This page was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Elizabeth Budd.
Er rufet seinen Schäfern mit Namen BWV 175 / BC A 89
Pentecost Tuesday, May 22, 1725
This text of this cantata, Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen BWV 175 (He calls his sheep by name), composed in 1725, takes up the Gospel reading of the day, the account of the good shepherd and his flock in the tenth chapter of John:Truly, truly I say to you: Who goes into the sheep stall not by the gate but climbs in somewhere else, he is a thief and a murderer. He, however, who enters through the gate, he is a shepherd of the sheep. For him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his sheep by name and leads them out. And if he has let his sheep out, he goes out for them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger, however, they do not follow, rather flee before him, for they do not know the voice of the stranger. Jesus said this parable to them; they, however, did not understand what it was that he said to them. Then Jesus said again to them: Truly, truly, I say to you: I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me, they are thieves and murderers, but the sheep have not heeded them. I am the gate; if someone goes in through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal, to destroy, and to kill. I am come that they may have life and may live abundantly. (1–10)
The text of our cantata was written by the Leipzig poet Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. In 1728 she published it in her collection Versuch in gebundener Schreib-Art; it nevertheless must have been available to Bach three years earlier. Certain disparities between the 1725 version composed by Bach and that published later raise questions about the author of the changes and/or their authenticity—but overall they do allow a satisfactory answer.
A short passage from the reading of the day begins the libretto: “Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen und führet sie hinaus” (He calls his sheep by name and leads them out). The first aria takes up this thought, blending it with the theme of following Christ:
Komm, leite mich,
Es sehnet sich
Mein Geist auf grüne Weide.
Mein Herze schmacht’,
Ächzt Tag und Nacht:
Mein Hirte, meine Freude.
Come, lead me,
My spirit longs
For green pasture.
My heart pines,
Moans day and night:
My shepherd, my joy.
Bach changed “Es sehnet sich / Mein Geist auf grüne Weide” (My spirit longs / For green pasture) to “auf grüner Weide” (in green pasture), distorting the meaning while avoiding any other changes. The ensuing recitative introduces the familiar “search theme” (Suchmotif) with the following verses:
Wo find ich dich?
Ach, wo bist du verborgen?
O zeige dich mir bald
In lieblicher Gestalt,
Ich sehne mich,
Brich an, erwünschter Morgen!
Where shall I find you?
Ah, where are you hidden?
Oh, show yourself to me quickly
In lovely form.
I languish.
Break forth, longed-for morning!
For no apparent reason, the verse “In lieblicher Gestalt” is missing in Bach’s composition, so that “O zeige dich mir bald” has no rhyme partner.
The associated aria was much more heavily revised. The Gospel reading’s image of entering the expected gate and recognizing the shepherd’s voice reads as follows in Mariane von Ziegler’s poetry:
Mir ist, als säh ich dich schon kommen,
Du gehst zur rechten Tür hinein,
Ich werd im Glauben aufgenommen,
Du wirst der wahre Hirte sein.
Wer wollte nicht die Stimme kennen,
Die voller Huld und Sanftmut ist,
Und nicht sogleich vor Sehnsucht brennen,
Weil du der treuste Hirte bist.
I feel as though I saw you coming,
You enter through the right door.
I am received in faith,
You will be the true shepherd.
Who would not want to know the voice
That is full of grace and gentleness
And not instantly burn with longing
Because you are the truest shepherd.
Bach’s version gives up the almost playful interchange between “du und ich” and the resulting shift in perspective found particularly at the beginning; additionally, the “Sehnsucht” (longing) near the end is exchanged for religious doubt:
Es dünket mich, ich seh dich kommen,
Du gehst zur rechten Türe ein.
Du wirst im Glauben aufgenommen
Und mußt der wahre Hirte sein.
Ich kenne deine holde Stimme,
Die voller Lieb und Sanftmut ist,
Daß ich im Geist darob ergrimme,
Wer zweifelt, daß du Heiland bist.
It seems to me I see you coming,
You enter through the right door.
You are received in faith
And must be the true shepherd.
I know your sweet voice,
Which is full of love and gentleness,
So that I grow angry in spirit at
Whoever doubts that you are the savior.
A second biblical passage from the reading is the same in the texts: “Sie vernahmen aber nicht, was es war, das er zu ihnen gesagt hatte” (They, however, did not understand what it was that he had said to them). But as soon as the recitative continues with commentary, the disparities prevail once again. In any case, they are not particularly consequential, since Madame Ziegler’s version also is not too scrupulous in its handling of rhyme.
On the other hand, deficits of content in the last aria in her version need to be remedied. In Mariane von Ziegler’s text, hearing and understanding the message of salvation, as well as discipleship and redemption, are clothed in the following rhymes:
Öffnet euch, ihr beiden Ohren,
Jesus hat uns zugeschworen,
Daß er Sünd und Tod erlegt.
Gnade, Gnüge, volles Leben
Will er allen denen geben,
Wer mit ihm sein Kreuze trägt.
Open yourselves, you two ears,
Jesus has sworn to us,
That he slays sin and death.
Grace, sufficiency, full life
He will give to all of those
Who carry his cross with him.
This version is linguistically problematic and also theologically questionable in view of the “slaying” (Erlegen) of sin. In part, Bach exchanges these for more powerful and clearer expressions:
Öffnet euch, ihr beiden Ohren,
Jesus hat euch zugeschworen,
Daß er Teufel, Tod erlegt.
Gnade, Gnüge, volles Leben
Will er allen Christen geben,
Wer ihn folgt, sein Kreuz nachträgt.
Open yourselves, you two ears,
Jesus has sworn to you
That he will slay the devil and death.
Grace, sufficiency, full life
He will give to all Christians,
Whoever follows him, carrying his cross.
With the final verse, the transition to the closing chorale is skillfully put in place, the ninth strophe from Johann Rist’s hymn O Gottes Geist, mein Trost und Rat (O spirit of God, my comforter and advisor), whose text begins “Nun, werter Geist, ich folge dir” (Now, worthy spirit, I follow you).
Understandably, the bucolic element in Gospel reading and cantata text had a decisive effect on Bach’s composition. Nevertheless, this time the shepherd’s realm is not bound to the sound of shawms, the oboe choir, but rather to the gentle coloration of the recorder. Three of them characterize the recitative and aria at the beginning of the cantata, and they are assigned a quasi-obbligato role in the closing chorale. In the second aria, Bach pairs the tenor with a violoncello piccolo, a smaller and more manageable version of the violoncello, as obbligato instrument. This aria is not an original composition; rather, it is drawn from the Köthen 1722 congratulatory cantata Durchlauchtster Leopold BWV 173.1 (Most serene Leopold). In that composition, the aria has the text “Dein Name gleich der Sonnen geh” (May your name go forth like the sun) and is set with bass, obbligato bassoon, and cello. The combining of Mariane von Ziegler’s text with music composed several years earlier in Köthen was undoubtedly Bach’s afterthought. To put the matter bluntly, one could say that Bach, considering an unmanageable Leipzig aria text, recalled an aria text from his Köthen years that was just as barely useable and solved his ungrateful task by transferring the music with, so to speak, one swift stroke.
The third and last aria of our cantata is for bass and two obbligato trumpets. This unusual setting awakens the impression that this movement also might be of older origin. One might imagine that the original key was F major and that two horns served as obbligato instruments. When this possible original version may have been written and what text was associated with it must, as so often, be left open.