This tag was created by James A. Brokaw II. The last update was by Elizabeth Budd.
Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid BWV 3 / BC A 33
Second Sunday after Epiphany
The cantata Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid BWV 3 (Ah God, how much heartbreak), written for the second Sunday after Epiphany, was composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in the middle of January 1725 as part of his chorale cantata cycle. It is not to be confused with another cantata of the same name, written two years later, assigned to the seldom-appearing Sunday after New Year—and which Bach belatedly incorporated in the cycle. This, the earlier composition, is a flawless representative of the genre, since its entire text is drawn from one and the same chorale, a poem by Martin Moller from 1587, that belongs to the group of hymns called “Kreuz- und Trost-Lieder” (Hymns of cross and consolation). By contrast, the later cantata (BWV 58) takes its first and last movements from two different chorales, which might be thought to belong together simply because they use the same melody. The inner movements are paraphrases of the Gospel reading of the Sunday. The chorale cantata for the second Sunday after Epiphany lacks a similar connection to the Gospel reading of the day, the story from John about the marriage in Cana, at which Jesus transformed water into wine.The unknown librettist of our cantata saw his task solely in devising a series of movements from the eighteen strophes of Moller’s chorale in which modern forms of recitative and aria are represented, as well as chorale strophes in their original form.
In the usual manner for these libretti, the opening strophe of this chorale was left in its original form:
Essentially, the second strophe was also preserved:Ach, Gott wie manches Herzeleid
Begegnet mir zu dieser Zeit!
Der schmale Weg ist trübsalvoll,
Den ich zum Himmel wandern soll.
Ah, God how much heartbreak
Confronts me at this time!
The narrow way is filled with tribulation
That I must travel to heaven.
Wie schwerlich läßt sich Fleisch und Blut
Zwingen zu dem ewigen Gut!
Wo soll ich mich denn wenden hin?
Zu dir, o Jesu, steht mein Sinn.
How difficult it is for flesh and blood
To be urged toward eternal good!
Where should I then turn?
To you, O Jesus, my mind is focused.
But this strophe is only the core element in a larger complex formed by inserting and appending freely versified lines of recitative. Here, as so often, “freely versified” is to be understood with qualification, since frequently text passages of this sort are themselves based on hymns or biblical passages. For example, the source for the present case is Matthew 26:41, “Der Geist ist willig aber der Fleisch ist schwach” (The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak). The movement’s beginning results from the interleaving of chorale lines with interpretive or elaborating lines of recitative:
Wie schwerlich läßt sich Fleisch und Blut
So nur nach Irdischem und Eitlem trachtet
Und weder Gott noch Himmel achtet,
Zwingen zu den ewigen Gut!
Da du, o Jesu, nun mein alles bist,
Und doch mein Fleisch so widerspenstig ist.
Wo soll ich mich denn wenden hin?
Das Fleisch ist schwach, doch will der Geist;
So hilf du mir, der du mein Herze weißt.
Zu dir, o Jesu, steht mein Sinn.
How difficult it is for flesh and blood
That only cares for earthly and idle things
And values neither God nor heaven,
To be urged toward eternal good!
Since you, O Jesus, are now my all,
And though my flesh is so rebellious.
Where should I then turn?
The flesh is weak, though the spirit is willing;
So help me, you who know my heart.
To you, O Jesus, my mind inclines.
In the continuation of the text, beginning with “Wer deinem Rat und deiner Hilfe traut / Der hat wohl nie auf falschem Grund gebaut” (Whoever trusts your counsel and your help / He has surely never built on poor ground), it is not difficult to recognize a foreshortened version of the third chorale strophe:
Bei dir mein Herz Trost Hilf und Rat
Allzeit gewiß gefunden hat:
Niemand jemals verlassen ist
Der getraut hat auf Jesum Christ.
In you, my heart has found comfort, help, and advice
Certainly for all time:
No one is ever lost
Who has had faith in Jesus Christ.
The third cantata movement, an aria, is much further removed from its model:
Empfind ich Höllenangst und Pein,
Doch muß beständig in dem Herzen
Ein rechter Freudenhimmel sein.
Ich darf nur Jesu Namen nennen,
Der kann auch unermeßne Schmerzen
Als einen leichten Nebel trennen.
Though I feel fear of hell and pain,
Yet there must perpetually be in my heart
A true heavenly joy.
I need only say the name of Jesus,
Who can dispel even unimaginable pains
Like a light fog.
The only line of text that can indisputably be linked to the chorale is “Ich darf nur Jesu Namen nennen”: this goes back to Moller’s fifth strophe, whose close reads: “Jesu, mein Herr und Gott allein, / Wie süß ist mir der Name dein” (Jesus, my only Lord and God, / How sweet to me is your name). The connection between the beginning of the recitative that follows and Moller’s seventh strophe is clearer. The hymn poet writes:
Ob mir gleich Leib und Seel verschmacht’
So weißt du, Herr, daß ichs nicht acht’:
Wenn ich dich hab, so hab ich wohl,
Was mich ewig erfreuen soll.
Though both my body and soul fail
You know, Lord, that I do not notice:
If I have you, then I have certainly
What will give me eternal delight.
From this, the cantata librettist formed:
Es mag mir Leib und Geist verschmachten,
Bist du, o Jesu, mein
Und ich bin dein,
Will ichs nicht achten.
My body and spirit may fail,
If you, O Jesus, are mine
And I am yours,
I will not notice it.
The source of the next-to-last cantata movement is also easily perceived; it comes from the fifteenth and sixteenth strophes of the chorale. The fifteenth strophe begins: “Wenn ich in Nöten bet und sing, / So wird mein Herz recht guter Ding” (When I, in need, pray and sing, / Then my heart becomes a truly good thing). The sixteenth strophe reads:
Drum will ich, weil ich lebe noch,
Das Kreuz dir fröhlich tragen nach!
Mein Gott, mach mich darzu bereit,
Es dient zum besten allezeit.
So I will, because I yet live,
Carry the cross for you happily!
My God, make me ready for that,
It is for the best at all times.
By pulling together and reinterpreting these components, the poet achieves a skillful and flowing aria text:
Wenn Sorgen auf mich dringen,
Will ich in Freudigkeit
Zu meinem Jesu singen.
Mein Kreuz hilft Jesus tragen,
Drum will ich gläubig sagen:
Es dient zum besten allezeit.
When cares press upon me
I will in joyfulness
To my Jesus sing.
Jesus helps me to bear my cross.
Therefore, I will say in faith:
It is for the best at all times.
The last line, taken from the chorale as written, helps ease the transition to Moller’s final strophe, which concludes the cantata libretto:
Erhalt mein Herz in Glauben rein,
So leb und sterb ich dir allein.
Jesu, mein Trost, hör mein Begier,
O mein Heiland, wär ich bei dir.
Keep my heart pure in faith
So that I live and die in you alone.
Jesus, my comfort, hear my desire
O my Savior, would that I were with you.
As typical for the chorale cantata cycle, Bach’s composition begins with a wide-ranging vocal/instrumental arrangement of the chorale melody O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht (O Jesus Christ, light of my life). Two oboi d’amore rise above the gentle harmonies of the strings with an expressive, broadly conceived melody at whose core one recognizes a lamento pattern, with descending half steps filling out the interval of the fourth. Alto, soprano, and tenor take up this lamenting motive, interweaving it in the thick texture of the other voices, while the bass, supported by a single trombone, sounds the early seventeenth-century chorale melody, unadorned and in large note values. In the second movement, also in the bass, a motive derived from the chorale’s beginning is repeated, helping to unify the heterogeneous components of four-part chorale and free recitative declamation by solo voices.
In the third movement, an aria for bass, the lack of an accompanying instrument other than basso continuo illustrates the “Höllenangst und Pein” (fear of hell and pain) and the feeling of helplessness and lack of shelter in the text. With an intensified chromaticism employing nearly all twelve available half-tone steps and continuously moving in unexpected ways, the depressing situation is expressed to the limits of what is bearable. Yet with the prospect of “Freudenhimmel” (heavenly joy) in the text, the tormenting tones vanish, and simple harmonies in the accompaniment combine with the joyfully animated coloraturas of the voice. Twice each this sequence is played in the outer sections of the aria, as well as in the center section on the text that Jesus’s name can dispel “unermeßne Schmerzen / Als einen leichten Nebel” (unimaginable pains / Like a light fog).
From the bass region of this aria, over the ensuing tenor recitative, the ascent into the upper regions in the cantata’s next-to-last movement takes place with a duet for soprano and alto (in spite of the first-person-singular text). The two voices, one of the two oboes, the first violin, and the basso continuo combine with complementary rhythms for a “perpetual round dance” taking up the text line “Will ich in Freudigkeit / Zu meinem Jesu singen” (I will in joyfulness to my Jesus sing). The central section provides contrast, in which the text “Kreuztragen” (cross bearing) leads to a harmonic cloudiness. A simple four-part chorale forms the cantata’s close, in which the soprano is given the chorale melody, in contrast to the first movement, where the bass presented the chorale melody—thus completing the ascent from the lowest regions to the highest.