J.S. Bach / Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38 (Herreweghe)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Cantata BWV 38: Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (19 October 1724)

1. Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir (Chorus)
2. In Jesu Gnade wird allein (Recitative: A) 03:41
3. Ich höre mitten in den Leiden (Aria: T) 04:32
4. Ach! Dass mein Glaube noch so schwach (Recitative: S) 11:05
5. Wenn meine Trübsal als mit Ketten (Aria, Terzetto: S, A, B) 12:21
6. Ob bei uns ist der Sünden viel (Chorale) 15:34

Soloists:
Soprano -- Carolyn Sampson
Alto (Countertenor) -- Daniel Taylor
Tenor -- Mark Padmore
Bass -- Peter Kooy

Performed by Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent (Harmonia Mundi: 2005).

"The Leipzig congregation found out just how rigorous Bach could be in the musical expression of lamentation and comfort [in 1724], when his cantata 'Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir', BWV 38, was performed for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity. The work is part of his monumental (and only partially realised) project to produce a complete annual cycle (Jahrgang) of chorale cantatas, i.e. cantatas which take a hymn as their textual and musical point of departure. The archaic severity of the hymn by Luther that Bach takes as the basis for this work has its counterpart in the motet style of composition employed in the opening movement. Here he totally renounces independent orchestral parts: in accordance with an old tradition, the prescribed instruments are used only to double and reinforce the singers. Only the continuo part displays a certain independence, and even then only in places where the vocal bass line is silent.

However antiquated the structure of the movement may at first appear, within that framework the writing is extremely modern and expressively charged: chromatic inflections, unusual progressions and crossings of parts are used by Bach to bring Luther's venerable setting of Psalm 130 into line with the spirit of the early eighteenth century and realise it in aesthetic terms. Even bolder than the treatment of the chorale melody in this opening movement is its appearance in the fourth, an extraordinary 'secco' recitative, where it functions as the bass.

Such severity of tone also affects the other movements, first the tenor aria 'Ich höre mitten in den Leiden ein Trostwort', in which the chromaticism of the opening chorus reappears, but above all the imitative writing of the terzetto 'Wenn meine Trübsal als mit Ketten ein Unglück an den andern hält', which takes up the motet style of the first movement anew." - Thomas Seedorf (trans. Charles Johnston)

Painting: Blick aus einer Grotte [View from a Cave], Anonymous (German, 1830s)

Видео J.S. Bach / Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38 (Herreweghe) канала scrymgeour34