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Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 33 / BC A 127
Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity, September 3, 1724
The cantata, Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 33 (In you alone, Lord Jesus Christ), belongs to Bach’s annual cycle of chorale cantatas, where it is assigned to the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity. As such, it was first heard on September 3, 1724, in Leipzig. As usual for Bach’s chorale cantatas, it is based on a hymn whose first and last strophes were left in their original wording, while the inner strophes were freely reshaped to become recitatives and arias. The four-strophe chorale by Konrad Hubert, documented as early as 1640, appears in hymnaries of the period beneath the rubric “Von der Buße und der Beichte” (Of penance and confession), where it is often assigned to the thirteenth Sunday after Trinity but even more frequently to the fourteenth. With its urgent pleas for consolation, help, and forgiveness—but above all for love of neighbor—its content is closer to the thirteenth Trinity Sunday, the parable of the good Samaritan in the tenth chapter of Luke.The cantata libretto adopts Hubert’s opening strophe without change:
Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,
Mein Hoffnung steht auf Erden;
Ich weiß, daß du mein Tröster bist,
Kein Trost mag mir sonst werden.
Von Anbeginn ist nichts erkorn,
Auf Erden war kein Mensch geborn,
Der mir aus Nöten helfen kann.
Ich ruf dich an,
Zu dem ich mein Vertrauen hab.
In you alone, Lord Jesus Christ,
My hope is placed on Earth.
I know that you are my consoler,
There may be no solace for me otherwise.
From the beginning nothing was determined.
On Earth no one was born
Who could help me out of distress.
I call to you,
In whom I have my trust.
The unknown librettist develops his first recitative’s second part from the beginning of Hubert’s second strophe: “Mein Sünd’n sind schwer und übergroß / Und reuen mich von Herzen” (My sins are heavy and very great / And I repent them in my heart). At the beginning of the recitative, he first paraphrases a verse from Job 9: “Daß ein Mensch nicht recht behalten mag gegen Gott. Hat er Lust, mit ihm zu hadern, so kann er ihm auf tausend nicht eins antworten” (2–3; That a man may not be proven right against God. If he wants to contend with him, he cannot answer him one out of a thousand). The cantata libretto connects these two sections in a skillful manner:
Mein Gott und Richter, willt du mich aus dem Gesetze fragen,
So kann ich nicht,
Weil mein Gewissen widerspricht,
Auf tausend eines sagen.
An Seelenkräften arm und an der Liebe bloß,
Und meine Sünd ist schwer und übergroß;
Doch weil sie mich von Herzen reuen,
Wirst du, mein Gott und Hort,
Durch ein Vergebungswort
Mich wiederum erfreuen.
My God and judge, if you would question me from the law,
Then I cannot,
Because my conscience contradicts me,
Answer one in a thousand.
Poor in strength of soul and bereft of love,
And my sin is heavy and very large;
Yet because I regret it from my heart,
You will, my God and refuge,
Through a word of forgiveness
Cheer me once again.
From the plea directed at Jesus in the second chorale strophe:
Und zeig mich deinem Vater an,
Daß du hast gnug für mich getan,
So werd ich quitt der Sündenlast
And show me to your Father,
That you have done enough for me,
Then I will be free of the burden of sin
the cantata librettist derives his first aria:
Wie furchtsam wankten meine Schritte,
Doch Jesus hört auf meine Bitte
Und zeigt mich seinem Vater an.
Mich drückten Sündenlasten nieder,
Doch hilft mir Jesu Trostwort wieder,
Daß er für mich genung getan.
How fearfully my steps wavered,
Yet Jesus hears my prayers
And shows me to his Father.
Burdens of sin weighed me down,
Yet Jesus’s word of consolation reassures me
That he has done enough for me.
The procedure in the second recitative is similar to the first: the second half of the recitative begins with the first verse of Hubert’s third strophe, with its “Gib mir nur aus Barmherzigkeit / Den wahren Christenglauben” (Give me only out of mercy / The true Christian faith). It begins with a paraphrase of a verse from Psalm 51, one of the seven penitential psalms: “Verwirf mich nicht von deinem Angesicht und nimm deinen heiligen Geist nicht von mir” (11; Do not throw me from your countenance, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me). For the associated aria, the librettist relies on the continuation of Hubert’s chorale strophe:
Vor allen Dingen lieben dich
Und meinen Nächsten gleich als mich;
Am letzten End
Dein Hülf mir send,
Damit behend
Des Teufels List sich von mir wend.
Before all things love you
And my neighbor just as myself;
At my final end
Send your help to me,
And with it deftly
The devil’s deceit turn away from me.
Deviating from Hubert’s chorale but in accordance with the recitative’s beginning, the aria addresses not Jesus but God himself:
Gott, der du die Liebe heißt,
Ach entzünde meinen Geist,
Laß zu dir vor allen Dingen
Meine Liebe kräftig dringen!
Gib, daß ich aus reinem Triebe
Als mich selbst den Nächsten liebe;
Stören Feinde meine Ruh,
Sende du mir Hülfe zu!
God, you who are called love,
Ah, enkindle my spirit.
To you, above all things,
Let my love powerfully break through!
Grant that I, by pure desire,
Love my neighbor as myself;
Should enemies disturb my peace,
Then send to me your help!
Following these rather too glib formulations, the libretto turns back to the Trinitarian concluding chorale strophe and the powerful language of the chorale writer.
Bach’s composition of this rather uneven libretto begins, as usual, with a broadly designed concertante chorale arrangement on the chorale melody performed line by line by the sopranos while the other voices provide counterpoint. The relatively undemanding vocal part is noticeably dominated by the lively concertante orchestra, whose independence from the chorale’s thematic material is partially compensated by steadily emergent tone repetitions that seem to insist on the certainty of the textual statement.
In the first aria, the alto and a muted violin trace their delicate patterns above an aimless, restlessly wandering continuo bass and the spare pizzicato harmonies of the lower strings. Chromaticism, syncopations, diminished intervals, and wide melodic leaps vividly illustrate the “furchtsame Wanken” (fearful wavering) described in the text. Only with the mention of “Jesu Trostwort” (Jesus’s word of consolation) does the depressing mood brighten for a few moments as the eerie, defamiliarized shadows of the obbligato instruments dissipate.
The second aria leads to an entirely different world: a pair of oboes together with the bass and tenor hold forth in well-sounding parallel passages or confirming imitations to the praise of God and one’s neighbor. A verse from Hubert’s chorale could have evoked the Arcadian soundscape: “Auf daß ich deine Süßigkeit / Mög inniglich anschauen” (So that I may see / Your sweetness intimately). With unusually active counterpoint, the concluding chorale brings us back to the mood of the opening movement.