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Sie werden euch in den Bann tun BWV 183 / BC A 79
Exaudi Sunday, May 13, 1725
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his cantata Sie werden euch in den Bann tun BWV 183 (They will place you under a ban) for the last Sunday before Pentecost in the church calendar. It is the later of two compositions of the same name. Also like the earlier work, its text begins immediately with a biblical passage from the Gospel reading for Exaudi Sunday, found in John at the end of chapter 15 and the beginning of chapter 16, and once again quotes from the farewell addresses of Jesus to his disciples:But when the comforter comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth, which from the Father goes out, he shall testify of me. And you also shall testify, for you have been with me since the beginning. Such things I have said to you that you shall not be upset. They shall place you under a ban. The time is coming when whoever kills you will believe that he does God a service thereby. And such things they will do to you because they recognize neither my Father nor me. (15:26–16:3)
The text of our cantata comes from the Leipzig poet Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. Three years after Bach composed the cantata, she published the libretto in her poetry collection Versuch in gebundener Schreib-Art. This print, which possibly preserves the version of the text she delivered to the cantor of St. Thomas, shows differences in wording at several places from the version composed by Bach. To varying degrees, similar differences are found in all nine of Ziegler’s texts composed by Bach.1
The word of the Lord quoted at the beginning, from John 16:2, is unchanged: “Sie werden euch in den Bann tun, es kömmt aber die Zeit, daß, wer euch tötet, wird meinen, er tue Gott einen Dienst daran” (They shall place you under a ban. The time is coming when whoever kills you will believe that he does God a service thereby). The ensuing aria text underwent only minor changes; it formulates the answer of the disciple and, in general, that of the faithful Christian:
Ich fürchte nicht des Todes Schrecken,
Ich scheue ganz kein Ungemach,
Denn Jesus’ Schutzarm wird mich decken,
Ich folge gern und willig nach.
Wollt ihr nicht meines Lebens schonen
Und glaubt, Gott einen Dienst zu tun,
Er soll euch selben noch belohnen,
Wohlan, es mag dabei beruhn.
I do not fear death’s terror,
I shy away from no adversity at all,
For Jesus’s protective arm will cover me,
I follow him gladly and willingly.
If you would not spare my life
And believe that you do God a service,
That he shall himself still reward you,
Well, then! Let it be so.
More significant are the disparities in the third cantata movement, a recitative. Ziegler’s text reads:
Ich bin bereit, mein Blut und armes Leben,
Vor dich, mein Heiland, hinzugeben,
Mein ganzer Mensch soll dir allein
Gewidmet sein.
Dies ist mein Trost, dein Geist wird bei mir stehen,
Und sollt es mir auch noch so schlimm ergehen.
I am prepared to give my blood and poor life
For you, my savior.
My entire being shall to you alone
Be dedicated.
This is my consolation, your spirit will stand by me,
Even should it go so badly for me.
These six paired rhyming verses are shortened and concentrated to five in Bach’s version, although one of the verses ends up without a rhyme partner:
Ich bin bereit, mein Blut und armes Leben
Vor dich, mein Heiland, hinzugeben
Mein ganzer Mensch soll dir gewidmet sein.
Ich tröste mich, dein Geist wird bei mir stehen.
Gesetzt, es sollte mir vielleicht zuviel geschehen.
I am prepared to give up my blood and poor life
For you, my savior.
My entire person shall be dedicated to you.
I comfort myself that your spirit will stand by me
In the event that it should perhaps be too much for me.
The weakening of the last line seems remarkable: “noch so schlimm ergehen” in Ziegler becomes “vielleicht zuviel geschehen” in Bach.
The following movement, an aria, hews more closely to the Gospel reading, particularly to the following verse: “Wenn aber der Tröster kommen wird, welchen ich euch senden werde vom Vater, der Geist der Wahrheit, der vom Vater ausgeht, der wird zeugen von mir. Und ihr werdet auch zeugen” (15:26–27; But when the comforter comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the spirit of truth, which from the Father goes out, he shall testify of me. And you also shall testify). This becomes in rhyme:
Höchster Tröster, heilger Geist,
Der du mir die Wege weist,
Darauf ich wandeln soll,
Hilf meine Schwachheit mit vertreten,
Denn von mir selbst kann ich nicht beten,
Ich weiß, du sorgest für mein Wohl.
Highest comforter, Holy Spirit
You who show me the ways
Upon which I shall walk,
Help my weakness with your intercession,
Since for myself I cannot pray.
I know you care for my well-being.
The resonance with Romans 8:26 is unmistakable: “Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, denn wir wissen nicht, was wir beten sollen, wie sich’s gebühret” (The Spirit helps our weakness, for we know not what we should pray for, what is proper). A strophe from Paul Gerhardt’s hymn of 1653, Zeuch ein zu deinen Toren (Enter through your gates), serves as conclusion and summary:
Du bist ein Geist, der lehret,
Wie man recht beten soll;
Dein Beten wird erhöret,
Dein Singen klinget wohl.
Est steigt zum Himmel an,
Es steigt und läßt nicht abe
Bis der geholfen habe,
Der allein helfen kann.
You are a spirit who teaches
How one truly should pray;
Your praying is heard,
Your singing sounds well.
It climbs up to heaven.
It climbs and does not abate
Till he has helped
Who alone can help.
A remarkable aspect of Bach’s composition of this source text is the suppression of familiar timbres and, at the same time, the preference for woodwinds and string instruments in their deep registers. Perhaps this procedure is meant to do justice to the extraordinary circumstance of “Sie werden euch in den Bann tun.” Hence the opening word of the Lord is given to the bass, the vox Christi, surrounded by the harmonies of four woodwinds: two oboi d’amore in the alto range and two oboi da caccia in the tenor range. Also unusual is the procedure in the ensuing aria: above a hesitant basso continuo a violoncello piccolo—a smaller, more manageable form of the usual cello—proceeds in incessant, almost unyielding, sixteenth-note figuration. This dynamic abates only occasionally to briefly merge in harmony with the continuo. In contrast, the vocal part seems nervously conflicted, expressed in erratic melodies as well as a continuously changing and unstable rhythm. The confident statement “Ich fürchte nicht des Todes Schrecken” (I do not fear death’s terror) thus ends up in a strange twilight. The ensuing alto recitative, “Ich bin bereit, mein Blut und armes Leben / Vor dich, mein Heiland, hinzugeben” (I am prepared to give my blood and poor life / For you, my savior), is clearly distinguished from this with its clear diction: above sustained chords in the strings, the woodwinds alternate a short motive that anticipates the opening “Ich bin bereit” in the voice and is repeated throughout the entire movement.
Similarly, Bach at first had planned all four oboes for the following soprano aria but then left it to strings and two oboi da caccia in unison. Its pastorale coloration seems especially aimed at the text “Höchster Tröster, heilger Geist.” Despite the multifarious writing for winds and strings and the skillful coloratura demanded of the soprano, a serene, dance-like pace predominates in this aria movement. Hence the inner strength of the soprano aria distinguishes it clearly from the nervous conflictedness of the preceding tenor aria. This impression also strengthens the concluding four-part chorale setting of the late sixteenth-century melody Helft mir Gotts Güte preisen (Help me praise God’s goodness).
Footnotes
- Mark Peters (2005) has cogently summarized this long-running debate and argued for Ziegler’s authorship of the changes.↵