Gottes Sohn (Come to me, speaks the son of God), in particular of the last line, “Als wo man findt den Segen” (Than where one finds blessing). The intense chromaticism here suggests a subtle interpretation of the text, perhaps in the sense of an arduous climb, even if it takes place—in accordance with the chorale strophe—“auf wohlgebähntem Wege” (upon a well-laid path).