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Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke BWV 84 / BC A 43
Septuagesimae Sunday
The cantata Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke BWV 84 (I am content with my fortune) originated in February 1727 and is for Septuagesima Sunday, the ninth Sunday before Easter or the third Sunday before the beginning of Lent. Its Gospel reading is found in Matthew 20 and tells the parable of the workers in the vineyard: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers in his vineyard. And when he agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (1–2). The parable further describes workers who are hired several or even many hours later, however, with the promise “I will give you what is right,” and, finally, the paying of wages when everyone receives the same amount—one groschen—at which those who had been hired first were not amused:And when they had received it, they grumbled against the householder and said, These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one among them, and said: Friend, I do you no wrong: were you not at one with me for a penny? Take what is yours, and go forth! I will give unto this last, even as unto you. Or do I not have the power to do what I will with my own? Are you envious because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. (Matthew 20:11–16)
To judge by the scenario it portrays of the workers in the vineyard and the parable’s deeper meaning, the text of our cantata shows itself to be not exactly inspired. Instead, it revolves around concepts such as “Genügsamkeit” and “Vergnügung,” whereby the first means “Sichbescheiden” (sufficiency), according to contemporary understanding, while the second would be translated as “Zufriedenheit” (contentment). However, according to Friedrich Smend, “Vergnügung” (contentment) is “not to be understood in the bourgeois fashion of this world, but as recreatio animae [restoration of the soul], to be at peace in the devotion to God and the surrender to his will.” “Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke” would thus be translated as “ich bin zufrieden” (I am content) and, indeed, in the just-quoted interpretation, as “mit meinem Schicksal” (with my fate). An older model for this title is found in a cantata text for St. Jacob’s Day (July 25) in the annual cycle Geistliches Singen und Spielen, printed in Gotha in 1711 and written for Georg Philipp Telemann in Eisenach by Erdmann Neumeister. His poem begins with the lines:
Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Stande,
In welchen mich mein Gott gesetzt.
I am content with my condition,
In which my God has placed me.
Closely related to this is the opening movement of the Septuagesima cantata in the annual cycle begun in 1728 in Leipzig by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Festtage durch das ganze Jahr (Cantatas for the Sundays and holidays of the entire year):1
Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Stande,
Den mir der liebe Gott beschert.
Was soll ich viel nach großen Dingen
Mit Ungeduld und Mühe ringen?
Ich bin ja! nicht der kleinen Wert.
I am content with my condition,
Which the dear God has granted me.
To what end might I strive for great things
With impatience and trouble?
I am certainly not worthy of small things.
In view of the unmistakable commonality of substantial parts of these two strophes, it is tempting to suppose that Henrici/Picander had already written a Septuagesima cantata libretto for Bach in early 1727 and then included it two years later in modified form in his complete annual cycle of cantata texts. While this possibility certainly cannot be excluded, the differences between the two cantata texts beyond the opening movement are so considerable that other explanations for the partial relationship should be considered.
In the first recitative of our cantata, the librettist stays close to the ideas he has already set forth and thus does not go into the deeper meaning of the parable of the workers in the vineyard. The recitative begins as follows:
Gott ist mir ja nichts schuldig,
Und wenn er mir was gibt,
So zeigt er mir, daß er mich liebt;
Ich kann mir nichts bei ihm verdienen,
Denn was ich tu, ist meine Pflicht.
God certainly owes me nothing,
And if he gives me something,
He thus shows me that he loves me;
I can earn nothing from him,
For what I do is my duty.
And at the close:
Hat er uns nicht so lange Zeit
Umsonst ernähret und gekleidt
Und will uns einsten seliglich
In seine Herrlichkeit erhöhn?
Es ist genug vor mich,
Daß ich nicht hungrig darf zu Bette gehn.
Has he not, for so long a time,
Nourished and clothed us for nothing
And wants one day, blessedly,
To raise us in his glory?
It is enough for me
That I need not go to bed hungry.
The associated aria praises the advantages of gratitude, modesty, and love of one’s neighbor:
Ich esse mit Freuden mein weniges Brot
Und gönne dem Nächsten von Herzen das Seine.
Ein ruhig Gewissen, ein fröhlicher Geist,
Ein dankbares Herze, das lobet und preist,
Vermehret den Segen, verzuckert die Not.
With joy I eat my meager bread
And sincerely do not begrudge my neighbor that which is his.
A conscience at rest, a joyful spirit,
A grateful heart that praises and extols
Multiplies blessings, sweetens travail.
With the last recitative the text poet finally succeeds in penetrating to the concern of the Gospel reading:
Im Schweiße meines Angesichts
Will ich indes mein Brot genießen,
Und wenn mein’n Lebenslauf,
Mein Lebensabend wird beschließen,
So teilt mir Gott den Groschen aus,
Da steht der Himmel drauf.
O! wenn ich diese Gabe
Zu meinem Gnadenlohne habe,
So brauch ich weiter nichts.
In the sweat upon my countenance
I will meanwhile enjoy my bread,
And when my life’s course,
My life’s evening, is to close,
Thus God hands my the pennies,
On it heaven affirms.
O! if I have this gift
As my reward reckoned of grace,
Then I need nothing further.
The cantata concludes with the last strophe of Ämilie Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt’s hymn Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende (Who knows, how near my end). In a catechetical function, it summarizes the libretto’s line of thought:
Ich leb indes in dir vergnüget
Und sterb ohn alle Kümmernis,
Mir gnüget, wie es mein Gott füget,
Ich glaub und bin es ganz gewiß:
Durch deine Gnad und Christi Blut
Machst du’s mit meinem Ende gut.
I live, meanwhile, content in you
And die without any sorrow.
It is enough for me however God ordains it,
I believe and am absolutely certain:
Through your grace and the blood of Christ
With my death you will bring good to pass.
In accordance with the character of the text, Johann Sebastian Bach cast this work as a solo cantata (although it concludes with a four-part chorale) and therefore granted it the rare designation “Cantata.” Much is demanded from the solo soprano in endurance and fluidity, particularly in the opening aria: while the strings and even the basso continuo are restricted to dabbed accompanying chords, soprano and solo oboe issue forth sweeping melodies that, with their nearly unending breath, remind one of the slow movement of a concerto. By contrast, the second aria is vibrant and dance-like, as the “fröhlicher Geist” (cheerful spirit) apostrophized in the text shapes the texture, and as the oboe only partially plays the role of obbligato part and otherwise willfully follows the contour of the violin part one moment, the soprano voice the next. Of the two recitatives, the first is more simply set. The second, however, embedded in the accompanying strings, ventures to the remote key of F-sharp major at the end in accordance with the text. With deliberate, restful voice leading, the concluding chorale on the melody Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten (Whoever simply allows dear God to rule) leads everything back to its proper proportion and thereby connects to the recreatio animae of the cantata’s beginning.
Footnotes
- Picander’s text, from his 1728 cycle, was set in a recently discovered composition by the young C. P. E. Bach. See Wollny (2010).—Trans. ↵