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Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten BWV 59 / BC A 82
Pentecost, May 28, 1724
This is the earlier of two cantatas of the same name for the first day of Pentecost. The two cantatas are closely connected with one another: they both begin with the same biblical passage, and their instrumental setting is the same.As usual, the text takes up the Gospel reading for the holiday. This is found in the fourteenth chapter of John and contains a portion of the farewell addresses by Jesus, in particular, the promise of the Holy Spirit:
Jesus answered and spoke to him: whoever loves me will keep to my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. But whoever does not love me, he will not keep to my words. And the word that you hear is not mine, rather the Father’s, who has sent me. Such things I have been saying to you, as long as I have been with you. But the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom my Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you, as the world gives. Let your heart not be afraid, and let it not be fearful. You have heard that I have said to you: I go away and come again to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice that I have said “I go to the Father,” for the Father is greater than I. And now I have said to you, before it happens, when it will happen, you will believe. I will not talk with you much more, because the prince of this world is coming, and he has no power over me. But that the world might recognize that I love the Father and I also do as the Father has bidden me: stand up, and let us go hence. (23–31)
The text of our cantata comes from the chief pastor of Hamburg, Erdmann Neumeister; it was published in 1714 in Frankfurt am Main in an annual cycle of cantata texts under the title Geistliche Poesien mit untermischten biblischen Sprüchen und Choralen auf alle Sonn- und Festtagen (Spiritual poems with interspersed biblical sayings and chorales for all Sundays and feast days), intended for the use of Frankfurt music director Georg Philipp Telemann. The title of this collection refers to the gemischte Kantatenform (mixed cantata form), in which biblical passages, chorale stories, and free poetry are components of equal importance. For decades, scholars regarded Neumeister as the inventor of this particular scheme and the mixed text form as the result of his efforts at reform. More recently, it has turned out that Neumeister’s achievement lay solely in the establishment of geistliche Poesien (free poetry) in the form of recitative and aria, borrowed from opera—and that his contribution to mixed cantata form should be seen as a nod to contemporary taste.1
Neumeister starts his libretto with the beginning of the Gospel reading for the holiday: “Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten; und mein Vater wird ihn lieben, und wir werden zu ihm kommen und Wohnung bei ihm machen” (Whoever loves me will keep to my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him). The ensuing recitative takes up the keyword “Wohnung” (dwelling) and places it in the context of the classical metaphor of the human heart as the dwelling of God:
O, was sind das vor Ehren,
Worzu uns Jesus setzt?
Der uns so würdig schätzt,
Daß er verheißt,
Samt Vater und dem heilgen Geist
In unsre Herzen einzukehren.
O, what are those honors
To which Jesus leads us?
He who treasures us so highly
That he promises,
Together with Father and Holy Spirit,
To dwell in our hearts.
In what follows, the nullity of human activity is demonstrated, after which the initial idea returns:
Wie nun? Der Allerhöchste spricht,
Er will in unsern Seelen
Die Wohnung sich erwählen.
Ach, was tut Gottes Liebe nicht?
Ach, daß doch, wie er wollte,
Ihn auch ein jeder lieben sollte.
What then? The Most High promises
He will in our souls
Choose his dwelling place.
Ah, what does God’s love not do?
Ah, that only, as he wished,
Everyone should love him too.
The first strophe of Luther’s German version of the hymn Veni Sancte Spiritus is formulated as a prayer:
Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott,
Erfüll mit deiner Gnaden Gut
Deiner Gläubiger Herz, Mut und Sinn,
Dein brünstig Lieb entzünd in ihn’n.
Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God,
Fill, with the goodness of your grace,
The heart, courage, and mind of your believers,
Enkindle your ardent love in them.
An unusually eloquent aria text is devoted to the opposition of the earthly and the heavenly, although this too proves to be derived from the metaphorical interpretation of the human heart:
Die Welt mit allen Königreichen,
Die Welt mit aller Herrlichkeit
Kann dieser Herrlichkeit nicht gleichen,
Womit uns unser Gott erfreut:
Daß er in unsern Herzen thronet
Und wie in einem Himmel wohnet.
Ach Gott, wie selig sind wir doch,
Wie selig werden wir erst noch,
Wenn wir nach dieser Zeit der Erden
Bei dir im Himmel wohnen werden.
The world with all its kingdoms,
The world with all its glory
Cannot equal this glory
With which our God delights us:
That he is enthroned in our hearts
And dwells as if in heaven.
Ah God, how blessed are we indeed,
How blessed will we be only
When, after this time on Earth
We shall dwell with you in heaven.
The third strophe of Luther’s hymn Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort concludes the libretto:
Bach composed this text no later than 1724 and perhaps as early as May 1723; thus, he may have completed it before taking office as cantor of St. Thomas in Leipzig. It may be that the apparent designation “Für alle Fälle” (For all situations) has something to do with the fact that the work does not fulfill every expectation attending the high rank of the Pentecost holiday. In particular, this is seen in the relatively modest setting for two trumpets and drums, strings, and continuo. Over and above this, the opening movement oddly avoids the usual four-part chorus. Instead, it is a duet for soprano and bass that closely matches Bach’s compositional procedure in Köthen before early 1723, where ensemble movements with two voices predominated. In spite of this self-imposed limitation, Bach achieves a remarkable wealth of polyphonic combination and thus projects the text in ever new illumination. A terse motto theme is stated and repeated, with the singers exchanging the lead until the fifth iteration, which opens into a synchronous presentation of the words of the Lord by both singers.Gott Heilger Geist, du Tröster wert,
Gib dein’m Volk, einerlei Sinn auf Erd,
Steh bei uns in der letzten Not,
G’leit uns ins Leben aus dem Tod!
Come, Holy Spirit, you worthy comforter,
Give to all your people unity of purpose on Earth,
Stand by us in our last suffering,
Lead us into life out of death!
A recitative accompanied by strings that ends in an arioso is followed by a chorale movement Komm, heiliger Geist, in a six-part harmonization that is expanded by the independent leading of the second violin and viola. The concluding aria for bass with obbligato solo violin is relatively terse: pre- and postludes are only eight measures long, and the text in between is presented almost without repetition, as fast as possible, as it were. The closing chorale stipulated in Neumeister’s text is missing in Bach’s score and in the performance parts. At the same time, there are several indications that the cantata was not meant to end with a bass aria and that the chorale was to be involved somehow. Today’s performances remedy the situation by simply exchanging the movements—a stopgap measure to address this apparently simple but quite enigmatic Pentecost cantata.