This tag was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Elizabeth Budd.
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe BWV 185 / BC A 101
Fourth Sunday after Trinity, July 14, 1715
This cantata, Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe BWV 185 (Compassionate heart of eternal love), originated during Bach’s Weimar period in 1715, according to a note in the composer’s own hand. Its text was drawn from the collection Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer (Protestant devotional offering), published in the same year by the Weimar court poet and consistory secretary Salomon Franck. Here, the libretto appears beneath the heading “Auf den vierdten Sonntag nach Trinitatis” (On the fourth Sunday after Trinity). Accordingly, the cantata was performed on July 14, 1715, in a service in the Weimar court chapel. As usual, the text poet hews closely to the Gospel reading for the Sunday in question. This is found in Luke 6, not far from the account of the Sermon on the Mount:
Therefore, be merciful, as also your Father is merciful. Judge not, so will you also not be judged. Condemn not, so you will not be condemned. Forgive, so you will be forgiven. Give, so that you will be given to. A full, pressed-down, shaken, and overflowing measure will be given you in your lap, for even with the rule with which you measure, you will be measured again. And he spoke to them a parable: Can a blind person show the way to the blind? Will not both fall into the pit? The disciple is not over his master; if the disciple is like his master, then he is complete. Why, though, do you see a splinter in your brother’s eye, and you are not aware of the beam in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, Stand still, brother, I will take the splinter out of your eye—and you do not see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite, first pull the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly how to pull the splinter from your brother’s eye. (36–42)
Franck’s cantata text begins with an aria, an appeal for godly love and mercy to attain earthly goodness and mercy:
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe,
Errege, bewege mein Herze durch dich;
Damit ich Erbarmen und Gütigkeit übe,
O Flamme der Liebe, zerschmelze du mich!
Compassionate heart of eternal love,
Arouse, animate my heart through you;
That I may practice mercy and goodness,
O flame of love, melt me away!
The first recitative takes the first part of the Sunday Gospel reading and converts it into a sermon:
Ihr Herzen, die ihr euch
In Stein und Fels verkehrt,
Zerfließt und werde weich,
Erwägt, was euch der Heiland lehret,
Übt, übt Barmherzigkeit
Und sucht noch auf der Erden
Dem Vater gleich zu werden.
Ach greifet nicht durch das verbotne Richten
Dem Allerhöchsten ins Gericht,
Sonst wird sein Eifer euch vernichten.
Vergebt, so wird euch auch vergeben;
Gebt, gebt in diesem Leben;
Macht euch ein Kapital,
Das dort einmal
Gott wiederzahlt mit reichen Interessen,
Denn wie ihr meßt, wird man euch wieder messen.
You hearts who have turned yourselves
To stone and rock,
Melt and grow soft,
Consider what the savior teaches you,
Practice, practice mercy
And seek, while still on Earth,
To become like the Father.
Ah, do not engage, through that forbidden judgment,
The Most High in judgment,
Otherwise his zeal will destroy you.
Forgive, and you shall also be forgiven;
Give, give in this life,
Put by some principal,
Which there one day
God will repay with abundant interest,
For as you judge, so will you also be judged.
The image of abundant sowing and more abundant harvest characterizes the associated aria “Sei bemüht in dieser Zeit, / Seele, reichlich auszustreuen” (Endeavor at this time, / Soul, to sow abundantly).
In what follows, the librettist attacks human love of self, taking up the comparison of motes and beams, and warns:
Ist gleich dein Nächster nicht vollkommen rein,
So wisse, daß auch du kein Engel,
Verbeßre deine Mängel!
If your neighbor is not completely pure,
So know that you also are no angel.
Improve your failings!
He closes with the image of the spiritually blind, who, having become aimless, inevitably fall into the abyss. The aria that follows, however, lists a series of standards of conduct:
Das ist der Christen Kunst:
Nur Gott und sich erkennen,
Von wahrer Liebe brennen,
Nicht unzuläßig richten,
Noch fremdes Tun vernichten,
Das Nächsten nicht vergessen,
Mit reichem Maße messen:
Das macht bei Gott und Menschen Gunst,
Das ist der Christen Kunst.
This is the Christian’s art:
To know only God and oneself,
To burn with genuine love,
Not to judge improperly,
Nor destroy another’s works,
Not to forget one’s neighbor,
Mete out with ample measure;
This finds favor with God and man,
This is the Christian’s art.
The opening strophe of Johann Agricola’s chorale Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ), a main hymn for the fourth Sunday after Trinity, summarizes the chain of ideas in the libretto:
Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
Ich bitt, erhör mein Klagen,
Verleih mir Gnad zu dieser Frist,
Laß mich doch nicht verzagen;
Den rechten Weg, o Herr, ich mein,
Den wollest du mir geben,
Dir zu leben,
Mein’m Nächsten nütz zu sein,
Dein Wort zu halten eben.
I call to you, Lord Jesus Christ,
I pray you, hear my plaint,
Grant me mercy at this time,
Yet let me not despair;
The right way, O Lord, I mean
That you would give to me,
To live for you,
To be of use to my neighbor,
To abide by your word.
In its opening movement, Bach’s composition of this libretto uses the hymnic sweep of its dactylic meter and thereby achieves a dance-like movement in
4 time at a moderate tempo, close in character to the forlana dance type. The two voices—soprano and tenor—hew closely to the rhythm and melodic character of the dance model, while the basso continuo transitions after several measures to a flowing, even motion that is just as typical of the forlana. The chorale melody Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ is performed line by line by a wind instrument: an oboe in the Weimar version or a trumpet in its high clarino range in Leipzig. As a wide-ranging, spacious chorale arrangement, the first movement presents itself as the beginning of an arc that spans the entire work to the chorale at the end.
The enthusiastic sermon of the second movement is delivered by the alto, accompanied by chords in the string instruments. Toward the end of the movement, the strings fall silent, making it easier to recognize the way voice and basso amplify the text “denn wie ihr meßt, wird man euch wieder messen” (For as you judge, so will you also be judged). Voice and basso continuo perform it twice, once in forward motion, the second time reversed in mirror image.
The alto aria “Sei bemüht in dieser Zeit” stands in the center of the cantata. With string instruments and an oboe that emerges soloistically on occasion, this aria is the most richly set. With its dense filigree it seems intended to depict the thought in the text, that sowing with generosity will be followed by an abundant harvest.
In contrast, the fourth movement, a recitative for bass, is rather spartan in layout. It contains a philippic against love of self. The associated aria, “Das ist der Christen Kunst” (This is the Christian’s art), also combines the bass voice with the basso continuo only. But the continuo, with its stubbornly repeated figure, has the effect of keeping the main idea present even as the text recounts its catalog of proper conduct. The cantata closes with a chorale movement on the early sixteenth-century melody Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ, whose origins are much older. In accordance with his Weimar compositional style, Bach is not content with a simple four-part setting; instead, he gives a fifth voice to the solo violin, thereby extending the timbral space into the upper reaches.
After 1723 the cantata Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe was reperformed several times in Leipzig. Bach changed only externalities such as key and instrumentation, an indication that he found nothing fundamental to improve upon in this early Weimar work.