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Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht, BWV 124

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Revision as of 22:07, 7 January 2025 by Gerda Arendt (talk | contribs) (→6: incipit)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Chorale cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach
Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht
BWV 124
Chorale cantata by J. S. Bach
Thomaskirche, Leipzig
OccasionFirst Sunday after Epiphany
Chorale"Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht"
by Christian Keymann
Performed7 January 1725 (1725-01-07): Leipzig
Movements6
VocalSATB choir and solo
Instrumental
  • horn
  • oboe d'amore
  • 2 violins
  • viola
  • continuo

Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht (I will not let go of my Jesus), BWV 124, is a church cantata written by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the first Sunday after the Epiphany and first performed it on 7 January 1725. It is based on the hymn "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" by Christian Keymann.

The cantata is part of Bach's chorale cantata cycle, the second cycle during his tenure as Thomaskantor that began in 1723. In the style of the cycle, an unknown poet retained the outer stanzas for framing choral movements and paraphrased the inner stanzas into four movements for soloists, alternating recitatives and arias. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists, a four-part choir and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a horn to play the cantus firmus with the soprano, oboe d'amore, strings and basso continuo.

History, hymn and words

Bach wrote the chorale cantata in his second year in Leipzig for the First Sunday after Epiphany. The prescribed readings for the Sunday were taken from the Epistle to the Romans, speaking of the duties of a Christian (Romans 12:1–6), and from the Gospel of Luke, the finding in the Temple (Luke 2:41–52).

A year earlier, Bach had reflected the same occasion in Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren, BWV 154, from the point of view of a person who had lost Jesus. The 1725 cantata text is based on the 1658 chorale in six stanzas by Christian Keymann. The text of the hymn begins, as in the former cantata, with an idea close to the Gospel: the Christian does not want to let go of Jesus, as his parents had wished not to lose their 12-year-old boy. The chorale then pursues the thought of being united with Jesus after death. In the format of the chorale cantata cycle, an unknown poet retained the hymn's first and last stanzas for choral movements, and paraphrased the inner stanzas to a sequence of as many recitatives and arias.

Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance of the cantata on 7 January 1725, one day after Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen, BWV 123, for Epiphany.

Music

Structure and scoring

Bach structured Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht in six movements. Both the text and the tune of the hymn are retained in the outer movements, a chorale fantasia and a four-part closing chorale. Bach scored the work for four vocal soloists (soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B)), a four-part choir, and a Baroque instrumental ensemble of a horn (Co) to reinforce the chorale melody, oboe d'amore (Oa), two violin parts (Vl), a viola part, and basso continuo. The duration is given as 17 minutes.

In the following table of the movements, the scoring, keys and time signatures are taken from Alfred Dürr's standard work Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach. The continuo, which plays throughout, is not shown.

Movements of Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht
No. Title Type Vocal Winds Strings Key Time
1 Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht Chorale fantasia SATB Co Oa 2Vl Va E major
4
2 Solange sich ein Tropfen Blut Recitative T common time
3 Und wenn der harte Todesschlag Aria T Oa 2Vl Va F-sharp minor
4
4 Doch ach! welch schweres Ungemach Recitative B A major common time
5 Entziehe dich eilends, mein Herze, der Welt Aria S A A major
8
6 Jesum laß ich nicht von mir Chorale SATB Co Oa 2Vl Va E major common time

Movements

1

In the opening chorus, "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht, weil er sich für mich gegeben" (I will not let go of my Jesus, since he has given himself for me), the soprano and the horn present line by line the cantus firmus, a melody by Andreas Hammerschmidt, who collaborated with Keymann on chorales. The lower voices are set mostly in homophony, while the orchestra plays its own themes in introduction, interludes and accompaniment. The character of the movement is a minuet, and the oboe d'amore takes a virtuosic concertante leading part. The phrase "klettenweis an ihm zu kleben" (cling to him like a burr) is illustrated by all three lower voices holding a note for three measures as if clinging to it. John Eliot Gardiner noted the "gentle, almost naïve tone of voice to reflect the submissive character of the text".

2

A short secco recitative expresses "Solange sich ein Tropfen Blut in Herz und Adern reget, soll Jesus nur allein mein Leben und mein alles sein" (As long as a drop of blood stirs in heart and vein, so shall Jesus alone be my life and my everything).

3

A tenor aria, "Und wenn der harte Todesschlage die Sinnen schwächt" (And when the harsh blow of death weakens my senses), is accompanied by an obbligato oboe d'amore, while the strings play "a persistent four-note drumming" to express "Furcht und Schrecken" (fear and terror) in the face of death. Dürr compared these repetitions to similar figures in the alto recitative "Warum wollt ihr erschrecken", movement 49 of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Part V.

4

In another secco recitative, "Doch ach! Welch schweres Ungemach empfindet noch allhier die Seele?" (Yet alas! what heavy hardship does the soul still endure here?), the term "nach vollbrachtem Lauf" (after my completed course) is pictured by a scale spanning an octave.

5

A duet of soprano and alto, "Entziehe dich eilends, mein Herze, der Welt, du findest im Himmel dein wahres Vergnügen" (Withdraw yourself hurriedly, my heart, from the world, you will find in heaven your true delight), is accompanied by the continuo. It moves like a dance in simple periods of four measures.

6

Four-part setting, BWV 124/6
Four-part setting, BWV 124/6

The cantata is closed by the final chorale stanza, "Jesum laß ich nicht von mir, geh ihm ewig an der Seiten" (I will not let go of my Jesus, I will walk beside him forever), in a four-part setting.

Recordings

A list of recordings is provided on the Bach Cantatas website.

Notes

References

  1. ^ Dellal 2025.
  2. ^ Bach Digital 2025.
  3. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 187.
  4. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 183.
  5. Chorale text 2005.
  6. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 177.
  7. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, pp. 186–187.
  8. Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 186.
  9. Chorale melody 2006.
  10. ^ Gardiner 2010.
  11. ^ Dürr & Jones 2006, p. 188.
  12. Dahn 2025.
  13. Oron 2025.

Cited sources

External links

Church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach
Before
Leipzig
First cycle
(1723–24)
Second cycle
(and chorale
cantatas)
Third cycle
Later
and other
Cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach by BWV number
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